Even smokers over the age of 80 can still benefit from quitting, suggests a new analysis in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany have found that it s not just young smokers who can reduce their risk of mortality by quitting; the risk of death drops significantly when older adults stop smoking, too.
Harm Reduction
This week, two studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons examined the effects of smoking on joint replacements of the knee and the hip. In both instances, the researchers found, the failure rate was significantly higher in smokers. In fact, patients who smoked before and/or after a total knee replacement (TKR) had a 10-fold higher failure rate of their replacement joints than did non-smokers: 10 percent among the smokers versus just 1 percent in the non-smokers.
A June 5th referendum in California will determine whether a one-dollar tax will be added to cigarette packs sold in the state. Right now, survey results suggest that voters support the measure by a slim margin: 50 percent of those polled were in favor, while 42 percent were opposed and 8 percent remained undecided.ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, for one, will be watching the voting outcome with interest. "Of course I'm in favor of any measure that could help prevent smoking," she says. "I d be concerned, however, that the equivalent tax on much-less-harmful smokeless products might yield unintended consequences." Regardless, Dr.
Tomorrow is World No Tobacco Day, a day to bring attention to the toll of tobacco use on the world s population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) tobacco use is responsible for 6 million deaths around the globe each year, and if current trends continue, this number may rise to 8 million by 2030, the majority of which will occur in low- to middle-income countries.
ACSH has today submitted a letter to the FDA s Center for Tobacco Products, urging the agency to reconsider its opposition to tobacco harm reduction, an approach that uses modified risk tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), to help smokers quit. The letter, supported by a number of ACSH s scientific advisors, explains the benefits of a harm reduction paradigm and notes the absence of logic in the FDA s hyper-precautionary stance, especially toward e-cigarettes.
As if the health hazards of smoking weren t reason enough to avoid the habit, extensive exposure to second-hand smoke has also been known to have adverse health effects, particularly for children who live with a smoking parent. Now, a new study presented at the ATS 2012 International Conference finds that the respiratory symptoms we often see in children who live with a smoker may actually extend into adulthood.
On his blog, TobaccoAnalysis, ACSH advisor Dr. Mike Siegel, professor at Boston University's School of Public Health, revisits the irony of the current tobacco harm reduction scenario. Namely, Dr. Seigel observes that anti-smoking groups continue to deny even the potential benefits of modified risk tobacco products, while major tobacco companies are actually leading efforts to introduce smokers to such products.
In a blog post that would be funny if the topic weren t so distressing, ACSH advisor Dr. Michael Siegel, professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, criticizes the FDA s latest announcement warning smokers about the dangers of using electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).
From the UK: Clive Bates, Director General of Sustainable Futures in the Welsh Government, makes some observations on the European Union's ban on snus (low-risk oral tobacco) that we wish someone at the European Commission would listen to. Why? Well, for one thing, as Bates points out:
The latest study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports on the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use among pregnant women ages 15 to 44 years. Overall, Hispanic women had the lowest rates of substance abuse in all categories, while white and black pregnant women were slightly more likely to engage in drinking and illicit drug use.
A November 21, 2006 entry on the Nictotine News blog mentions an observation from ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross:
From the American Council on Science and Health:
Although almost half of all smokers had a routine medical checkup in 2003, only 63.6% of those were counseled by a physician to stop smoking -- and this is an improvement from 2000's rate of 57%!
Want to know if your kids have been exposed to cigarette smoke? Well, there s a test for that. In a study just published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers analyzed nearly 500 blood samples from children ages one to four for cotinine, a chemical present in the body after exposure to nicotine. Study author Dr. Neal Benowitz and his colleagues discovered that 55 percent of the samples tested positive for cotinine, indicating that those children were exposed to smoke or its chemical remnants within the previous three to four days.