Great American Smokeout wants to make you a quitter

For the past 32 years, the Great American Smokeout has made being a quitter something to celebrate.

The event challenges tobacco users to quit for at least one day with the hope that single day will be the catalyst to quit completely. In the past it has been celebrated with rallies and parades, and has been chaired by celebrities like Sammy Davis Jr., Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, and Mr. Potato Head.

This year, the Great American Smokeout is slated for Thursday, November 19. The day not only serves as a target date for many people’s smoking cessation efforts, but also to help raise awareness about the dangers of smoking and the many ways available to quit smoking for good.

The idea for the Great American Smokeout sprung from a Massachusetts man in 1971. Arthur Mullaney, a former guidance counselor at Randolph High School in Randolph, MA, asked townspeople to give up smoking for a day and to donate the money they would have spent on tobacco to the local high school scholarship fund.

“Kids used to come into my office after school, and one day we were talking about college. I said, ‘you know, if I could have a nickel for every cigarette butt I see outside we'd have enough money to send all of you to college,’” Mullaney told ACS News Today in a 2001 interview. According to Mullaney, that was the first time an entire town quit smoking.

A few years later, Lynn Smith, editor of the Monticello Times, led the charge to create Minnesota's first D-Day (Don't Smoke Day). The idea gained momentum and, the California chapter of the American Cancer Society encouraged nearly one million smokers to quit for the day on November 18, 1976. With the success in California, the ACS took the event nationwide in 1977.

Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society, according the American Cancer Society. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women, and this year there will be about 169,500 new cases diagnosed in the US. More than 80% of lung cancers are thought to result from smoking.

Over the years, the progress is evident—70 million Americans once smoked. Though an estimated 40 million adults in the US still smoke, about 21 percent. Teen smoking seems to be on the rise, but a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says adult smoking has been declining since the late 1960s.

The public has increasingly shifted its perception of smoking. Once the symbol of glamour, status, virility and masculinity has become a general perception that smoking is a dying public health danger. Feeding that perception are indoor smoking laws, cigarette taxes and Congress's recent decision to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. Today, all but 13 U.S. states have enacted public smoking bans. Research shows that people who stop smoking before age 50 can cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half compared with those who continue to smoke. Smokers who quit also reduce their risk of lung cancer – ten years after quitting, the lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s.

Anyone who has ever kicked the habit can tell you that quitting is tough, especially when you try to tackle the challenge alone. Smokers are more successful in quitting when they have support from family and friends. Nicotine replacement products, prescription medications and tips from stop-smoking guides can also be helpful in making cessation successful. Here are a few tools to add to your arsenal.

1. The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Women’s Health guide Smoking: Medicines to Help You reviews common nicotine replacement products such as lozenges, inhalers, nasal sprays, gum and the patch. It also covers non-nicotine medicines only available by prescription.
2. The American Cancer Society offers a free Quitline operated and managed by Free & Clear® at 1-800-227-2345 for tobacco cessation and coaching services that can help smokers increase their chances of quitting for good. ACS also offers information on smoking cessation resources that may be in your area. The Great American Smokeout Web site contains user-friendly tips and tools towards a smoke-free life. In addition to tip sheets and calculators, the site also offers downloadable desktop helpers to assist with planning to quit and succeeding in staying tobacco-free. The Quit Clock allows users to pick a quit day within 30 days, then counts down the selected day with tips for each day; and the Craving Stopper helps smokers beat cravings by offering a fun distraction.
3. Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud, an educational campaign for the U.S. military, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense is a web site that has several tips and tools to help you or a loved one quit smoking.
   

So go ahead, and make your move by joining the Great American Smokeout. You'll be surprised at how quickly your body starts to recover when you don't smoke. For instance, 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure will go down toward your baseline level and your heart rate will become slower. After 12 hours, the carbon monoxide levels in your lungs will return to normal. And that's just in the first day!

Switching to "Light" Cigarettes makes quitting tougher

Experts have long known that "low-tar" and "light" cigarettes aren't any healthier than regular cigarettes, and new research suggests they have another drawback: People who switch to them are less likely to quit, even those who switch specifically because they want to stop smoking.

In fact, "switching to ['light' cigarettes] for any reason is associated with continuing to smoke," said study author Dr. Hilary Tindle, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh's Division of General Internal Medicine.

However, she acknowledged that the research does not prove that switching leads directly to a lower rate of quitting.

According to the authors, an estimated 84 percent of cigarettes sold in the United States are so-called low-tar and low-nicotine, with many of them called "lights." Some smokers may assume they're healthier than other cigarettes, but medical researchers say smokers still suck in about the same level of carcinogens. And research has shown that "lighter" cigarettes don't reduce smoking-related illness and death.

Regardless of what brand they smoke, "the average smoker dies 13 to 14 years earlier than he or she would die if he or she did not smoke," Tindle said.

In the new study, published online Nov. 3 in the journal Tobacco Control, researchers examined the results of a 2003 survey of 30,800 people in the United States who had smoked within the past year. Thirty-eight percent of them had switched to "lighter" cigarettes, with the largest percentage of those -- 26 percent -- saying they'd done so for better flavor. Forty-three percent mentioned one, two or three reasons for switching, with quitting smoking being one of those reasons.

However, those who had switched were 46 percent less likely to have quit smoking.

Why might switchers be more likely to continue smoking? "Prior research suggests that switching may resolve smokers' cognitive dissonance about smoking -- something along the lines of, 'Well, since I'm smoking a [supposedly] healthier cigarette, I really don't have to worry about lung cancer, heart disease, impotence, wrinkles, early death [fill in the blank] because my health is not at risk,'" Tindle said. "This type of rationale may keep more health-conscious smokers smoking."

But there are other possible explanations, added Robert West, a researcher who studies tobacco use at University College London in England.

It's possible, for example, that people who switch are already more dependent on cigarettes and less able to quit, he said.

What to do? "In Europe, tobacco companies are not allowed to call cigarettes low tar or imply that they are in any way safer," West said.

Regardless of how cigarettes are marketed, Tindle said, "the best solution for the problem of how to live longer and healthier is to quit smoking now."

In related news, a study published Nov. 3 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health finds that smoking during pregnancy is linked to a higher level of behavioral problems in offspring later in life, even among those as young as 3.

A team from the University of York in the England tracked 14,000 mother-and-child pairs and found that maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with significantly higher odds for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other behavioral woes, compared to children born to nonsmoking mothers.

More information

Find out more about smoking and its consequences at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Hilary Tindle, M.D., MPH, researcher, Center for Research on Healthcare, division of general internal medicine, University of Pittsburgh; Robert West, Ph.D., Health Behavior Research Center, department of epidemiology and public health, University College London, U.K.; Nov. 3, 2009, Tobacco Control, online, HealthDay News.

Exercise makes cigarettes less attractive to smokers

Exercise can help smokers quit because it makes cigarettes less attractive. A new study from the University of Exeter shows for the first time that exercise can lessen the power of cigarettes and smoking-related images to grab the attention of smokers. The study is published in the journal Addiction.

The study involved 20 moderately heavy smokers, who had abstained from cigarettes for 15 hours before the trial. During two visits to our laboratory participants began by being shown smoking-related and neutral images, and then spent either 15 minutes sitting or exercising on a stationary bike at a moderate intensity. Afterwards, they were again shown the images.

While the participants were shown the images, the research team used the latest eye tracking technology to measure and record their precise eye movements. They were able to show not only the length of time people looked at smoking-related images but also how quickly pictures of cigarettes could grab their attention, compared with non-smoking matched images.

The study showed an 11% difference between the time the participants spent looking at the smoking-related images after exercise, compared with the after sitting. Also, after exercise, participants took longer to look at smoking-related images. Exercise, therefore, appears to reduce the power of the smoking-related images to grab visual attention.

Numerous studies have shown that a single session of light to moderate intensity exercise, for example five-15 minutes of brisk walking, can reduce cravings and responses to smoking cues. This is the first time eye-tracking technology has been used to show that exercise can reduce interest in and salience of smoking cues that, outside the laboratory, may cause lapses and relapse among smokers trying to quit.

Lead author, University of Exeter PhD student Kate Janse Van Rensburg said: "We know that smoking-related images can be powerful triggers for smokers who are abstaining. While we are no longer faced with advertisements for cigarettes, smokers are still faced with seeing people smoking on television, in photographs or in person. We know that this makes it more difficult for them to quit.

"Because of this, it's very exciting to find that just a short burst of exercise can somewhat reduce the power of such images. It is not clear if longer or more vigorous bouts of exercise have a bigger effect. This study adds to the growing evidence that exercise can be a great help for people trying to give up smoking."

source: Addiction:Volume 104, Issue 11, Date: November 2009, Pages: 1910-1917
Kate Janse Van Rensburg, Adrian Taylor, Tim Hodgson

Smoking bans reduce heart attacks

Smoking bans in public places can significantly reduce the number of heart attacks, two U.S. research teams reported on Monday.

One team found smoking bans in the United States, Canada and Europe had an immediate effect that increased over time, cutting heart attacks by 17 percent after the first year and as much as 36 percent after three years, they reported in the journal Circulation.

A second team found such bans reduced the annual heart attack rate by 26 percent. Their report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology estimates a nationwide ban in the United States could prevent as many as 154,000 heart attacks each year.

Both research teams said the findings support the adoption of widespread bans on smoking in enclosed public places to prevent heart attacks and improve public health.

"Public smoking bans seem to be tremendously effective in reducing heart attack and, theoretically, might also help to prevent lung cancer and emphysema, diseases that develop much more slowly than heart attacks," said Dr. David Meyers of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, who led the study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Even breathing in low doses of cigarette smoke can increase one's risk of heart attack," he said.

Smoking bans have been enacted in countries all over the world. In the United States, 32 states ban smoking in public places and workplaces, and many cities and other localities do, too.

PRIOR STUDIES INCONSISTENT

Meyers and colleagues analyzed data from 10 studies on smoking bans in the United States, Canada and Europe to compare rates of heart attacks before and after public smoking bans.

They found women and younger people were most likely to benefit, possibly because they often work in or frequent bars and restaurants where smoking is common, Meyers said.

James Lightwood of the University of California-San Francisco, who worked on the study in Circulation, said prior studies have been inconsistent in their findings, but their analysis found that smoking bans had a compelling effect.

"This study adds to the already strong evidence that secondhand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100 percent smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to protect the public," Lightwood said.

Andy Deloney, spokesman for the Michigan Restaurant Association, said he has not seen the latest studies but remains skeptical about research findings that show immediate health benefits. He said tobacco smoke is just one of many factors that influence heart disease.

Deloney said many Michigan restaurants are choosing to ban smoking and using that as a competitive edge. In Michigan, where there is no statewide smoking ban, about 5,700 restaurants are smoke-free, compared with 2,200 in 1998.

But he thinks the choice should be up to restaurants and their customers. "We couldn't care less if all of the restaurants in Michigan went smoke-free -- as long as it's their choice," he said.

A spokesman for the National Restaurant Association said his organization had not been involved in the issue.

Long-term exposure to secondhand smoke can raise heart disease rates in adult nonsmokers by 25 percent to 30 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,.

Secondhand smoke kills an estimated 46,000 Americans every year from heart disease alone, the CDC and Heart Association say. Smoking also causes several types of cancer, stroke and emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Source: Reuters

The Next Frontier for Nonsmoking Laws: Your Car

Passengers riding in the cars of smokers are exposed to nicotine levels nearly twice those found in restaurants and bars that permit smoking, a new study suggests.

The dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke are well known, including the risk for heart and respiratory disease, and have led to laws banning smoking in many public places. Many anti-smoking advocates believe the next frontier in the fight against secondhand smoke is in cars.

"These levels of exposure are unacceptable for nonsmoking passengers, particularly children, who are at increased risk for secondhand smoke-related health problems," said study co-author Patrick Breysse, director of the Division of Environmental Health Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Breysse and his co-author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, an assistant professor of occupational and environmental health at Hopkins, believe that smoking should be banned in cars as it has been in other places.

"The high secondhand tobacco smoke levels measured in this study support the urgent need for smoke-free education campaigns and legislative measures banning smoking in motor vehicles when passengers, especially children, are present," Navas-Acien said.

The report is published in the Aug. 25 online edition of Tobacco Control.

For the study, Breysse and Navas-Acien compared nicotine levels in the cars of 17 smokers and five nonsmokers whose commute to and from work took 30 minutes or longer. The researchers placed airborne nicotine samplers in the cars, one near the front passenger seat headrest and another in the back seat behind the driver.

The researchers then analyzed the samples and found a twofold increase in concentrations of nicotine for every cigarette smoked.

Navas-Acien and Breysse estimate that nicotine concentrations are twice as high in smokers' cars as in other public and private places studied, and 40 percent to 50 percent higher than in restaurants and bars that allow smoking.

"While partially opening windows reduced exposure to secondhand smoke it did not eliminate exposure within motor vehicles," Breysse said. "It is important to remember that there is no known safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke."

People in the study also completed a questionnaire that included questions on their knowledge and attitudes about the health risks of secondhand smoke and relevant regulations and legislation. Both smokers and nonsmokers said smoking in a car posed a health risk to passengers. Among smokers, 53 percent said not being able to smoke in the car would help them to quit, and 93 percent said cars should be smoke-free voluntarily. Only 7 percent of smokers said there should be laws outlawing smoking in cars.

"Results of this research and other studies can be used to develop education campaigns aimed at eliminating secondhand smoke exposure in motor vehicles," Breysse said. "In addition, these results can be used to support legislative efforts aimed at banning smoking in vehicles, particularly when children are present."

Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said "all those people who smoke in cars and think they are protecting the passengers by using AC [air conditioning] or opening the window are wrong and potentially impairing their passengers' health."

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the new study "a rude wake-up call -- cars literally become toxic gas chambers."

Myers also believes that laws banning smoking in cars are needed. "It is appropriate and necessary to ban smoking in cars where children are passengers," he said. "Children are not volunteers in cars. This is a more intense, more dangerous exposure to kids than in any other location."

Source: Healthday

Tomatoes and Tobacco: cost drives some smokers to grow their own

Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden — the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants.

Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9.

"I want to get to where I don't have to go to the store and buy tobacco, but I'll just be able to supply my own from one year to the next," Byars said.

In urban lots and on rural acres, smokers and smokeless tobacco users are planting Virginia Gold, Goose Creek Red, Yellow Twist Bud and dozens of other tobacco varieties.

Although most people still buy from big tobacco, the movement took off in April when the tax on cigarettes went up 62 cents to $1.01 a pack. Large tax increases were also imposed on other tobacco products, and tobacco companies upped prices even more to compensate for lost sales.

Some seed suppliers have reported a tenfold increase in sales as some of the country's 43.3 million smokers look for a cheaper way to get their nicotine fix in a down economy. Cigarettes cost an average of $4.35 a pack, home growers can make that amount for about 30 cents.

It's the latest do-it-yourself movement as others repair their own cars, swap used clothes and cancel yard work services to save money.

"Cigarette smokers say, 'Yeah, we're going to die of cancer, but do we have to die of poverty as well?'" said Jack Basharan, who operates The Tobacco Seed Co. Ltd. in Essex, England. Virtually all of his increased tobacco seed sales have been in the U.S., he said.

Provided the tobacco isn't sold or traded, the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate homegrown tobacco. Most people grow for cigarettes, but some blend their own cigars and chew.

The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture don't keep statistics on home growers, though seed suppliers and Internet buzz suggest strong interest.

Seedman.com has sold more than 100,000 packets of tobacco seeds this year, compared with 22,000 in all of 2008, president Jim Johnson said. The Gautier, Miss.-based company offers 40 varieties of tobacco from around the globe and packages various flavor blends for first-time growers.

A grower who purchased one of Johnson's Oriental and Turkish blends for $24.50 could satisfy a pack-a-day habit for more than three years, according to Johnson's calculations.

However, growing and processing tobacco can challenge even the best gardeners. The nearly microscopic seeds must initially be grown inside and transplanted after the threat of frost has passed.

The plants are susceptible to an army of pests; must be topped, or pruned, to encourage leaf growth; require rotating every few years; and require the proper chemical soil balance. The leaves must be cut and hung to dry.

A seed started in March can be ready to smoke as soon as October. Some anxious growers have been known to microwave leaves to hasten the drying. For purists, the leaves can be cured, or aged, like a fine wine for up to three years.

"It's actually very labor intensive," said Ed Baker, general manager of Cross Creek Seed Inc. in Raeford, N.C., the No. 1 tobacco seed supplier in the U.S. "There's a reason why cigarette companies make all that money. If it was that easy, everyone would be growing their own tobacco."

Cross Creek has seen a big increase in seed requests from home growers but it sells in volume. It's smallest seed offering is 90,000 seeds for $170.

Novices and veterans can find smoker-friendly havens like howtogrowtobacco.com, a Web site that offers growing and curing tips, often including angry posts over ever-increasing taxes and smoking restrictions.

Many would not discuss their crops with The Associated Press, fearful a high profile would invite government scrutiny and taxes. Others proudly share stories and post photos.

Arthur Skora, 42, records his success growing and curing in Greenwood, Wis., on a how-to DVD he sells online.

"Most of the people who are ordering are just getting fed up with prices and basically they're not going to take it anymore," Skora said.

Saving money wasn't the only motivation for Matt Schoell-Schafer, a landscape architect in Kansas City, who has 50 plants growing in his urban garden.

"It's not being a victim to their manipulation of this product," said Schoell-Schafer, 34, who enjoys an occasional cigar or cigarette. "So I'm sort of liberating myself by growing it myself."

Some growers contend their tobacco concoctions are safer than commercial products, which have a stew of additives ranging from colorings and oils to ammonia.

"The quick answer to that is no," said Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society. Glynn knew of only one study of the health risks of homegrown and commercial blends — and it concluded no difference in safety between the two.

Homegrown tobacco can also contain fungus and mold, which can cause chronic bronchitis and other ailments, Glynn said.

Philip Morris USA, the nation's No. 1 cigarette maker, and other big companies are unlikely to shudder. Philip Gorham, a tobacco industry analyst with the investment research firm Morningstar, said he had no data on smokers who switched to homegrown. But he doesn't see it as a mass movement.

"It's one thing to switch from a premium brand to a discount one. It's quite another to switch from buying a manufactured product to roll your own," Gorham said.

At VirtualSeeds.com, Joyce Moore said she typically sold tobacco seeds as ornamental plants to gardeners who appreciated their elephantine leaves. This year, her Astoria, Ore.-based company was overwhelmed by orders from tobacco users slammed by "the market collapse, the recession, then getting hit with exorbitant tobacco taxes."

Moore doesn't use tobacco herself but has no misgivings about her business.

"If I sold doughnuts in a bakery would I feel guilty because fat people come in and buy them?" she asked. "It just happens to be a very good year for tobacco seeds."

Source: STEVE SZKOTAK (AP)

Smoking increases brain shrinkage and lesions in MS

People who smoke and have multiple sclerosis (MS) may be at increased risk of brain shrinkage and increased brain lesions related to the disease, according to a new study published in the August 18, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Smoking has already been linked to an increased risk of developing MS.

MS, a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system, including the spinal cord, brain and optic nerve, affects about 400,000 Americans, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Symptoms can be mild, such as limb numbness, or severe, such as loss of vision or paralysis.

The study found that smokers with MS had a greater breakdown of the barrier between the brain and blood and had nearly 17 percent more brain lesions on their MRI scans compared to non-smokers with MS. Smokers with MS had 13 percent larger ventricles and a smaller brain size compared to non-smokers with MS. Exactly why smoking has this effect isn't known. However, researchers suspect that nicotine may disrupt the blood-brain barrier.
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"These results show that smoking appears to quite literally injure the brain in a person with multiple sclerosis and increases the risk of disease severity and progression," said study author Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, Associate Professor with State University of New York School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo. (Robert Zivadinov is also the Director of the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, the Jacobs Neurological Institute and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.)

""Cigarette smoking is one of the most compelling environmental risk factors linked to the development and worsening of MS," said Robert Zivadinov.

"Our study stresses the importance of anti-smoking education in schools, where many smokers start, and more targeted programs to help people with MS to quit smoking so they can have a better quality of life," he said.

The study also found that smokers were likely to have more problems with motor functioning, such as walking and taking part in daily activities, than non-smokers.

The study was supported by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.