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Packet Helps Smokers Hide Graphic Warnings

Source: tvnz.co.nz Sticky seals in the packets of one brand of cigarettes are helping smokers cover up graphic health warnings. Graphic images of illnesses like gangrene, mouth cancer and lung disease must be printed on every packet of cigarettes to cover 30% of the front and 90% of the back of the pack. ONE News looked at a range of cigarettes from a number of companies. Dunhill was the only product found with a seal inside the packet that can be stuck on the outside. It is labelled "exclusively Dunhill". The sticky 'reloc' seal is just the size to cover health warnings. Michael Colhoun of Action on Smoking and Health says nothing about a tobacco packet is accidental and the sticky seals have been included deliberately. "This seems to be a brand marketing exercise," he said. Fresh-seal stickers are used to cover graphic warning images Manufacturer British American Tobacco says its design is not intended to undermine the law. "We do not condone the practice of using one part of the pack designed for a particular purpose to hide those warnings," the company said. It said the seal is simply for keeping cigarettes fresh. One smoker said the sticker is "sneaky". Some smokers said they will continue using the sticker to hide the images. Quitline says since the graphic images first appeared in 2008, numbers of calls to its helpline have increased. But there are websites and even how-to videos dedicated to showing smokers how to cover the pictures up. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-10-31T20:45:36-07:00October, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Rate of HPV Vaccination in Teens Lagging

Source: The Associated Press Author: Staff Only about half of the teenage girls in the U.S. have rolled up their sleeves for a controversial vaccine against cervical cancer — a rate well below those for two other vaccinations aimed at adolescents. The vaccine hit the market in 2006. By last year, just 49 percent of girls had gotten at least the first of the recommended three shots for human papilloma virus, or HPV, a sexually-transmitted bug that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. Only a third had gotten all three doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. In contrast, the CDC said about two-thirds of teens had gotten the recommended shot for one type of bacterial meningitis and a shot for meningitis and tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. Granted, it can take many years for a new vaccine to catch on and reach the 90 percent and above range for many longstanding childhood vaccines. But use of HPV vaccine has been "very disappointing" compared to other newer vaccines, said the CDC's Dr. Melinda Wharton. "If we don't do a much better job, we're leaving another generation vulnerable to cervical cancer later in life," said Wharton. Why aren't more girls getting HPV shots? The vaccine can be very expensive, and it can be a bit of a hassle. It takes three visits to the doctor over six months. But sex no doubt has something to do with it, experts said. Girls are supposed to start the [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-08-26T12:24:52-07:00August, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

For the first time in nearly four decades, smokeless tobacco has no hand in sponsoring the College National Finals Rodeo

Source: Billings Gazette CASPER, Wyo. — The once steadfast coupling of chewing tobacco and the collegiate cowboy extravaganza is no more. There are no Copenhagen banners, there are no Skoal flags. There are no free samples. For the first time in nearly four decades, smokeless tobacco has no hand in sponsoring the College National Finals Rodeo. “It’s a tremendous and tragic loss to college rodeo,” National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Commissioner Roger Walters said during the weeklong 2011 CNFR, which ended Saturday night at the Casper Events Center. “Who lost? Our students.” For 37 years, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of scholarships to college rodeo. While the presence of the company’s banners and flags at the CNFR ceased in 2009, the company — acquired by Altria that same year — continued giving scholarship money through last year. Walters said the company, in a time of economic hardship, gave roughly $250,000 in scholarships each year to college rodeo performers. The sponsorship pullout by the company, he said, constituted an 80 to 85 percent loss in money available for the performers. “I understand the reasons (for their departure), but in the long run, it hurts our students,” he said. “And that’s what this rodeo is for, first and foremost.” Health officials, however, applauded the move. “It is never a good idea to promote a product that is a deadly killer,” said Niki Mueller, the program director of Wyoming Through With Chew. “Rodeo is a family event, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-20T10:32:05-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Matthew Algeo’s ‘The President is a Sick Man’ vindicates an old story, and its reporter

Source: www.cleveland.com/books Author: teve Weinberg Stephen Grover Cleveland, born in 1837, would become one of the most unusual U.S. presidents, in multiple ways. Living in the east, he planned to make his way to the boomtown of Cleveland, in 1854, seeking riches. His prospects looked good, given the influence of his distant relative, Moses Cleaveland, often credited with founding the city. The young man never made it past Buffalo, N.Y., however, where an uncle made him an employment offer. The rest of his life, Grover Cleveland (he dropped Stephen in favor of his middle name) would be bound up in New York state politics, except when he spent two nonconsecutive terms in the White House, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. Matthew Algeo, a historian and radio journalist, focuses on a dramatic, little-known event in his new book, "The President Is a Sick Man." Algeo, a strong writer, nevertheless saddles his work with a ponderous subtitle "Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth." Suffering from mouth cancer in 1893, Cleveland disappeared to undergo surgery on the yacht of a friend. The president, his doctors and political advisers feared that news might exacerbate a financial recession and trigger panic. Cleveland's popular wife, Frances, young enough to be his daughter, lied to journalists about the president's whereabouts. Cleveland's press aide lied, too. Reporters accepted the falsehoods, misleading the citizenry into believing the nation's leader vanished for five days to undergo [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-06-18T11:22:17-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Glowing Cornell Dots Target Cancer

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Investigation, June 13, 2011 (Ivanhoe Newswire)-- New medical technology is showing that Cornell dots may be a potential cancer diagnostic tool. The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved the first clinical trial in humans using Cornell Dots- brightly glowing nanoparticles that can light up cancer cells in PET-optical imaging. Cornell Dots are silica spheres less than eight nanometers in diameter that enclose several dye molecules. To make the dots stick to tumor cells, organic molecules that bind to tumor surfaces, or even specific locations within the tumors, can be attached to a polyethylene glycol shell. This shell, also referred to as PEG, prevents the body from recognizing the dots as foreign substances. When exposed to near-infrared light, the dots fluoresce much brighter than dye to serve as a beacon identifying the target cells. Researchers say this technology enables visualization during surgical treatment. Cornell Dots were first developed in 2005 by Hooisweng Ow, a coauthor of the paper on this study and once a graduate student working with Ulrich Wiesner, Cornell Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Ow and other researchers of this technology are currently in the process of forming a new commercial entity in New York City that will help transition this research into commercial products that will benefit cancer patients. Michelle S. Bradbury, M.D, of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and an assistant professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, was quoted as saying, "This is the first FDA IND approved [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-06-15T11:14:48-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Boys and HPV Vaccine: The Facts

Source: Forbes Magazine CNN reports on a study that argues that boys should get vaccinated for the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer in women. But it misses the main reason that boys should be getting jabs of either Merck‘s Gardasil or GlaxoSmithKline’s rival Cervarix. Cue CNN: Men also carry the human papillomavirus, the virus that can lead to male cancers and genital warts. And they could spread HPV to their sexual partners, putting those people at risk for cervical cancer. So the HPV vaccine, that is often recommended for girls, should extend to boys as well, say researchers from Innsbruck Medical University in Austria. Their study was presented at the meeting of the American Urological Association on Tuesday. …. In the study, Dr. Michael Ladurner Rennau and his colleagues tested 133 men, between 7 months to 82 years old for the presence of HPV, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. They used DNA extraction. They found 18.8% of the examined foreskins had the low-risk HPV genotypes and 9.77% had the high-risk HPV. via Males should get HPV vaccine too, study says – The Chart – CNN.com Blogs. Of course, the reason there’s not a big push to vaccinate men for HPV is because genital warts are treatable and penile and anal cancers are rare. And saying, “Let’s vaccinate your son so that the women he sleeps with won’t get HPV” is an uncomfortable and probably unconvincing approach for pediatricians to take with parents. Girls — [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-23T12:25:32-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

HPV Becomes a Major Topic for Researchers as a Source of Oral Cancers

By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press MONTREAL — Amid Michael Douglas's personal and philanthropic battle with throat cancer, the Oscar-winning actor is shedding light on a viral form of the disease lurking in a growing number of mouths. Oral cancer has long been linked to tobacco and alcohol use, but an expanding body of research suggests human papillomavirus, or HPV, is an increasing cause of the deadly disease. The culprit behind the sexually transmitted virus' emergence in mouth and throat cancers? Experts say a major factor is the prevalence of oral sex. More and more researchers have cast their microscopes on the mysteries of HPV-caused oral cancers, including McGill University, which received a big fundraising boost last week with the help of Douglas. The grateful actor, diagnosed with throat cancer last year in a Montreal hospital, volunteered to headline a charity event for the McGill Head and Neck Cancer Fund. The 66-year-old, who calls himself a "poster boy" for head-and-neck cancer, has blamed alcohol as a likely source of his illness, not HPV. Still, a portion of the $2 million amassed at the event will support HPV-caused oral cancer research. The doctor who first detected the walnut-sized tumour in Douglas's throat said the fund has supported HPV projects in the past and more are in the works. "This is an area of increasing incidence," Dr. Saul Frenkiel said of HPV-caused oral cancer at the university-affiliated hospital where he treated Douglas. Although relatively rare, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates oral cancers, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-09T14:38:18-07:00May, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

U of A study finds ways to help end dry mouth in cancer patients

Source: e! Science News For patients suffering from cancer in the mouth or throat, a recent study shows that a treatment called submandibular gland transfer will assist in preventing a radiation-induced condition called xerostomia. Also known as dry mouth, xerostomia occurs when salivary glands stop working. University of Alberta researcher Jana Rieger likens the feeling of xerostomia to the experience of the after-effects of having surgery and anesthetic—but the feeling is permanent. While the importance of healthy saliva glands may be an afterthought for some patients when battling cancer, the long-lasting effects create a number of problems for them when they are in remission. "We need saliva to keep our mouths healthy," said Rieger. "Without saliva, people can lose their teeth, dentures don't fit properly and the ability to swallow and speak is severely altered." The study conducted by Rieger, a speech language pathologist in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, looked at functional outcomes—speech changes, swallowing habits and the quality of life of patients with mouth and throat cancers—as they received two different types of treatments prior to and during radiation. The first group of patients underwent the submandibular gland transfer. This method was pioneered by Hadi Seikaly and Naresh Jha at the University of Alberta in 1999. The transfer involves moving the saliva gland from under the angle of the jaw to under to the chin. Prior to this procedure, the saliva gland was in line for the radiation. Seikaly says, "Most patients, when they are cured from cancer, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2011-05-05T09:37:29-07:00May, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Dental professionals join The Oral Cancer Foundation to raise awareness as HPV is now the primary cause of Oral Cancers in America

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A serious change in the cause of oral cancer is taking place nationally, and its implications are impacting the American public in a manner that a decade ago no one would have predicted. For decades, oral cancer (also known as mouth cancer, tongue cancer, tonsil cancer, and throat cancer) has been a disease which most often occurred in older individuals, who during their lifetimes had been tobacco users. Most cases were ultimately the result of lifestyle choices. Today that paradigm has changed. A common, sexually transferred virus has replaced tobacco as the number one cause of oral cancers, Human Papilloma Virus number 16 (HPV16). This is one of the same viruses that are responsible for the majority of cervical cancers in women. This year alone, approximately 37,000 Americans will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer, and one person will die every hour of every day from this disease. HPV16, one of about 130 versions of the virus, is now the leading cause of oral cancer, and is found in about 60% of newly diagnosed patients. Dr. Maura Gillison from the James Cancer Center, a long time researcher of the relationship between HPV and oral cancers, recently reported these new findings at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science meeting. This change in etiology, which has accelerated its influence over the last two decades as tobacco use in the US simultaneously was declining, has also changed the demographics of who is getting [...]

Charlotte Parker2011-04-07T10:39:32-07:00April, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

My dog saved my life, says Sunderland man

Source: Sunderland Echo By: Katy Wheeler John and Pauline Douglas were devastated when their dog Diesel had to be put down after developing cancer of the neck. But it was the late bull mastiff’s symptoms which helped John, 39, realise that he too had the disease. The dad-of-four, of Tunstall Bank, noticed a lump in his neck in February. And despite the fact he was told by doctors to rule out cancer, John’s experience with Diesel’s disease convinced him something was seriously wrong – and he pushed for further tests. His instincts were proved correct and John was diagnosed with cancer, which had spread to his neck, in April – just a week before his wedding day to wife Pauline, 41. John said: “Because of my age, the fact I don’t smoke and because I am a moderate drinker, I was told not to worry about cancer and that it was just an infection. “But what happened to Diesel set alarm bells ringing. “He had the same kind of lump in his neck that would swell up and down. We were told his wasn’t cancer to start with and it was only found late on. “Even though I was told by a specialist that I didn’t fit the criteria for cancer, the doubt was still niggling and I made such a song and dance that more tests were done.” As a result of John’s persistence, one of his tonsils was removed and a biopsy revealed the cancer, which had spread [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-03-29T19:08:21-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|