Health and philanthropy—the tobacco connection

Source: www.thelancet.com Author: Simon Chapman On June 14, the world's two richest men, Mexico's Carlos Slim Helú and the USA's Bill Gates, jointly announced that they would each contribute US$50 million to the Latam health project to increase vaccinations and improve child nutrition and natal health in central America.1 Slim already contributes reputedly $2·5 billion annually to his Instituto Carlos Slim de la Salud, which runs a large variety of health programmes in Latin America.2 The latest announcement will naturally attract widespread acclaim as an outstanding example of philanthropy. But it also invites important questions about consistency and competing interests. Any assessment of Slim's net contribution to public health must balance the impact of his philanthropic contributions as well as the indirect health consequences that flow from his wealth generation with a less appreciated source of his wealth. Descriptions of Slim's vast fortune generally concentrate on his telecommunications empire.3 Relatively little is mentioned about his long-standing majority ownership of the Mexican tobacco company Cigatam,3 which has since 2007 been 80% owned by Philip Morris.4 Slim's website acknowledges that Cigatam “turned out to be the first and most important because of its cash flow, providing the Group with sufficient liquidity to capitalize on available opportunities and thereby increase its acquisitions of big companies”.5 Nor is it as widely publicised that he has a continuing role as a non-executive director6 of the world's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI). The company's shareholders doubtless expect him—like all directors—to make a major contribution [...]

Smoking may worsen pain for cancer patients

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Fran Lowry Patients with cancer who continue to smoke despite their diagnosis experience greater pain severity than their counterparts who quit or who have never smoked, according to new research published in the January 2011 issue of Pain. Not only is their pain more severe, but it interferes more with their activities of daily living, lead author Joseph W. Ditre, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Texas A & M University in College Station, told Medscape Medical News. "Many smokers, when they get cancer, feel that smoking is one of the only pleasures they have left to them and refuse to quit," he said in an interview. "But our research suggests that quitting has definite benefits. It’s one more thing that doctors can tell their patients to help them stop smoking." Continued smoking has been associated with an increased risk of developing a second primary tumor, reduces the effectiveness of treatment, and is associated with poorer survival rates, Dr. Ditre said. "The subtext for this is that smoking can also worsen cancer-related symptoms and treatment side effects, such as pain and fatigue." "About 75% of people with advanced-stage cancer report moderate to very severe pain, so it is a very big factor in terms of the disease course, and yet there is surprisingly little research on this topic," he added. Dr. Ditre, who led this work while he was earning his doctorate at the University of South Florida and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, told Medscape Medical News [...]

Californians continue to kick the cigarette habit

Source: www.latimes.com Author: Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times The percentage of California adults who smoke has continued to drop more than the national average, according to new data released Monday by state health officials. Still, deep disparities exist depending on gender, education, income, ethnicity and region. Overall, Californians remain significantly less likely to smoke than people in the rest of the country, with 13.1% of adults surveyed statewide saying they smoked last year compared with 21% of adults nationwide. The rate was even lower in several Southern California counties, including Los Angeles (10.4%), Orange (10.9%), Ventura (11.8%), Riverside and San Bernardino (each12.7%), according to a 2008 telephone survey. "We have saved billions of dollars in healthcare costs that have been averted," Kimberly Belshé, the state's secretary of Health and Human Services, said Monday at a news conference near downtown Los Angeles to release the figures and display the state's latest anti- smoking advertisements. Still, she said, "these prevalence rates also tell us we have more work to be done." As of last year, California had seen a 38% decrease in smokers since 1990, when public health officials created the California Tobacco Control Program, funded by Proposition 99. The smoking rate is expected to decrease to 12.6% this year, close to the national goal of 12% by 2020. Only Utah reports a lower rate of smokers. The downward trend in California is moving faster than the nation's, which has seen a smaller decrease in the smoking rate, down to 21% from [...]

2010-12-27T21:15:06-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Electronic nicotine delivery systems: is there a need for regulation?

Source: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/ Author: Anna Trtchounian, Prue Talbot Purpose: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) purport to deliver nicotine to the lungs of smokers. Five brands of ENDS were evaluated for design features, accuracy and clarity of labeling and quality of instruction manuals and associated print material supplied with products or on manufacturers' websites. Methods: ENDS were purchased from online vendors and analyzed for various parameters. Results: While the basic design of ENDS was similar across brands, specific design features varied significantly. Fluid contained in cartridge reservoirs readily leaked out of most brands, and it was difficult to assemble or disassemble ENDS without touching nicotine-containing fluid. Two brands had designs that helped lessen this problem. Labeling of cartridges was very poor; labelling of some cartridge wrappers was better than labelling of cartridges. In general, packs of replacement cartridges were better labelled than the wrappers or cartridges, but most packs lacked cartridge content and warning information, and sometimes packs had confusing information. Used cartridges contained fluid, and disposal of nicotine-containing cartridges was not adequately addressed on websites or in manuals. Orders were sometimes filled incorrectly, and safety features did not always function properly. Print and internet material often contained information or made claims for which there is currently no scientific support. Conclusions: Design flaws, lack of adequate labeling and concerns about quality control and health issues indicate that regulators should consider removing ENDS from the market until their safety can be adequately evaluated. Authors affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of [...]

2010-12-11T06:13:33-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

U.S. cigarette brands tops in cancer causing chemicals

Source: CNN Author: Miriam Falco Smokers of U.S. brand cigarettes may get more bang for their buck in the worst way according to a small study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers found U.S. made cigarettes contain more cancer-causing chemicals than some cigarettes brands made elsewhere around the world. “Not all cigarettes are made alike” says Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. He says this is the first study to show that “U.S. cigarettes have more of the major carcinogen [TSNAs] than foreign made cigarettes." TSNAs are “tobacco-specific nitrosamines,” the major cancer-causing substance in tobacco. 126 smokers in five cities – Waterloo, Ontario; Melbourne, Victoria (Australia); London, England, Buffalo, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota – were recruited for this study. They were between the ages of 18 and 55 and smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day for the past year and had been brand loyal for at least three months. The cigarettes smoked by the study recruits represented some of the more popular brands for each country including: Players light and DuMaurier in Canada; Marlboro, Newport Light, Camel Light in the U.S.; Peter Jackson and Peter Stuyvesant in Australia; and Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut Purple in the United Kingdom. Scientists analyzed more than 2,000 cigarette butts to get the data they are reporting today, says Pirkle. When researchers compared cigarette brands in the U.S. to those in Canada and Australia, they found three times higher [...]

2010-06-04T13:06:10-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Oral Cancer Foundation donates screening devices to West Virginia Free Clinics

Source: www.prnewswire.com Author: press release In 2009 the Oral Cancer Foundation initiated a program of donating VELscope® Oral Cancer Screening Systems to free clinics. The most recent recipients of this program are two West Virginia clinics: WV Health Right in Charleston, and the Susan Dew Hoff Memorial Clinic in West Milford. "Our intent is to identify free clinics in areas that have a high concentration of people who are both at risk for oral cancer and without the financial means to pay for comprehensive oral exams," said Oral Cancer Foundation founder and executive director Brian Hill. "It is difficult to think of an area that better fits those criteria than West Virginia." The state ranks highest in the country in tobacco usage, and next-to-last in per capita income. In identifying free clinics to be potential recipients of the device which identifies loss of tissue auto-fluorescence, an indicator of abnormal tissues, the Oral Cancer Foundation is careful to ensure that each candidate clinic has at least one dentist on staff who can be trained to use the device and can train other staff members. Oral cancer belongs to the head and neck cancer group, and is often referred to by other names such as; tongue cancer, mouth cancer, tonsil cancer, lip cancer, and throat cancer. While some people think this is a rare cancer, it is not. Approximately 100 people in the U.S. will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer each day, and it takes a life in the U.S. every [...]

HPV-linked head and throat cancers easier to treat unless patient is a smoker, University of Michigan study finds

Source: annarbor.com Author: Tina Reed A growing incidence of head and throat cancers have been traced back to the human papillomavirus, or HPV, rather than smoking. With that in mind, University of Michigan researchers recently decided to examine the difference in outcomes between smokers with HPV-linked head and throat cancer and those who had never smoked. Turns out, the HPV-linked tumors were easier to treat than non-HPV associated cancers. That is, unless the patient was a smoker. Those with HPV-linked cancers who smoked were six times as likely to recur than those who had never smoked. According to a Los Angeles Time health blog, treatments for head and neck cancers include harsh treatments such as radiation, chemotherapy and surgery. The researchers from U-M's Comprehensive Cancer Center said they planned to begin a clinical trial to milder treatments later this year.

2010-02-17T08:13:44-07:00February, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

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|

U.S. smoking rates remain steady, but vary widely by state

Source: Medical News Author: John Gever National rates of cigarette smoking showed little change in 2008 from a year earlier, the CDC reported, though states vary widely both in rates of current smoking and exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. Some 20.6% of Americans were current smokers in 2008 (95% CI 19.9% to 21.4%), not significantly different from the 19.8% found in 2007 (95% CI 19.0% to 20.6%) according to the the government's ongoing National Health Interview Survey, detailed by Shanta R. Dube, PhD, and other CDC researchers in the Nov. 13 issue ofMorbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. But analysis of a another data set in MMWR -- the 2008 results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) -- revealed a twofold variation in rates among states. Utah had by far the lowest rate of current cigarette smoking, at 9.2%, followed by California (14.0%), New Jersey (14.8%) and Maryland (14.9%), according to Ann M. Malarcher, PhD, and CDC colleagues. West Virginia led the other end of the list at 26.6%. Other states with current smoking rates of 25% or more included Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. West Virginia had several other smoking distinctions. It was the only state in which the current smoking rate was higher among women than men -- 27.1% versus 26.1% -- although the difference was not statistically significant. The BRFSS data showed the Mountain State had the highest rate of home exposure to secondhand smoke among 12 states and territories for which data were available. Some 10.6% [...]

2009-11-13T13:22:58-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Understanding the link between HPV and oropharyngeal cancers

Source: www.jaapa.com (Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, October, 2009) Authors: Denise Rizzolo, PA-C, PhD, Mona Sedrak, PA-C, PhD Head and neck cancer is diagnosed in approximately 650,000 patients each year worldwide.1 The term head and neck cancer refers to a group of biologically similar cancers originating from the upper aerodigestive tract, including the lip, oral cavity (mouth), nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, pharynx, and larynx. Oropharyngeal refers to all the structures of the mouth and pharynx, including the tonsils and tongue. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common form of head and neck cancer.2 Seventy-five percent of all OSCCs are attributable to tobacco and alcohol use.3 People who smoke cigarettes are 4 times more likely to develop oral cancer than nonsmokers. Furthermore, individuals who consume alcohol are 3 times more likely than nondrinkers to develop oral cancer.3 According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the prevalence of cigarette smoking has decreased among Americans, and alcohol use has also declined since the 1970s.4,5 However despite this, the incidence of oropharyngeal cancers, including cancer of the base of the tongue and tonsils, has increased, especially in younger patients. These trends have led researchers to investigate other potential risk factors.6-8 New studies suggest that there may be an alternative pathway for the development of oropharyngeal cancers. The high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), especially type 16 (HPV-16), are now thought to be potential etiologic agents.2,3 The concept that HPV plays a role in head and neck [...]

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