'Teens choosing health': Smoking hits a landmark low

Cigarette smoking among high school students in the United States has reached a landmark low in a survey health officials have been conducting every two years since 1991.
Just 15.7% of teens were current smokers in 2013, down from 27.5% when the survey began and 36.4% in the peak year of 1997, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. That means the nation has already met the government's official goal of getting teen smoking below 16% by 2020.
"I think the bottom line is that our teens are choosing health," CDC Director Tom Frieden said.
Frieden was referring not just to the progress on smoking, but to other gains in healthy behaviors picked up in the nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Survey of more than 13,000 teens. Data for the report also come from state and local versions of the survey. The surveys are conducted at public and private high schools.
The data show teens are drinking less alcohol and fewer sodas, getting into fewer physical fights and having less sex with more birth control. Also, despite all the recent news about school shootings, the share of students threatened or injured with a gun, knife or other weapon on school property has dropped to 6.9%, from a peak of 9.2% in 2003.
But it's not all good news: Condom use among the sexually active (about one third of teens) is down to 59%, from a peak of 63% in 2003. Condoms remain essential for protection from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, but teens may not be getting the message, Frieden says.
Even the news on tobacco is mixed: A once-rapid decline in cigar use has slowed, leaving cigars as popular as cigarettes with high school boys. Cigars were smoked by 23% of 12th grade boys in the month before the survey. Smokeless tobacco use hasn't changed since 1999, holding at about 8%. Other surveys have shown increases in e-cigarette and hookah use. And the declines in cigarette use are uneven from place to place, reflecting varying tobacco control efforts, Frieden says.
"We're moving in the right direction," with the help of increased cigarette taxes, better educational campaigns and other measures, says Vince Willmore, a spokesperson for the non-profit Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Washington, D.C. "But the fight against tobacco isn't over and it can't be over when you still have 2.7 million high school kids who smoke."
The survey, a treasure trove of data on more than 100 risky behaviors, "tells us what kids do but not why," says Stephanie Zaza, director of CDC's division of adolescent and school health. Among other details:
• 25% of students were in a physical fight in the year before the survey, down from 42% in 1991. Just 8% fought at school, down from 16%.
• 32% watched three daily hours of TV, down from 43% in 1999. But some of that time apparently shifted to computers, with 41% using a computer for non-school reasons at least three hours a day, up from 22% in 2003.
• 27% had at least one soda a day, down from 34% in 2007.
• 41% of those who drove admitted to texting or e-mailing while driving. CDC first asked about texting in 2011, but with a differently worded question, so it can't say whether rates are up or down.
• 2.3 % had ever used heroin, a number that has remained fairly steady through the years. But in some large urban school districts, use was much higher, up to 7.4%.

Danger that children are exposed to smoking

Education process is extremely important in sustaining the progress in tobacco control. Many tax or legislative interventions would have no result if people would not support, understand and ask for good changes in their lives.

Everybody understands how important is to reduce youth smoking. In countries like Japan, Argentina, Nigeria, India, and the Russian Federation 87 % of respondents agreed with the international efforts to establish certain regulations and rules to stop the tobacco usage.

Schools play a big role in teaching the children about the damages that smoking could bring to their health. They also can teach students to develop refusal skills regarding smoking. Some analyses were made and it was discovered that young people believe they would become smart, cool and fashionable.

One first step with these programs at school is to increase the number of persons who realize the danger that children are exposed to. It is also for changing intentions, attitudes and beliefs. But only this won’t change the entire society and their behavior.

A school tobacco control program must not allow the usage of cigarette smoking or other tobacco use at school events and facilities. By this way they will help staff and students to quit smoking. The tobacco industry in the last years became active in smoking prevention programs for young people. These programs show how smoking is an adult thing and teens have to wait until they are grown ups to take the decision of smoking.

Whole global tobacco

Tobacco is grown for centuries in over 125 countries, it can be found on over 4 million hectares of land and a third part of all of these hectares is in China alone. The whole global tobacco crop is worth almost US $20 billion, which represents a small fraction of the total amount that is coming from the sale of already produced tobacco products. Tobacco is grown on less than one percent of the world’s agricultural land, and on a very large variety of climates and soils.

In 1960’s the bulk of production started to move to Africa and Asia from America. But there still remained some land in USA, Mexico and Canada dedicated tobacco growth. But in United Republic of Tanzania, Malawi and China the tobacco growth almost doubled.

The production of tobacco leaves has more than doubled since the 1960s, in total almost 7 million metric tons in 2000. A large usage of fertilizers and pesticides and a very good mechanization have lead to damage of the environment.

The problem is not ending with growing tobacco: the processes used in curing tobacco leaves cause massive deforestation. In the whole world are millions of tobacco farmers. Tobaccoindustry is very interesting. Because there is a problem between tobacco manufactures and tobacco control programs they decided to develop a partnership between public health community and farmers.

Smoking during pregnancy putting 50,000 babies at risk

Mothers-to-be who continue to smoke during pregnancy are severely increasing the chance of their baby being born with facial deformities, new research has revealed.

A report from the Office of the General Surgeon in the US suggests smoking during pregnancy gives women a one in two chance of having a baby with a failure of the upper lip or the palate that did not properly develop during the foetus’ development. 

Latest statistics from Health & Social Care Information Centre reveal more than one in ten (12.7 per cent) pregnant women are smokers at delivery. Given there were 694,241 births in England in the last year, more than 54,500 babies could be at risk from a facial deformity. Pall Mall Nanokings Blue Slims

Smoking during pregnancy has previously been linked to a number of health conditions, including heart defects, weight and size issues as well as lung conditions while tobacco use is also the leading cause of mouth cancer. Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter OBE, believes the research only adds to the calls for people to quit smoking.

Dr Carter said: “There is a wealth of evidence to suggest smoking during pregnancy achieves nothing but putting your baby in harm’s way. When you consider there are thousands of hazardous chemicals in a single cigarette, regularly smoking poses all sorts of risks.

“Any amount of cigarette smoking during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of having a child with health problems. Cigarettes aren’t an easy thing to give up. Research has shown this. However, if cigarettes expose unborn babies to harmful chemicals caused by smoking, it is something pregnant women must ditch immediately.
“Smoking cessation services needed to be targeted at women from poorer backgrounds who are more likely to smoke. Young boys as well as girls also need to be told about the risks of smoking, particularly during pregnancy, considering the UK still has a very high teenage pregnancy rate.

“If we are educating people on the risks posed by smoking, this could help to reduce the growing number of mouth cancer cases too. Tobacco use is the leading cause of the disease, and education remains the key. Latest figures show that it claims more lives than road traffic accidents do, so pregnant women are not only placing their baby’s health at risk – they are endangering their own.”

Interesting ad reminds you not to smoke

Yes, it is showing a very special smoking room where on ceiling, smokers will see themselves inside cemetery.

On the ceiling, one can see pastor and people with flowers like they are attending a funeral.

Mumbai based ad agency Everest Brand Solutions has designed this a couple of years back. Camel Filters

Here’s What it Looks Like When a Tobacco Company Says 'I’m Sorry'

After 15 years of fighting the federal government over lies to the public about the health risks of smoking, the nation's biggest tobacco companies are ready to apologize.

Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, and Altria are preparing full-page ads to run in the Sunday editions of the country's top 35 newspapers, as well as online ads for those papers' websites and prime-time television spots to run for a full year on CBS, ABC, and NBC. The corporations are also required to run corrective statements on their websites and cigarette packages.

The self-flagellation stems from a 2006 federal court decision ordering the tobacco companies to correct the record on statements they made about the health effects of smoking. On Friday, the companies' lawyers and the Justice Department struck a deal on how they will issue the apology.

A mock-up of an advertisement that could publish as a full-page ad in The New York Times reads, "A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public about designing cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine and has ordered those companies to make this statement." Parliament Aqua Blue

 

It goes on to say that the industry "intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive," and that nicotine "changes the brain," making it harder to quit.

The tobacco companies could appeal the language of the ads. But first, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler is scheduled to review the agreement about how to issue the corrective statements on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 26A of the U.S. District Court of D.C.

The Justice Department first brought the case against the tobacco industry in 1999, arguing that they knowingly and intentionally misinformed the public about the negative health consequences of smoking.

Kessler ordered the industry in 2006 to issue the statements after she found them guilty of violating civil racketeering laws and lying to the public about the dangers of smoking.

The judge required the statements to appear on television and in newspapers, as well as on the companies' websites and cigarette packages, and to contain language that the court had ruled that the companies "deliberately deceived the American public."

In finding the industry guilty, Kessler wrote, "[This case] is about an industry, and in particular these Defendants, that survives, and profits, from selling a highly addictive product which causes diseases that lead to a staggering number of deaths per year, an immeasurable amount of human suffering and economic loss, and a profound burden on our national health care system. Defendants have known many of these facts for at least 50 years or more. Despite that knowledge, they have consistently, repeatedly and with enormous skill and sophistication, denied these facts to the public, the Government, and to the public health community."

Philip Morris declined to offer a comment for the story.

The statements would correct misinformation about "the health effects of smoking, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, the false advertising of low-tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes, the designing of cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine and the health effects of secondhand smoke," according to a press release from the American Cancer Society Action Network, one of the public intervenors that joined the case in 2005. The other national medical and advocacy organizations that joined the case are the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network and the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund.

ACSCAN's associate director of federal relations, Gregg Haifley, called the case "a long legal battle" that has been "dragged out" by the industry.

"Millions of people who otherwise might have quit continued smoking because of blatant misrepresentations of the harm to their health," Haifley said. "The tobacco industry is an industry that never gives up. But we're one step closer to a final conclusion."

The agreement falls on the 50th anniversary of the surgeon general's first report detailing the public-health consequences of smoking. The landmark study prompted antismoking groups to pursue more-stringent public policy measures regulating the use of tobacco, which resulted in 8 million lives saved since 1964, according to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Roughly 44 million adults and 3.6 million children in the United States smoke, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking costs the U.S. roughly $193 billion annually in health care expenditures and lost productivity, the CDC reports. Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.

“Precious Voice”

Beginning in the late ’20s, American Tobacco began a campaign to link smoking with sophistication, slimness, and “sonorous voices.”  Part of this campaign in 1927 was dubbed the “Precious Voice” campaign, which dovetailed nicely with the arrival of the both the talking motion picture and the rise of radio and its commercialization.  American Tobacco, in fact, spent tens of millions of dollars on radio programs that ran between 1928 and the mid-1950s; shows which also used the company’s celebrity tobacco ads.  But in the late 1920s, following the release of The Jazz Singer, as “talking pictures” became all the rage, American Tobacco sought actor endorsements for its cigarettes. Davidoff iD Blue
It also began actor and singer cigarette advertising that claimed Lucky Strike spared their throats and protected their voices.  And American Tobacco ads also used another tack in 1928 – this time featuring Lucky Strike cigarettes as an alternative to fattening sweets.  “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet” was the slogan that ran with this campaign in 1928-1929.  Al Jolson appeared in at least one of these ads  — as shown in the December 1928 ad at the top of this story.  That ad ran in popular magazines of the day.  Jolson is quoted in the ad’s headline saying: “I light up a Lucky and go light on the sweets.  That’s how I keep in good shape and always feel peppy.”  Part of the arrangement in such ads was also to have a tie-in with the film studio – in this case, for Jolson’s latest new film.  Near the Lucky Strike pack in the above ad, the text reads: “Al Jolson, as he appears in Warner Bros Vitaphone success, The Singing Fool.”

Health continues to go up in smoke

Smoking related hospital admissions have increased despite a fall in the number of smokers, new research reveals.

More than 1.6 million people were admitted to hospital due to smoking, with cancer accounting for more than one in ten (11 per cent) of these.

The statistics, released by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)1, also reveal the number of young adults smoking (23 per cent) is higher than the number of adults who smoke (20 per cent).

Smoking can cause a variety of oral health problems including tooth staining, dental plaque, bad breath, tooth loss and gum disease. Of more concern is the significant risk of developing life-threatening diseases such as lung disease and mouth cancer.

Mouth cancer now affects more than 6,500 people in the UK2 – that’s 18 people diagnosed with the disease every day. With five year survival rates reliant upon early detection, Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter OBE, voiced his concerns over the increase in smoking-related hospital admissions. Classic cigarettes.

Dr Carter said: “We have seen mouth cancer rates soar over the past 10 years by almost 50 per cent, and an increase in hospital admissions due to smoking shows this upward trend may continue for some time.

“Smoking and tobacco use is the leading cause of mouth cancer. Even though it is encouraging the see the number of smokers falling, one in five people is still a high percentage. To curb rising mouth cancer figures, this needs to improve. Mouth Cancer Action Month, which takes place throughout November, is a good time for people to get on the road to kicking the habit. We know around two in three smokers actually want to quit, and the campaign offers a perfect opportunity to do this.

“We must not forget if you smoke and drink alcohol to excess you are up to 30 times more likely to develop the disease, so it is crucial we continue to educate the public about all of the risks. A poor diet and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) are also risk factors for mouth cancer.

“As a result it is really important that everyone knows the warning signs for mouth cancer. They include ulcers which do not heal within three weeks, red and white patches in the mouth and unusual lumps or swellings in the mouth. Our message to everyone is simple – ‘If in doubt, get checked out’.”

Drug addicts 'can quit smoking' with additional therapy

New research from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, suggests that people who are addicted to cocaine or methamphetamine are able to quit cigarette smoking while being treated for their substance addictions, and that quitting will not hinder their treatment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking causes 1 in 5 deaths in the US every year. But the researchers say the highest death rate from smoking tobacco occurs in patients receiving treatment for substance abuse.
Figures from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reveal that in 2008, 63% of people who had a substance abuse disorder in the past year reported current tobacco use, while tobacco use in the general population stood at 28%.
But the researchers note that the majority of programs treating substance abuse do not look at helping patients quit smoking as part of their treatment.Davidoff cigarettes.

Introduction of smoking cessation therapy

With this in mind, the researchers conducted a study in which patients being treated for cocaine and methamphetamine addiction were randomly assigned to treatment aimed at helping them stop smoking (smoking cessation therapy).
Their treatment involved weekly counseling sessions for a period of 10 weeks, during which time the patients received bupropion extended-release medication - a form of antidepressant.
From weeks 4 to 10, participants received nicotine inhalers alongside contingency management - a strategy that awarded prizes to subjects with the aim of encouraging them to stop smoking.
All participants underwent drug and carbon monoxide testing to measure the levels of these substances in their bodies during the 10-week study, and at a 3- and 6-month follow-up. They were also required to self-report their outcomes.

'Beneficial' for substance abuse patients

Results of the study, published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, revealed that patients who underwent smoking cessation therapy showed high smoking quit rates during substance abuse therapy and during the 3- and 6-month follow-up.
Furthermore, the researchers report that smoking cessation therapy did not interfere with patients' participation in substance abuse treatment.
Commenting on the findings, Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), says:

 

FDA analysis of cigarette warnings 'inadequate'

Canadian researchers claim that graphic images and warning labels on cigarette packaging do reduce smoking, suggesting the FDA has underestimated their significance.
The saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" may sound like an advertising executive's mantra, but we often fall for the dream when sleek and glossy images allow us a glimpse of the "perfect world." But does the theory work in reverse?
A report, published in Tobacco Control, shows that when graphic warning labels were printed on cigarette packaging in Canada, smoking rates decreased between 12% and 20%.
The study authors say this challenges the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) June 2011 findings, claiming the analysis was "flawed."Continent cigarettes.
In August 2012, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that the FDA analysis "essentially concedes the agency lacks any evidence that the graphic warnings are likely to reduce smoking rates."
The researchers claim that the FDA significantly underestimated the impact of the warning labels and suggest that their use in the US could potentially lead to a decrease of between 5.3 and 8.6 million smokers. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Waterloo and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Canada used statistical methods to compare smoking rates in Canada 9 years before and 9 years after the introduction of graphic warning labels.
Canada was the first country in the world to introduce these labels and therefore has more statistical data for measuring their impact than any other country.
In addition, Canada's labeling policy is closer to that of the FDA, meaning it is easier to extrapolate the findings from Canada to the US, especially when coupled with the facts that Canada is culturally and geographically similar.
The researchers claim that smoking rates in Canada fell sharply after graphic warnings were introduced, and they say this was greater than the difference in smoking rates in the US, where there was no change in printed warnings for same time period.
The potential reduction in smoking rates in the US is between 33 and 53 times greater than the FDA's estimate, they say.
Dr. Jidong Huang, lead author of the paper, comments:
"These findings are important for the ongoing initiative to introduce graphic warnings in the US. The original proposal by the FDA was successfully challenged by the tobacco industry, and the court cited the very low estimated impact on smoking rates as a factor in its judgment."

How cigarette packet warnings affect children

Graphic images don’t deter young smokers,” says BBC News, reporting that picture warnings depicting the dangers of smoking have little impact on underage smokers.
While the headline correctly reflects the latest findings, it presents a negative spin of research that found that the warnings appeared effective for those who’d never smoked and those who’d “experimented” with smoking.
Researchers surveyed children aged 11-16 in 2008 (when warnings on cigarette packets were text only) and a separate repeat sample in 2011 (after graphic images had been introduced).
Between 2008 and 2011, the proportion of children who noticed health warnings, looked closely at them and understood them did not change much. However, in 2011 recall of the three health warnings associated with the pictures increased. The proportion of all children who thought about health warnings often, and the proportions who thought the images could put them off smoking or make them less likely to smoke also increased.
However, these positive effects seemed to be limited to never smokers or experimental smokers, with no difference in regular smokers as suggested by the headlines. An increased proportion of regular smokers reported hiding the pack to “escape” the health image.
This research suggests how changes in cigarette packaging may impact on the thoughts and perceptions of UK children. But while there are both positive and negative findings, the research can’t tell us whether the changes have made any difference to the numbers of children starting or quitting smoking.

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by researchers from the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at the University of Stirling and was funded by Cancer Research UK. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Tobacco Control.
The news coverage of this study is generally representative, but has put a negative spin on the findings, ignoring the signs of some positive effects of the new images on cigarette packs.

What kind of research was this?

This was a repeat cross-sectional survey examining young people’s thoughts and understanding of the warnings on cigarette packets in 2008 and 2011.
Many countries now have pictorial warnings on the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs, and a few countries, including Canada and Australia, have these warnings covering three-quarters of the pack surface.
However, the European Union (EU) has set lower standards. EU law requires the written warnings that are required on cigarette packs to be one of two general warnings covering 30-35% of the pack front, and one of 14 specific warnings covering 40-50% of the reverse. In 2005, The European Commission also adopted 42 images that could be included on the back of packs. However, few member states have adopted them, and none have used warning images that cover at least half of the pack surface.
The current study has examined the impact of warnings upon children before and after the introduction of pictorial warnings to packs in the UK. In 2008, textual warnings appeared on 43% of the front and 53% of the back of the pack. In 2011, the warnings were the same, except that images supported the warning on the back of the pack.

Kobayashi apologises for smoking

Kamui Kobayashi has apologised after photographs emerged of him smoking a cigarette.

The former Toyota and Sauber driver, who is hoping to return to the grid, now races GT sports cars for Ferrari.
But his bid to return to the F1 grid was dealt a blow when the popular Japanese gossip magazine 'Friday' published photos of him walking on a street at night with an unidentified beauty and a cigarette.
Kobayashi, 27, admitted that his behaviour was "inappropriate for a sportsman".
"I sincerely apologise to those who gave me your support and all of my fans who were concerned," he is quoted as saying.
Kobayashi admitted that smoking was "a very thoughtless act" for someone "working towards returning to F1".
"I guarantee that this situation will not happen again," he promised.

Fighting against smoking tightened in Turkey

According to a new bill worked out by Turkey's Health Ministry, the fight against smoking will be even tighter, Sabah newspaper reported.
According to the new bill, smoking will be prohibited in children's parks and in the yards of mosques and hospitals.
The new bill also envisages a ban on the sale of cigarettes at a distance of 100 metres from schools and mosques, as well as the allocation of special smoking areas in open premises of cafe and restaurants and a ban on smoking at the entrance of shopping centres.

Candy-flavoured tobacco products enticing Canadian students to take up smoking, survey says

More than half of Canadian high school students say they’ve tried smoking flavoured tobacco products within the past month, new nationwide data suggests.
The Canadian Cancer Society and provincial organizations across the country are calling on health officials to ban these products for young smokers that come in bright packaging and flavours such as watermelon, chocolate or strawberry.

In the past 30 days, 52 per cent of high schoolers from grade 9 to grade 12 tried these products. That’s about 169,300 teens.
“There’s a series of flavoured tobacco products that are widely available and popular among youth and that are a big concern to us,” Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, told Global News.
“These flavours can lead to kids becoming addicted. We need to do everything we can to reduce underage tobacco use,” he said.

They’re products like water pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and menthol cigarettes. Right now, federal laws ban flavoured cigarettes except for menthol and blunt wraps and cigarillos, which are cigars weighing 1.4 grams or less. But tobacco companies have managed to find a loophole with cigarillos – instead, they produce flavoured cigars that are 1.5 grams or so.
“Menthol soothes the throat and reduces the harshness of cigarette smoke for youth who are experimenting,” Cunningham said.
Point the products out to adults and they won’t recognize them, he suggested. But kids are familiar with the flavoured tobacco products, which are readily available in convenience stores.
Some 32 per cent of teens tried menthol cigarettes in the past month – that product makes up only four per cent of cigarettes smoked.
This data from the Youth Smoking Survey revealed that 14 per cent of high school students smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, 20 per cent had used a tobacco product and 10 per cent used a flavoured product in the past month.
The rates are within the same range across Canada – it was the highest in Quebec with 59 per cent of high schoolers trying flavoured tobacco in the past month and lowest in Ontario at 46 per cent.
Jurisdictions across the country released their individual provincial rates Monday.
Cunningham said he hopes health officials will follow in the footsteps of other jurisdictions that have banned these products.
In New York City, all flavoured tobacco products are banned outright, except for menthol. It’s the same in Rhode Island, he said.
Meanwhile the European Union is working on banning menthol-flavoured tobacco products.

State Officials Look to Curb Underage Smoking

According to a new report, 90 percent of smokers started the habit before they turned 18. A new Nevada law targets underage tobacco users.
It's against the law in Nevada for anyone under 18 to buy a tobacco product, but it's not against the law for minors to use tobacco products.
In June, Governor Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill 177 into law. The law grants county commissions in Nevada authority to adopt ordinances that prohibit minors from using tobacco products.
The law also gives county commissioners authority to determine penalties for violators of the law. Clark County officials say they decided not to pursue penalties, because they didn't want to put kids in the justice system for smoking.
The only enforcement in place in Clark County falls the under Clark County School District. CCSD bans smoking anywhere on campus. It doesn't matter if you are in a student's car, at the football or baseball field or even in the bathroom.
The first offense is a warning. Students are searched, tobacco items are taken and the student is written up. Chaparral High School Principal David Wilson described the procedure following a second violation.
"The second time we have an issue, we're going to follow the same procedures except the parent will be called in to have a conversation with the student with an understanding that the consequences will be significantly more severe if the student continues with those behaviors," he said.
Wilson says a student would face suspension for the third offense. With so many other threats facing schools these days (i.e., drugs, gangs, bullies), Wilson admits educators don't actively hunt for smokers.
So, students should take personal responsibility and heed the warnings about the effects of nicotine and tar.
One popular alternative is electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes. A growing number of minors are finding ways to buy e-cigarettes.
Pink Spot Vapors owner Penn Elletson says he prohibits minors from buying e-cigarettes at his store. Still, he says business is booming. One year ago, Elletson said he had five employees and one location. Today, he has 50 employees between two stores.
"It addresses the triggers of smoking. It's the patch, the gum, all the other things that give you nicotine, which is the only thing your body craves in a cigarette, but it also gives you the hand in mouth oral fixation, the vapor production, the throat hit, all the triggers that go along with smoking," he said.
An electronic cigarette includes four pieces: a container, a lithium ion battery, a flavored vapor and a mouth piece. Some e-cigarettes release nicotine, while others release flavored vapors. The user can control the output level.
Because the CDC shows underage smokers are increasingly using the devices, 40 attorneys general - including Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto - are urging the federal government to regulate e-cigarettes.
The FDA currently lacks regulatory authority over e-cigarettes unless the products claim to offer therapeutic benefits.

Two-thirds of kids know cigarette brands in developing nations

More than two-thirds of young children in developing nations could identify at least one cigarette brand logo, according to a U.S. study that examined the reach of tobacco marketing to five and six year olds in countries where adult smoking rates are the highest.

Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health worked one-on-one with five and six year olds in Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia, asking them to match pictures of different products with their corresponding cigarette logos. In China, where roughly 71 percent of households with participating children had a tobacco user, 86 percent of children could identify at least one cigarette brand logo, the researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics.
Pakistan had the second highest percentage, with 84 percent of children capable of identifying at least one cigarette brand logo. Russia ranked last on the list with half of the participants able to identify any of the cigarette brand logos.
“(What surprised us most was) that children who were so young, five and six years old, were so familiar with tobacco logos,” Dina Borzekowski, lead author of the study and research professor in the University of Maryland, told Xinhua.
She said that even in households without smokers children could identify tobacco logos. This is because “not only do children see logos in their homes, the neighborhood stores where the children visit have very prominent tobacco advertisements,” Borzekowski said.
With five- and six-year-old children aware of domestic and international tobacco brands, there is a need to enforce stronger regulations for tobacco advertising,the researchers said.
Borzekowski and colleagues suggested changes including requiring larger graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. Additionally, they urged changes to limit children’s exposure to the point of sale of tobacco products, including establishing minimum distances between these retailers and places frequented by young children.
“We know that children who are more aware of smoking have more positive attitudes about smoking and are more likely to smoke,” Borzekowski said.
“If we want to reduce smoking, especially among young people, we need to lessen the prominence of tobacco brands in children’s lives. Better enforcement of existing laws should happen,” she added.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party will propose an amendment to the Health Act to allow smoking in stadiums and designated areas in airports.

The draft amendment has been signed by 8 Socialist deputies, reports dnevnik.bg.

If passed, the restrictions would also fall for night clubs, restaurants, cafes, bars, and casinos, provided they can designate special smoking areas.

The full smoking ban was introduced in June 2012 by the GERB government of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Spas Panchev, Deputy Chair of the parliamentary group of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, said last week that the full smoking ban in enclosed public places must be dropped before winter.

This sparked controversy and wide public debates on the issue. President Rosen Plevneliev threatened to veto the amendments if they are passed in Parliament.

- See more at: http://www.novinite.com/articles/154429/Bulgarian+Govt+Proposes+Further+Amendments+to+Smoking+Ban#sthash.9l4c2uqS.dpuf

Smoking in prisons: a human right or luxury health hazard?

A DECISION to ban smoking in jails across England and Wales has been described as a breach of human rights amid fears that it could spark riots.
Currently, inmates are allowed to smoke in their own cells and in some prison exercise yards but a total ban on smoking will be trialled in the south west next spring followed by a roll-out across all jails.
Richard Ford, home correspondent for The Times, warns that the ban could spark riots. "It has the potential to destabilise prisons, where being able to enjoy a cigarette helps prisoners through the boredom of their sentences," he says. "About 80 per cent of the 84,300 inmates smoke and tobacco is a valuable currency that is traded on the wings."
The rule change comes amid fears that the Prison Service could face compensation claims from prison officers who say they are victims of passive smoking.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, has welcomed the move to have smoke-free prisons for his members but admits that introducing the ban will be difficult. "There is no pretending otherwise.
It could cause disturbances," he says. But he points out that it has been successful in Canada and in young offender institutions in England and Wales.
Andrew Neilson, from campaign charity The Howard League for Penal Reform, thinks a ban would be difficult to enforce when prisons are already going through "unprecedented" cuts to their budgets and staff resources.
"There may well be good intentions behind this policy proposal," he told BBC News. "But it will undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on jails which are already pretty stretched."
He added that there could be a short-term damaging effect on the mental health of prisoners "who are often very distressed".
On Radio 4's Today programme, John Humphrys said it could be a "brilliant" plan. "The idea that you can't smoke if you're a heavy smoker - that's a real deterrent to doing something that will land you in jail isn't it?"
But his guests disagreed. Ben Gunn, who spent 32 years in prison, said: "By and large, criminality isn't a rational, calculated choice, it's desperate people doing desperate acts."
Gunn - a self-confessed "50-a-day man" - describes it as a "purely vindictive, petty, small-minded policy". The only positive, he says, is that it might incense prisoners into thinking more politically - for example, forming a prisoners' union and having a greater say in penal reform.

Holy smoke - licence could be a drag

FIRST it was a $5 per pack tax rise. Now cancer experts want people to have to apply for a licence to smoke.
"This is terrible,'' said electrician Ryan O'Neill, 29.
The Darwin City tradesman said that it wasn't about cigarettes but about freedom.
"They're getting more controlling every single day,'' he said.
"They want to have us as little robots going along and paying our mortgages.
"We're all adults and we should be able to make our own choice as an adult.''

Professor Roger Magnusson, of the University of Sydney's Law School, and Professor David Currow, of the Cancer Institute of NSW, say a smart-card licence would combat teenage smoking.
Retailers would have to check the licence before every sale to verify that every pack sold is purchased by an adult, the authors write in today's Medical Journal of Australia.

Plain packaging reduces allure of cigarettes

Scientists on Monday said they had evidence that plain packaging for cigarettes diminishes the appeal of smoking, as anti-tobacco campaigners suggest.
European countries are considering whether to follow Australia, which last year became the first country in the world to sell cigarettes in plain packets.
In Australia's case, the cigarettes are sold in identical olive-green packets bearing the same typeface, in addition to health warnings.

Celebrities smokers

Celebrities since other people have the same requires, the same enjoyment in daily life as well as bad habits. One of many bad habit that they share
with us is actually cigarette smoking. Celebrities are always in view of the public and their look could be the basic criteria that produce them popular
and also asked-for. Mostly, this concerns ladies. Well-known actresses and also singers and even governmental women spend a lot of their time and
generating to have the best appearance and to carry their own years well, discount cigarettes Glamour brand. The particular keep on different eating plans, deprive themselves via various
delicious food items, drinks, exhausting by themselves in sport health clubs, to be in good suit and look. They undergo this, but ignore the single
fact, that smoking damages their and look and cause premature aging.
20 years ago researches started that smoking dehydrates your skin layer, damages collagen along with destroy vitamin C, that accelerates skin
aging with 10-15 years. Which fact does not discourage smoking celebrities. They continue to have thousand of agents and keeping in
various diets, not thinking about getting rid of smoking.
Smoking among celebs is the main problem, that they can ignore and do not wish to quit. Why For starters, this is the question involving
their style. Kate Moss, the actual well-known super-model, may be found at any picture being with a cigarette and a elegant cellular phone.
Even the undeniable fact that she cant get pregnant due to the smoking couldnt help the girl to quit smoking. The girl just decreases the quantity of
the smoking cigarettes every day, from 30 to 15.
The key cause of disagreement between Brad Opening and his wife Jen Aniston had been smoking. Brad Opening finally quitted smoking, although Jen
Aniston continues doing this until eventually today.
Researches exposed the fact that smoking is a bit more psychological problem when compared with nicotine dependent 1. May be this may explain the
phenomenon of why do celebrity cigarette smokers are keeping with this harmful habit. They are generally on the public and the’ve strain work
routine. Whenever they go, what you do, they are followed by paparazzi. Celebrities will often have a stressful existence and that may
describe the fact what they please take a cigarette when they have at least one free minute. They can do not have any wish to give up this,
disregarding your warnings of medical issues caused by smoking. While Catherine Zeta-Jones was asked precisely why she quitted smoking, she replied
that she did not want her kids to find out that and to set her questions, european wholesale davidoff cigarettes. Your woman did not mention that the key reason why was the harm for that
health.
Ok, natural meats understand their hard life, full of stresses. Nevertheless, the experiments shown that celebrity smokers have an
relation to youth smoking charge increase. Teenagers are susceptible to emulate the stars, following their exciting life and functions.
The most common cigarette manufacturer among youth is actually Marlboro, as the most celebrities smoke this particular brand. Teenagers disregard the fact of
harmfulness, each of the warnings at the cig packs. They start to smoke cigarettes to imitate manners with their idols, which becomes a national
problem. Mostly, smoking cigarettes girls imitate their idols by smoking fashion. Even there exists an opinion, that smoking stars by
themselves started to be influenced by the charisma that is usually connected with cigarette smoking.
Thus, superstars as simple people might choose between health and smoking cigarettes. The only fact that makes a distinction between them
among others is that they should be much more responsible and take into consideration their influence on the rising generation.