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November 27, 2012 / New York Times / by Nicholas Bakalar — Five large-hub airports in the United States have designated indoor smoking areas. According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they all have unhealthy air — even in places where no one smokes. Researchers placed air monitors in smoking and adjacent nonsmoking areas at international airports in Denver, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Washington, for two weeks in October. Measured in micrograms per cubic meter, the average level of particulate pollution in four large smoke-free airports was 8.0. In the partially enclosed smoking areas of the five airports, the level was 188.7 micrograms, and in areas adjacent to the smoking rooms it was... Read More

November 14, 2012 / EverydayHealth.com /  — Smoking wreaks havoc on every organ in the body, contributing to a wide range of health problems, from heart disease to gum decay. The lungs in particular take a hit with every puff. Smoking is the primary cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, better known as COPD. This year, Nov. 14 and 15 mark World COPD Day and the Great American Smokeout, respectively, and the close proximity is no coincidence. In the Americas, tobacco is tied to 7 in 10 deaths from COPD in people over 30, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO). LINK TO ARTICLE Read More

November 13, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — About 70% of the 46.6 million smokers in the U.S. would like to quit the habit, according to reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thousands will try to quit on November 15, the 37th annual Great American Smokeout and even more will commit on their birthday or New Year’s. But chances are they’ll be puffing away in just a few weeks. The average quit attempt lasts just eight days before smokers relapse, according to research by the University of Vermont. To help increase the chances of long-term success, public health experts recommend using Monday prompts to help smokers stay quit. Weekly reminders after pledging to quit could catch many... Read More

September 11, 2012 / CBC News / — Parents and experts are expressing concerns about the rising popularity of electronic cigarettes with teenagers since the product’s health effects are still unknown. The electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, have been increasingly present in Quebec corner stores over the past year and are being seen as a possible gateway to smoking. The product makes steam similar to tobacco smoke. Health Canada forbids the sale of e-cigarettes that contain nicotine, but authorizes the sale of the nicotine-free version of the product. More parents have been coming forward with concerns that Health Canada is not doing enough to control the product. Health Canada has not issued any concerns or reports about... Read More

For Immediate Release   ANNOUNCING NEW, NON-TOBACCO, SAFE PRODUCT FOR NON-SMOKING ZONES; NOVUS TWIGS TARGET NATION’S GROWING SMOKE-FREE ENVIRONMENTS  Launch Coincides With Annual ‘Great American Smokeout Day’ NEW YORK CITY, NY, November 15, 2012 – Defying cigarettes’ long-term, devastating health effects, one-in-five adult Americans (45 million), especially young people, still smoke, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This, in spite of the 22,458 municipalities in 39 states, which currently enforce a 100% smoke-free provision in public spaces, an analysis from the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation confirms. For the huge numbers who still choose to smoke, this often gives rise to troubling productivity... Read More

November 15th marks the 37th year of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout campaign.  Here is a link to the website page for the campaign. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report on the dangers of smoking, but links between smoking and cancer were identified as early as the late 1920’s in Germany.  Since that Surgeon General report in 1964, smoking rates in the U.S. have decreased from 42.8% of the adult population to under 20% based on recent surveys.  It may seem curious to some that with almost 50 years of knowledge of the dangers of smoking, with the increased taxes on cigarettes, and with the growing number of smoking bans in place that such a large percentage of smokers continue.  That perception is... Read More

November 12, 2012 / St. Louis (KSDK.com) / — We begin our series about what’s poisoning children in Missouri and Illinois with a common theme poison centers are seeing on both sides of the river. Nicotine poisonings are common in young children who get their hands on any number of products. E-cigarettes are very popular. There’s no tobacco, but there is nicotine in this cartridge. Some versions of e-cigarettes contain a refillable cartridge that you can add a liquid nicotine solution to, which is known as e-liquid. But here’s the problem, experts say if a child ingests just one drop, that’s enough to be a potential toxin. Experts also say e-liquid, absorbs quickly and can lead to nausea and vomiting. And... Read More

October 30, 2012 / LA Times / — The days of lighting up a cigarette between classes or of a smoke break outside the dorm will soon be over at UCLA as the campus prepares to become tobacco-free. Chancellor Gene D. Block said in a letter that tobacco products — cigarettes, cigars, oral tobacco and electronic cigarettes, among them — will be prohibited as of April 22. “Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke remain the leading causes of preventable disease and death worldwide,” Block said in the letter. “Cigarette butts, which are non-biodegradable, account for one-third of all the litter in California. Cigarette butts and cigarette smoke are toxic and degrade the quality of our air, water, forests... Read More

November 6, 2012 / NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The number of smokers lighting up on hospital grounds has fallen about seven percentage points since 1995, according to a new study. “It is encouraging that there has been improvement, but it’s discouraging that the nicotine replacement therapy has not been able to put more of a dent into this,” said the study’s lead author Susan Regan, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The findings reflect the experience of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, where past research found that 25 percent of hospitalized smokers reported smoking on the grounds in 1995. In the new study, which surveyed patients who smoked and were referred to... Read More