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Report: 237 millionaires in Congress

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:15:00 +0000

Talk about bad timing.

As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.

Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.

All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center’s 2008 figures.

“Many Americans probably have a sense that members of Congress aren’t hurting, even if their government salary alone is in the six figures, much more than most Americans make,” said CRP spokesman Dave Levinthal. “What we see through these figures is that many of them have riches well beyond that salary, supplemented with securities, stock holdings, property and other investments.”

The CRP numbers are somewhat rough estimates – lawmakers are required to report their financial information in broad ranges of figures, so it’s impossible to pin down their dollars with precision. The CRP uses the mid-point in the ranges to build its estimates.

Senators’ estimated median reportable worth sunk to about $1.79 million from $2.27 million in 2007. The House’s median income was significantly lower and also sank, bottoming out at $622,254 from $724,258 in 2007.

But CRP’s analysis suggests that some lawmakers did well for themselves between 2007 and 2008, even as many Americans lost jobs and saw their savings and their home values plummet.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gained about $9.2 million. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) gained about $3 million, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) had an estimated $2.6 million gain, and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) gained about $2.8 million.

Some lawmakers have profited from investments in companies that have received federal bailouts; dozens of lawmakers are invested in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

Among executive branch officials, CRP says the richest is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro, with a net worth estimated at $26 million.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is next, worth an estimated $21 million. President Barack Obama is the sixth-wealthiest, worth about an estimated $4 million. Vice President Joe Biden has often tagged himself as an original blue collar man. The CRP backs him up, putting his net worth at just $27,000.

He’s hardly the worst off.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) each a net worth of less than zero, CRP says.

One caveat on those numbers: Federal financial disclosure laws don’t require members to list the value of their personal residences. That information could alter the net worth picture for many lawmakers.

Even so, Levinthal said, “It is clear that some members are struggling financially.

“Over a calendar year, one’s wealth can change drastically. Many peoples’ investments took a nose dive over night in the last year,” he said.

A number of lawmakers are estimated to have suffered double-digit percentage lossed in their net worth from 2007 to 2008. The biggest losers include Kerry, who lost a whopping $127.4 million; Warner lost about $28.1 million; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) lost about $11.8 million; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost about $10.1 million.

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11-5-09 'Light' Cigarettes Hurt Quit-Smoking Effort

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Study Shows Switching to 'Light' Cigarettes May Undermine Resolve to Stop Smoking Habit

WebMD Health News

Nov. 5, 2009 -- Want to quit smoking? Your chances may be better if you don't switch to a "light," "ultra-light," or "low-tar" cigarette before you try.

In a newly published study, smokers who traded in their so-called "full-flavor" cigarettes for cigarettes with these labels made more attempts to kick the habit than other smokers, but were almost half as likely to actually do it.

Health officials have long recognized that brands labeled light, ultra-light, mild, and low-tar are no less likely than other cigarettes to cause smoking-related diseases like lung cancer and heart disease; that's because people tend to smoke more of them and inhale more deeply.

But it has not been clear if making the switch to these '"light" brands had an impact on smoking-cessation rates.

As many as 84% of the cigarettes sold in the U.S. have labeling that suggests they are lower in tar and nicotine, according to the latest figures from the Federal Trade Commission.

"We found that switching for any reason to a so-called lighter cigarette appears to be associated with a lower chance of quitting, especially when people switched with the intent of quitting smoking," study researcher Hilary Tindle, MD, PhD, tells WebMD.

Switching to 'Light' Cigarettes
Tindle and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Health Care analyzed data from a 2003 survey of smokers sponsored by the CDC and the National Cancer Institute.

Their sample included roughly 31,000 smokers or former smokers.

The analysis revealed that:

Just over 12,000 of those surveyed (38%) reported switching to a "lighter" cigarette at some time.
Switchers were 58% more likely to have tried to give up smoking in the year prior to completing the survey.
The overall odds of giving up smoking were 46% lower among those who switched than among those who stuck with their original brands.
Smokers who switched to what they perceived as a lighter cigarette for health reasons were the least likely to quit smoking.

Rather than helping smokers who want to kick the habit succeed, switching may undermine their resolve by giving them a false sense that smoking is safe, Tindle says.

"Unfortunately, a substantial proportion of smokers and nonsmokers still believe these cigarettes are healthier even though we have known for many years this is not true," she says.

'Light' Labels on the Way Out
While much of the public may still believe the "lighter" claims, federal officials no longer do.

Last April, Congress passed the most sweeping reform legislation ever to target the tobacco industry, giving the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products.

As a result, words such as light, ultra-light, mild, and low-tar will no longer be permitted on cigarette packaging starting next June.

But Matt Myers, who is president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, tells WebMD the tobacco companies are already working on ways to circumvent the new law.

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11-2-09 2009 Tobacco Vote Record

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:02:00 +0000

The 2009 legislative session of the California Legislature was a busy session for tobacco-related bills. There were bills to create new smokefree areas at hospitals, parks and beaches, bills to restrict the issuance of tobacco retailer licenses, and a spate of tobacco tax bills that were considered and voted on. However, in the end only one tobacco-related bill was signed into law (SB 53, which authorizes the Attorney General to negotiate amendments to the Master Settlement Agreement).

All of this action from a busy 2009 legislative session is captured in the attached 2009 Tobacco Vote Record. There are essentially three parts to this document:

· The first section is a recap of the legislative activity around all of the tobacco-related bills that were introduced in the 2009 session, including the final status of each bill showing which bills the Governor signed and vetoed. This section includes the tobacco control position for each bill which is represented by the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association in California.

· The second section is the actual Tobacco Vote Record. These tables show how every member of the Assembly and Senate voted on all of the tobacco-related bills that received at least one floor vote during this session.

· The final section is a recap of all the activity around bills to increase the state tobacco tax. Ultimately, an increase in the state tobacco tax was not adopted, but there was a lot of activity related to allocating a tobacco tax as part of the budget legislation and related to SB 600, which was sponsored by the major voluntary health organizations. This Q&A provides a synopsis of all the tobacco tax bills introduced in the 2009 legislative session.

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Heated debate: flavored tobacco

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Illegalization of fruit, clove cigarettes necessary legislation, measure.

Think back to when you first tried smoking. Statistically, about two thirds of you have. If you were like me, you may have puffed on a flavored cigarette. Fortunately I escaped my teenage rebellion without becoming hooked on cigarettes; however, many of my peers weren't so lucky.

The recent FDA ban on flavored cigarettes will no doubt lessen the number of teens who try smoking. Although the impact won't be overwhelming, legitimate reasoning is behind this measure.

"Flavored cigarettes attract and allure kids into lifetime addiction," said Howard K. Koh of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services assistant secretary for health. "The FDA's ban on these cigarettes will break that cycle for the more than 3,600 young people who start smoking daily."

According to FDA statistics, 90 percent of adults begin smoking as a teen at an average age of 13. The same studies show 17-year-old smokers are three times more likely to use flavored cigarettes than smokers over 25.

If teens can no longer get their hands on flavored cigarettes, their only option will be to try regular ones, which typically involves one of the foulest flavors to ever tingle your taste buds, accompanied by light-headedness, nausea, coughing, throat irritation and (hopefully) no desire to experience it again.

Many teens think flavored cigarettes are safer than their regular counterparts. Quite the contrary -- they both contain more than 4,000 chemicals, 43 known cancer-causing compounds and 400 other toxins. Even smoking an innocent, sweet-smelling clove cigarette provides a means to introduce tar, carbon monoxide, ammonia, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, DDT, nicotine (which gives tobacco its 90 percent addiction rate) and many other damaging chemicals.

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death, claiming 438,000, or nearly one of every five deaths each year in the U.S., according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined.

Consider this, non-smokers: If a universal health care plan does, in fact, take effect, smokers will be creating an extra burden on the system with your tax dollars helping to pay for their treatment.

Measures like this ban must be taken to lower the number of tobacco users. It's sad, but the general population has proven that it can't do what's right for itself on its own so this is why the government has to step in and regulate the tobacco industry.

Teenagers in particular don't have the maturity or judgment necessary to deal with tobacco.

My intent is not to lecture you on why you shouldn't smoke. It's the 21st century, and everyone knows by now that smoking is bad for your health. I have several friends who smoke, and being in the food service industry, I am surrounded by smokers. It seems fun, rebellious and cool when you're a teenager.

Undoubtedly the FDA ban on flavored cigarettes won't demonstrate a substantial drop in tobacco use, but consider this -- If only 1 percent of the population is deterred from smoking, that's roughly 470,000 people who won't become smokers. That's a pretty solid start.

Government's newest law biased, violation of basic rights

Smokers and freedom-loving citizens are now feeling a squeeze on their precious civil liberties. The ability to make our own choices is being drawn away from the tips of our nicotine-stained fingers.

Sept. 22, 2009, brought the ban on flavored cigarettes. The bill (HR 1256) said, "…a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice..."

It's an infringement of rights.

I first smoked a cigarette at the age of 13. It wasn't flavored. It was a Marlboro. I didn't know about flavored cigarettes until I was old enough to purchase a pack myself. What got me hooked was the misconception that smoking is "cool".

Reasoning behind the FDA's action is to protect America's youth from of smoking. The candy and fruit flavors are supposedly most appealing to adolescent audiences.

The ban was possible only after President Obama signed legislation earlier this year giving FDA the power to control the manufacturing, sale and marketing of tobacco.

These restrictions are a part of The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Under this act, tobacco companies have to eliminate the terms "low tar," "light" and "mild." Levels of nicotine in cigarettes will be reduced. The product quality will decrease as the prices will soar.

I find it ironic that menthols made it through the ban. Big-money companies like Phillip Morris USA (the nation's largest cigarette producer) don't make flavored cigarettes. They make regular and menthol. This ban doesn't even affect them except to eradicate the specialty and exotic smoke companies from the competition.

"The reason is simple: Menthol cigarettes are nearly 30 percent of the $87 billion U.S. cigarette market," Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson wrote in an article published Sept. 26. "Menthol masks the harshness of smoking with its cooling effect and minty taste. The tobacco lobby and political allies bemoaned the impact of a menthol ban on jobs and government coffers. In 2007, tobacco sales generated $26 billion in state and federal tax revenues."

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Bay Area hooked on hookah

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:33:00 +0000

On a recent Friday night in Palo Alto, three young women sat at a sidewalk table outside an old brick building that once housed Mills the Florist, a shop that has gone up in smoke. In its place is Da Hookah Spot, a lounge where people gather to puff flavored tobacco from a water pipe for hours at a time.

"It's good, it's low key, but you're still out," said Lerna Kazazic, 18, a psychology major at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont.

Her tablemate, Sara Galatolo, 22, a graduate student at Santa Clara University, agreed.

"It's kind of a European vibe," she said, "like going to cafes and hanging out."

Across the Bay Area and nation in recent years, hookah lounges have become increasingly popular gathering places for college students too young to drink legally, transplanted Middle Easterners looking to indulge in a familiar pastime and even for veterans of the Iraq war, who learned to enjoy hookahs while overseas. The practice is believed to have originated in India and spread to the Middle East hundreds of years ago.

Hookah lounges in the Bay Area tend to cluster around universities such as Stanford, although there are many in San Francisco - from the Tenderloin to the Haight-Ashbury. High-tech workers and engineers such as Mohammad Aldossary, 25, a Stanford graduate student in petroleum engineering from Saudi Arabia, enjoy them, too.

"It's more fun to be in the social atmosphere here," he said at Da Hookah Spot. "I don't smoke cigarettes, but I smoke from a hookah pipe once or twice a week."

The lounges are often classified as tobacco shops, allowing them to get around California's 1998 statewide ban on smoking in bars. Most cities prohibit the sale of food in such establishments. The sale of nonalcoholic beverages, however, is typically allowed as long as they do not make up a significant portion of revenues, and alcohol is prohibited, according to officials at the city attorney's offices in Palo Alto, Hayward and San Francisco.

To smoke, individuals and groups of people sit at a tall pipe with hoses containing removable plastic mouthpieces. The pipe's top contains a bowl of tobacco covered in foil and topped with hot charcoal that heats the tobacco when air is sucked through the hoses. The smoke is cooled through the water, resulting in a smooth inhalation of smoke flavored with a fruity essence, such as mango, watermelon or lemon mint. A bowl can last for 45 minutes and costs from $10 to $22, making it a cost-effective form of entertainment.

But like alcohol and tobacco, hookah smoke carries health risks. Proprietors claim that the tobacco, called shisha, is lower in tar and nicotine than mass-market cigarettes, and that the water filters out toxins, but the American Cancer Society's Web site states that "the water does not filter out many of the toxins. In fact, hookah smoke has been shown to contain concentrations of toxins, such as carbon monoxide, nicotine, tar, and heavy metals, that are as high or higher than are seen with cigarette smoke."

It further warns that users risk lung cancer and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, aspergillus (a lung fungus) and helicobacter (which causes stomach ulcers) from sharing pipes or from the fruity tobacco itself.

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Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/18/LV4P1A3A13.DTL#ixzz0UOdSVsOm

Governor Vetoes Tobacco-Related Bills

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:55:00 +0000

October 11, was the deadline for Governor Schwarzenegger to sign or veto all the bills that were sent to him prior to the end of the 2009 legislative session. Leading up to this deadline, the Governor had issued a threat to veto all the bills that were on his desk unless a legislative deal on water issues was reached. However, the Governor determined that enough progress on water issues was made and decided to “weigh all the bills on their merits.”

There were three tobacco-related bills that had been sent to the Governor and he vetoed all three bills. According to the Governor:

· AB 574 (Prohibiting Smoking at Hospitals; Hill – D, San Mateo) was vetoed because the bill is unnecessary since hospitals can already prohibit smoking in outdoor areas.
· AB 625 (Prohibiting Sale or Distribution of Novelty Lighters; Lieu – D, Torrance) was vetoed because there is no evidence that novelty lighters pose a greater fire risk than normal lighters.
· SB 400 (Authorizing Enforcement Action Against Sales of Electronic Cigarettes; Corbett – D, San Leandro) was vetoed because the Governor did not want to declare e-cigarettes a federally regulated drug when there is pending litigation on the issue.

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FDA bans flavored tobacco, aims to reduce teen smoking

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:37:00 +0000

A federal ban on the sale of most flavored cigarettes, including fruit, candy and clove flavors, went into effect Sept. 22. The ban is the first action taken by the Food and Drug Administration since being granted more power to combat smoking under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed by President Obama in June.

The ban does not include menthol cigarettes, which is the most popular flavored cigarette.

The FDA said in a statement that the ban was put in place in an effort to curb smoking by children and teens.

“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become smokers,” FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg said in the statement.

A 2004 study showed that 22.8 percent of 17-year-old smokers said they had smoked flavored cigarettes in the past month, while a third of that amount, 6.7 percent, of smokers over the age of 25 reported using them, the FDA said.

“Flavored cigarettes attract and allure kids into a lifetime addiction,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh.

“FDA’s ban on these cigarettes will break that cycle for the more than 3,600 young people who start smoking daily.”

The ban covers all flavored tobacco products that meet the definition of a cigarette or any element of cigarettes, such as flavored loose tobacco or rolling papers.

The ban appears vague on what does or doesn’t constitute a cigarette, and the FDA cites a provision of the Federal Cigarette Labeling Advertising Act that defines the term cigarette as, “(A) any roll of tobacco wrapped in paper or in any substance not containing tobacco and (B) any roll of tobacco wrapped in any substance containing tobacco which, because of its appearance, the type of tobacco used in the filler, or its packaging and labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a cigarette,” to determine if a product should be banned.

The FDA has been questioned since the ban was enacted whether or not it applies to cigars and small flavored cigarillos, but has not yet given a definitive answer. Catherine Lorraine, a lawyer for the Center for Tobacco Products, said in a telephone conference that the definition makes it clear that the ban applies to anything consumers perceive as a cigarette.

“We will be looking at products on an individual basis to determine if it meets that aspect of the legislation,” Lorraine said.

Dr. William Bailey, a professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, has done research on smoking cessation and said he feels that the ban is a step in the right direction, though it is a very small step. Excluding menthol cigarettes from the ban makes it an even smaller step, Bailey said, but every effort to prevent children and teens from smoking is important.

Bailey said he agrees that flavored cigarettes would be more attractive to children, and he compared it to the way kids crowd around an ice cream truck.
“Kids just love sweet stuff,” Bailey said in an e-mail.

Blum said mentholated cigarettes have existed for 80 years and make up close to 30 percent of all cigarette sales. They are especially popular with Hispanic and black consumers, who have been targeted by tobacco companies, Blum said.

Blum said menthol cigarettes were not included in the ban because of a deal Philip Morris cut with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. By breaking ranks with other tobacco companies and supporting the FDA in this ban, Marlboro, the cigarette maker with 50 percent of the U.S. market, was able to gain the support of the well-funded lobbyist group, Blum said.

“In other words, the campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Philip Morris can be said to have sold out African-American and Hispanic consumers for the sake of getting a largely symbolic bill passed,” Blum said.

At this point, Blum said any attempts to ban menthol cigarettes would lead to years of court battles, as any research that would back up a ban on menthol cigarettes would also lead to a ban on all cigarettes, which is a move the FDA is not authorized to make.

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9-30-09 Class Challenges E-Cigarette's Safety Claim

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:21:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO (CN) - Smoking Everywhere, which makes electronic cigarettes that produce steam instead of smoke, misleads the public by claiming its product is not harmful though it has tested positive for human carcinogens and a poison found in antifreeze, a Sacramento man claims in a federal class action.

E-Cigarettes are battery-operated devices that look like cigarettes and have cartridges filled with nicotine, flavors and other chemicals. They are sold online and at kiosks in shopping malls around the United States.

Smoking Everywhere claims its product has been "toxicologically tested and it contains no known ingredients that are considered cancer-causing agents," according to the complaint. It claims the cigarettes are infused with vitamins A, B, and C, and are actually a healthy dietary supplement, the complaint states.

But plaintiff Bryn Garrett says the e-cigarettes have tested positive for human carcinogens, and that at least one cartridge was found to contain diethylene glycol, "a poison found in antifreeze that has been linked hundreds of deaths worldwide from tainted toothpaste and cough syrup."

When confronted with an FDA finding that e-cigarettes are unsafe, Elicko Taieb, CEO of Smoking Everywhere, said he is "pretty sure" the product is safe, though "we are not 100 percent sure of the side effects yet," according to the complaint.

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Even if You've Stopped Smoking Get a Screening Chest X-ray

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Attention Ex-Smokers: Get a chest X-ray every two years. Remind your doctor that you used to be a smoker, even if it's been 10, 20, 30 years since your last cigarette.

Screening Chest X-ray Detects Early-stage Lung Cancers At High Rates, Study Results Show.

ScienceDaily — Almost half of lung cancers detected by a chest x-ray were early-stage cancers, according to baseline results of a large, randomized clinical trial that is testing the efficacy of a chest x-ray as a screening test for lung cancer. The study results are published in the December 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Lung cancer causes one million deaths worldwide every year. When patients begin to experience symptoms of lung cancer, the cancers are often advanced and treatment is rarely successful; 90% of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients die within 2 years of diagnosis.

In 1992, The National Cancer Institute launched the still-ongoing Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial to evaluate screening tests for each of the four cancers. The PLCO Cancer Screening Trial is the largest trial ever conducted in the United States. The 155,000 men and women enrolled in the study were asked about past and present smoking habits, medical history of themselves and their families, and personal characteristics. For the lung cancer portion of the trial, participants were randomly assigned to a control group or to a screening group that received a single-view, posterior-anterior chest x-ray.

According to the baseline results of the 77,465 patients in the screening group, reported by Martin M. Oken, M.D., of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Center in Robbinsdale, Minn., and colleagues from the PLCO Project Team, 5991 (8.9%) participants had a test result that was suspicious for cancer, and after further follow-up and medical tests, 126 participants were diagnosed with lung cancer. Forty-four percent of the cancers found were diagnosed as stage I cancers. Chest x-ray detected 6.3 lung cancers per 1000 current smokers, 4.9 lung cancers per 1000 former smokers who had smoked in the past 15 years, 1.1 lung cancers per 1000 former smokers who had not smoked within the past 15 years, and 0.4 lung cancers per 1000 never-smokers. Chest x-ray found cancer at a higher rate in men than in women.

"The data suggest a high rate of early detection and possibly important differences between screening for lung cancer in women and in men," write the authors. "The answer to the important question of reduction in lung cancer mortality must await analysis of the two study arms as these data mature."

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9-23-2009 Teens Who Eat Infrequent Family Dinners Likelier to Drink, Smoke

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:33:00 +0000

Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are twice as likely to use tobacco; more than one and a half times likelier to use alcohol; and twice as likely to try drugs in the future, according to The Importance of Family Dinners V, a new report by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The CASA report reveals that compared to teens who have frequent family dinners without distractions at the table (talking or texting on a cell phone, using a Blackberry, laptop or Game Boy), those who have infrequent family dinners and say there are distractions at the table are three times likelier to use marijuana and tobacco, and two and a half times likelier use alcohol.

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9-15-09 Clove cigarettes being pulled from store shelves

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:08:00 +0000

In less than a week, clove cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco will be pulled from the shelves, substantiating the Food and Drug Administration's first directive controlling the sale of tobacco products.

On June 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, effectively giving the FDA wide ranging authority to regulate tobacco.

Flavored tobacco was the first targeted because critics say artificial additives like cherry, grape, chocolate, and spiced cigarettes such as cloves, appeal to youths and lays the groundwork for a smoking addiction. The law only applies to rolled cigarettes, and menthols were spared in this particular prohibition.

In other words, mint is out, but menthols are acceptable. According to Lott, Nat Sherman's Hint of Mint packaging will soon read "menthol," but it's contents will be unaffected.

As for cloves, Lott said, "there is a contingent of people who buy these cigarettes," adding that flavored tobacco constitutes about 15 percent of the cigarettes sold at Newsbeat.

Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand cloves from Indonesia, holds a 97 percent U.S. market share with its line of Djarum clove cigarettes, a staple of Indonesian smoking culture.

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The FDA Wants Your Input on the new FDA Tobacco Law by Sept 29th

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:44:00 +0000

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking for public comments on the new FDA tobacco law. Please help this important public input phase by taking a few minutes to submit your own comments to the FDA directly by September 29th.

What will the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act do?
Read an overview of the FDA Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

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9-14-09 Federal Court Backs S.F. Ban on Drugstore Cigarette Sales

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:18:00 +0000

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Philip Morris and cleared the way for the city of San Francisco to enforce a law banning cigarette sales in pharmacies, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sept. 10.

The cigarette maker opposed the law on free speech grounds, saying the ordinance -- the first of its kind in the U.S. -- infringed on its rights to advertise to drugstore customers. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law "limits where cigarettes may be sold; it doesn't prevent (Philip Morris) from advertising."

A separate lawsuit filed by Walgreens also opposes the law, saying it discriminates against drugstores by allowing cigarette sales at other types of businesses that have pharmacies, such as retailers like Wal-Mart and supermarkets.

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9-5-2009 How could Google Wave change Google Health?

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 00:22:00 +0000

Google Wave arrives on September 30th. On that day, Google will start sending out 100,000 invites to non-developers to its much-anticipated real-time communication platform.

It’s not even released and it’s generating more hype than almost any other web product in recent memory. The reason stems from its game-changing features and their potential applications on business, education, customer service, email, social networking, and more.

From the same engineers that designed Google Maps comes an online collaboration tool called Google Wave that attempts to answer the question: What would email look like if it was invented today, instead of some 40 years ago before the Internet even existed? Some have called Google’s answer to that question a Twitter-killer, but given the application’s status as an open-source project, it could have far greater implications.

We wonder if Google Wave will accelerate development of the Google Health PHR, which has yet to become fully functional on mobile phones, even though Google has stated their intent to develop its mobile functionality more fully.

First, a brief explanation of what Google Wave looks like today, according to Google: “In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content - it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.”

We’re happy to hear Google Wave will come in two mobile flavors to start — Android and iPhone. But what is perhaps most exciting about Google Wave is that the company has announced the product well before it is ready for use by the general public. The reason? Google wants to let developers write applications and extensions to Wave for their own services, sites and blogs. It’s an open-source project right now with more than 4,900 developers potentially working on it.

Google Health already has an API available for developers. Google Wave could bring real-time collaboration between physicians and patients to the Google Health platform. Imagine being able to easily insert comments into every line of information in your medical health records. Google Wave could make it much easier for physicians to upload information into Google Health, too. If nothing else, the new application looks to greatly improve the user experience for Google Health users, should developers, whether inside the Googleplex or one of those 4,900 external developers with new Google Wave accounts, take advantage of the opportunity to make Google Health more collaborative.

How could Google Wave change Google Health? How could it change the way physicians collaborate with each other? With patients?

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Some Women Giving HypnoBirthing a Try

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:30:00 +0000

For many women, pregnancy and childbirth can be a struggle. While conventional medicine can offer hope through infertility treatments, some women are using alternative methods to get pregnant and deliver their babies.
Some local mothers are saying forget the drugs. Instead, take the pain and fear out of giving birth with hypnosis. This is what Tasha Schurgin believes helped her through 36 hours of labor. It's called HypnoBirthing, a type of hypnosis that teaches pregnant women how to get past the pain.
"It just gave me the confidence to go through the process without using any drugs or anything. I just wanted a natural, healthy pregnancy and delivery," said Schurgin.
"When you're looking at natural childbirth, it's just so much better for mom and baby, and if you have a calm and relaxed mother throughout the entire pregnancy, you are actually growing a calm and relaxed baby," said hypnotherapist Pauline Rzepecki.
Rzepecki teaches moms to be to follow the natural instinct that comes with childbirth. Using deep relaxation, visualization and self hypnosis, she says she takes the fear out of labor.
Juanelle Degiulio tried fertility treatments for years, but believes it's hypnotherapy that helped her get pregnant.
"I went through, I think it was four, four accelerated sessions with Pauline, and then here we are with twins and we're very excited," Degiulio said.
"But switching the affirmations that they may be saying to themselves, 'I'll never get pregnant', to 'I do have a fertile body'," Rzepecki said.
There's no scientific proof that hypnotherapy treats infertility, but Beaumont fertility specialist Dr. William Keye says it can't hurt.
"Hypnosis can change body chemistry, body's hormones, the body's immune response, so it wouldn't be surprising that in some situations that hypnosis could be of some value," Keye said.
Schurgin says she looks at her baby girl and needs no other proof to know that HypnoBirthing does work. "It was definitely a long process, but it was well worth it," she said.

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VA Official Will Head FDA's Tobacco Division - The Wall Street Journal

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Jared A. Favole

The Food and Drug Administration tapped a Veterans Affairs official with a long history of public-health experience to head the agency's new tobacco division.

Lawrence Deyton was the chief public-health officer at the VA and initiated smoking-cessation programs that lowered smoking rates among veterans. He has served in the National Institutes of Health, started a community-based AIDS service organization in Washington, D.C., and was a legislative aide with the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the 1970s.

His experience at building public-health initiatives should come in handy as the FDA grapples with how to regulate the deep-pocketed tobacco industry. The FDA received authority in June to regulate the industry after years of contentious debate in Congress, the public-health arena and among tobacco firms.

Dr. Deyton will lead a division that is charged with restricting tobacco advertising and promotions, collecting user fees from tobacco companies and stopping the illegal sales of cigarettes and other products to children.

He said in a statement he was eager for what he sees as a "tremendous opportunity" to "make progress in combating tobacco use -- the leading cause of preventable death in the United States."

His appointment won praise from public-health advocates. Dr. Deyton is "a highly respected and experienced public health leader," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, adding, he has a "longstanding appreciation of the importance of tobacco."

Though the law giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco is specific, there is some room for discretion -- and that is where Dr. Deyton may have the biggest effect. In anticipation of FDA oversight, large tobacco companies such as Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris and Reynolds American Inc. have been in recent years aggressively developing smokeless-tobacco products that are dissolvable in the mouth.

Companies want to be able to market the products as being less risky than traditional tobacco products. The new tobacco law says they can't, unless they prove so. Dr. Deyton will likely be a key player in determining what benchmarks companies have to reach to show their products are less risky.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal

Secondhand Smoke Exposure High for Car Occupants

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Driving in a car with a smoker can expose you to secondhand-smoke levels as high or higher as those in a smoke-filled bar, and even rolling down the window or cranking up the AC doesn't provide full protection, according to researchers.

Reuters
reported Aug. 25 that researchers who measured nicotine levels with sensors installed on the front passenger-seat headrest and the rear seat found that all passengers are exposed to high-levels of secondhand smoke when they ride with a smoker.

Nicotine levels in nonsmokers' cars were undetectable, but in smokers' cars they averaged 9.6 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than the levels typically detected in public or private spaces where smoking is permitted. "This is because the car is a very small place," said researcher Ana Navas-Acien of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Nicotine concentrations in cars doubled for every cigarette smoked, the researchers found.

The study was published online in the journal Tobacco Control

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Legislative Week in Review (August 17-21)

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:02:00 +0000

The California Legislature reconvened on Monday, August 17 after the legislature’s summer recess. There are now only three weeks left in the 2009 legislative session and all bills must be passed by both the Assembly and the Senate and sent to the Governor by September 11. During this final month of the legislative session, the Center will provide a weekly Legislative Week in Review. For more frequent updates, visit the Center’s Bill Tracker, which is updated daily as legislative activity occurs.

There are still seven tobacco-related bills that continue to move forward in the legislative process. During the summer recess, one tobacco-related bill was signed into law. On August 5, the Governor signed SB 53: Authorizing the Attorney General to Negotiate Amendments to the Master Settlement Agreement (DeSaulnier – D, Concord). Below is a summary of the legislative activity that occurred on the remaining tobacco-related bills during the week of August 17-21 and the next step for each bill.

AB 574: Prohibiting Smoking at Hospitals (Hill – D, San Mateo)
Legislative Activity: No activity this week.
Next Step: AB 574 has been sent to the Senate floor and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.

AB 625: Prohibiting Sale or Distribution of Novelty Lighters (Lieu – D, Torrance)
Legislative Activity: No activity this week.
Next Step: AB 625 has been sent to the Senate floor and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate.

SB 4: Prohibiting Smoking in State Parks and State Beaches (Oropeza – D, Long Beach)
Legislative Activity: The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 4 by a vote of 11-6 on August 19.
Next Step: SB 4 has been sent to the Assembly floor where it will receive a vote by the full Assembly.

SB 364: Prohibiting Cancer Center Leadership from also Holding a Leadership Position for a Tobacco Company (Florez – D, Shafter)
Legislative Activity: SB 364 was amended on August 20. The language in the bill that prohibits an individual in a leadership position at a comprehensive cancer center from serving in a leadership position at a company that manufactures or sells tobacco products, a company that has violated controlled substances laws, or a biopharmaceutical company was amended to eliminate the prohibition related to biopharmaceutical companies.
Next Step: A hearing before the Assembly Appropriations Committee has been scheduled for August 27.

SB 400: Including Electronic Cigarettes in the Definition of a Tobacco Product (Corbett – D, San Leandro)
Legislative Activity: The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 400 by a vote of 17-0 on August 19.
Next Step: SB 400 has been sent to the Assembly floor where it will receive a vote by the full Assembly.

SB 600: Increasing the State Tobacco Tax (Padilla – D, San Fernando Valley)
Legislative Activity: No activity this week.
Next Step: SB 600 is being held in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee suspense file and awaiting a suspense file hearing by the committee.

SJR 8: Requesting the FDA to Prohibit Sales of Electronic Cigarettes until Proven Safe (Corbett – D, San Leandro)
Legislative Activity: No activity this week.
Next Step: SJR 8 has been sent to the Assembly and is waiting to be referred to a committee.

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Helping Us With Golf

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:11:00 +0000

Putting Psychology and Golf Hypnosis into Perspective at PGA Championship

Putting was clearly very difficult for all the players at Hazeltine in the 2009 PGA Championship, especially in terms of putting psychology. Now we all saw Tiger Woods missing a lot of mid-range putts that we’d normally expect him to see and I’ve already written about how those were the result of his uneasiness about the swirling wind. I’m more concerned here with a number of really crucial putts missed by Lee Westwood and the massive number of short putts missed by Vijay Singh.

In my humble opinion, Lee Westwood is striking the ball as well as he ever has, especially in the major championships. As a result, he keeps getting himself into contention in the last round before throwing away the opportunity in the last nine holes on Sunday. How many times did he miss apparently easy putts at Hazeltine, including a three putt from not much more than 3 feet? At the Open Championship we saw him three-putt the 72nd hole after recovering well from a few bad putts earlier in the round. The same sort of thing has plagued him for such a long time that it can’t just be coincidence and I keep reading about Lee working with golf psychologists, so it can’t be that; or can it?

Well, I’ve seen Lee’s name mentioned as a client of a number of high-profile golf psychologists here in the UK, like Dr Karl Morris and Jamil Qureshi, the official psychological performance coach for the European Ryder Cup team last year. I also noticed, in the Westwood Academy page on Lee’s website, that the list of sessions participants will receive includes psychology.

Imagine my surprise when I heard about Lee’s comments about golf psychologists in an interview at Hazeltine. “Look at them all,” he said, “They all look a bit odd, like they need to see somebody, I find it hard to take anybody like that seriously.” He continued by saying, “Well, they do. I’m sorry. That’s the way I see it. I’ve always felt mentally quite stable. Don’t feel like I need it.” He must have forgotten what he said in an interview at the PGA Championship 4 years earlier when he explained how he was using a golf psychologist to help him think a little bit clearer.

So Lee, if you aren’t using a golf psychologist, then perhaps you need one now. And if you are using one, maybe you need more help in that area.

So, taking my tongue firmly out of my cheek, I’ll move on quickly to Vijay Singh.

Vijay was majestic all through this year’s PGA Championship, as he almost always is, from tee to green. Sadly, trying lots of golf psychology tricks, doubtless including telling himself what a great putter he is, his putting was absolutely awful. In fact, if he’d putted in all four rounds as well as Tiger did on Sunday, he would have won by a street.

Now clearly Vijay is very strong psychologically and that shows through in his focus and belief in his long game. Any lesser mortal would be so overwhelmed by his psychological failure on the greens that they would lose their long game confidence as well. He’s also strong physically and we know how hard he works on his game. So why doesn’t someone help him to apply that psychological strength to his putting. I’m not a teaching pro and I can see that there’s nothing much physically wrong with his putting stroke, whichever length or style of putter he’s using.

So does Vijay make use of the services of a golf psychologist? Well, my research says yes. And it also says no! Yes, Vijay is a long term client of Dr Joseph Parent, the highly respected corporate speaker, PGA Tour instructor and best-selling author of “Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game.” He’s also often quoted in support of Dr Parent’s work.

On the other hand, in an interview at the 2009 Masters, when asked if he works with a sports psychologist, he responded “Not really. I can’t say I’ve actually worked with anyone.” He added, “I’ve worked with Joe Parent, who wrote Zen Golf, two or three years ago, but we kind of discussed – he probably learned some from me and I learned some from him. So it was kind of a give-and-take thing.”

I was also intrigued to find the marketing blurb about Dr Parent’s “Putting with Confidence” video and read the question, “Tired of missing short putts under pressure? Learn how to turn those “knee-knockers” into “tap ins” and never miss a three-footer again! Does your putting frustrate you?” I guess that Vijay ought to watch that video!

So far, the only golf psychology quote I’ve found from Vijay about putting suggests that he’s been using affirmations to convince himself that he’s the best putter. How exactly is that going to work when he consistently disproves that with his poor putting?

So what’s the solution for Lee Westwood and Vijay Singh? Normally, I’d recommend they see a golf psychologist. They already seem to be doing that and with highly respected and well qualified golf mind coaches. The problem appears to be that whatever they’re doing it’s not working automatically at the most critical time for these players. That means it’s not part of their unconscious habits and beliefs.

All three golf psychologists are very experienced with a wealth of wonderful golf psychology techniques to help their clients. So it looks to me like these clients are trying to implement the techniques consciously using will-power. If you’re a regular reader of my articles, you won’t be surprised to hear that I think that Lee and Vijay should be using hypnosis to install these ideas into their unconscious golf minds – as habits and beliefs.

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8-24-2009 Update on San Francisco's Tobacco-Free Pharmacy Law

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:59:00 +0000

San Francisco’s landmark tobacco-free pharmacy ordinance looks like it will be upheld, validating the city’s effort to ensure that pharmacies—which are intended to promote health—stop being part of the city’s tobacco problem.

On August 12th, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing on the appeal by Philip Morris regarding the denial of their request for an injunction against San Francisco's tobacco-free pharmacies ordinance. The ordinance was enacted in July 2008 and took effect October 2008 after injunction requests made by both Philip Morris and Walgreens were denied in federal court.
At the recent Appeals Court hearing, the attorney for Philip Morris argued that San Francisco’s law violates the tobacco company’s first amendment right to advertise their products and communicate with customers. Based on the judges’ comments, the court seems unlikely to rule in favor of Philip Morris.
The judges pointed out that San Francisco’s ordinance does not restrict advertising at all, just the sale of tobacco products, and that the removal of advertising was the decision of the tobacco companies. There was no word on when to expect a decision from the court.
“The cigarette companies want to maintain their sales relationship with drug stores, so it's no surprise that Philip Morris filed the injunction and appeal,” said Cynthia Hallett, Executive Director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. “This is a standard Big Tobacco tactic to undermine public health policies that they see as a threat to cigarette sales or smoking rates. It’s yet another example that cigarette companies haven’t changed, despite their PR efforts to the contrary.

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8-17-2009 - $1.50 boost in cigarette tax looms as fiscal noose tightens

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:20:00 +0000

By Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee

As California's fiscal crisis deepens, despite desperate efforts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, the state's politicians are casting about for ways to relieve the financial - and political - pressure.

That's why, almost by default, raising the state's cigarette tax, now 87 cents a pack, has again moved to the Capitol's front burner.

The American Cancer Society and other anti-smoking groups are pushing a higher tax on smoking and other tobacco use, citing increases in other states, 10 just this year, that have made California's levy relatively low.

The Legislature's majority Democrats already have endorsed a $1.50-per-pack increase that they contend would raise

$1.2 billion a year.

Any increase in tobacco taxes, however, would require at least some Republican support because of the constitutional requirement for two-thirds votes on new taxes. So it's not surprising that tobacco companies have been ramping up their opposition, distributing a study of cigarette taxes by the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy contending that more than one-third of the cigarettes consumed in California are from the black market.

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Lighting up a revenue idea

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:02:00 +0000

* It costs state and local governments about $4 billion annually for the treatment of tobacco
-related diseases, according to the American Lung Assn. of California. Medi-Cal, the state insurance program for the poor, spends nearly $3 billion.

* Poor people smoke proportionately more than the rest of the population. They're the ones who depend on government-paid medical care.

The state Department of Public Health reports that roughly 14% of California adultssmoke. But 20% of Medi-Cal recipients do. So do 22.5% of the uninsured who tend to clog costly hospital emergency rooms where, by law, they must be treated.

Among adult men who earn less than $25,000 and didn't go to college, nearly 25% smoke. Among those making more than $50,000 with a college degree, only 7.5% smoke.

* California's tobacco tax is relatively low, ranking No. 32 in the nation, according to the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. It's at 87 cents per cigarette pack and hasn't been raised in 11 years. Meanwhile, the vast majority of other states have raised theirs, 19 in the last two years. The national average is $1.32 per pack. The highest: $3.46 in Rhode Island.

Neighboring states: Arizona $2, Nevada 80 cents, Oregon $1.18. So there's no incentive for smokers to cross the state line and stock up.

* To close the budget deficit, Sacramento has ripped the poor people's safety net. Tens of thousands of children are expected to be kicked off the Healthy Families healthcare program for the working poor. Hundreds of thousands will lose some benefits. Medi-Cal, In-Home Supportive Services, Child Welfare Services, Early Start programs for developmentally delayed toddlers -- all sharply cut. Not to mention schools, prisons and parks.

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8-12-2009 Anti-smoking fund off-limits (Ohio)

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Judge halts state plan to use money for social services, fill budget gap

A judge ripped a $250 million hole in the 29-day-old state budget yesterday, ordering the state to keep its hands off a fund designated for anti-smoking programs
.

The administration of Gov. Ted Strickland has other plans for the remnants of Ohio's $10 billion share of a 1998 legal settlement with cigarette manufacturers. About half of the $257.6 million remaining in the tobacco fund was earmarked for optional Medicaid services such as vision and dental care; the rest was designated for other social services.

Judge David W. Fais of Franklin County Common Pleas Court wrote that diverting the money from its original purpose would result in a "substantial increase in tobacco-related premature death and disease in Ohio" and a "substantial increase in medical expense for both Ohioans and the state of Ohio for treatment of tobacco-related disease."

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8-11-2009 Congress Mulling Ban on Drug Ads

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:46:00 +0000

In May we reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released proposed guidelines for drug and medical device television ads meant to reduce diversion tactics. USA Today is now reporting that the $4.3 billion advertising sector is facing strong opposition from lawmakers hoping to put a stop to the advertising trend.

Lawmakers argue that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, is responsible, in part, for the rising cost of health care and that the ads, described as “complicated,” discuss illnesses about which consumers might not even be aware. “There are legitimate reasons to criticize DTC, but it doesn’t cause problems for pricing, it raises demand,” said Bob Ehrlich, CEO of DTC Perspectives, a publishing and consulting company that specializes in DTC marketing, quoted USA Today.

Representative James Moran (Democrat-Virginia) is hoping to eliminate DTC ads, citing decency standards; Representative Henry Waxman (Democrat-California) wants drug manufacturers to hold off marketing for a period following FDA approval, reported USA Today. Representative Jerrold Nadler (Democrat, New York) is hoping to have the federal tax code updated to ban drug companies from deducting ad costs as a business expense, USA Today added.

DTC ads have long been criticized. Earlier this year GlaxoSmithKline was cited by the FDA when it ran an ad for the prostate drug Avodart that featured a man working on a model of the solar system and who must stop painting to “make frequent trips to the bathroom,” said the Star Tribune in a prior report. A colleague then suggests Avodart, saying, “other medicines, they don’t treat the cause, because they don’t shrink the prostate.” FDA regulators, reported the Star Tribune, said the claim is bogus and in a letter to Glaxo’s U.S. officials, wrote that Merck’s Proscar reduces prostate size, and “has a similar indication…. Nothing in the labeling for Avodart suggests any specific advantage.”

Recent FDA guidelines suggest that both benefits and risks be explained in similar type styles and voice-overs in DTC ads, said Reuters previously. The guidelines were prompted by complaints pointing to drug maker tactics to minimize risks and play up benefits via distracting music and type styles, explained Reuters.

For instance, earlier this year, Consumer Reports questioned the ethics of a Chantix (varenicline)
ad that, while never mentioning Chantix, appeared to market the drug while seeming to be a public service announcement. The commercial focused on a smoking cessation Website entitled MyTimeToQuit.com that presented information in a public service format, said Consumer Reports, pointing out that it is only at the ad’s end that hints about the ad’s origin—Pfizer—are discreetly revealed. The FDA approved Chantix in 2006; side effects may include suicidal ideation, depression, and violent behavior.

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Parenting 101: kids, smoking, movies, & sports

mbarrus@socal.rr.com (Mark Barrus www.IWantToQuitSmoking.com) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Art Linkletter knew: kids say the darndest things. They also do the darndest things, and, all-too-often, imitate the darndest things. And that’s not always a good thing, especially when it comes to smoking.

Common Sense Media found that, 57% of parents are worried about their children overusing media, and 68% of them acknowledge that “media generally impacted their kids’ health.” Yet only 44% are concerned about their kids' smoking, and 87% don't think media ups the chances of their children lighting up.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

Reportedly, 50% of all kids who start smoking do so because they’re imitating what they see in the movies—and one-third of them will likely die from a smoking-related disease.

And it’s no accident that stars are puffing away on the big (and little) screen. Way back in 1983, Smoke Free Movies reports that then-president of Phillip Morris International, Hamish Maxwell said, “I do feel heartened at the increasing number of occasions when I go to a movie and see a pack of cigarettes in the hands of a leading lady. This is in sharp contrast to the state of affairs just a few years ago when cigarettes rarely showed up on camera. We must continue to exploit new opportunities to get cigarettes on screen and into the hands of smokers.”

And they have—with stunning success and devastating effect. “In fact,” says Common Sense Media’s CEO, James Steyer, “Smoking in the movies is one of the most effective ways to get kids to pick up the habit.” Moreover, according to a Dartmouth Medical School report, smoking shows up in 74% of all movies, leading many teens to follow suit.

Reports the American Medical Association, almost 4,000 teens start smoking every day, and 50% of them do so because they saw it in the movies. And don’t think the PG-13 rating is any help, since 75% such movies portray an actor/actress lighting up.

More Smoking Facts:

• 90% of smokers start before their 21st birthday—and have the hardest time quitting.

• About 4.5 million U.S. adolescents smoke.

• Almost 20% of 12th graders, 12% of 10th graders, and 5.5% of 8th graders smoke daily.

And don’t think your child is immune from the effects of watching their favorite stars puffing away on screen just because they're involved in sports. It helps, but it’s no guarantee. In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School’s Hood Center for Children and Families proves that point, finding that between 30% and 50% of adolescent smokers took their lead from the movies.

The study also established that, while those not involved in sports were two times as likely to smoke as those who were, it concluded that, “Movie smoking exposure increases the risk of established smoking among both team sports participants and non-participants. Parents, teachers, coaches, and clinicians should be aware that encouraging team sports participation in tandem with minimizing early exposure to movie smoking may offer the greatest likelihood of preventing youth smoking.”

Lead researcher Anna M. Adachi-Mejia put it this way: “Parents need to be aware of the need to minimize their child’s exposure to movie smoking. So even if their child plays a sport, that’s not enough.”

What can parents do? Besides involving your children in sports activities and reducing the chances of their viewing smoking movies, at the very least also . . .

1. Quit smoking if you’re already hooked—and let your kids know how you got started and how hard it is to give up the habit.

2. Watch television and movies together—and when smoking is portrayed, speak up about the harmful effects of such behavior.

3. Share the hard facts about smoking-related diseases—and the deaths that result.

4. Try not to expose your 2- to 8-year-olds to movie smoking—but if/when it happens, stress smoking’s negatives.

5. Sign up for Smoke Free Movies email alerts @ movies@medicine.ucsf.edu.

6. Add your name to the global petition to help stop “youth-oriented movies recruiting new young smokers around the world,” by going to: www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/870523336.

7. Start writing letters—your friends should, as well—to media studios. Names and addresses can be found at http://smokefreemovies.ucsf/actnow/contact_studios.html.

8. Let your feelings be known to the managers of your local movies theaters and such video retailers as Blockbuster and Netflix, either in writing or in person.

9. Be part of the anti-smoking conversation at www.facebook.com/MovieSmokingScorecard?v=wall&viewas=0.

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