Awards for helping young smokers quit

TWO South Tyneside projects have been honoured for helping young smokers kick the habit.

Depaul UK’s Jigsaw Project and the Key Project took part in a national No Smoking Day event, staging a debate with the young people they help, all aged between 16 and 25 and homeless, or at risk of homelessness.

Both based in Tyne Dock, South Shields, the projects were named No Smoking Day Organiser Of The Year and awarded for Best Activity On A Small Budget.

Duncan Bannatyne, business dragon and ambassador for No Smoking Day, said: “With more than nine million UK adults hooked on smoking, the work of local organisers is crucial in helping them get the advice and support they need to kick the habit for good.

“Depaul UK and Key Project impressed us with its energy, creativity and, ultimately, its success in helping smokers quit, and I hope other organisations in South Tyneside will follow their brilliant example next year.”

Jean Burnside, chief officer of the Key Project, said: “I’m delighted that the organisations have received this prestigious national award.”

The South Tyneside projects were pitted against more than 160 others across the UK.

Jo Burlton, for Depaul UK, said: “By winning this award, it is recognition for both projects of how working together can have a positive impact on the young people we work with, helping them in making decisions and improving the quality of their lives.”

No Smoking Day this year included everything from breath tests to reveal smokers’ ‘lung ages,’ to LED screens emblazoned with quit smoking messages.

Indiana Smoking Ban Could Pass In Next Session

A state smoking ban may have a real chance at passage in the upcoming legislative session. Legislators have introduced a ban on smoking in public places for the last five years. Gary Democratic Representative Charlie Brown, the principle sponsor of the bill, says he understands that compromises will need to be made, particularly with casinos. But while he says he is willing to acquiesce to smoking on casino floors, he thinks other areas need to be part of the bill.

“Because of the fact that youngsters may be in the restaurants and youngsters may be in the hotel rooms so those areas should be considered for smoke-free air,” Brown says.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long says that lobbying groups like the American Cancer Society need to understand that compromise is the only way for the ban to have a shot.

“When you get 90, 95 percent of what you’re seeking, that’s a major victory,” he says. “And if the advocates can accept that, I think it has a fair chance of passing.”

In the last three sessions, the ban has passed the House but never gotten beyond a committee hearing in the Senate.

She was burnt with cigarettes

Beaten until her heart ruptured, four-year-old Amy Emily Annamunthodo also was burnt with cigarettes about her body, including her genitals. Forensic pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes, in his evidence yesterday, listed multiple extensive external and internal injuries sustained by the child, including a fractured rib, a “buss lip”, bruising and bleeding to her head and organs. Des Vignes was testifying in the trial against the child’s stepfather, Marlon King, in the San Fernando First Assizes.

He said the child was under-developed, measuring 100 cm and weighing 33 pounds. He said on the development chart, only ten per cent of children in the world would be so small. King is before Justice Anthony Carmona accused of murdering the child at his Marabella home on May 15, 2006. Witness Andre Anthony Rocke testified seeing King punching Amy 20 to 30 times as she hung from her hair.

Des Vignes, who performed an autopsy on her body at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, said the multiple injuries would have been afflicted on the child within an hour or two before death. However, he said the injuries to her heart, including the bursting of the right atrium, bleeding and bruising over the heart sack and extensive bleeding an bruising of the aorta, would have resulted in her death in a minimum of 15 minutes but it was likely that she died much sooner.

Corbin passes smoking ban ordinance

A southeastern Kentucky city has barred smoking in all public places and made violating the ban a misdemeanor. Corbin's city commission passed the ban Wednesday night. Violators could face a fine of up to $150, The Times-Tribune reported ( ).

The ordinance prohibits smoking in public enclosed places, including bars, bingo halls, restaurants and retail businesses. Smoking is prohibited within 25 feet of an entrances, exits, wheelchair ramps, windows and ventilation systems for enclosed areas.

Private residences are excluded from the ban unless they are used for childcare, adult daycare or as a health care facility.

The ordinance also restricts to 20 the number of designated smoking rooms hotels and motels could offer to guests.

Shahrukh Khan is sick of carrying cigarettes

There is no doubt about the fact that Shahrukh Khan looked mighty sexy on screen when he smoked a cigar in Don. However, smoking cigarettes in real life has its own ill effects and SRK is aware of them!

King Khan has said several times in the past that he has been trying hard to get rid of this damaging habit. However, he has been unsuccessful in doing so!

Shahrukh Khan said recently: “I hate carrying cigarettes. I think it is the most sickening habit someone can have.” He even revealed that he has now come down to six-seven cigarettes a day!

Shahrukh also said that his daughter hates his smoking habit: “Today, when I was leaving home she (his daughter) wasn't happy to see me carry a pack. But one needs time to give up a habit you have developed for so many years.”

One can recall that while promoting Ra.One, too, SRK had said that he is trying hard to give up smoking! We all have already seen the scene in Ra.One which shows the ill effects of smoking!

Back then, Shahrukh had said that he requests all the youngsters not to smoke coz it takes a toll on your health, declines you stamina, gives you bad breath, yellows your nails and what not!

Shahrukh, cigarette sung jo mail rachaya, fir kabhi na choote uska saaya! Just kidding! We hope our Baadshah quits smoking soon!

Tobacco control workshop on 15 Nov

The Network for Consumer Protection will organize a workshop on tobacco control here on Tuesday (15 Nov).

The workshop is being organized in collaboration with World Health Organization, Pakistan Medical Association, and National Tobacco Control Cell.

The purpose of the workshop is to create an effective liaison among different organizations and media to strengthen tobacco control in Pakistan.

Outreach process underway on smoke-free ordinance

The city doesn't want public opinion to get snuffed out as its staff prepares a draft for a new ordinance that regulates outdoor tobacco use.

An online survey will be available for all residents to provide their input and preferences for the "secondhand smoke ordinance."

Plus, two more public meetings to gather input on the different options proposed for a new policy are coming up. The meetings will take place this Thursday and Thursday, Dec. 1, at the Community and Cultural Center's El Toro meeting room.

"We need to get feedback from people who have some stock in this, including businesses and residents," said parks and recreation committee member Marty Cheek.

In August, the city council approved expenses up to $41,000 for the public outreach process to weigh the pros and cons of a comprehensive outdoor secondhand smoke ordinance that could prohibit tobacco smoke use in the city's parks, on the sidewalks, dining areas, recreation areas and other outdoor public places.

Numerous studies have concluded not only that smoking, but even secondhand smoke is unhealthy, and the city's parks and recreation commission has been on a mission to snuff out tobacco where it might affect others outdoors, according to city staff.

The outreach is funded by a grant from Santa Clara County.

The ordinance would be mostly self-enforced, and is unlikely to require police enforcement, according to Dennis Acha, director of programs for Breathe California, a nonprofit that focuses on education and prevention efforts to reduce the impact of lung disease.

Signs would be posted in restricted outdoor areas, and Acha said passersby generally respond positively to such signage.

Citing examples of other area cities that prohibit outdoor smoking, such as Campbell, Los Gatos, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, Acha noted that business improves when smoking is outlawed.

But more importantly, it's healthier for kids and others who don't smoke, but are present in areas where smoking is now allowed.

"Numerous studies have shown that exposure to secondhand smoke is just as deadly as firsthand smoke," Acha said at a meeting earlier this month. Secondhand smoke exposure, he continued, is a "suspected contributing factor" in many children's ailments such as ear infections, lower respiratory infections and asthma.

Some areas where smoking could be banned under such an ordinance would be the Community and Cultural Center amphitheater, public sidewalks in downtown and other shopping or dining areas, outdoor patios, service areas such as ATM lines, public events such as farmer's markets and concerts, and all recreation areas such as parks, sports fields and trails.

Morgan Hill Cigar Co. board member Mike Davenport said some downtown business owners he has spoken to are concerned about the possible government interference that could result from a secondhand smoke ordinance. Specifically, restaurants with outdoor patios might already prohibit smoking in those outdoor areas, but would like to have the option of allowing smoking when they conduct private parties.

And the cigar store, which serves as a smoking lounge and serves beer and wine, has some outdoor property in the back of the business that is not currently developed, but could be expanded for use as a patio for customers.

"(The ordinance) could prevent us from expanding our business," Davenport said.

City staff and proponents of an outdoor smoking policy will distribute e-mails containing the link to an online survey the city is conducting as part of the research process.

The 10-question survey asks respondents how they feel about outdoor smoking in each of the following areas: outdoor dining areas, entryways to public buildings, public events and festivals, city-owned parks and recreation centers, service areas such as bus stops, public sidewalks, and public work sites.

Prison guard pleads guilty to smuggling phones, tobacco to inmates

A California corrections officer confessed Monday in Sacramento federal court to smuggling cell phones and tobacco into a Northern California prison in return for cash payments.

According to a written plea agreement, Bobby Joe Kirby received $15,635 in bribes via MoneyGram and Western Union from persons associated with inmates at the Lassen County facility between June 2010 and June 2011.

He pleaded guilty to depriving California of his honest services through the use of interstate wires.

Kirby, 53, and a resident of Reno, was a corrections officer at the California Correctional Center in Susanville. He was paid $66,849, including overtime, in 2010.

He was allowed to remain free Monday on a $25,000 unsecured bond pending sentencing Feb. 6 by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb.

Doctors' group backs plain packaging for smokes

The Senate recently passed the Federal Government's plain packaging laws which will ensure cigarettes are packaged in plain, olive-coloured containers by December next year.

Association president Paul Mara says rates of lung cancer are high in regional areas, particularly in remote Indigenous communities.

"In rural and regional areas there is a higher incidence of things such as cancers," he said.

"The morbidity or the illness associated with them is likely to be greater because of the lack of access on many occasions to appropriate health facilities.

"There is a higher incidence of things such as cancers and people are dying in greater numbers in those areas proportionately to the city areas, so the sooner we get rid of smoking the better it will be for everybody"

Detectives Looking for Cigarette Robber

Tampa Police are asking for the public’s help identifying a suspect who broke into a convenience store and stole cartons of cigarettes.

At 4.10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13, the suspect used a crowbar to pry open the front door of the CITGO Quick Mart located at 6101 Interbay Blvd.

Once inside the business, the suspect filled a garbage can with cartons of cigarettes and then fled the area by unknown means, according to a Tampa Police report.

The suspect was described as a black male, 40-50 years, 5 feet and 10 inches to 6 feet tall and approximately 200-225 pounds. He has distinctive teeth and wore a tan pullover collared shirt, blue jeans and a gray baseball hat.

Impact of smoking continues even after quitting

In the study, researchers from Centre for Pancreatic Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston assessed pancreatic duct cell function in smokers and non-smokers (current and past).

A total of 131 subjects (74 smoked and 57 never smoked) underwent secretin-stimulated endoscopic pancreatic function testing (ePFT), for pancreatic fluid bicarbonate analysis.

Cigarette smoking exposure was found to be associated with an abnormal ePFT result, and there was no statistical difference in peak bicarbonate concentration between current and former smokers, according to the results.

The risk of pancreatic duct cell dysfunction was 56.78 per cent in former or current smokers and 26.32 per cent in non-smokers, according to Vivek Kadiyala, MD, who presented the findings.

"Our data suggests the risk of duct cell dysfunction was doubled in patients who smoked compared to non-smokers," said Dr. Kadiyala.

"These findings indicate that anyone with a history of smoking, either current or past is at greater risk of impaired pancreatic duct cell function," said Dr. Kadiyala.

Program urges smokers switch to smokeless tobacco

In the smoker-heavy state of Kentucky, a cancer center is suggesting something that most health experts won't and the tobacco industry can't: If you really want to quit, switch to smoke-free tobacco.
The James Graham Brown Cancer Center and the University of Louisville are aiming their "Switch and Quit" campaign at the city of Owensboro. It uses print, radio, billboard and other advertising to urge smokers to swap their cigarettes for smokeless tobacco and other products that do not deliver nicotine by smoke.
Supporters say smokers who switch are more likely to give up cigarettes than those who use other methods such as nicotine patches, and that smokeless tobacco carries less risk of disease than cigarettes do.
"We need something that works better than what we have," said Dr. Donald Miller, an oncologist and director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, which supports the effort along with the University of Louisville. "This is as reasonable a scientific hypothesis as anybody has come up with and it needs to be tried."
The campaign runs counter to the prevailing opinion of the public health community, which holds that there is no safe way to use tobacco. Federal researchers, however, have begun to at least consider the idea that smokers might be better off going smokeless.
The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health says on its website that the use of all tobacco products "should be strongly discouraged," and that there is "no scientific evidence that using smokeless tobacco can help a person quit smoking." But this year it approved funding for a study that might provide some of that very evidence.
"Switch and Quit" is directed by Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville. He analyzed the 2000 National Health Interview Survey and found that male smokers who switched to smokeless tobacco were more likely to quit smoking than those who used nicotine patches or gum.
"Americans are largely misinformed about the relative risks. ... They think smokeless tobacco is just as dangerous," Rodu said. "This level of misinformation is an enormous barrier to actually accomplishing tobacco-harm reduction because if people believe that the products have equal risk, there's not a real incentive."
The program is funded through Rodu's research money, which includes grants from the tobacco industry. Grants through the University of Louisville are unrestricted, which the program says "ensures the scientific independence and integrity of research projects and activities."
"There's absolutely no influence whatsoever," Rodu said. "I decide, along with my colleagues, how we use the money, for what projects, and this is entirely the case. I would not have a situation where there was some control over the kind of projects I undertake."