Gruesome warnings doing their job

Source: www.stuff.co.nz Author: staff Even in today's world with its plethora of information-gathering techniques there is probably no way to say for certain how much influence the use of revolting pictures on cigarette packets is having on the smoking rate, The Nelson Mail said in an editorial on Thursday. One thing is fairly certain, though - the images of gangrenous toes, diseased lungs and other rotting body parts are unlikely to bring about an increase. They have surely made some contribution to the latest statistics, which show a marked drop in the smoking rate, down from 25 percent of New Zealanders two years ago to around 20 percent, or 170,000 fewer smokers. The Health Ministry is right to attribute some of that improvement to the pictures, which at a stroke removed any semblance of sophistication from tobacco packaging, an area manufacturers used to put some effort into. It is doubtful that they can identify much revenue potential in that any more. The point has been further emphasised by a series of discomforting television commercials bravely fronted by mouth cancer sufferer Adrian Pilkington. He too shows the true nature of tobacco addiction in a way that forces smokers to confront the dangers of their habit. These two measures, along with the requirement for the Quitline number to be on every cigarette packet, are undoubtedly having an effect, hard as it is to define. There have after all been a number of restrictions introduced that have made it more difficult to pursue [...]

Knicks Prez Donnie Walsh had oral cancer surgery soon after draft

Source: www.pacersdigest.com Author: Peter Vecsey Donnie Walsh asked me not to make a big deal of this when I requested permission to break the news . . . so I won't . . . though, I'm sure we all agree, it is a big deal. Four days after last June's draft, the Knicks' president, 67, entered Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and went under the knife for one hour. An uncontrollable 50-year urge to smoke vanished along with the cancerous part of his tongue. "My doctor says he got it all," Walsh said. "Luckily, it was caught quickly before it could spread. Numerous pre- and post-op scans of his head and neck concurred it had been contained. Physically, Walsh is almost back to normal. His mouth remains a little numb and his speech only betrays him when a conversation becomes lengthy. "It's like I have marbles in my mouth. But you can't really tell there's something missing unless I stick out my tongue." "Spare me," I promptly replied, "I'll take your word for it. "Something tells me your French kissing days may be over." Consensual gallows humor between New Yorkers who've been friends for almost half their adult lives is not only expected but required. Anything to lighten his psychological load is licensed; Donnie's stare down with mortality admittedly shook him up like the grade-school nuns who habitually harped on the Hereafter. Two of Donnie's closest college buddies died in the past three years. Additionally, an inordinately large percentage of his [...]

2008-09-29T18:52:48-07:00September, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Smoking impact images to appear on cigarette packs

Source: www.politics.co.uk Author: staff The government wants to shock smokers into quitting by putting graphic pictures of the damage caused by smoking on cigarette packs. From Wednesday picture warnings will begin replacing the written warnings currently on packets in a bid to improve on the 1.9 million fewer smokers seen since 1982. The new images show rotting teeth and lungs, throat cancer and a 'flaccid cigarette' – the "grim reality" of the effects smoking can have on health, as chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson says. "These new stark picture warnings emphasise the harsh health realities of continuing to smoke. I hope they will make many more think hard about giving up, and get the help they need to stop smoking for good." Britain is not the first country to use graphic warnings: Canada introduced them in 2001 and saw 31 per cent of ex-smokers claiming the pictures had motivated them to quit. Anti-smoking campaigners have welcomed the images, which come into force from October 1st. Action on Smoking and Health's (Ash) director Deborah Arnott backed existing evidence suggesting the images make smokers quit. And she called on the government to legislate to require the removal of pack branding to maximise their impact, as research shows this has the greatest impact. Cancer Research UK's head of tobacco control, Elspeth Lee, said her organisation would back an amendment to current EU legislation allowing picture warnings to be placed on the front as well as the back of packs, as in Australia [...]

2008-09-28T21:26:53-07:00September, 2008|Oral Cancer News|
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