Tobacco News and Research

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Graphic picture warnings to persuade Brits to quit smoking

A nationwide campaign in Britain to get people to quit smoking will be dramatically hiked up this week.

29 Sep 2008

Energy drinks tackled on new web show from Institute For Good Medicine

Energy drinks are all the buzz these days, particularly as controversy rises on the impact they have on the human body. As such, the Institute for Good Medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical Society recently launched its first web show titled Good Medicine at www.myfamilywellness.org, featuring this controversial topic.

24 Sep 2008

Stopping smoking reduces postoperative complications

Patients who stop smoking four weeks before an operation reduce the risk of complications, according to a doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. Moreover, many of those who receive help with this ahead of operations remain non-smokers for a long time afterwards.

23 Sep 2008

New research blames pollution and everyday allergens for laryngitis

Researchers say everyday exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, allergens and air pollution may be the root of chronic cases of laryngitis.

23 Sep 2008

World Health Organization cautions against claims made by ‘electronic cigarette’ manufacturers

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched an attack on advertisers who are claiming that an electronic cigarette - a battery-powered product usually made of stainless steel and resembling a real cigarette - is a safe or legitimate nicotine replacement therapy for smokers trying to quit.

22 Sep 2008

Cancer Research UK launches campaign to protect children from tobacco

Through 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind', the charity is aiming to protect the next generation from this deadly addiction and is calling on people across the UK to sign up to a petition to support its aims. Research shows that the younger people start to smoke, the harder they find it to quit and to stay quit for good, a worrying statistic as over 80 per cent of smokers start before the age of 19.

15 Sep 2008

30 years on from Alma-Ata and the pendulum is swinging back to primary health care

Thirty years on from the signing of the historic Alma-Ata declaration, the famous rallying call to the global health community, the concept of Primary Health Care, which lay at its heart, is back on the global agenda.

15 Sep 2008

Southeast Asian health officials to meet in New Delhi to examine HIV/AIDS, other health issues

Health ministers and other officials from 11 Southeast Asian countries will meet on Monday in New Delhi for the World Health Organization's 61st Session of the Regional Committee for Southeast Asia, IANS/New Kerala reports.

9 Sep 2008

Congressional Democrats will not vote on SCHIP expansion legislation this session amid veto threats, increased cost estimates

Congressional Democrats said they will not hold a vote on legislation to renew and expand SCHIP this year, citing an inability to override a promised veto by President Bush, among other issues, the New York Times reports.

9 Sep 2008

In just 5 years tobacco caused 2.4 million cases of cancer in the U.S.

The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S. reveals some shocking figures.

8 Sep 2008

Prenatal behavioral counseling can reduce some health risk factors among low-income black women

Pregnant black women who participate in a few sessions of behavioral counseling are more likely to reduce certain risky behaviors than those who participate in standard prenatal care, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, Reuters Health reports.

7 Sep 2008

Effectiveness of Mediterranean diet confirmed for chronic disease prevention

It is effective in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, hypertension or osteoporosis. Experts have insisted that it is possible to prevent 80% cardiovascular diseases and 40% different types of cancer through diet, physical exercise and other healthy habits. Scientists of the UGR are specifically analysing how cells react against aggressions which cause pancreatic alterations and result in cancer.

7 Sep 2008

Public backs tougher tobacco control to protect the young

More than 8,000 people have written to the Department of Health calling for tougher tobacco control to protect young people and put tobacco out of sight and out of mind.

7 Sep 2008

The power of cigarettes not just down to nicotine

According to new research from the U.S., it may not just be nicotine which gives cigarettes their power but rather how it enhances other experiences.

4 Sep 2008

World Cancer Declaration sets ambitious targets for 2020

A summit of more than 60 high-level policymakers, leaders and health experts have adopted a global plan aimed at tackling the growing cancer crisis in developing countries.

1 Sep 2008

Primary prevention of coronary heart disease: challenges and achievements

The European Society of Cardiology together with other partner Societies has engaged in a comprehensive programme of prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) since 1994. Guidelines on this important topic have been developed and updated at regular intervals over the last 13 years, most recently in 2007.

1 Sep 2008

Regulation of consumer products: The bizarre case of strawberry jam and cigarettes

While jams and other consumer products are strictly regulated and are required to pass stringent tests before they can be sold, tobacco has no restrictions and manufacturers can, and do, add anything they want into the product.

31 Aug 2008

Time is right to make cancer control a development priority

For public health, the complexity of cancer control has increased enormously following the shift of the disease burden from wealthy to less affluent countries. Cancer causes around 7.9 million deaths worldwide each year. Of these deaths, more than 72% are now occurring in low- and middle-income countries. This is a shocking statistic, with huge implications for human suffering, health systems, health budgets, and the drive to reduce poverty.

27 Aug 2008

California's tobacco control program saved $86 billion in medical costs

California's state tobacco control program saved $86 billion (in 2004 dollars) in personal healthcare costs in its first 15 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

26 Aug 2008

New York Gov. Paterson proposes $1.04 billion in budget cuts, including $506 million to Medicaid

New York Gov. David Paterson (D) on Monday proposed cutting this year's state budget by 1%, or $1.04 billion, including $506 million in Medicaid cuts, to avoid a looming budget deficit, the New York Times reports (Peters, New York Times, 8/12).

13 Aug 2008