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SpotlightSpecial Journal Supplement Focuses on Increasing Consumer Demand for Cessation NTCC has developed a special supplement to the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine to bring attention to the importance of having a consumer-oriented perspective in tobacco cessation efforts. “Increasing Tobacco Cessation in America—A Consumer Demand Perspective” includes over 20 empirical studies, commentaries, and conceptual discussions on how the nation can do a better job designing and implementing tobacco control treatments and policies to help smokers quit. To read or download PDF versions of the articles in the supplement, please visit the NTCC web site at www.tobacco-cessation.org. Seventy percent of current smokers in the U.S. say that they want to quit and over 40% report making a quit attempt. However, the majority of smokers who try to quit do not use proven treatments that could double to triple their chances of quitting successfully. In 2005, NTCC and its funders launched the Consumer Demand Roundtable (CDR) to address the underuse of effective tobacco cessation treatments, particularly among underserved low-income and racial/ethnic minorities. In three roundtable meetings and a final national conference, the CDR convened experts and innovators from different backgrounds, sectors and disciplines to explore how to increase the demand for evidence-based treatment and how to make treatments affordable, accessible and easier to use. Participants identified six core strategies for building consumer demand for evidence-based cessation products and services. One of the six strategies identified is seizing policy changes as opportunities for breakthrough increases in treatment and quit rates. This supplement comes after a year of sweeping policy changes related to tobacco prevention and cessation. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act resulted in the largest federal tobacco tax increase in the nation’s history. These two pieces of legislation, combined with increased smoke-free laws on the state and local level and many other factors, create an environment in which it will be easier for people to successfully quit smoking. However, to maximize the impact of these policies, it is critical to pay close attention to the needs of smokers, with a particular focus on whether evidence-based treatments are affordable, accessible and easy to use. This supplement outlines how the tobacco control community can help “connect the dots” for the consumer, by linking policy with treatment in ways that will increase demand for effective cessation services. The supplement includes articles on all facets of cessation and consumer demand, including product and service design, public policy, media campaigns, and quitlines. The articles include information about the impact of promising clinical, community and state interventions to increase consumer demand for quit smoking resources. Also highlighted are methods for making effective quit programs more appealing to the smokers who need them most. Several of the articles utilize computer simulation models that examine tobacco control strategies individually and in combination and their impact on smoking prevalence over time. In addition, the some of the articles focus on principles and directions for primary care, and state and national efforts to help institutionalize a consumer-based perspective. Some of the articles include:
Providing more smokers with tobacco cessation products and services that they find both appealing and effective could lead to a considerable increase in the nation’s overall quit rate and help to eliminate growing disparities in health outcomes. It is a challenge that will require innovative thinking, new approaches to the problem; and comprehensive changes in policy and practice. Research HighlightsGradual Reduction in Smoking as Successful as Abrupt QuittingAlthough many smokers try to quit by selecting a "quit day" and going cold turkey, a new Cochrane review finds that quitting gradually might work just as well. The authors evaluated 10 studies with 3,760 participants and studies had a minimum six-month follow-up period. "All participants were asked to choose or were given a quit day to work toward, whether they quit gradually or abruptly," said lead reviewer Nicola Lindson, a researcher at the U.K. Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Birmingham, in England. "In these structured circumstances reduction was as successful as abrupt quitting." The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of health care. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic. The studies all differed on the instructions given to participants on how they should reduce the amount of cigarettes smoked. For example, one study asked them to reduce their smoking by 50 percent over four weeks and then quit completely. Another study asked participants to reduce their smoking by five to 10 cigarettes per week over five weeks until they were not smoking at all. Four studies gave participants either self-help information booklets or a handheld computer program to educate them on either of the assigned smoking cessation methods. Five studies gave participants either behavioral support through face-to-face counseling or via telephone calls, which taught strategies to help them avoid smoking when tempted. One study gave participants both self-help booklets and behavioral counseling. Three studies gave participants nicotine replacement therapy, such as nicotine gum and lozenges, to help with either the smoking reduction or abrupt quitting. Lindson said smokers might benefit from choosing more than one method to find success, such as combining a reduction or abrupt quit attempt with behavioral support or nicotine replacement therapy. "At present, reduction is not recommended by national guidelines in the U.K. and U.S., so many sources of support do not offer a gradual quitting option," she said. "The American Lung Association advocates that those who wish to quit smoking do so with multiple intervention techniques," said Jessica Kelly, manager of Advocacy and Respiratory Health Programs at the American Lung Association of Indiana. "Most smokers need more than one attempt to quit smoking and some may find that different combinations of therapies will work better for their needs and lifestyle."
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UC San Diego Researchers Analyze 15 Years of Data on an Asian QuitlineTelephone counseling programs for smoking cessation, popularly known as “quitlines,” are an increasingly common way for smokers to quit. Every state in the U.S. now has one. However, most of them provide counseling services in English and Spanish only. The only quitline so far to offer counseling in multiple Asian languages is the California Smokers’ Helpline. Since 1993, the Helpline has been counseling smokers in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects), Korean and Vietnamese, in addition to English and Spanish. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, led by Shu-Hong Zhu, PhD, professor of family and preventative medicine, examined more than 15 years of data from the California Smokers’ Helpline and compared the use of Asian-language services by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese callers to the use of English-language services by Caucasian callers. Their findings appear in the March 18 online issue of The American Journal of Public Health. “Many people mistakenly believe that Asians won’t call such a service,” said Zhu. “Yet California’s experience shows just the opposite. Asian-language speakers are actively using the service.” Between 1993 and 2008, the California Smokers’ Helpline received 22,061 calls from Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese individuals on its Asian-language lines, and 259,979 calls from Caucasians on its English line. The researchers estimated the number of smokers in each group in California using data from the California Health Interview Surveys, and then put the population estimates and the Helpline data together to compute quitline usage rates for each group. They found that smokers speaking Asian languages were just as likely to use the quitline as English-speaking Caucasians were, and that California’s anti-smoking media campaign – which appears in multiple languages – was the main driver of Asian calls. “The mass media campaign not only raises smokers’ awareness of the importance of quitting, but in many cases motivates their nonsmoking family members to call the quitline on their behalf,” Zhu said. “This suggests that media promotion of a language-specific cessation service can help mobilize the community to help smokers quit. We hope this study will encourage other state quitlines to offer Asian-language counseling to help address disparities in access to effective cessation services.” Hye-ryeon Lee, interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, University of Hawaii at Manoa, is participating in a project to make California’s Asian-language services available in Hawaii and other states. “The Asian-American and Pacific Islander population is one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the country, and tobacco use in this community is a concern,” she said. “Asian-language smokers should have the same access to treatment as English and Spanish speakers.” Since January 2010, Hawaii and Colorado have joined with California to form a multi-state quitline for Asian-language smokers. The joint project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employs Asian counselors in California to answer calls from all states, while each state promotes the service to its respective Asian communities. The toll-free telephone numbers for Asian-language smokers in other states are:
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Genetic Variant Raises Lung Cancer RiskPeople with a particular genetic trait are at much higher risk of developing lung cancer from exposure to secondhand smoke than others, even if they rarely come into contact with it, a new study finds. Researchers also found that smokers with this variant are more susceptible to lung cancer, whether they light up a lot or a little. "If you carried the inherited risk and then you smoked, it didn't matter if you were a light smoker or a heavy smoker -- you were significantly more likely to develop lung cancer," study co-investigator Susan Pinney, an associate professor in the department of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati, said in a news release from the school. About 200,000 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it kills more people than any other form of cancer. The study authors examined nonsmokers, light smokers, moderate smokers and heavy smokers. They found that family members who had the genetic trait were at higher risk of getting lung cancer even if they were light smokers. For them, moderate and heavy smoking didn't boost their risk very much. By contrast, heavy smokers normally face a much higher risk of lung cancer than moderate smokers. The study, conducted by the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium, was published online March 9 in advance of print publication March 15 in the journal Cancer Research.
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Nicotine Uptake Gradual in Smokers' BrainsNicotine builds up gradually in smokers' brains rather than spiking after each puff, according to a study that might help point to new ways to help people quit smoking. Dr. Jed E. Rose of Duke University reports in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that nicotine buildup in the brain was gradual over several minutes. Scientists have theorized that there is a spike of nicotine in the brain about seven seconds after each puff, but almost no measurements had been taken until now, Rose said in a telephone interview. "We were surprised to find that the rate of uptake was much different from what one commonly hears," said Rose, who directs the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, a part of the university's School of Medicine. Rose used brain scans to measure the nicotine levels in 13 regular smokers and 10 people who smoke only occasionally, an indication they were not addicted to nicotine. Maximum brain levels of nicotine were reached in 3 to 5 minutes, and built up slower in addicted smokers than in casual ones, the researchers found. "This slower rate resulted from nicotine staying longer in the lungs of dependent smokers, which may be a result of the chronic effects of smoke on the lungs," Rose suggested. "Now that we know there are not these spikes" that had been expected, Rose said, researchers may be better able to develop new approaches to help smokers get what they need from cigarettes, but in a way that's not addictive. His laboratory, for example, is working on a mist inhaler to deliver nicotine without any combustion. Still in question: Why do some people become addicted to cigarettes and others don't? The difference in the rate of nicotine buildup in the brain doesn't explain this, the researchers said. The research was funded by the giant tobacco companies Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International. The researchers said the companies had no role in designing or carrying out the research or analyzing the results.
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Door-to-Door Program Helps Quit SmokingU.S. researchers found offering door-to-door counseling helped new moms cut down on smoking. Brad Collins of Temple University in Philadelphia and colleagues offered Philadelphia Family Rules for Establishing Smoke-free Homes -- a 16-week intensive one-on-one counseling program. Previous research had found 40 percent of new moms in North Philadelphia either smoked currently or had smoked late into their pregnancies, and were increasing their babies' risks of sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, lung or ear infections. "Our counselors explicitly demonstrated the steps one can take to create a smoke-free home and coached smokers through those steps taking into account individual and family-level factors that could either facilitate or undermine the behavior change process," Collins said in a statement. A group of 229 new mothers were randomly assigned to a self-help program or behavioral counseling through the program. The mothers who received behavioral counseling reported smoking an average of two cigarettes per day indoors -- vs. five cigarettes per day reported by those in the self-help group. Children of the mothers receiving behavioral counseling also had lower levels of urine cotinine -- a biomarker showing secondhand smoke exposure. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
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Secondhand Smoke Damages Arteries in Teens: StudyChildren as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke in their blood also have visibly thicker arteries, Finnish researchers reported. Their study suggests that the damage caused by secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by the teen years. "Although previous research has found that passive smoke may be harmful for blood vessels among adults, we did not know until this study that these specific effects also happen among children and adolescents," Dr. Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland, who led the study, said in a statement. Her team studied 494 children aged 8 to 13 taking part in ongoing research on heart disease. They measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke. They divided the children into groups with high, intermediate and low cotinine levels. Ultrasound was used to measure the thickness of the aorta and of the carotid artery in the neck. Artery walls look thicker on an ultrasound if they are damaged by the process of atherosclerosis. The children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls that were, on average, 7 percent thicker than the children with the lowest cotinine levels, Kallio's team reported in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Their aortas were 8 percent thicker. The researchers also did a test that measures the flexibility of the arteries in the arm, another measure of blood vessel health and heart disease risk. This measurement, called brachial artery flow-mediated dilation, was 15 percent lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine, they found. And measures of cholesterol showed unhealthier levels among the children with more smoke in their blood. "These findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all," Kallio said. "Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels."
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AAAAI: Fetal Tobacco Exposure Promotes AsthmaMaternal smoking during pregnancy may exert a more powerful influence on asthma development in children than postnatal secondhand smoke or breastfeeding by smoking moms, researchers said here. Children of different ethnicities with exposure in utero to tobacco smoking were at nearly six times as likely to develop persistent asthma than children whose moms didn't smoke during pregnancy, according to Sarena Apte, MD, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. On the other hand, there no significant relationship between children's asthma and mothers' postnatal smoking status, Apte reported at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual meeting. Apte said these results add more force to recommendations that women stop smoking during pregnancy. The study was one of several here suggesting that asthma risk is more closely linked to fetal exposures to chemical insults than exposures after birth. Session moderator Neil Alexis, PhD, an immunologist at the University of North Carolina who was not involved with Apte's study, said it was not surprising that exposures in utero should be more important than postnatal exposures. "There's some evidence [from other research] that smoking in utero does alter the immune system at that critical stage of development," he said. "If you modify it at that point, things can go down a more allergic pathway." Apte and colleagues analyzed data from 295 children, ages 8 to 16, who were participating in previous studies. Their parents provided information on their smoking habits during pregnancy and the first years of life in recent structured interviews. All the children were African American, Mexican-American, Mexican, or Puerto Rican, and lived either in the U.S. or in Puerto Rico. Persistent asthma was diagnosed in 194 of the children, with the remainder having intermittent illness. In addition to the presence of persistent asthma, the researchers counted other significant symptoms such as wheezing, nocturnal symptoms, and daily symptoms. Apte and colleagues calculated the following odds ratios related to fetal exposure to smoking, relative to participants without such exposure:
In contrast, odds ratios for these outcomes in the presence of postnatal smoking, as well as current smoking at the time of the parental interview, were all nonsignificant.
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New Smoking Cessation Therapy Proves PromisingA novel technology for delivering nicotine to the lungs may soon give smokers a new way to kick the habit. When compared to the nicotine vapor delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream. As a result, it provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers. Users also reported the new nicotine delivery method was more tolerable than the current inhaler because it caused less throat irritation. "We wanted to replicate the experience of smoking without incurring the dangers associated with cigarettes, and we wanted to do so more effectively than the nicotine replacement therapies currently on the market," said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research where the technology is being developed. He presented the data at the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research (SRNT) in Baltimore, MD. The Nicotrol inhaler is a smoking cessation therapy that delivers nicotine vapor to the mouth and upper airways, but little of it reaches the lungs. Duke's new technology employs a unique method to deliver nicotine to the lungs. In the presentation, the researchers show the new lung delivery technology results in rapid absorption of nicotine that provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms and also re-creates some of the familiar sensations that are pleasurable to smokers. Current methods that deliver medicine to the lungs -- metered dose sprays, dry powder inhalers or nebulizers that create a fine mist – do not replicate the natural inhalation used by smokers when drawing on a cigarette. And, because medication residue often deposits in the mouth and throat, doses aren't always high enough to ensure the appropriate amount reaches the lungs. Duke's new technology combines the vapor phase of pyruvic acid, which occurs naturally in the body, and nicotine. "When the two vapors combine, they form a salt called nicotine pyruvate," explains Rose. "This reaction transforms invisible gas vapors into a cloud of microscopic particles which is inhaled, just like a smoker inhales from a cigarette." In a study of the new Duke technology, nine healthy smokers inhaled 10 puffs of nicotine pyruvate in increasing doses, 10 puffs from a Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler cartridge, and 10 puffs of room air (placebo). Blood was drawn before and after each set of inhalations. When the results were analyzed, the Duke researchers noted rapid increases in plasma nicotine concentrations following the nicotine pyruvate inhalations and less complaints of harshness/irritation when compared to the Nicotrol/Nicorette control cartridge. The smokers also said their cravings for cigarettes were substantially alleviated following the nicotine pyruvate inhalations. "Compared to the current nicotine vapor inhaler, we are able to give smokers more nicotine, although still less than a cigarette, with less irritation, resulting in reduced cravings," said Rose. "Thus we are able to achieve a therapeutic effect with greater tolerability." More research is needed to examine the safety and effectiveness of prolonged use of the inhalation system, and to assess its role in helping people quit smoking. But, Rose says if all goes well, he anticipates the product could become commercially available within three to five years.
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Other Cessation NewsAnti-Smoking Groups Want Crackdown on Fraudulent Tobacco MarketingSeveral public health organizations in February asked the U.S. Supreme Court to impose new requirements for anti-smoking efforts on tobacco companies that were found misrepresenting the health risks of cigarettes. A federal trial court in 2006 ruled that the nation's largest tobacco manufacturers violated federal racketeering laws when they conspired in various marketing tactics that misled the public, particularly youth, about the addictiveness of nicotine. The Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association were among six public health advocacy groups that joined the federal government in bringing the suit against Philip Morris USA Inc. and several other cigarette makers and retailers. The tobacco companies admitted no wrongdoing. In May 2009, an appeals court upheld the decision, which prohibited the tobacco companies from engaging in fraudulent advertising and ordered them to make certain health information regarding their products publicly available. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected plaintiffs' requests that tobacco companies also pay for comprehensive anti-smoking education campaigns and cessation programs to help smokers quit, saying federal law did not require that. The public health organizations involved in the case have asked the Supreme Court to reverse that portion of the ruling to prevent ongoing harm to the public and "appropriately redress the tobacco companies' far-reaching misconduct." The Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies made similar arguments in a friend-of-the-court brief it filed at the appellate level along with several other medical organizations. Philip Morris and its parent company, Altria Group Inc., filed a separate petition asking the high court to throw out the lower court rulings that the tobacco industry concealed smoking dangers.
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FDA Rules Crack Down on Tobacco Marketing and Sales to KidsThe Food and Drug Administration has taken a crucial step in exercising its new authority to regulate tobacco products by issuing rules restricting tobacco industry marketing and sales to youth. When the rules take effect on June 22, it will mark the first time the U.S. government has put its full force behind specific, nationwide regulations intended to thwart the tobacco industry's continuing efforts to attract kids and turn them into lifelong addicts. This is a long-overdue step to stop the tobacco industry's predatory targeting of our children that continues even today. While the nation has significantly reduced youth tobacco use, 20 percent of high school students still smoke, and the tobacco industry continues to spend $12.8 billion a year — $35 million each day — to market its deadly and addictive products, often in ways that appeal to children. In fact, despite the limited marketing restrictions in the 1998 state tobacco settlement, total tobacco marketing expenditures have nearly doubled since then, according to the latest Federal Trade Commission reports on tobacco marketing (for 2006). The continuing high rates of youth tobacco use and the vast sums spent on tobacco marketing are directly related. As revealed by tobacco industry documents, court rulings and scientific studies, the tobacco companies have long targeted children, and their marketing has been highly effective at getting children to smoke cigarettes and use other tobacco products. The FDA first sought to impose restrictions on tobacco marketing and sales to kids in 1996. But the industry successfully challenged the FDA's authority to do so and the marketing restrictions never went into effect. Then last year, Congress passed and President Obama signed the landmark law granting the FDA authority over tobacco products, including the power to implement these regulations. The new rules will:
The law also grants the FDA authority to further restrict tobacco marketing to protect public health, consistent with the First Amendment. The government for the first time has the authority to respond to the tobacco industry's inevitable efforts to circumvent specific marketing restrictions. The new marketing restrictions are more comprehensive than those in the 1998 state tobacco settlement, especially with regard to store advertising and promotions that comprise the vast bulk of tobacco marketing today. The new law applies to all tobacco companies, not just those covered by the state settlement. The need for these marketing restrictions is clear and strongly supported by internal tobacco industry documents, court rulings and scientific studies (read our fact sheet on Tobacco Marketing to Kids). For example, a new study published in the scientific journal Pediatrics found that R.J. Reynolds' marketing campaign for Camel No. 9 cigarettes, launched in 2007, has resonated with teenage girls and dramatically increased their awareness of the brand — a factor known to increase the likelihood that teens will smoke. The fashion-themed marketing featured bright pink and teal packaging, advertising in top fashion magazines and promotional giveaways such as flavored lip balm, purses and cell phone jewelry.
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New Interactive Tobacco Map LaunchedFor the first time, a new, interactive map from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will give policy-makers and advocates a nationwide picture of continuing state efforts on key tobacco control policies. “Users will be able to see whether a state is ahead or behind the curve in protecting and promoting health,” says Michelle Larkin, J.D., M.S., R.N., leader of RWJF’s Public Health Team. The RWJF Tobacco Map uses data from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights and will be updated as new information becomes available. The tool is easily shareable by hyperlink or embeddable code. The “map” is actually three distinct maps, each focusing on a different aspect of tobacco policy. They provide state-by-state breakdowns on smoke-free laws, cigarette tax rates and total tobacco control spending. The breakdowns include population, timeline and other information to help present a complete picture of each state’s efforts. “We know from the research that the two most effective policies to pursue are raising tobacco taxes and putting smoke-free air laws into place,” says Larkin, adding that “these two policies help to prevent youth from ever starting to smoke and they also help smokers quit.”
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Utah Cigarette Tax Increase Delivers Victory for Kids and TaxpayersThe Utah Legislature has taken decisive action to protect the state's kids and taxpayers from the devastating toll of tobacco use by increasing the state cigarette tax by $1.00 to $1.70 per pack. Increased tobacco taxes are a win-win-win solution for Utah – a health win that will reduce tobacco use and save lives, a financial win that will help to balance the state budget and fund essential programs, and a political win that polls show is popular with the voters. The evidence is clear that increasing the cigarette tax is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially among kids. Studies show that every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about 6.5 percent and overall cigarette consumption by about 4 percent. Utah can expect the $1.00 cigarette tax increase to prevent 10,500 Utah kids from becoming smokers; spur 5,500 current adult Utah smokers to quit; save more than 4,800 Utah residents from smoking-caused deaths; lock in $236 million in future health care savings; and raise about $43.3 million a year in new state revenue. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Utah, claiming 1,100 lives each year and costing the state $345 million annually in health care bills. While Utah has made significant progress in reducing youth smoking, 8.5 percent of Utah high school students smoke, and 5,700 kids try cigarettes for the first time each year. With Utah's increase, the average state cigarette tax will be $1.38 per pack.
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FDA Forms New Tobacco Products PanelThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has named members to its new Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, which will hold its first meeting at the end of March to discuss menthol in cigarettes. The committee was mandated by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed last year, which gives the FDA regulatory control over tobacco products. The committee comprises nine voting and three non-voting members. Of the nine voting members, seven are health professionals, including a pulmonogist, a psychologist specializing in tobacco cessation, a pharmacologist with an expertise in nicotine, a psychologist who specializes in how advertising and marketing affect behavior, and an oncologist who is the chief medical officer of the High Plains division of the American Cancer Society. The two non-healthcare professionals include a state government official and a member of the general public. There will also be three non-voting members from the tobacco industry, which will include one from the tobacco manufacturing industry, one representing tobacco growers, and one representative from the small business manufacturing industry. The panel will provide advice, information, and recommendations on tobacco-related issues. Its first meeting is scheduled for March 30 and will focus on the use of menthol in cigarettes: whether the additive attracts different demographics, and how it ties into addiction and cessation. Consumer perceptions about menthol cigarettes, the sensory qualities of menthol cigarettes, and the effects of menthol on how cigarettes are smoked will also be discussed at the first meeting. That meeting will help inform a report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the impact of the use of menthol in cigarettes, which was required by the new tobacco law. On March 31, the panel will discuss future tobacco-related topics, including an action plan to ensure cigarette companies aren't advertising their products to young people, and creating a list of harmful tobacco additives. The committee will meet in the summer to focus on tobacco industry research. Jonathan Samet, MD, director the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California, will chair the panel. Other members include:
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Approval of Kansas Smoke-Free Legislation Is Historic Win for HealthThe Kansas Legislature delivered a historic victory for health and the public's right to breathe clean air by passing legislation to make almost all workplaces, including all restaurants and bars, smoke-free. Gov. Mark Parkinson has championed the legislation, which will make Kansas the 28th state to pass a strong smoke-free law that includes all restaurants and bars. This legislation is a huge step forward for Kansas' health that will protect workers and the public from the serious health hazards of secondhand smoke. The Kansas legislation, which will take effect July 1, adds to the growing momentum across the country and around the world to protect everyone's right to breathe smoke-free air. Kansas joins 27 other states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico in enacting smoke-free laws that cover restaurants and bars. The other states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (effective May 1, 2010), Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin (effective July 5, 2010). South Dakota has also enacted such a law, but it is on hold pending a voter referendum in November 2010. A growing number of countries have also passed strong smoke-free laws, including Bhutan, Chad, Colombia, Djibouti, Guatemala, Guinea, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Lithuania, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Turkey, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia. All Canadian provinces/territories and Australian states/territories have also enacted such laws.
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Legacy and the Ad Council Team Up to Help Smokers "Re-Learn Life Without Cigarettes"Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and a staggering six million people worldwide will lose their lives to tobacco next year. Legacy and the Ad Council have partnered to help smokers "re-learn" life without cigarettes with EX®, a national quit smoking campaign sponsored by the National Alliance for Tobacco Cessation (NATC), in order to help the 43 million Americans who smoke to finally quit. The campaign is being unveiled this morning in conjunction with New York State's recently renewed membership to the NATC. "We are delighted to be one of a number of organizations in several states and at the national level in this timely effort to focus on reducing smoking rates in New York and across the country," said Commissioner Richard F. Daines. The partnership will begin airing this month and uses a number of approaches to engage smokers through different mediums and venues including television and radio spots, poster placement, giveaways and social media. With the help of clinical partner Mayo Clinic, EX provides evidence-based tools to help smokers quit, including information that can help them prepare for a quit attempt by 1) "Re-learning" their thinking on the behavioral aspects of smoking and how different smoking triggers can be overcome with practice and preparation; 2) "Re-learning" their knowledge of addiction and how medications can increase their chances for quitting success; and 3) "Re-learning" their ideas of how support from friends and family members can play a critical role in quitting. EX uses an innovative Web site (www.BecomeAnEX.org) as a convening point for smokers who want to quit and collaborate on their successes and challenges in the difficult quit process. The new public service elements from Legacy and the Ad Council partnership will enhance and supplement the current campaign which includes an iPhone application that helps smokers quit on the go and will be available through iTunes this March. The public service ads were created by GSD&M Idea City and will run and air in donated advertising time and space. PARTNERSHIP ELEMENTS Friends and Forklift TV PSA Spots The goal of these spots is to make smokers think about the triggers that make them want to smoke. The PSA's tell smokers that re-learning those behaviors without cigarettes will make it easier to quit. In the spots, the characters struggle to re-learn the triggers without cigarettes and are ultimately successful. The spots empathize with smokers and give them a sense of hope that, while the quitting process is never easy, it's much more manageable with the right approach. Man on the Street Radio PSA Spots The spot sends a regular guy out to talk to real smokers about what makes them smoke. Based on the unscripted insights, the man on the street helps the smokers discover what it will take to re-learn life without cigarettes. Posters To make bar and restaurant smokers aware of their habits, the campaign is filling bathroom posters with bad pick-up lines, highlighting an important insight: Bad pick-up lines can make you want to smoke. In gyms, the partnership reaches smokers in a different way, by using type to convey the emotion of triggers. For example, one poster is filled with the words "tick, tock," ultimately driving smokers to BecomeAnEX.org to re-learn boredom without cigarettes. Air Fresheners EX-branded car air fresheners will help giver smokers looking to quit a fresh start when they re-learn driving without cigarettes.
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Obama Administration Seeks $300 Billion from Tobacco IndustryBoth sides are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in an ongoing court battle between the federal government and the tobacco industry over cigarette companies' long history of deceiving the public about the health risks of smoking. The Associated Press reported Feb. 19 that the Obama administration has appealed a lower court ruling denying the government's attempt to collect $280 billion in past tobacco profits and to compel the industry to pay $14 billion for a national smoking-cessation program. Tobacco firms, on the other hand, are appealing the lower court's ruling that they illegally concealed information about the hazards of smoking. "For the last half century, those defendants have engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity and a conspiracy to engage in racketeering that has cost the lives and damaged the health of untold millions of Americans," said U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Miguel Estrada, a lawyer for Philip Morris, said the 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler denied the companies their First Amendment rights to talk to the public about smoking. "As long as these statements were true or made in good faith, they fall squarely within the First Amendment's Speech and Petition Clauses, which provide constitutional protection for 'debate on public issues,'" said Estrada.
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