Quitting Smokeless Tobacco May Boost Survival After Heart Attack

HealthDay

MONDAY, June 23, 2014 (HealthDay News) — A new study suggests that heart attack patients who stop using snus — a specific type of moist chewing tobacco that is popular in Sweden — could greatly reduce their risk of dying within a couple years.
The findings don’t directly prove that stopping the use of this type of smokeless tobacco actually affects cardiac health, and ethical constraints may prevent researchers from ever understanding the full value of quitting. There are other caveats, and it’s not clear that quitting the main kinds of smokeless tobacco used in the United States would have the same potential effect.
Still, the study “indicates that quitting snus use after a heart attack might be as equally beneficial as quitting smoking after a heart attack,” said study author Dr. Gabriel Arefalk, a cardiologist at Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden.

The health risks of smokeless tobacco have been in the news over the past week because of the death of baseball legend Tony Gwynn at the age of 54. Gwynn blamed his initial salivary gland cancer on a long history of chewing tobacco, although doctors say there’s no definitive link between that kind of tobacco and that type of cancer.
It’s clear, however, that smokeless tobacco poses major risks to health and causes other kinds of cancer.
Smokeless tobacco comes in a variety of forms, including traditional chewing tobacco (which may come in loose leaves or “plugs”) and snuff (finely cut or powdered tobacco), according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. The new study examines snus (rhymes with “moose”), a kind of moist snuff that doesn’t need to be spit out because users typically swallow the tobacco juices.
“Snus is very different from American chewing tobacco such as Red Man or American moist snuff such as Skoal or Copenhagen,” explained Dr. John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine and psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “Snus is pasteurized by steam, while American smokeless tobacco is cured in a heated environment over time. Curing generates more cancer-causing agents, so some tobacco experts argue that snus is safer and want tobacco companies to be able to market snus as safer.”
Snus is especially popular in Sweden, where 20 percent of adult men and 3 percent of adult women use it.
The researchers tracked almost 2,500 snus users, mostly men, who were younger than 75 and had heart attacks between 2005 and 2009. Only about one-fourth — 675 — quit using snus, while the rest continued.
Fourteen of those who quit and 69 of those who continued to use snus died over an average of about two years. Those who quit were about half as likely to die as those who continued using the smokeless tobacco, after researchers adjusted their statistics so they wouldn’t be thrown off by high or low numbers of people of certain ages or genders.
What’s going on? Researchers aren’t sure. Those who quit using smokeless tobacco could simply be healthier overall or they might have started taking better care of themselves, although the researchers tried to account for this possibility. Those who kept using snus were also more likely to have diabetes.
The researchers speculate that something about snus — possibly the nicotine — hurts the heart, perhaps by making it more vulnerable to damage from irregular heartbeats.
The findings may reveal little if anything about the smokeless tobacco that’s used in the United States, even the snus that’s sold here. “There are snus-type products available in the U.S. market currently, but the American products are manufactured and sold differently than Swedish snus, and there are no studies on the health effects of products sold in the U.S. labeled ‘snus,'” said Dr. Pamela Ling, an associate professor with the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

However, “smokeless tobacco use of all types is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, so the results of this study on snus probably also apply to other forms of smokeless tobacco,” she said. “Patients with heart attacks should be encouraged to quit all forms of tobacco, both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.”

The study appears online June 23 and in the July 22 print issue of the journal Circulation.

More information

Visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute for more on smokeless tobacco.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2014/06/23/quitting-smokeless-tobacco-may-boost-survival-after-heart-attack

Tobacco companies have made cigarettes deadlier than ever

Updated by 

Over the last five decades, the tobacco industry has engineered cigarettes to be more addictive — and has also made them more dangerous.

Smokers suffer from higher risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) todaycompared to 1964, when the very first Surgeon General’s report on cigarettes was issued. This infographic, from The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, lays out exactly how cigarettes have changed in the last 50 years.

Screen_Shot_2014-06-23_at_1.50.55_PMCompared to cigarettes in Australia and Canada, tobacco blends used in U.S. cigarettes have higher levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), chemicals known to cause cancer. TSNA levels have increased since 1964.

Cigarette companies also introduced ventilation holes in cigarette filters so that cigarettes would look healthier on paper. The ventilation holes cause machines to report lower levels of tar and nicotine when testing cigarettes. However, it’s been documented that these ventilation holes actually change how people smoke cigarettes. Smokers inhale more frequently and more deeply, drawing cancer-causing chemicals farther into the lungs.
The ill effects of these design changes are compacted by efforts to make cigarettes more attractive and more addictive.
Tobacco companies have introduced flavorings to make the taste of cigarettes more appealing, while also introducing chemicals that reduce discomfort and irritation in the lungs. Higher levels of nicotine, ammonia, and sugars have increased the addictiveness of cigarettes over time.
The smoking rate in the United States has hit an historic low — but tobacco use remains the greatest source of preventable death in the United States. According to the Surgeon General, smoking kills 480,000 Americans each year. It’s estimated that half of today’s smokers will die prematurely, losing, on average, ten years of life. It takes a toll on the nation’s economy, too: $289 billion is spent on health care and other financial losses associated with cigarettes annually.
The Tobacco Free Kids report calls for more aggressive oversight of the tobacco industry by the Food and Drug Administration. This is somewhat new terrain for the FDA; the agency wasn’t able to regulate tobacco much until 2009, when Congress enacted the Tobacco Control Act. Early efforts to stretch this regulatory muscle haven’t always been successful — the FDA wasn’t able to require cigarette manufacturers to totally overhaul their labeling to make health hazards more obvious, for example.
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/23/5835158/tobacco-companies-have-made-cigarettes-deadlier-than-ever?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=ezraklein&utm_content=sunday

FDA extending comment period on e-cigarette rules

MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, AP Tobacco Writer

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The public will have more time to weigh in on a federal proposal to regulate electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday the public comment period slated to end July 9 is being extended until Aug. 8.

In April, the agency proposed banning sales of e-cigarettes to anyone under 18, adding warning labels and requiring product approval. But it didn’t immediately restrict marketing or ban fruit or candy flavors, measures that some anti-smoking groups and members of Congress are demanding.

The FDA also proposed extending its authority to regulate cigars, hookahs, nicotine gels and pipe tobacco.

The agency has received more than 33,700 comments on the proposal. By comparison, it received around 176,000 comments on potential menthol cigarette regulations during a 120-day comment period.

Tobacco use still high in college ball, off field

USA Today

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Virginia pitcher Josh Sborz slips a pinch of chewing tobacco between his cheek and gum every now and then, even though the NCAA banned the substance 20 years ago,

“I enjoy the taste. It’s not like I’m addicted to it,” Sborz said. “I just enjoy it, definitely. I do it maybe once a month or every other week.”

Sborz said this week’s death of Hall of Fame baseball player Tony Gwynn might give college players some pause. Gwynn died at 54 of oral cancer believed to be connected to his long use of chewing tobacco.

“It should have an impact when such a star-studded player’s life was ended by the addiction he had. It’s sad,” Sborz said.

Whether Gwynn’s death has any real impact is an open question and it comes amid some concerns: Baseball players acknowledging using spit tobacco at least once in the previous month rose from 42.5 percent in 2005 to 52.3 percent in 2009, according to the NCAA’s quadrennial survey substance use trends among its athletes. Results of the 2013 survey have not yet been released, though preliminary results suggest a drop since 2009.

About 15 percent of teams in each NCAA sport are asked to participate in the anonymous survey, with a total sample size of about 20,000 athletes. Among all male athletes, 16 percent acknowledged using tobacco in 2005 and 17 percent in 2009.
Sborz said he thinks the survey is “skewed” when it comes to ball players.
“All those people don’t do it every day,” he said. “If people do it every day, that’s where it becomes a problem. If they do it once every week, I don’t see any issue with it.”
Minor-league baseball banned tobacco in 1993, a year before the NCAA. Tobacco is not banned in the major leagues.
Though tins of tobacco aren’t visible in college dugouts like they were before 1994, that doesn’t mean players aren’t dipping when they’re away from the ballpark.
“It’s 100 percent part of baseball culture,” said Virginia second baseman Branden Cogswell, who estimated half his teammates chew tobacco at least occasionally. “It’s kind of a habit for people, kind of a comfort thing. I’ve never been a part of that group, but so many guys do it. People take those risks. It’s their choice.”
Dave Keilitz, executive director of the American Baseball Coaches Association, said he was surprised to find out so many baseball players were using tobacco.
“I think most of our coaches, if not all of our coaches, are very aware of the danger and also don’t want their players using it,” Keilitz said. “In my 20 years of doing this, I haven’t seen any evidence of that taking place in dugouts, in games. I hope the same holds true in practice sessions.”
Keilitz said his organization adamantly opposes the use of smokeless tobacco and participated in the making of a video that illustrates the dangers.
Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said he chewed during his playing days in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Like Keilitz, he was surprised so many players acknowledge using tobacco.
“If kids are doing it, they’re doing a heck of a job of hiding it,” he said.

The NCAA said the ban was put in place as part of its charge to protect the safety and welfare of athletes. The penalty for violating the ban was left to the committee that oversees each sport. The Baseball Rules Committee instructed umpires to eject any player or coach who is using tobacco or who has tobacco in his possession. Enforcement was spotty until the committee made it a point of emphasis in 2003.

In spite of the warnings the players receive, Texas coach Augie Garrido said he knows some members of his team chew tobacco.

“There’s a lot more of it in Texas,” he said, “because it’s not only about the baseball. It’s about hunting, it’s about fishing, it’s about being a man.”

As for Sborz, he started chewing for a simple reason.

“I saw an older kid do it, so I thought I’d try to do it,” he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/baseball/2014/06/20/tobacco-use-still-high-in-college-ball-off-field/11121159/

As baseball ponders tobacco issue, Tony Gwynn to get his say

Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

OAKLAND – Tony Gwynn’s multitude of accomplishments, career batting average of .338 and his pioneering use of video earned him the rapt attention of players whenever he talked baseball.

Major League Baseball hopes an even more important message he’s delivering posthumously sinks in as well.

Gwynn, who died of mouth cancer Monday at 54, speaks out against smokeless tobacco use in a taped segment of an informational video MLB is producing and plans to release this season. The Hall of Fame outfielder believed he developed cancer because of his years-long habit of using spit tobacco, although that was never medically confirmed.

Whether Gwynn’s untimely death and his stance against smokeless tobacco will curtail its use among players remains an open question.

Research by the Pro Baseball Athletic Trainers Society revealed the number of major leaguers who use spit tobacco has declined from about 50% to 33% in the last 20 years.
However, that’s still about 10 times the amount in the general population, according to the American Cancer Society, whose data from 2012 showed 3.5% of Americans 12 and older – or 9 million – use the highly addictive product.
“It’s definitely ingrained and something that’s part of our baseball culture, but it’s not exclusive to baseball,” said Oakland Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss, a non-user. “You would hope a figure like (Gwynn), something tragic like that happening, would be a wake-up call for everyone, not just those in baseball. … But most guys are probably going to look at it as the loss of a great man and a great baseball player and leave it at that.”
Indeed, the stance among players seems to be that they’re aware of the dangers but, like smoking, it’s up to every individual to decide whether to use what remains a legal product.

The National Cancer Institute says in its website that smokeless tobacco contains at least 28 chemicals that have been found to cause cancer – typically of the mouth, esophagus and pancreas – and may also lead to heart disease, gum disease and oral lesions.

“People understand the risks involved and still choose to do it,” Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “We all do stupid things, whatever your vice happens to be. People may criticize these guys for dipping, and then somebody’s texting and driving.”

And while Gwynn’s passing was lamented throughout the game, it doesn’t figure to be interpreted by many players – who are usually in their 20s or early 30s, with the concomitant sense of invincibility – as a cautionary tale.

“It’s one of those things that’s scary and obviously you hope you’re not the one,” said A’s catcher Stephen Vogt, who said he dips once in a while. “I don’t think it’s good. I definitely don’t advocate it, but at the same time, it’s an adult decision.”

Baseball has taken steps to sway that decision, or at least make the practice less visible to minimize the impact on young fans.

The current collective bargaining agreement, in effect from 2012-16, bans players, managers and coaches from using smokeless tobacco during TV interviews and team appearances. And they have to keep tobacco products out of sight while fans are at the ballpark.
In addition, MLB and the players union have stepped up educational efforts, and teams – which in the past freely distributed cans of dip in the clubhouse – can no longer do so and are now required to administer oral exams as part of the spring training physicals every year.
Longtime TV announcer Joe Garagiola, who quit his smokeless tobacco habit in his 30s, made it his life’s mission to warn other baseball folks about its dangers, making presentations during spring training alongside former major league outfielder Billy Tuttle, who died of oral cancer at 69 in 1998.
“I don’t think we talk about it enough anymore,” says Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “I remember as a young A-ball manager, Joe Garagiola would always come around in spring training with Bill Tuttle. It was scary.
“And I still see people chewing tobacco. Not only in the big leagues, but you still see kids in junior high and high school.
For me, it’s not enough yet. It’s a shame.”

Indeed, the sight of players constantly spitting, some sporting a large wad of tobacco inside their cheek, remains one of the game’s enduring images.

“Every spring training we have a guy that comes in who’s had mouth cancer through tobacco,” Rangers utilityman Donnie Murphy said. “So you see it. But at the same time, it’s like an addiction thing. You do it for so long, you’re going to want to keep doing it.”

Players say using smokeless tobacco provides a form of relaxation and becomes part of their routine in a daily sport with lots of down time.

And with amphetamines now banned from baseball, the jolt of energy from the nicotine in the tobacco – absorbed during a longer stretch through dip or chew than by smoking – can help players navigate the season’s six-month grind.

Commissioner Bud Selig has expressed a desire to banish smokeless tobacco from the majors the same way MLB barred it from the minors starting in 1993. But the issue is subject to collective bargaining and the players association has declined, opting to protect personal freedoms and emphasize education.

“The MLBPA discourages the use of smokeless tobacco products by its members or by anyone else. These products carry serious health risks, yet remain legally and widely available,” union spokesman Greg Bouris said via e-mail. “In general terms, included in the smokeless tobacco policy negotiated in 2011 are restrictions/prohibitions on its use, increased emphasis on education and cessation programs, as well as oral examinations. At this point in time, player education continues to be a focus of ours.”

Contributing: Paul White in Washington

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/06/19/mlb-tobacco-tony-gwynn/10937253/

Electronic Cigarettes Makers Under Fire in Senate

By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press

E-cigarettes with fruity flavors like “cherry crush” ignited an intense Senate debate Wednesday about whether manufacturers are trying to appeal to youngsters similar to the way that Big Tobacco used Joe Camel decades ago.

“The last thing anyone should want to do is encourage young people to start using a new nicotine delivery product,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said as he opened a hearing on the battery-powered devices and worries that e-cigarette makers aim to tempt young people to take up something that could prove addictive.

Jason Healy, president of blu eCigs, and Craig Weiss, president of NJoy, were challenged for more than two hours about industry marketing practices that include running TV commercials and sponsoring race cars and other events. Both men insisted they aren’t trying to glamorize smoking and don’t target young people and that their products are a critical alternative for people desperate to quit traditional smokes.

Electronic cigarettes heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating vapor that users inhale. E-cigarette users say the devices address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking without the thousands of chemicals found in regular paper-and-tobacco cigarettes. But there’s not much research on any health risks of e-cigarettes, and the studies that have been done have been inconclusive.

As the Food and Drug Administration considers regulating e-cigarettes, critics wonder whether e-cigs keep smokers addicted or hook new users and encourage them to move on to tobacco.

Healy of blu eCigs, which is owned by the tobacco company Lorillard Inc., testified that his company has voluntary restrictions in place, such as limiting advertising placements to media and events where the target audience is at least 85 percent adults.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., questioned the youthful-sounding flavors for e-cigarettes. Healy’s company, for example, sells electronic cigarettes that come in flavors like Cherry Crush, Peach Schnapps and Pina Colada. Healy countered that the average age for consumers of his e-cigarettes is 51.

Rockefeller was not swayed, bluntly admonishing both men and telling them: “I am ashamed of you. I don’t know how you sleep at night.”

About 2 percent of U.S. teenagers said they’d used an e-cigarette in the previous month, according to a survey done in 2012 and released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 7 percent said they’d tried an e-cigarette at least once in 2012, which translates to nearly 1.8 million.

In April, the FDA proposed regulating e-cigarettes, banning sales to anyone under 18, adding warning labels and requiring agency approval for new products. But the FDA didn’t immediately place marketing restrictions on e-cigarette makers or a ban on fruit or candy flavors, which are barred for use in regular cigarettes. The agency has left the door open to further regulations, but says it wants more evidence before it rushes into more restrictions.

————

AP Tobacco Writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/electronic-cigarettes-makers-fire-senate-24202582

Big Tobacco Looks to Keep Pace With E-Cigarettes

ABC News — NEW YORK June 17, 2014 (AP)

Tobacco companies are moving quickly to keep pace with the evolution of their industry by embracing the increasingly popular e-cigarettes and making them more available to consumers.

Reynolds American Inc., the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S., moved forward on its ambitious goal for sales, announcing Tuesday that next week it would begin distributing its Vuse brand electronic cigarette nationwide.

Altria Group Inc., which owns the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, is seeking to expand its MarkTen electronic cigarette brand nationally during the first half of the year.

Lorillard, the nation’s third-largest tobacco company, acquired e-cigarette maker Blu eCigs in April 2012. Blu now accounts for almost half of all e-cigarettes sold and can already be found nationwide.

Reynolds said Tuesday that retail outlets in all 50 states will be carrying Vuse starting on June 23. More stores will be added throughout the remainder of the year.

Reynolds launched Vuse in Colorado last summer and expanded into Utah earlier this year. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina company said that Vuse quickly became the top-selling brand in both states with high levels of repeat purchase.

Like other tobacco companies, Reynolds American is looking to capitalize on the fast-growing e-cigarette sales and to diversify its business more. To that end, the company announced last month that it was expanding its Tobaccoville, North Carolina manufacturing complex ahead of Vuse’s national rollout in order to meet anticipated market demand.

The market for e-cigarettes has grown from thousands of users in 2006 to several million worldwide and reached nearly $2 billion in sales last year. The battery-powered devices heat a liquid nicotine solution, creating vapor that users inhale. E-cigarette users say the devices address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking without the thousands of chemicals found in regular cigarettes.

The Vuse can monitor and adjust heat and power to deliver the “perfect puff,” according to Reynolds American. It also has a smart light on the tip of to let users know when it’s getting low, needs to be replaced or recharged.

The country’s biggest tobacco companies have all entered the e-cigarette realm as they look to become less dependent on the traditional cigarette business, which is increasingly tougher to be a part of due to tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma.

But the growing popularity of e-cigarettes has left it open to closer examination by the government and health advocates. The Food and Drug Administration has proposed restrictions on the buying, packaging and advertising of e-cigarettes. This includes a ban on selling to minors and warning labels. The Senate will hold a hearing Wednesday to examine the marketing of e-cigarettes and potential consequences for minors.

Shares of Reynolds American shed 46 cents to $59.88 in midday trading, while Altria’s stock fell 12 cents to $41.69. Shares of Lorillard declined 59 cents to $61.39.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/reynolds-expanding-cigarette-nationally-24170948

Letter: N.D. needs a hefty tobacco-tax hike

By Brenda Jo Gillund from West Fargo, N.D.

WEST FARGO — My family and I have been really happy with North Dakota’s smoke-free indoor workplace law that passed in 2012. As a mother of young children, I feel very fortunate that young people today will have decreased exposure to secondhand smoke.

As my children get older, I worry about their exposure to marketing for tobacco products. I find it appalling that tobacco companies target their marekting to children, including enticing flavored tobacco products and colorful packaging.

We know that as we increase the price of tobacco, fewer children start smoking, and more smokers make the decision to quit.

With so many lives at stake, my question is this: Why don’t we make cigarettes more expensive so people — especially children and young adults — can really start to see how much their habits cost them?

When it hits us in the pocketbook, we start looking for a way to quit an addiction or decide never to start in the first place.

I’ve heard that North Dakota is one of the cheapest places to buy cigarettes. There’s something wrong with that, and I think it is time for action.

Gillund is a registered nurse. 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/nd-needs-hefty-tobacco-tax-hike

Teen Smoking Is Way Down. But What About E-cigs?

Alexandra Sifferlin, Time Magazine
Rates of cigarette smoking among high school students has dropped to lowest level in 22 years, the CDC reports.
In 2013, the smoking rate among high school students hit 15.7%, which means the U.S. government has already reached its goal of lowing the teen smoking rate to 16% of less by 2020. That’s according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which began in 1991. Another important data set on teen smoking and drug use—Monitoring the Future (MTF)—reports the rate is at 16.3%. Regardless, both surveys show fewer kids are smoking.
That’s good news, and it’s likely thanks to a combination of several factors, the most important being the rising costs of cigarettes. Others include the growing stigmatization of smoking, with half of states prohibiting smoking in places like bars and restaurants. The adult smoking rate is dropping too, which means teens have fewer smoking role models.
If teens are passing around fewer packs of cigarettes, does that mean they’re not smoking other things? Past data has shown a 123% increase in the consumption of other smokable tobacco products like cigars and pipes, though the recent numbers from the larger data sets show no change in smokeless tobacco use since 1999, and a drop in cigar use.
yrbs_release_smoking_final-copy
One question you’re likely going to see is whether teens are switching to e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes is a subject the public health community is uncharacteristically split on. On one side of the spectrum, you have critics arguing that it’s possible e-cigarettes serve as a gateway to regular cigarettes. One vocal critic being the head of the CDC himself. “The increased use of e-cigarettes by teens is deeply troubling,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden in a statement about teen tobacco use going down. “Nicotine is a highly addictive drug. Many teens who start with e-cigarettes may be condemned to struggling with a lifelong addiction to nicotine and conventional cigarettes.”
Emerging data points to certain trends, but e-cigs are still so new. Earlier this fall, a CDC report showed that e-cig use among teens, while still low, had doubled in a year, from 3.3% in 2011 to 6.8% in 2012.
Dr. Kenneth Warner, a professor of health management and policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, looked back through the data and found that among kids who have never smoked a conventional cigarette, only 0.7% have ever tried an e-cigarette within the last 30 days. What this shows is that the same kids who are smoking regular cigarettes are smoking e-cigs.
“Everyone thinks they are right and the logical thing is that nobody knows,” says Warner. “This is a huge-stakes issue, because the proliferation of e-cigs has the potential to either reduce the cigarette problem or increase it over time among kids.”
The reality is we have a long way to go. It took 40 years to get the adult smoking rate down to around 20%, and it won’t be easy to cut it in half again. Warner and his colleague David Mendez have created a smoking-prevalence model that’s been used since the 1990s. Their predictions show that at the rate we are going, we might not be able to hit a 10% adult smoking rate until the middle of the century. But that’s if we don’t try anything radically different.
“I believe we will do better because I don’t think we’ll stick with just status quo tobacco control,” says Warner. “In my judgment, the future lies in how effectively FDA can regulate cigarettes and other [nicotine] products.”
The FDA announced it is expanding its regulatory powers to cover more tobacco products including e-cigs, but anti-smoking advocates are arguing it’s still not enough.
“The data on kids is great, but we have a long way to go before we can pack up and go home and say we solved the problem,” says Warner.
You can read more on the latest CDC numbers here.
http://time.com/2864214/teen-smoking-is-way-down-but-what-about-e-cigs/

'Teens choosing health': Smoking hits a landmark low

Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY

Cigarette smoking among high school students in the United States has reached a landmark low in a survey health officials have been conducting every two years since 1991.

Just 15.7% of teens were current smokers in 2013, down from 27.5% when the survey began and 36.4% in the peak year of 1997, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. That means the nation has already met the government’s official goal of getting teen smoking below 16% by 2020.

“I think the bottom line is that our teens are choosing health,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said.

Frieden was referring not just to the progress on smoking, but to other gains in healthy behaviors picked up in the nationally representative Youth Risk Behavior Survey of more than 13,000 teens. Data for the report also come from state and local versions of the survey. The surveys are conducted at public and private high schools.

The data show teens are drinking less alcohol and fewer sodas, getting into fewer physical fights and having less sex with more birth control. Also, despite all the recent news about school shootings, the share of students threatened or injured with a gun, knife or other weapon on school property has dropped to 6.9%, from a peak of 9.2% in 2003.

But it’s not all good news: Condom use among the sexually active (about one third of teens) is down to 59%, from a peak of 63% in 2003. Condoms remain essential for protection from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, but teens may not be getting the message, Frieden says.

Even the news on tobacco is mixed: A once-rapid decline in cigar use has slowed, leaving cigars as popular as cigarettes with high school boys. Cigars were smoked by 23% of 12th grade boys in the month before the survey. Smokeless tobacco use hasn’t changed since 1999, holding at about 8%. Other surveys have shown increases in e-cigarette and hookah use. And the declines in cigarette use are uneven from place to place, reflecting varying tobacco control efforts, Frieden says.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” with the help of increased cigarette taxes, better educational campaigns and other measures, says Vince Willmore, a spokesperson for the non-profit Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Washington, D.C. “But the fight against tobacco isn’t over and it can’t be over when you still have 2.7 million high school kids who smoke.”

The survey, a treasure trove of data on more than 100 risky behaviors, “tells us what kids do but not why,” says Stephanie Zaza, director of CDC’s division of adolescent and school health. Among other details:

• 25% of students were in a physical fight in the year before the survey, down from 42% in 1991. Just 8% fought at school, down from 16%.

• 32% watched three daily hours of TV, down from 43% in 1999. But some of that time apparently shifted to computers, with 41% using a computer for non-school reasons at least three hours a day, up from 22% in 2003.

• 27% had at least one soda a day, down from 34% in 2007.

• 41% of those who drove admitted to texting or e-mailing while driving. CDC first asked about texting in 2011, but with a differently worded question, so it can’t say whether rates are up or down.

• 2.3 % had ever used heroin, a number that has remained fairly steady through the years. But in some large urban school districts, use was much higher, up to 7.4%.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/12/teen-cigarette-cdc-survey/10368235/