Tobacco & Marijuana
“Light” cigarette suit certified as U.S. class action
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A U.S. federal judge gave class-action status on Monday to a lawsuit filed by “light” cigarette smokers who accuse tobacco companies of fraud and are seeking a verdict of as much as $200 billion.
The 540-page ruling sent tobacco company shares lower. The Dow Jones U.S. Tobacco index was down 4 percent.
“I think a lot of people weren’t expecting this, because the judge a few weeks ago questioned whether the smokers could prove the damages or how,” said Charles Norton, co-portfolio manager of the Vice Fund, which holds 36,000 Altria Group Inc. shares. Altria is parent of defendant Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro cigarettes and other brands.
Smoking burns 2,500-pound hole in the pocket
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Smokers pay hundreds of pounds a year in hidden costs on top of the price of their cigarettes, according to government research on Wednesday.
The NHS Smoking Helpline said higher health and life insurance premiums, smokers’ toothpaste and breath freshener inflate the cost of lighting up.
An average 20-a-day smoker can expect to pay 676 pounds a year on top of the 1,825 pounds cost of the cigarettes, creating a 2,500-pound annual bill.
Marijuana can help drug addicts stay on medication
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Recovering drug addicts who are infected with hepatitis C virus may stick to their medications better if they are allowed to use marijuana, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
Smoking or eating cannabis may help them tolerate the side effects of the antivirals, which can clear the virus but often cause fevers, chills and muscle and joint aches, the researchers said.
Diana Sylvestre and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco tested 71 recovering substance users given interferon and ribavirin to treat hepatitis C infection—which is common among injecting drug users.
Elderly less likely to wake to smoke alarm
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The high-pitched signal typically used in smoke alarms may not wake older adults, according to a study conducted by the Fire Protection Research Foundation. In comparative tests on various alarm sounds, adults aged 65 years and older were much more likely to wake to a mixed-frequency signal than a pure high-frequency signal used in standard US smoke alarms.
Household smoke alarms reduce the chances of dying in a fire by up to 50 percent when present and working properly. However, studies have shown that the elderly do not fully benefit from smoke alarms, particularly during the overnight hours when they are asleep.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, older adults are more than twice as likely to die in a home fire as the average person.
Nicotine tablets help COPD patients quit smoking
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Nicotine replacement therapy enables a significant number of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to stop smoking, according to a report in the August issue of Chest.
“Nicotine replacement therapy works in COPD,” Dr. Philip Tønnesen from Gentofte Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark, told Reuters Health. “And nicotine replacement therapy works in smokers of fewer than 10 cigarettes per day. I believe this is the first study ever to show this.”
COPD is a group of serious lung diseases that include emphysema and chronic bronchitis. It is primarily caused by smoking.
All forms of tobacco harmful: study
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All forms of tobacco consumption—smoking, chewing and second hand smoke—raise the risk of heart attack by up to three times, according to the results of a new study in Friday’s edition of the Lancet medical journal.
The study, covering a total of 27,000 people in 52 countries, found that tobacco use in any form—including sheesha, popular in the Middle East, and beedie, common in South Asia—were bad for health.
Compared to people who had never smoked, heavy smokers had a tripled risk of heart attack while even light smokers and people who chewed tobacco had a doubled risk.
Chinese men harming wives by smoking too much
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Chinese men are putting their wives at increased risk of long-term illness and early death by smoking, finds a study in this week’s British Medical Journal.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) is associated with a 15-35% excess risk of coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Environmental tobacco smoke may also be linked to stroke and other cancers, though evidence is scarce.
The rate of smoking in Chinese men is high, but most Chinese women do not smoke. This provides a good opportunity to evaluate this association in women.
Smoking interacts with genetic risk factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis
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Smoking interacts with genetic risk factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis among older Caucasian women
Smoking increases the chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women who otherwise lack genetic risk factors for the disease, reveals research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory disease in which the patient’s immune system attacks the joint linings. It is the most serious and debilitating form of arthritis.
Interaction between genes and environmental factors is considered to be fundamentally important in complex autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
British American Tobacco and cigarette smuggling in China
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New research based on the internal documents of one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies, British American Tobacco (BAT), suggests that it been complicit in the smuggling of tobacco into China and has benefited from this illicit trade.
Millions of BAT internal documents were made publicly available following a court case in the USA. The researchers, Dr. Kelley Lee of the London School and Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Dr. Jeff Collin of the University of Edinburgh, have analysed documents, available via the company’s Guildford Depository, and online from the BAT Document Archive. In their paper, ‘Key to the future’: British American Tobacco and cigarette smuggling in China, which is published in the journal PLoS Mecidine, they present evidence that smuggling has been strategically critical to BAT’s efforts to penetrate the Chinese market.
UK government considers raising smoking age limit
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The Department of Health (DoH) announced on Monday it was considering whether to raise the age limit for buying cigarettes or tobacco from 16 in a bid to cut the level of smoking among teenagers.
A consultation exercise has been launched to look at whether the age limit should be increased to 17 or 18, which would bring it into line with the sale of alcohol.
The government is also looking at whether there should be tougher measures introduced at shops that sell cigarettes to under-age children.
Surgeon general warns of secondhand smoke
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Breathing any amount of someone else’s tobacco smoke harms nonsmokers, the surgeon general declared Tuesday — a strong condemnation of secondhand smoke that is sure to fuel nationwide efforts to ban smoking in public.
“The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard,” said U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona.
Maternal smoking linked with severe tic disorder
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Women who smoke during pregnancy appear to have a very strong risk of having a child with severe symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome and the risk of having obsessive-compulsive disorder is also increased in these children.
Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder that develops in childhood or adolescence in which patients have involuntary tics involving sudden movements or vocalizations that are rapidly repeated. The symptoms usually occur several times a day, every day or intermittently and are usually mild, but can be severe.
The condition is believed be to associated with many genetic and environmental factors, Dr. Carol A. Mathews and her associates note. While few studies have examined the role of environmental factors, there are suggestions that incidents before or just after birth, as well as the mother’s prenatal habits, effect the development of the disorder, its severity, and the risk of having another neurologic condition.
Smokers with Heavily Lined Faces Run Five Times the Risk of Progressive Lung Disease
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Middle aged smokers, who are heavily lined with wrinkles, are five times as likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short, suggests research published ahead of print in Thorax.
COPD is an umbrella term for a range of progressive chronic lung diseases, such as emphysema and bronchitis, which block the airways and restrict oxygen flow around the body.
In excess of 1 million people are thought to have COPD in the UK, many of whom have not been diagnosed. And the World Health Organization estimates that it will become the third leading cause of death in the world by 2020.
Genetically Altered Mice No Longer Like Cocaine
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Researchers found that they could eliminate the rewarding effect of cocaine on mice by genetically manipulating a key target of the drug in the animal’s brain.
While the researchers aren’t suggesting that these genetic modifications be made in humans, the work brings to light the key protein that controls cocaine’s effects in the body, which may help scientists develop medications that achieve the same results and therefore help addicts overcome their dependence.
Right now there are no such treatments on the market, said Howard Gu, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at Ohio State University.
One cigarette may trigger smoking urge years later
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Preteens who have tried smoking just once have an increased risk of becoming a regular smoker years later, UK researchers report in their study, published in the journal Tobacco Control.
Dr. Jennifer Fidler of University College London and her colleagues found that young people who reported trying just one cigarette at age 11 were twice as likely to become regular smokers by age 14, even if they didn’t have a single puff in the intervening years.
While there are many possible explanations for the findings, Fidler told Reuters Health, “I think there’s a lot to be said for the fact that having smoked at an early age breaks down barriers which might prevent a person from trying cigarettes later on.” For example, she notes, kids who’ve had a first puff may feel more comfortable holding a cigarette and less intimidated about smoking in front of their peers.
