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Smoking Gun
Snippets
The Marlboro Man may be
Impotent
Most Smokers Can't Collect Social
Security
Asthmatic children see doctor
less when parents smoke
Major Conclusions of the Surgeon
General’s Report
Trends in tobacco use vary
Smokeless
Tobacco
Snuff
Choosing Health
Non Smoking
Celebrities
Powerful influences undermine public health
efforts
Helping people enjoy smoke-free
lives
Secondhand Smoke
Dangers of Fireplace
Smoke
Great American
Smoke-Out
Newsbytes
Where to Write
Related Issues: Talking With Kids
About Tough Issues
The Marlboro Man may be Impotent
Most Smokers Can't Collect Social
Security
If you think "Smoking makes a man," it's more apt to make a dead man.
If you smoke, now is the right time to
quit.
Facts about Nonsmokers
More than 30 million Americans have kicked the cigarette habit. Millions more are trying. Among adults, only one in three still smokes. In the population as a whole, it's one in four. Nonsmokers are a clear majority They are also no longer a silent majority. They mind if you smoke. And they're speaking up. They see tobacco smoke as a pollutant that defiles their air. And an increasing body of research gives them ammunition to defend themselves. It shows that secondhand smoke can have harmful effects on nonsmokers.
Open Burning
Tobacco smoke is a very complex mixture. There are thousands of chemical compounds in burning tobacco. Some of the most hazardous compounds are tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, cadmium, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide. And dozens of others. Any one alone can assault the body and case trouble. Together, they make smoking the menace it is. Even when a smoker inhales, researchers have calculated that two-thirds of the smoke from the burning cigarette goes into the environment. The percentage of pollution from cigar and pipe smoke is even higher. Cigarette smoke makes a significant, measurable contribution to the level of indoor air pollution.
Sidestream Smoke
Every time anyone lights a cigarette or cigar or pipe, tobacco smoke enters the atmosphere from two sources. Most important for nonsmokers, there is sidestream smoke, which goes directly into the air from the burning end. Then, there is mainstream smoke, which the smoker pulls through the mouthpiece when they inhale or puff. Nonsmokers are also exposed to mainstream smoke after the smoker exhales. A cigarette smoker inhales - and exhales - mainstream smoke eight or nine time with each cigarette for a total of about 24 seconds. But the cigarette burns for 12 minutes and pollutes the air continuously with sidestream smoke. Smokers can keep cigars and pipes burning for a much longer time. The pollution lingers long after. Sidestream smoke - the smoke from the burning end - had higher concentrations of noxious compounds than the mainstream smoke inhaled by the smoker. Some studies show there is twice as much tar and nicotine in sidestream smoke compared to mainstream. And three times as much of a compound called benzo(a)pyrene, which is suspected as a cancer-causing agent. Almost three times as much carbon monoxide, which robs the blood of oxygen. And 73 times as much ammonia. Before the nonsmoker inhales secondhand smoke, however, some of the high concentrations of hazardous substances are diluted in the ambient air. The smoker, on the other hand, inhales both firsthand and secondhand smoke. Nearly 85 percent of the smoke in a room results from sidestream smoke.
Assaults in the Air
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas created by incomplete combustion. Car exhaust puts it in the air. So does tobacco smoke. When you inhale carbon monoxide, the gas bumps oxygen molecules out of your red blood cells and forms a new compound called carboxyhemoglobin. As the amount of this compound increases in your blood, the body becomes starved for oxygen. The Federal Air Quality Standards for the outside air limit carbon monoxide concerntrations to an average of 9 ppm. Several studies show that in rooms where smokers are present, levels of carbon monoxide can rise about those permitted for the outside air. When nonsmokers leave a smoky environment, it takes hours for the carbon monoxide to leave the body. After three or hour hours, carbon monoxide is still in the bloodstream. Elevated levels of other harmful agents - nitrogen dioxide, nicotine and respirable particulates, aldehydes, and nitrosamines - have been measured in smoky rooms. Nitrosamines have been identified as cancer-causing substances.
Smoke at the Workplace
A study of nonsmokers exposed to tobacco smoke at work for many years showed a dysfunction in the small airways of the lungs of the nonsmokers. This dysfunction is a biological response due to irritation. The nonsmoker is clearly affected in a physiological sense. A recent study showed that 50 percent of nonsmoking employees reported difficulty working near a smoker. Another 36 percent said they were forced to move away often from their desks or work stations because of secondhand smoke. An increasing number of state and local laws now restrict smoking at the workplace. The central concept of these laws is this principle: the preferences of nonsmokers and smokers will be addressed and accommodated, whenever possible. However, when these preferences conflict, the rights and preferences of the nonsmokers will prevail. More and more private companies also are adopting policies that restrict smoking and protect the nonsmoker at work.
Effects on Children
Babies and young children breathe more rapidly than adults. Because of this higher breathing rate, they inhale more air - and more pollution - in comparison to their total body weight. Some studies show youngsters inhale two to three times as much of a pollutant per unit of body weight compared to adults. And this assault happens when young lungs are growing and developing. A number of studies show that in their first year, babies of parents who smoke at home have a much higher incidence of lung disease, specifically bronchitis and pneumonia, than babies with nonsmoking parents. A study of the lung function of children aged five to nine showed an adverse reaction in the small airways of children who ad smoking parents, compared with those whose parents were nonsmokers. Smoking by the mother appears to have the most impact on the lung function of the child. The American Lung Association is encouraging smoke-free families so that children can have the best chance to grow up healthy. Parents who smoke at home can aggravate symptoms in some children with asthma and even trigger asthma episodes. Millions of people, adults as well as children, are sensitive to tobacco smoke and suffer smoke-caused asthma episodes. Parents should limit their smoking to separate rooms away from these children or, better yet, should quit smoking altogether. Even among non asthmatic children, a team of researchers found that respiratory illnesses happen twice as often to young children whose parents smoked at home compared to those with nonsmoking parents. In a study of 441 nonsmokers divided into two groups - those with a history of allergies and those without - 70 percent of both groups suffered from eye irritations caused by smoke. Even among the non allergic groups, 30 percent developed headaches and nasal discomfort, while 25 percent experienced cough.
Second hand Smoke and Lung Cancer
Some studies have found an increased risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking wives married to men who smoke. Although the studies are too few as yet to conclude a definite association, between secondhand smoke and lung cancer, the findings have raised concern. Since there are cancer-causing agents in cigarette smoke, it is not unreasonable to expect that inhaling these agents firsthand or secondhand could cause disease. Exposure to tobacco smoke may be similar to exposure to radiation: there are no safe levels.
Tobacco Smells
Contamination and odors are immediately created by such elements in tobacco smoke as ammonia and pyridine. Pyridine is a strong irritant that is produced when nicotine burns. The presence of a minute amount in the air produces distinctly unpleasant odors. The contamination is so intense that when someone smokes in an air-conditioned environment, the air-conditioning demands can jump as much as 600 percent to control odor. Another intriguing finding from air-conditioning research is that the human body attracts tobacco smoke. Burning tobacco smoke creates a high electrical potential, whereas the water-filled human body has a low one. The smoke in a room gravitates and clings to people in much the same way as iron filings are drawn to a magnet. And the odors linger on. Chemicals in tobacco smoke called aldehydes and ketones supply the penetrating smell, while the tars hold them to your skin and your clothes. But the smoker is not sensitive to the smell because of the destructive effects of smoke on the inner lining of his or her nose.
A Smoke-Free Society
In the mid-80's, the Surgeon General had proposed that America become a smoke-free society by the year 2000. We didn't make it. A Gallup survey, conducted for the American Lung Association in the 1980s, revealed that the majority of both smokers and nonsmokers believe smoking is hazardous to the health of nonsmokers. Translating these beliefs into social action is the challenge.
The Right to Breathe Clean Air
Nonsmokers have the right to breathe clean air, free from harmful and irritating tobacco smoke. This right supersedes the right to smoke when the two conflict.
The Right to Speak Out
Nonsmokers have the right to express - firmly but politely - their adverse reactions to tobacco smoke. They have the right to voice their objections when smokers light up. Nonsmokers have the right to act through legislative channels, social pressures or any other legitimate means - as individuals, or in groups - to prevent or discourage smokers from polluting the atmosphere and to seek the restriction of smoking in public places.
Primary Source: American Lung Association
Major Conclusions of the Surgeon
General’s Report
African Americans
American Indians and Alaska Natives
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Mexican Americans and Latinos:
Powerful influences undermine public health efforts
Helping people enjoy smoke-free lives
Most people are aware that outdoor air pollution can damage their health but may not know that indoor air pollution can all have significant effects. EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor air levels of many pollutants may be two to five times, and occasionally, more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. These levels of indoor air pollutants are of particular concern because it is estimated that most people spend as much as 9-% of their time indoors.
Over the past several decades, our exposure to indoor air pollutants is believed to have increased due to a variety of factors, including the construction of more tightly sealed buildings, reduced ventilation rates to save energy, the use of synthetic building materials and furnishings, and the use of chemically formulated personal care products, pesticides and household cleaners.
In recent years, comparative risk studies performed by EPA and its Science Advisory Board (SAB) have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. EPA, in close cooperation with other Federal agencies and the private sector, is actively involved in a concerted effort to better understand indoor air pollution and to reduce people's exposure to air pollutants in offices, homes, schools and other indoor environments where people live, work and play.
Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems in homes. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the home. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants.
There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides and outdoor air pollution.
The relative importance of any single source depends on how much of a given pollutant it emits and how hazardous those emissions are. In some cases, factors such as how old the source is and whether it is properly maintained are significant. For example, an improperly adjusted gas stove can emit significantly more carbon monoxide than one that is properly adjusted.
Some sources, such as building materials, furnishings, and household products like air fresheners, release pollutants more or less continuously. Other sources, related to activities carried out in the home, release pollutants intermittently. These including smoking, the use of unvented or malfunctioning stoves, furnaces, or space heaters, the use of solvents in cleaning and hobby activities, the use of paint strippers in redecorating activities, and the use of cleaning products and pesticides in housekeeping. High pollutant concentrations can remain in the air for long periods after some of these activities.
If too little outdoor air enters a home, pollutants can accumulate to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Unless they are built with special mechanical means of ventilation, homes that are designed and constructed to minimize the amount of outdoor air that can "leak" into and out of the home may have higher pollutant levels than other homes. However, because some weather conditions are drastically reduce the amount of outdoor air that enters a home, pollutants can build up even in homes that are normally considered "leaky".
Look for more information? The EPA has a number of helpful
publications on indoor air quality, available by writing
Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental
Publications (NSCEP), PO Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH 42419. You
can also fax your request to them at 513.489.8695 or www.epa.gov/iaq/
Smoking
Linked to Stillbirths, Study Says
Could a case be brought against a woman for manslaughter if she
chooses to continue to smoke after pregnancy which results in a
stillborn child?
Saudi Arabia Sues Tobacco Industry for
Billions in Health Costs
Ga. Supreme Court Says Tobacco Settlement Bars
Lawsuits
Ala. Senate Says Voters Should Decide Smoking
Ban
The Alabama Senate has approved a bill that would put a proposed
constitutional amendment banning indoor smoking on the state's ballot
this fall.
Proposed Bar Smoking Ban Holds Up Colo.
Legislation
Colorado lawmakers agree that smoking should be banned in many
indoor spaces, but are split over whether the bars should be subject
to the ban.
Prisoner Seeks Damages for Secondhand Smoke
Exposure
A prisoner at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Ill., is
suing prison employees, demanding $12 million for being subjected to
secondhand tobacco smoke.
Quitting Seems Easier for Older Female
Smokers
Researchers don't know why, but evidence suggests that older women
have an easier time quitting smoking than younger people or men in
the same age group.
Source: www.jointogether.org/news/yourturn/announcements/2006/csat-scholarships-available.html
Mothers Who Smoke May Put Their
Babies at Risk for Pyloric Stenosis
Study Links Cancer Rates, Prevention
Smoking Can Hurt Male Fertility
(9/24/02)
Researchers found infertile men who smoked show signs of significant oxidative damage in their semen. Oxidative damage is known to harm fertility and is caused by increased stress on normal body processes.
The findings appear in the September issue of Fertility and Sterility.
"Given the known potential adverse effects of [oxidative stress] on fertility, physicians should advise infertile men who smoke cigarettes to quit," writes study researcher Saleh A. Ramadan, MD, with colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. "This argument against smoking is true for anyone wishing to conceive but is particularly important for individuals experiencing fertility problems."
Although cigarette smoking already has been shown to hurt female fertility, researchers say the impact on male fertility remains a controversial issue because studies have produced contradictory results.
In this study, researchers compared semen samples from 52 infertile men -- 20 smokers and 32 nonsmokers -- with samples from 13 healthy, nonsmoking men. They found "dramatically" more oxidative stress levels in the smokers.
No significant differences in standard sperm variables, such as sperm count or activity, or DNA damage were found between the infertile smokers and nonsmokers, but researchers say the fact that both groups were infertile may have obscured some levels of DNA damage.
But men who smoked also had 48% more infection-fighting white
blood cells in their semen than nonsmokers or healthy donors, which
may also cause problems with fertility.
Source: Jennifer Warner, my.webmd.com/content/article/1819.52408
Anti-Smoking Groups Call For Movie
Ratings To Factor In Tobacco
Smokers Disillusioned And
Over-Optimistic About Quitting
Heart Association Recommends
Screenings
Smokes Deadlier Than Labels
Suggest
Global Alliance Between European Commission
And WHO To Fight Against Communicable Diseases, Tobacco And Other
Health Threats
Cigarette Maker Removes "Light" From
Packaging
Pregnant Women Smokers Bear Low
Birth Weight Babies
Baby sitters may expose infants to
second-hand smoke
Cigarette addiction can start early
(9/12/00)
Some 12- and 13-year-olds showed evidence of addiction within days of their first cigarette, according to research reported this week in the British Medical Association journal Tobacco Control.
"There's been a suspicion that many people become addicted very quickly, but this is really the first hard evidence that we've had that this occurs," said Dr. Richard Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependency Unit at the Mayo Clinic.
Experts have tried for years to determine how long people have to smoke before becoming addicted, and "the best answer to date had been 1-2 years," said Hurt, who was not involved in the study.
He said the findings will help scientists better understand the biology of nicotine addiction and lend more plausibility to the idea that some people may be more genetically susceptible to it than others.
"The really important implication of this study is that we have to warn kids that you can't just fool around with cigarettes or experiment with cigarettes for a few weeks and then give it up," said Dr. Joseph DiFranza, who lead the research at the University of Massachusetts. "If you fool around with cigarettes for a few weeks, you may be addicted for life."
The study, conducted in 1998, followed 681 12- to 13-year-olds in central Massachusetts for a year and tracked their smoking habits.
The researchers did not label any of them addicted because the standard definition of nicotine dependence assumes addiction cannot happen without prolonged heavy smoking. The scientists simply recorded symptoms that indicate addiction.
These include cravings, needing more to get the same buzz, withdrawal symptoms when not smoking, feeling addicted to tobacco and loss of control over the number of cigarettes smoked or the duration of smoking.
Ninety-five of the youths said they had started smoking occasionally - at least one cigarette a month - during the study. The scientists found that 60, or 63 percent, had one or more symptoms of addiction.
A quarter of those with symptoms got them within two weeks of starting to smoke and several said their symptoms began within a few days.
Sixty-two percent said they had their first symptom before they began smoking every day, or that the symptoms made them start smoking daily.
The researchers found that the symptoms began soon after the teens started smoking.
Even though some people who have never smoked on a daily basis can find it hard to quit, the assumption that smokers only become addicted after smoking a lot of cigarettes over a long period of time came from observations that some people can smoke five cigarettes a day for many years and not become addicted, the study noted.
However, it has never been proven that daily smoking is necessary for addiction to begin, the study added.
The scientists suggested there may be three types of smokers: Those who become addicted very quickly, those who get hooked gradually after more regular smoking and those who can smoke lightly or pick up and drop the habit without becoming addicted.
It is also possible that adolescents could be more sensitive to
nicotine and that addiction may take longer in people who start
smoking at a later age, they added. www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=41064&storytype=APNews
Nicotine addiction can hit within days
(9/12/00)
"The first symptoms of nicotine dependence can appear within days to weeks of the onset of occasional use, often before the onset of daily smoking," the researchers from the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School said in the journal Tobacco Control.
This research goes against a "popular model for the development of nicotine dependence (which) holds that youths progress from the first cigarette through a period of occasional use and on to sustained and increasingly heavier daily use, resulting ultimately in dependence," the researchers added.
The study of about 700 teenagers aged between 12 and 13 from seven schools in central Massachusetts in 1998 showed that 95 students could be described as monthly smokers--they smoked at least one cigarette a month.
Of these 95 monthly smokers one in five reported nicotine dependency symptoms within four weeks of starting to smoke and 16 developed symptoms within two weeks, one of the researchers, Joseph DiFranza, told Reuters.
In total 60 out of 95 monthly smokers said they had experienced one or more symptoms of nicotine dependence.
Thirty-seven of the 60 who had experienced symptoms of nicotine dependency said they had felt their first feelings of dependency even before they started smoking daily or began smoking daily only upon starting to feel dependent.
The researchers said experiments on mice showed the number of nicotine receptors in the brain increased rapidly after just the second dose of nicotine, providing a mechanism for the quick development of dependence.
The researchers further postulated that three groups of individuals distinguishable by their dependence on nicotine may exist. The groups could be described as rapid onset, slower onset and resistant to nicotine addiction, they added.
Smoking has been linked to several diseases including lung cancer
and asthma. Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer in the
world and is extremely deadly. The American Cancer Society predicts
164,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the cancer this year and
156,000 will die of it. www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=41099&storytype=ReutersNews
for additional information, or write: (1) Office on Smoking and
Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford
Highway, NE (Mail Stop K-50), Atlanta, GA 30341-3717 or (2) U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.
"Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. We have an enormous opportunity to reduce heart disease, cancer, stroke, and respiratory disease among members of racial and ethnic minority groups, who make up a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population."—David Satcher, MD, PhD, Surgeon General
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