Big tobacco fuels nicotine replacement addiction, UCSF study shows

Source: http://www.sfgate.com Author: Lizzie Johnson Date: August 17, 2017 Nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers and gum have long been marketed as ways of helping addicts break the habit. But such products by themselves won’t do the job — something tobacco companies themselves have taken advantage of to boost their profits, new research from UCSF says. Nicotine replacement therapy products, which have been sold over the counter at drugstores since 1996, are effective only when paired with counseling, according to a UCSF study released Thursday. Without that, relying on such products can actually make it harder to kick tobacco, the study found. UCSF researchers who reviewed millions of pages of internal tobacco company documents said the firms have long known that such products by themselves don’t wean users off cigarettes, and market their own smokeless nicotine to keep users addicted. “Those products should not be used unless they are done in the proper way,” said Stanton Glantz, an author of the study, professor of medicine at UCSF and the director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. “The problem is, without the behavioral support, they actually inhibit quitting,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people think they are making progress and quitting when that’s not so. That’s what tobacco companies have known for decades. They’re developing products under the guise of nicotine replacement therapy.” Some of the biggest tobacco companies, including RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, have developed nicotine accessories. Many corner stores stock the products, some [...]

2017-08-18T08:14:58-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

E-Cigarettes fail to help cancer patients quit smoking

Source: www.cancernetwork.com Author: Anna Azvolinsky, PhD Among cancer patients who smoke, electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users had greater nicotine dependence compared with traditional cigarette smokers, and e-cigarettes did not help patients quit smoking, according to the results of a study published in Cancer. E-cigarettes have been touted as possible tools for smoking cessation. According to the study authors, these are the first published results on e-cigarette use and smoking cessation among cancer patients and put into question the potential benefits of using e-cigarettes as part of a smoking cessation program for cancer patients. Those diagnosed with cancer who continue to smoke are advised to quit. The uptick in the use of e-cigarettes has raised the question of whether these newer types of cigarettes can facilitate or hamper the ability to quit smoking for good. In the new study, Jamie Ostroff, PhD, of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, examined 1,074 cancer patients who smoked and were enrolled in a tobacco treatment program between 2012 and 2013 at the cancer center. Using a complete case analysis, e-cigarette users were equally likely to still smoke as those who did not use e-cigarettes (odds ratio of 1). Using an intention-to-treat analysis, e-cigarette users were twice as likely to be smoking at the time of follow-up (odds ratio = 2, P < .01). The 7-day abstinence from smoking was 44.4% for e-cigarette users compared with 43.1% for non-users. Patients who were e-cigarette users at study enrollment were likely to be [...]

2014-09-24T07:08:11-07:00September, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Hard-to-watch commercials to make quitting smoking easier

Source: www.nytimes.com Author: Andrew Adam Newman Telling smokers that their habit shortens life expectancy by at least 10 years might seem like an effective way to get them to quit. But it turns out there is something even scarier: living with disfiguring disease. Dr. Tim McAfee, the director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was overseeing focus groups of smokers to help shape a smoking-cessation advertising campaign in 2011 when this became clear. “Telling smokers that you’re going to lose 11 to 12 years of your life expectancy if you continue to smoke, and that if you quit in your 30s you can gain 10 of those back, seemed pretty powerfully motivating to us,” said Dr. McAfee. But smokers’ response to such messages was that it would not happen to them, Dr. McAfee said. What they feared more than an untimely death, it turned out, was chronic illness. “They were less motivated by the fear of dying than the fear of suffering, of disability, of disfigurement, and of being a burden to those around them,” Dr. McAfee said. Introduced in 2012, the C.D.C. campaign, “Tips From Former Smokers,” by Arnold Worldwide in Boston, features people who did not quit until smoking had taken a grave toll. The ads ostensibly offer practical advice about how to function with smoking-related ailments, but the real message is to avoid such predicaments by kicking the habit. A new series of commercials includes one featuring Shawn [...]

Cancer patients who smoke report worse pain, symptoms

Source: www.medscape.com/ Author: Kate Johnson Cancer patients who smoke experience more severe symptoms than nonsmoking cancer patients and are also at greater risk of misusing opioids, a new study shows. "Our findings show a profile of higher levels of physical symptoms (pain, fatigue, poor appetite, and insomnia) and psychological symptoms (depression and anxiety) among smokers than non-smokers," report Diane Novy, PhD, from the Pain Management Center at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and colleagues. The findings underscore the importance of smoking cessation for this patient population, she told Medscape Medical News, even though it's unclear if there is a causal effect. "We don't know the cause. They may smoke more because of the pain," she said in an interview. However, studies also show that smoking has been known to increase certain types of pain such as back pain, and nerve pain, she added. "If we can motivate them to stop smoking, I think they're better off." The findings were presented here at the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) 28th Annual Meeting. Pain, Fatigue, Insomnia The study included 486 cancer patients (52% female), with a mean age of 55 years, who were referred to the Pain Management Center for uncontrolled pain. Ninety-four patients were smokers, and the rest (n = 356), classified as nonsmokers, were former smokers or never-smokers. The patients were diagnosed with a wide range of cancers, the most common being gastrointestinal (18.5%), followed by hematologic (15%) and head and neck cancer [...]

2012-02-26T09:23:53-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Students can’t commit to quitting

Source: www.gcsunade.com Author: Lindsay Peterson A Georgia College student steps outside, pauses and inhales, filling his lungs with acetone, ammonia, arsenic, benzene, butane, formaldehyde, lead and turpentine – just 8 of the more than 50 carcinogens found in the average cigarette. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 46 million smokers in the U.S., college students are among the highest percentage of smokers. Almost 22 percent of adults ages 18-24 smoke, according to 2009 CDC data. Their professors are not far behind them in their smoking addiction. According to the CDC data, almost 22 percent of people ages 45-64 are smokers. In 2009, the CDC found that adults in the Southeast were among the most prevalent smokers in the United States. While there are no hard statistics for the percentage of students and staff that smoke at GC, it is not uncommon to see a familiar gathering of smokers sitting outside any of the dorms. Lauren Luker, junior mass communication major, started smoking in order to get a break at her job as a server. “You couldn’t have a break unless it was a smoke break,” Luker said. Now, eight years later, Luker is worried about the health of her lungs and is planning on quitting after several previous failed attempts. However, quitting such an addictive habit is not always easy, as Luker knows. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine. Fortunately for GC students and staff [...]

Smokeless Tobacco Rates on the Rise

Source: WebMD By: Bill Hendrick Even after a generation of warnings from public health officials about the dangers of tobacco use, about 20% of Americans still smoke cigarettes, a CDC report says. The report also shows the rate of smokers who also use smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is rising. Using smokeless tobacco can keep the nicotine habit alive, making it even harder to quit than going cold turkey, Terry Pechacek, PhD, of the CDC, tells WebMD. More Americans are turning to smokeless tobacco because of laws that prohibit smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, and airplanes -- and also because smokeless forms can be used in offices and on the job, Pechacek says. Immediate Benefits of Smoking Cessation The tobacco companies market smokeless tobacco as a substitute for smokers, but they don’t help people quit smoking, Pechacek tells WebMD. “We are making no progress in getting people to quit smoking,” he says. “This is a tragedy. Over 400,000 people are dying prematurely and won’t be able to walk their children down the aisle or see their grandchildren.” Contrary to common beliefs of smokers, the benefits of quitting start immediately, Pechacek tells WebMD. “We see lower rates for heart attacks within months of quitting,” he says. “And lower rates for lung cancer, too. Stopping a decline in lung function is one of the biggest benefits of quitting smoking.” The national smoking prevalence rate was 20.6% in 2008 and 2009. About 23% of males smoke, compared [...]

2010-11-22T12:24:26-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Smoking cessation funding slashed

Source: Atlantic Drugs By: Susan Ray Smoking cessation funding has been cut to its lowest level since 1999. Despite 20% of the population smoking, the same percentage that were in 2006, the current economic climate and other factors have caused states to reduce funding for stop smoking initiatives. Around $517 million has been allocated in the fiscal year 2011, which is down 9.2% from the previous year, and 28% less than in 2009. Alarm Public health groups are alarmed that people who are looking to quit smoking may now not get the help that they need. There are around 46 million smokers across America, all at an increased risk of developing serious health problems like lung and mouth cancer, and heart disease. Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable death in the US and is responsible for one in five deaths. About 8.6 million people suffer from smoking-related lung and heart disease. Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks in comparison with non-smokers. Most important step The US Surgeon General has said, "Smoking cessation (stopping smoking) represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives." Quitting smoking can be difficult. Some smokers find that the nicotine addictions make it too hard to give up. For others, the mental cravings to smoke are a greater problem. Research has shown that quitting smoking is more ‘mind over matter’ for many people, and that overcoming psychological desires to smoke cigarettes [...]

2010-11-10T09:27:15-07:00November, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Nicotine-delivering e-cigarettes under fire

Source: Courier Journal By: Patrick Howington Sean Howard smoked cigarettes for 14 years until he found something new — an electronic cigarette that delivers the nicotine he craves but not the deadly toxins from cigarette smoke. Now Howard, 28, of Lexington, said he breathes better, can exercise again, and “I don’t smell like a cigarette.” A server at a local country club, Howard said he has gone back and tried cigarettes a couple of times in the year since he quit them, “and now I can’t stand the things. … I actually don’t know how I smoked them.” Howard is among the growing number of advocates of e-cigarettes — plastic or metal tubes that contain a nicotine solution but no tobacco. A battery heats the liquid into a vapor for inhaling. Sold under names like “Health E-Cigarettes” and “SmokeAnywhere” that suggest harmlessness and the ability to evade indoor smoking bans, e-cigarettes don’t require matches and don’t emit toxic smoke — but they’ve still drawn plenty of fire. In court filings and enforcement actions, federal regulators and some states have lined up with medical organizations who say e-cigarettes’ safety hasn’t been proved. While their sale is legal in most of the U.S., including Kentucky and Indiana, several states have banned e-cigarettes or are considering it. (They are not covered under Louisville and Lexington’s indoor smoking bans, though, and there are no current plans to add them.) Advocates of the product, and some medical experts, say the devices could save thousands of [...]

Quitting cigarettes completely or switching to smokeless tobacco: do US data replicate the Swedish results?

Source: Tob Control 2009;18:82-87 doi:10.1136/tc.2008.028209 Authors: S-H Zhu et al. Background: Swedish male smokers are more likely than female smokers to switch to smokeless tobacco (snus) and males’ smoking cessation rate is higher than that of females. These results have fuelled international debate over promoting smokeless tobacco for harm reduction. This study examines whether similar results emerge in the United States, one of few other western countries where smokeless tobacco has long been widely available. Methods: US data source: national sample in Tobacco Use Supplement to Current Population Survey, 2002, with 1-year follow-up in 2003. Analyses included adult self-respondents in this longitudinal sample (n = 15 056). Population-weighted rates of quitting smoking and switching to smokeless tobacco were computed for the 1-year period. Results: Among US men, few current smokers switched to smokeless tobacco (0.3% in 12 months). Few former smokers turned to smokeless tobacco (1.7%). Switching between cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, infrequent among current tobacco users (<4%), was more often from smokeless to smoking. Men quit smokeless tobacco at three times the rate of quitting cigarettes (38.8% vs 11.6%, p<0.001). Overall, US men have no advantage over women in quitting smoking (11.7% vs 12.4%, p = 0.65), even though men are far likelier to use smokeless tobacco. Conclusion: The Swedish results are not replicated in the United States. Both male and female US smokers appear to have higher quit rates for smoking than have their Swedish counterparts, despite greater use of smokeless tobacco in Sweden. Promoting smokeless tobacco for harm reduction in countries with [...]

2009-12-08T18:01:12-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Maker of Camels buys cigarette replacement seller

Source: townhall.com Author: staff Cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc. has reached a deal to acquire a Swedish company whose nicotine gum, pouches and spray help people stop smoking, the second-largest U.S. tobacco company said Wednesday. The acquisition will let Reynolds offer products that can "reduce the risks of diseases and death caused by tobacco use," CEO Susan M. Ivey said in a statement. Niconovum AB's products are sold outside the U.S. under the Zonnic brand. They could help the maker of Camel cigarettes and Grizzly smokeless tobacco keep growing as tax increases, health concerns, smoking bans and social stigma cut into demand for cigarettes. The deal, which Reynolds expects to conclude by the end of the year, would be worth about $44 million. The Associated Press reported last month that the companies were in talks. Karl Olov Fagerstrom, an expert on smoking cessation and nicotine dependence, formed Niconovum in 2000, according to its Web site. Reynolds, which is based in Winston-Salem, N.C., said it will fund product development and testing required for Niconovum to enter markets outside of Sweden and Denmark. It intends to keep Niconovum's headquarters in Sweden and retain its leaders. Under the Camel brand, Reynolds has introduced moist smokeless tobacco and snus _ small pouches like tea bags that users stick between the cheek and gum. Reynolds also has introduced dissolving tobacco _ finely milled tobacco shaped into orbs, sticks and strips _ in test markets.

2009-12-04T05:07:29-07:00December, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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