Smoking Addiction News and Research

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Push for plain cigarette packaging reaches new heights

Labor’s plain packaging laws for cigarettes allow the commonwealth to advertise a political message without paying for the privilege and acquire the property of tobacco companies, the High Court has been told.

18 Apr 2012

UK tobacco display ban to reduce youngsters taking up the habit

A ban on displays of tobacco is coming into force in England. Ministers hope it will help curb the number of young people taking up smoking. Cigarettes and other products will have to be kept below the counter in large shops and supermarkets, while small outlets are exempt until 2015. Other parts of the UK are planning similar action to drive down smoking rates.

9 Apr 2012

New drive to prevent youngsters from inhaling second-hand smoke at home

There has a rise in the number of smokers despite the fewer public places at which to light up and one of the world's highest cigarette prices. Sales have hit a four-year high in 2009: 2.44 billion cigarettes, or 6.7 million a day. This was a 12-per-cent rise over 2008's figure of 2.17 billion sold; in 2005, it was 2.09 billion.

1 Apr 2012

Court rules in favor of graphic labels on cigarette packages

An appeals court ruled on Monday that the government’s planned graphic warnings on cigarette packages was legal and didn’t violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies.

20 Mar 2012

NZ campaigners hope for and work towards a smoke-free world

New Zealand anti-smoking groups want to see the world become smoke free by 2040. Delegates from our National Tobacco Control Working Group are heading to Singapore next week to submit a proposal to the World Conference on Tobacco or Health. The New Zealand delegation wants tobacco removed from trade agreements, and treated the same as the likes of arms, ammunition and asbestos.

19 Mar 2012

U.S. to launch graphic anti-smoking warnings

The United States Government is starting a major new effort to cut the country's smoking rate by showing graphic images of people who have sustained life-altering health problems after smoking for years.

18 Mar 2012

Tobacco use among the youth should stop: Surgeon General’s Report

Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin has declared a war against tobacco, this time aiming to stop young people from starting to smoke, with the aim to have the next generation tobacco free. More than three million high school students are smokers, and smoking is now being called a pediatric epidemic the report said.

11 Mar 2012

Smoking and lung cancer notice turns fifty but 20% Britons still smoke: Report

According to health experts, it has been five decades after doctors issued their first warning about the dangers of cigarettes. Still more than 20 percent of Britons still smoke - and unless they quit, half of them will die from the habit. Smoking has killed more than six million people in Britain since 1962, when the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a landmark report about the health risks of tobacco.

7 Mar 2012

Judge overrules proposed graphic cigarette labels

A Washington judge overruled the federal mandate requiring tobacco companies to place graphic images on their products warning of the dangers of smoking. The judge said the requirements were a violation of free speech.

1 Mar 2012

Quit-smoking drug Chantix effective in cocaine and alcohol addiction

Varenicline is unique among anti-addiction medications in the way it affects the brain. Like nicotine, varenicline activates a specific receptor for a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, but it does so less intensely than the active ingredient of cigarettes does. The net effect is that the drug seems to help by both cutting cravings and making the formerly desired drug less pleasant — without making non-drug pleasures less intense. Alcohol works on the same chemical receptors in the brain as nicotine, and it may enhance the pleasurable effects of smoking.

18 Feb 2012

Smoking leads to early cognitive decline: Study

There is growing evidence that using cigarettes can also affect the brain: the latest study shows that smoking is associated with cognitive decline as early as age 45, and that male smokers may be more vulnerable to these mental effects than women.

7 Feb 2012

$Heart burn drugs and hip fractures in postmenopausal women smokers: Study establishes link$

Heart burn drugs and hip fractures in postmenopausal women smokers: Study establishes link

A new study shows that postmenopausal women with a history of smoking who take heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for two years or longer may be more likely to sustain a hip fracture. The risk rises with longer use say researchers. But the risk does disappear after women stop taking these drugs for two years. Further women who never smoked were not at increased risk for hip fracture even if they took PPIs regularly, the study showed. The new findings appear in the journal BMJ.

2 Feb 2012

Smoking to be banned at University of California campuses

The University of California is banning cigarettes and all other tobacco products from its campuses over the next two years. This drastic step is designed to both protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and prevent young people from developing the bad habit. Students and staff alike will be prohibited from smoking anywhere on a UC campus - including outdoor spaces, parking lots and private residences. There won't be any designated smoking areas.

16 Jan 2012

Questions raised over nicotine replacement therapy: Study

Smokers have been advised a host of choices for nicotine replacement like gums, patches and nasal sprays to help them quit. But a new U.S. study says that these do not help people quit cigarettes over the long term any better than going it alone.

10 Jan 2012

Now cannabis mouth spray to help ‘pot’ addicts quit

To help smokers quit there are nicotine patches and heroin users have methadone. However till date cannabis users have little choice except stop abruptly to quit. Cannabis withdrawal symptoms include severe insomnia, pot cravings and mood swings. “Although these are not life-threatening, they are significant enough to cause marked distress and lead people to go back to using the drug,” said lead researcher Jan Copeland.

10 Jan 2012

Smokers prefer cold turkey - launch of study into quitting smoking including popular cold turkey method

Cold turkey is the preferred method for giving up smoking according to public health researchers at the University of Sydney. With more than two-thirds of smokers giving up permanently this way the research team wants to know why.

2 Jan 2012

More than half smokers unaware of health risks: NHS Survey

The figures come from NHS Smokefree research that showed that 53% of smokers underestimate the number of annual deaths from smoking-related diseases by at least 70,000. The actual number of such deaths is more than 80,000.

2 Jan 2012

Britain mulling on cigarette plain packaging to discourage smoking

Britain wishes to follow Australia’s footsteps in banning all eye-catching designs and branding from cigarette packs to stop young people being lured into smoking. Australia meanwhile is poised to become the first nation to introduce so-called “plain” packaging on tobacco products by the end of 2012. The packs will show graphic health warnings about smoking but banish attractive colors and logos. The proposed law was cleared by parliament in November and is being closely watched by governments considering similar moves in Europe, Canada and New Zealand.

1 Jan 2012

British American Tobacco buckles up to fight plain packaging legislation

British American Tobacco (BAT) has challenged the High Court against the cigarette plain packaging legislation. BAT argues the ban is invalid because the federal government is trying to acquire valuable intellectual property without compensation. BAT lodged the writs launching its challenge in the High Court Sydney registry on Thursday. The date for hearing is likely to be no earlier than the second quarter of next year.

4 Dec 2011

Obama administration appeals to bring in cigarette pack graphic images

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the cigarette makers are likely to succeed in a lawsuit to stop a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirement that they put graphic images across the top half of all their packs.

30 Nov 2011