Tobacco News and Research

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More than 40 per cent of smokers tried to quit in 2007

Forty three per cent of England's smokers tried to quit in 2007, and many of them several times - according to Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco studies, Professor Robert West. His findings are presented at the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Wales conference in Cardiff today (Monday).

28 Apr 2008

Smokers more prone to depression

Researchers in Spain suggest that smokers are significantly more at risk of suffering depression than non-smokers.

28 Apr 2008

Florida budget officials tap into tobacco endowment fund to provide health care for low-income, severely ill residents

Florida state budget negotiators on Wednesday approved a measure to shift $300 million from the Lawton Chiles Tobacco Endowment for Children and Elders to preserve social and health care services for about 40,000 residents in state Medically Needy and the Medicaid Aged-and-Disabled programs, the Miami Herald reports.

26 Apr 2008

Racial disparities in smoking cessation treatment

A new study from the American Cancer Society finds black and Hispanic smokers are less likely than whites to receive and use smoking cessation advice and aids.

24 Apr 2008

Smokers more depressed

The risk of suffering depression increases 41% in smokers, in comparison with non-smokers. This was the conclusion of a study undertaken with 8,556 participants by scientists of the University of Navarra, in collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), and which demonstrates in a pioneering way the direct relationship between tobacco use and this disease.

24 Apr 2008

20% of adolescents smoke

As many as 20% of adolescents from 11 to 17 years of age smoke. This was the result of the nationwide German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), performed by the Robert Koch Institute and presented by the sociologist Thomas Lampert in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[15]: 265-71).

23 Apr 2008

Effects of population tobacco control interventions on social inequalities in smoking

Population level tobacco control interventions have the potential to benefit more disadvantaged groups and to reduce health inequalities, suggests a new systematic review published ahead of print in the journal Tobacco Control.

22 Apr 2008

New cancer report - facts and figures 2008

An annual report from the American Cancer Society highlights that long-term favorable trends have stalled for several factors that have been responsible for declining cancer death rates in the U.S.

22 Apr 2008

Several states consider tobacco tax increases to fund health care programs, address budget deficits

Several states have sought to increase their tobacco taxes to fund health care programs and address budget deficits, but efforts to increase tobacco taxes in some cases have prevented the passage of health care proposals, the New York Times reports.

21 Apr 2008

Maine Gov. Baldacci signs legislation that will increase taxes to fund health program

Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D) on Wednesday signed into law a bill that increases taxes and fees on beer, wine and soda manufacturers to fund the Dirigo Health program, the Blethen Maine News Service/Portland Press Herald reports.

21 Apr 2008

New Australian legislation on the way to ban flavoured cigarettes and regulate use of solariums

As a result of an agreement between state and federal health ministers, the sale of flavoured cigarettes will be banned in Australia.

20 Apr 2008

Draft legislation aimed at overhauling FDA would require more inspections, change user fees

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday released draft legislation that would make broad regulatory changes to FDA and increase funds for the agency, CQ Today reports.

18 Apr 2008

Biomoda granted 'notice of allowance' for U.S. patent protection for additional IP

Biomoda, Inc., a development stage medical diagnostics company, announced it has been granted a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its invention directed to the "Method for Prognosing Response to Cancer Therapy with 5,10,15,20-Tetrakis (Carboxyphenyl) Porphine."

18 Apr 2008

Life Sciences Discovery Fund awards $2.2 million to support new solid-tumor research program

The state's Life Sciences Discovery fund has awarded $2.2 million to establish a formal phase 1 clinical-trials program to test new therapies for solid tumors at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Announced this evening, the grant is among the first funded by Washington's $350 million tobacco-lawsuit-settlement bonus.

17 Apr 2008

Increase in cannabis use among Ontario adults, CAMH reports

While this CAMH Monitor eReport reveals some promising substance use trends among Ontario adults, its revelation of a substantial increase in cannabis use raises a significant public health flag.

15 Apr 2008

Cells lining the mouth tell the tale of lung damage caused by smoking

Cells lining the mouth reflect the molecular damage that smoking does to the lining of the lungs, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

13 Apr 2008

Study finds smoking related to subset of colorectal cancers

Smoking puts older women at significant risk for loss of DNA repair proteins that are critical for defending against development of some colorectal cancers, according to research from a team led by Mayo Clinic scientists.

13 Apr 2008

Moving to the UK worsens maternal health behaviors

After women immigrate to the UK their maternal health behaviours worsen as their length of residency increases.

11 Apr 2008

Kidney cancer deaths show overall decrease in Europe

Overall deaths from kidney cancer have now fallen across Europe after peaking in the early 1990s, according to a detailed analysis of mortality rates for 32 countries published in the urology journal BJU International.

10 Apr 2008

Low birth weight and heart problems

Researchers who have followed 5,840 people from before birth to the age of 31 have found evidence suggesting that small size at birth and excessive weight gain during adolescence and young adulthood may lead to low grade inflammation, which, in turn, is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease.