|
|
Tobacco news
| |
Brits Say Ban Smoking in Homes with Kids 06/24/2005 |
|
|
A telephone poll conducted in Great Britain found that 72 percent of adults think smoking should be banned in households with children, and even 65 percent of smokers said they would support such a ban, the BBC reported June 21.
The survey by the U.K. charity Developing Patient Partnerships (DPP) also found that many respondents were not aware of the potential health impact of secondhand smoke on children, or that health begins to improve almost immediately after smoking ceases.
A DPP spokesperson and others suggested that voluntary action by parents, not government regulation, would make the most difference in children's health. "These results show how strongly people feel about smoking around children in the home," said DPP spokesperson Terry John. "Parents need practical help that shows the positive side of quitting and encouraging the whole family to get healthy together, rather than a law forcing them not to smoke at home."
Deborah Arnott, director of the antismoking group ASH, added: "Although knowledge about the dangers of passive smoking is growing, many people underestimate the harm that it causes, especially to children. The only way for parents to protect their children from tobacco smoke is by making their homes entirely smoke-free."
|
| |
Tobacco Judge Urges Settlement 06/22/2005 |
|
|
Both sides in the government's racketeering case against the tobacco industry were urged by the trial judge to settle the case, but Judge Gladys Kessler also ordered participants in a closed-door settlement meeting not to discuss the get-together publicly.
The Washington Post reported June 21 that Kessler declared the meeting closed to the public because it was "a routine, informal discussion with the parties urging them, once again, to consider the advantages of settling the case rather than the risks of litigating it."
The meeting lasted about 2-1/2 hours and included the CEOs of defendants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds as well as the lead lawyers from the Justice Department. "The judge put this meeting under seal," said Philip Morris attorney Dan Webb. "We've been instructed by the judge not to talk about our meeting. We're just not going to discuss it, period."
Barring a settlement, Kessler is prepared to rule on whether the industry violated civil-racketeering laws and determine what penalties tobacco companies would face for any violations.
William Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the government should not settle the case "while it is under a cloud of political interference or under the weak terms proposed by the government in its closing argument."
In other developments in the case, a pair of Democratic members of Congress asked the Justice Department's Professional Responsibility Office to look into whether government witness Max Bazerman, a business professor at Harvard University, was pressured to change his testimony. Bazerman, who recommended that the court appoint a monitor to watch over the industry, told reporters that Justice Department lawyers threatened to remove him as a government witness if he did not tone down his testimony.
|
| |
Tobacco Suit Dismissed for Lack of Evidence 06/21/2005 |
|
|
Agreeing with tobacco-industry lawyers, a New York judge has dismissed a sick smoker's lawsuit on the grounds of lack of evidence, Newsday reported June 21.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Ute Wolff Lally said that Selma Rosen, 61, failed to show that the lung cancer she developed in 1995 was caused by cigarettes manufactured by Brown & Williamson, the defendant in the case. Rosen first got addicted to the company's Lucky Strike brand, but switched brands and stopped and restarted smoking a number of times during her life.
"Lucky Strikes caused my addiction, and my addiction is what lead to my years of smoking," she said. "I'm an addict for the rest of my life, whether I smoke or not."
B&W lawyer Harold Gordon said that smokers should not be suing tobacco companies, just as alcoholics should not sue beer or wine companies. "In many respects, this is a societal issue and not one that should be using up scarce court resources," said Gordon.
|
| |
Smoking Leads to Eviction 06/21/2005 |
|
|
Responding to tenant complaints, a Boston housing court evicted a couple for smoking in their apartment, ABC News reported June 20.
Erin Carey and Ted Baar were ordered out of their $2,500-per-month, one-bedroom apartment, which served the couple as both home and business location. Neighbors had filed a complaint against Carey and Baar in the city's Housing Court, with one upstairs tenant saying her house smelled like a bar because of the couple's heavy smoking.
Carey and Baar said the problem was with the ventilation system in the building, not their smoking. The couple's attorney said the jury verdict could lead to evictions for a whole range of nuisances other than smoking. "You wouldn't blame a tenant if their plumbing system backed up and went into another unit and put waste water into there, for instance," he said.
|
| |
Vt. Second State with Fire-Safe Cigarette Law 06/20/2005 |
|
|
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas has signed a law requiring tobacco companies to sell only "fire-safe" cigarettes in the state, WPTZ-5 TV reported June 17.
The measure, designed to prevent fires caused by smoldering cigarettes, is the second of its kind passed in the U.S. New York was the first state to pass a fire-safe cigarette law.
"Smoking materials are one of the leading causes of fire deaths in Vermont," said Douglas; of 65 fire deaths in Vermont over the past four years, 15 were caused by fires that erupted when cigarettes were left burning.
"Cigarettes are disposed of and they smolder for a while, so the fires happen at night, when people are asleep," said Robert Howe, assistant state fire marshal.
The law goes into effect May 1, 2006. The fire-safe cigarettes are made with thin paper that won't remain lit for more than a few minutes if the cigarette is not being puffed.
|
| |
Study: 63 Percent of Black Cancer Deaths Caused by Tobacco 06/15/2005 |
|
|
The majority of cancer deaths among African-American men are directly related to smoking, according to researchers from the University of California at Davis Medical Center.
Tobacco smoke causes 63 percent of tobacco deaths among black men in the U.S., including 67 percent of deaths among blacks living in the South, 63 percent among those living in the Midwest, and 60 percent among those living in the West. The smoking-related death burden was lowest among those living in the Northeast -- 43 percent.
Study author Bruce Leistikow analyzed data from the National Center for Health Statistics to make his estimates. "This study clarifies that the best explanation for most premature cancer deaths for African-American males is tobacco smoke exposure, whether from secondhand or active smoking. It helps estimate regional and previously overlooked burdens of tobacco smoke inhalation," he said.
Leistikow added, "The study also provides further evidence that deaths can be reduced by applying the right policy tools," noting that cancer deaths seemed to be lower in regions with more comprehensive stop-smoking campaigns.
Black men have the highest cancer death rate of any ethnic and gender group in the U.S.
The study is published in the August 2005 issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.
|
| |
Smoking Makes You Age Faster 06/14/2005 |
|
|
Smoking and excessive weight make people age faster, according to British and American researchers.
Reuters reported June 13 that smokers and obese people have shorter telomeres, which are caps on chromosomes that prevent them from fraying. Telomeres get shorter every time a cell divides; as telomeres get shorter, the chromosomes can become unstable and mutations can occur.
"Our findings suggest that obesity and cigarette smoking accelerate human aging," said Dr. Tim Spector of St. Thomas' Hospital in London. "Obesity and cigarettes cause oxidative stress to increase and this cumulative damage over time causes the loss of these telomeres, which we believe is a marker of accelerative aging and accounts for why these people get heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis and other age-related disease."
Spector and colleagues from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey examined telomeres in blood samples gathered from 1,122 British women ages 18-76. They found that obese women had aged 8.8 years more than lean women; current or ex-smokers were about 4.6 years older than nonsmokers, and those who smoked a pack a day of cigarettes for 40 years had aged about 7.4 years more than nonsmoking peers.
"Our results emphasize the potential wide-ranging effects of the two most important preventable exposures in developed countries -- cigarettes and obesity," the researchers said.
The study appears in the June 18, 2005 issue of the journal The Lancet.
|
|
|
Tobacco news
We do not apply any fees and keep our price for our discount cigarettes lowest on the
Web.
|
|
