Wrong way to go smoke-free

Source: Newsobserver.com By: Joseph G.L. Lee CHAPEL HILL -- So, now R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company wants to help smokers "break free" from tobacco? That statement should make parents, health care providers and smokers nervous. Last month, Reynolds promoted its Camel Snus (a "spit-free" tobacco pouch) with advertisements in national magazines that read "If you've decided to quit tobacco use, we support you," under a large "2011 Smoke-free Resolution" banner. Reynolds then offered its smoke-free snus as the solution. For smokers, the majority of whom try to quit every year, the message should be to quit tobacco use, not to substitute one form of cancer for another. No safe form of tobacco use exists. Smokers who try tobacco snus products are at high risk of becoming addicted to both cigarettes and snus, thus continuing or even adding to their risk for lung, bladder, breast, cervical, oral and pancreatic cancer. In addition to running these misleading ads in People, Time and Rolling Stone, R.J. Reynolds is continuing a long-standing practice of targeting vulnerable populations such as young people, African-Americans and gays and lesbians. Last year, research in the medical journal Pediatrics implicated Reynolds' "Camel No. 9" campaign in an increase in smoking among young teenage girls. The tobacco industry has long targeted African-Americans by focusing on marketing and so-called "corporate social responsibility" strategies to buy favor with civil rights organizations. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco estimated that the approximately $25 million in tobacco industry corporate philanthropy that funded African-American [...]

2011-02-03T12:09:00-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Stephen Strasburg attempts to quit smokeless tobacco

Source: www.washingtonpost.com Author: Adam Kilgore Like any other high school kid, Stephen Strasburg wanted to emulate the major league baseball players he watched on television. He mimicked their actions down to the last detail. He rolled his pants up to reveal high socks, wore wristbands at the plate and, during downtime, opened tins of chewing tobacco and pinched some in his lower lip. Years later, having developed a powerful addiction, Strasburg regrets ever trying smokeless tobacco. Last fall, Tony Gwynn - his college coach at San Diego State and one of those players he grew up idolizing - began radiation treatments for parotid cancer, a diagnosis Gwynn blamed on using smokeless tobacco. In the wake of Gwynn's cancer diagnosis, Strasburg has resolved to quit smokeless tobacco while he recuperates from Tommy John surgery. He doesn't want to face the myriad health risks borne from tobacco use, and he doesn't want kids who want to be like him to see him with a packed lower lip. Strasburg conflates many activities with dipping, and he has yet to eradicate the habit. But he is determined he will. "I'm still in the process of quitting," Strasburg, 22, said. "I've made a lot of strides, stopped being so compulsive with it. I'm hoping I'm going to be clean for spring training. It's going to be hard, because it's something that's embedded in the game." Smokeless tobacco has long been entrenched in baseball. In the 1980s, wads of it bulged in batters' cheeks. More recently, [...]

2011-01-31T19:50:01-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Menthol

Source: snus-news.blogspot.com Author: Sarah O'Connor There is a strong preference for menthol products in a number of Asian markets such as Japan and it is also growing in some Central European and Latin American markets. (Marlboro menthol cigarettes: strong preference in Asia by O'Connor Sarah, cheapweb.info, 6/24/2009) Study Abstract: Japan presents an excellent case-study of a nation with low female smoking rates and a negligible menthol market which changed after the cigarette market was opened to foreign competition. Internal tobacco industry documents demonstrate the intent of tobacco manufacturers to increase initiation among young females through development and marketing of menthol brands. Japanese menthol market share rose rapidly from less than 1% in 1980 to 20% in 2008. Menthol brand use was dominated by younger and female smokers, in contrast with non-menthol brands which were used primarily by male smokers. Nationally representative surveys confirm industry surveys of brand use and provide further evidence of the end results of the tobacco industry‘s actions—increased female smoking in Japan. These findings suggest that female populations may be encouraged to initiate into smoking, particularly in developing nations or where female smoking rates remain low, if the tobacco industry can successfully tailor brands to them. The Japanese experience provides a warning to public health officials who wish to prevent smoking initiation among young females. Surveys identified menthol as a major reason for female experimentation and use. Menthol cigarettes tended to be viewed as "a special type" of "light" cigarette and were widely considered to be an [...]

2011-01-19T13:38:06-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Ban flavored tobacco products

Source: www.acscan.org Author: staff On 1/5/11, the Assembly introduced legislation banning the sale of flavored tobacco products. The American Cancer Society continues to be a strong advocate of this effort. Below is our memo of support: Memorandum In Support A. 288 An Act to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products. This measure prohibits the sale in New York of tobacco products, other than cigarettes, containing natural or artificial additives that impart to a tobacco product or its smoke flavors attractive to youth including, but not limited to, fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavoring. Menthol, mint and wintergreen flavors are excepted. In no event shall a tobacco product be construed as flavored based solely on the use of additives or flavorings in its manufacture, or their presence on an ingredient list. In 2009, Congress enacted the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granting the federal Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products and banning the use of flavors other than menthol in cigarettes. However, other tobacco products, including "little cigars" (cigarettes wrapped in paper containing tobacco), cigars, snuff and other smokeless tobacco products were not included in the prohibition. This bill corrects that oversight. An important function of the flavorings affected by this legislation is to mask from tobacco product users, particularly new users, the harsh, toxic properties of tobacco smoke and spit tobacco. Tobacco industry internal documents uncovered during the course [...]

2011-01-12T16:02:56-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Tobacco manufacturers must report ingredients to FDA

Source: www2.journalnow.com Author: Richard Craver The Food and Drug Administration is giving tobacco manufacturers less than three months to provide proof that any product introduced since February 2007 is "substantially equivalent" to products already in the marketplace. If a manufacturer does not file a report by March 22, or cannot substantiate its evidence, the FDA said Wednesday that it could remove the product from store shelves. The announcement updated the guidance provided to manufacturers in June 2009 as part of enacting the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Manufacturers of any product introduced after March 22 must submit an application and obtain a marketing order from the FDA before placing the product on the market. The emphasis of the new rules puts R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in the bull's-eye because it has been the most prolific developer of tobacco products in recent years, including Camel Snus and the Camel orbs, sticks and filmlike strips for the tongue. "No known existing tobacco product is safe, and a market order issued by the FDA for these products should never be interpreted as such," said Dr. Lawrence Deyton, the director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. "These products will not be safer, but we are required by this law to not allow even more dangerous products to cause further harm to those Americans who use tobacco products." The FDA defined "substantially equivalent" as "being the same in terms of ingredients, design, composition, heating source and other characteristics to an existing, single-predicate [...]

2011-01-06T19:09:22-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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HPV: To test or not to test

Source: www.rdhmag.com Author: Nancy W. Burkhart, RDH, EdD The dental practitioner has a responsibility to examine and assess the oral tissue status of all patients. Usually, we are happy to report that the tissue is healthy and no further treatment is necessary. Ethically, our role in assessment is both an understood practice as well as a legal one each time we interact with our patients. Within your practice, what is the expected role in assessing and relaying advice/recommendations to our patients? Do we rely strictly on scientific evidence with evidence-based protocol? Do we trust the developers/promoters of dental products to provide information to us? Do we relay personal opinion from colleagues, or do we reject opinion-based information? Do we search the scientific literature for current information, or call our colleagues and company representatives and obtain a consensus of what the best options may be for dissemination of information? We have all been in these situations. With busy practices, it is very time consuming to sit down and evaluate all the literature. Anyone who has been faced with a medical decision for a loved one or ourselves may actually feel exhausted while trying to sort through all of the options, treatments, and advice – some of which may even be at odds within specific group specialties in the way treatment is rendered. It can be very daunting, draining us both mentally and physically. So how do we approach this dilemma? For some time, we have known about the detrimental [...]

2011-01-05T12:42:31-07:00January, 2011|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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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 [...]

2011-01-05T09:31:57-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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RJ Reynolds’ ads urge tobacco pouches for smokers

Source: washingtonexaminer.com Author: Emery P. Dalesio R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is targeting people who resolve to quit smoking in the new year with advertisements suggesting they switch to its smokeless tobacco pouches, a move critics say is an attempt to keep people from quitting nicotine. The ads mark the company's first campaign aimed at getting smokers to switch to the pouches known as snus, which Reynolds introduced in early 2009, spokesman David Howard said Wednesday. The carefully worded ads suggest, but don't say directly, that the pouches are a way to help kick the smoking habit. Under federal law, companies cannot claim that tobacco products work as smoking cessation products. But tobacco companies would love for smokers to think of them that way as cigarette sales fall because of higher taxes, smoking bans and falling social acceptability. The No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker is advertising in major magazines this month its suggestion for a "2011 Smoke-Free Resolution" in some ads that show the tobacco-filled white pouches dropping from the sky like confetti. The ads promote the company's Camel snus — small pouches filled with tobacco that users stick between the cheek and gum. "If you've decided to quit tobacco use, we support you. But if you're looking for smoke-free, spit-free, drama-free tobacco pleasure, Camel Snus is your answer. Logon to the Pleasure Switch Challenge and see how simple switching can be. Camel Snus — it might just change the way you enjoy tobacco," one ad says. "At this time, there [...]

2011-01-01T18:06:48-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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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 [...]

2011-01-01T17:58:14-07:00January, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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In India, an epidemic of oral cancer

Source: www.businessweek.com Author: Adi Narayan Safiq Shaikh was 13 when he began chewing a blend of tobacco and spices that jolted him awake whenever his job at a textile loom got too dreary. Five years later, doctors in Mumbai lopped off his tongue to halt the cancer spreading through his mouth. Shaikh believed the fragrant, granular mixture he chewed, known in India as gutka, was harmless, so at first he ignored the milky lump growing inside his mouth. Now he is one of about 200,000 Indians diagnosed with a tobacco-related malignancy this year, says his surgeon, Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, who works at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. Chaturvedi says a group of entrepreneurs known as "gutka barons" bear much of the blame for this epidemic by mass marketing a mix of tobacco and areca nut for 1 rupee (2 cents) a pack on street corners across India. Sales of chewing tobacco in India, worth 210.3 billion rupees ($4.6 billion) in 2004, are on track to double by 2014, according to Datamonitor, the international research firm. Before, a traditional chewing mixture, known as paan, came with or without tobacco. It had to be handmade, was messy to carry around, and lacked modern packaging. "Now you have an industrial version of a traditional thing" spurring demand, says Chaturvedi. On Dec. 7, India's Supreme Court banned the sale of tobacco products in plastic wrappers as of Mar. 1, citing harm to public health and environmental damage from improper disposal of the packets. The [...]

2010-12-30T16:03:01-07:00December, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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