anti-smoking – Oral Cancer News

Cancer survivors demand picture-based warnings on cigarette labels

Source: www.interaksyon.com Author: staff MANILA, Philippines -- More than 150 anti-smoking activists, including throat cancer survivors, marched to the Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City Thursday to urge government to fast-track the passage of legislation requiring tobacco firms to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. The “Right to Health Walk” is the third march organized by New Vois Association of the Philippines to push public health issues to the fore. “Ten percent of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers can be found in Southeast Asia where the Philippines belong. We are the second largest smoking population in this region with 17.3 million adults smoking. More than 87,000 Filipinos die every year because of smoking -- that’s more than the number of those who succumb to heart attack and stroke. This is clear and present danger that must be addressed at the soonest,” Emer Rojas, NVAP president, said. Rojas said graphic health warnings provide a clearer message about the harm smoking causes, especially to women, children, and the poor who are lured to the habit by the attractive designs of cigarette packs. The newly released Tobacco Atlas of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance showed the Philippines among the three countries with the most number of smoking women in the region. It is estimated that nine percent of Filipino women smoke. This is statistically more than Indonesia, which has the most number of smokers in the region. Only 4.5 percent of Indonesian women smoke. The Tobacco Atlas also estimates that [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2014-01-19T08:34:50-07:00January, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

New labels may not go far enough

Source: www.denverpost.com Author: Rhonda Hackett How far would you go to stop a killer? Smoking continues to kill more Americans every year than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death and the single greatest driver of health-care costs in Colorado. Despite concerted efforts over recent years to educate people about the dangers of tobacco use, 46.6 million American adults smoke, while kids alone are responsible for roughly $2 billion in annual cigarette sales revenues. More than 400,000 people die every year from tobacco use (4,300 in Colorado), while an additional 50,000 adults die as a result of second-hand smoke exposure. More than 8 million Americans currently suffer from tobacco- caused illnesses, resulting in an estimated $96 billion in public and private health care expenditures each year. In Colorado, the tab is about $1.3 billion per year. Simply put, tobacco is the single most lethal and costly legal commodity available in America today. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now followed the lead of other developed nations by requiring cigarette packages carry graphic warning labels. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said at a White House briefing, "We want kids to understand smoking is gross - not cool - and there's really nothing pretty about having mouth cancer." Critics of the warning labels cite the fact that smoking is a legal activity and as such products associated with it should not be subject to government mandate discouraging use. The Institute [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-07-03T09:03:04-07:00July, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

American Cancer Society, ENT and Allergy Associates once again partner to fight smoking, especially among teens

Source: www.earthtimes.org Author: press release The American Cancer Society and ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP (ENTA) are once again teaming up to bring a strong and relevant anti-smoking message to teens and ENTA patients through a strategic partnership that includes outreach to local high schools and patient education. “The most effective way for us to fight cancer is to partner with systems in our communities to reach the largest number of people possible,” said Dee McCabe, Executive Vice President, American Cancer Society. “ENTA has been a great partner, reaches thousands of people a day, and truly is committed to improving health of their patients.” “At ENTA, we see far too many patients-each and every week-afflicted with cancer…so our partnership with the American Cancer Society allows us to educate people about the dangers of smoking, and point them toward smoking cessation and cancer prevention” said Dr. Wayne Eisman, President of ENT and Allergy Associates. “We are delighted to do everything we possibly can to help the ACS fight smoking, particularly among young people.” A key part of the alliance is ENTA’s support of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, held on November 19th. Throughout the month of November, ENTA will offer patients materials on how to quit smoking in its 30 offices throughout the Greater New York and New Jersey area. Also, several ENTA doctors will speak at local high schools to teens about the dangers of smoking, how to deal with peer pressure, and how the tobacco industry targets [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-18T16:31:56-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Study: Do more to help patients quit smoking

Source: www.timeswv.com Author: Mary Wade Burnside A survey of cancer patients being treated at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center indicates that many of the smokers did not quit the habit in light of their diagnosis and some of them were not even advised to do so by their doctors. “It absolutely benefits patients to quit,” said Dr. Jame Abraham, chief of oncology at WVU Hospitals and the medical director of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in Morgantown. “No. 1, we know that smoking can potentially alter the effectiveness of chemotherapy. “No. 2, smoking can cause many other conditions, including lung cancer and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and smoking can increase the chance of getting pneumonia and lung disease, which can complicate the ability to take the treatment.” The study was the idea of Lola Burke, now a second-year medical student who performed much of the survey work, Abraham said. Burke sent surveys to 1,000 cancer patients, and 200 of them responded. Of the 200 who responded, 52 percent had a history of smoking, but only 20 percent had been actively smoking at the time of the diagnosis, Abraham said. Of the active smokers, 44 percent quit while 56 percent did not, Abraham said. “Another thing we found was that 40 percent were not told by the doctors to quit,” he added. “They didn’t even hear this from their doctors or their health-care provider.” Bruce Adkins, director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention for the West Virginia Bureau [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-01-25T08:51:25-07:00January, 2009|Oral Cancer News|