Investigative journalism and the Tobacco Industry

Source: The Independent (uk) Date: 2010-09-02 Author: Menelaos Tzafalias In Athens And Archie Bland A fresh crackdown on smoking started in Greece yesterday, with the government outlawing cigarettes in enclosed public spaces and placing new limits on tobacco advertising. Under new regulations, anyone who breaks the rules by lighting up indoors in public will face fines of between €50 and €400. Business owners could be fined up to €10,000 or lose their licences. It is the secon...

Bulletin of the World Health Organization Source: World Health Organization (WHO) Date: 2010-08-01 Author: Margaretha Haglund A, Almost the same marketing techniques that have been used to promote smoking among women in developed countries are now being applied to women and girls in developing countries who don’t have a history of cigarette smoking. The overall objective of any campaign from the tobacco industry targeting women is to make cigarettes more attractive. . . . The cigaret...

Source: Medical News TODAY(UK) Date: 2010-08-25 Scientists have discovered that when nicotine binds to nAchRs (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors), it may not only promote addiction, but breast cancer as well. We know that non-nicotine components of smoking are carcinogens, however, very little is known about how nicotine acts on cells to encourage cancer growth, the scientists explain. While previous studies have linked smoking to increased breast cancer risk, they have not been accompanied by ...

Source: Jamaica Gleaner (jm) Date: 2010-08-25 Author: Dr Pauline Williams-Green, People who market the e-cigarette, claim that it can be used to break the habit of smoking \'real\' cigarettes. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. These substances contain nicotine of varying levels of potency. There is no evidence that using the e-cigarette will help to break the addiction to tobacco. Instead, this might be a gateway to nicotine addiction. Further, there is reas...

Source: Sify.com (in) Date: 2010-08-25, 998-2010 Giving up smoking can dramatically improve flagging sex lives, according to a study conducted by a Hong Kong university. The University of Hong Kong study found 53.8 percent of smokers being treated for impotence said that their problems eased within six months of stubbing out their nicotine habits. That figure compared to just 28.1 percent of men treated for erectile dysfunction who continued smoking, meaning quitters have a 91.5 percent great...

Source: CBS New York - Ch. 2 Date: 2010-08-22 Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-smoking crusade could be coming to a city park or public beach near you, a plan plenty of people say crosses the line, reports CBS 2′s Dave Carlin. CBS 2 has learned that Mayor Bloomberg is looking at a possible smoking ban for all city parks and public beaches. “Now you’re gonna stop me from smoking in the park? Where am I gonna smoke at?” West Side resident Anthony Cintron said. “What&...

Source: Xinhua Newswire Date: 2010-08-20, Finnish President Tarja Halonen approved Friday a new tobacco act proposed by the Finnish government on Aug. 18, aiming to totally end smoking in Finland, the first country to write the aim of completely banning smoking in a law. The purpose of a new tobacco act is to prevent in particular children and youngsters from smoking. The new act restricts selling and supplying tobacco especially to children and youngsters under 18 years old. Neither shops nor ...

Source: Airman Date: 2010-08-20 The Air Force surgeon general has issued a memo alerting all Airmen about safety concerns regarding electronic cigarettes, a new type of nicotine product. Also known as "e-cigs," electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices that look like conventional cigarettes. The e-cig contains a cartridge filled with nicotine, which is delivered to the user as a vapor. Water vapor is emitted from the end of the device to mimic the appearance of smoke. &quo...

Source: Haveeru Daily (mv) Date: 2010-08-19 President Mohamed Nasheed Wednesday ratified Tobacco Control Bill passed by the parliament on August 2. The bill submitted by the government on July 22, 2009 prohibited public smoking. However, the parliamentary committee that studied the bill amended the article allowing smoking in public places such as parks and halls. The Act states measures to control tobacco use including prohibition of growing and advertising tobacco and tobacco products, how...

Source: The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (uk) Date: 2010-08-20 Author: Daily Mail Reporter The NHS spent nearly £84million on helping smokers to quit, but campaigners say the habit costs taxpayers nearly £2.7 billion a year The NHS has helped a record number of people to successfully give up smoking, according to new figures. The NHS Information Centre revealed 373,954 had quit cigarettes in 2009/10 - nearly half of those who had used the service. It marked an impressive 11 pe...

Source: CBC News (ca) Date: 2010-08-17 A study commissioned by the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control suggests that smokers are taking up beds and costing the Quebec health-care system millions a year. Researchers found that those who smoke, or used to smoke heavily, occupy 32.6 per cent of hospital beds in the province. The report concludes that caring for smokers in hospital costs Quebec\'s health-care system $930 million a year. "[Quebec is] certainly lagging behind other provinces,...

Assistance will be available to patients admitted to private health-care facilities  Source: Winston-Salem (NC) Journal Date: 2010-08-16 Author:  Richard Craver * Journal Reporter, Patients who use tobacco and enter North Carolina private hospitals will soon get more than medical assistance. They\'ll also get advice on how to quit and -- if they ask for it -- a follow-up inquiry a month after being discharged. The program is being overseen by the foundation of the N.C. Hospital ...

Those who smoke or smoked both cigarettes and marijuana were 2.9 times more likely to have chronic obstructive lung disease. Source: Vancouver (BC) Sun (ca) Date: 2010-03-10 Author: [item Undated] Pamela Fayerman , Canwest News Service People who habitually smoke both tobacco and marijuana are about three times more likely than non-smokers to develop serious lung disease, according to results of a British Columbia study. That affects a lot of people because nearly 20 per cent of Vancouverites...

Source: physorg.com Date: 2010-07-18 Point-of-sale tobacco advertising works impressively well on teens -- so well that federal regulators should consider barring such marketing efforts from convenience stores, gas stations and small groceries, a Stanford University School of Medicine researcher said. A study to be published in the August issue of Pediatrics led by Lisa Henriksen, PhD, senior research scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, reports that teens\' exposure to cigare...

Source: Daily Graphic/Central Plains Herald-Leader (ca) Date: 2010-08-10 Author:  Posted By The Daily Graphic Staff, While most people are currently hiding in their air-conditioned homes, Errol Povah is running across the country to support his goal of a tobacco-free world. Povah, 57, left Victoria May 31, which was the World Health Organization\'s 23rd annual World No Tobacco Day and is walking toward Montreal and, if he has time and the resources, possibly onto New York. Povah chose ...

Source: Crikey (au) Date: 2010-08-11 Author: Croakey Prominent Australians of the Year have joined forces to sign an open letter calling on “all political parties” (IE read the Federal Opposition) to commit to supporting plain packaging of cigarettes. Their letter follows a tobacco-industry funded campaign against the Federal Government’s plans to introduce plain packaging (which was was one of a raft of tobacco control measures recommended by the National Preventative Health...

Source: Associated Press (AP) Date: 2010-08-10 One of world sport\'s last tobacco sponsorships is ending, at the Swiss Indoors tennis event in Roger Federer\'s hometown of Basel. Tournament organizers say the 2010 event in November is the last of a 17-year partnership with tobacco brand Davidoff. Swiss Indoors said in a statement that the ATP World Tour told the tournament in June the existing sponsorship could not be extended because of worldwide laws restricting tobacco advertising on telev...

In less than two months, it will be illegal to smoke in public in Barbados, but it’s not just defiant smokers who will face fines or prison time. Source: Caribbean360 (bb) Date: 2010-08-06 A ban on smoking in public in Barbados takes effect on October 1st, with fines and imprisonment chosen as punishment for illegal smokers. Proprietors of buildings who allow people to smoke won\'t be getting off the hook, either, because they too will be prosecuted. The announcement came yesterday fro...

Source: BBC Online Date: 2010-08-07 Parents who smoke in cars in front of small children are "committing a form of child abuse", a leading GP has said. Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has condemned society\'s attitudes to food, alcohol and cigarettes. In a letter to the Observer newspaper, he said parents had to take more responsibility for their children\'s health - and set a good example. . . . Professor Field, who represents 42,00...