Posts

PLAYERS MAY CONSIDER TOBACCO BAN DISCUSSION IN '16

By RONALD BLUM, Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Major League Baseball players say they may consider whether to discuss a possible ban on chewing tobacco when they negotiate their next labor contract in two years. For now, they hope individuals decide on their own to stop dipping.

Players’ union head Tony Clark said Monday that several of his members have quit cold turkey following the death of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn on June 16 from oral cancer.

While the use of smokeless tobacco was banned for players with minor league contacts in 1993, it is permitted for players with major league deals. The labor agreement covering 2012-16 says players may not carry tobacco packages and tins in their back pockets when fans are permitted in ballparks, and they may not use tobacco during pregame and postgame interviews and at team functions.

“I think what we have been doing thus far has been a positive, and although I’m not going to offer you a bargaining proposal today on chewing tobacco, we could have that conversation,” Clark said Tuesday before the All-Star game.

“Then we will see where the guys are and continue the education and their appreciation for or against, or what the many considerations that need to be made in the area even look like, and we’ll have that conversation with Major League Baseball,” he said.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who plans to retire in January, promised “it will be a subject that they’ll discuss at the next collective bargaining” but acknowledged “I understand that individuals have the right to make their own decisions.”

Gwynn, 54 at his death, attributed his cancer to years of chewing tobacco.

“We believe that the numbers suggest that the usage has declined significantly, declined in the minor leagues, declined in the majors,” Clark said during a question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “Our hope is that we continue to educate guys on that the damage that dipping can do, that they will continue to decide not to dip and chew.”

Clark, a former All-Star first baseman who never dipped, said Gwynn’s death “really smacks you between the eyes, and it’s unfortunate sometimes, that an event like that brings that decision instead of that decision being made beforehand.”

No change is planned during the current labor contract.

“We give the players the opportunity to make the decision that they’re going to make against the backdrop of it being legal,” Clark said. “We don’t condone it. They know we don’t condone it. … So at the end of the day, yes, we will continue to educate guys, and yes, the players will continue to have a decision that they make in that area.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/players-may-consider-tobacco-ban-discussion-16

Tony Gwynn's death renews call for MLB to ban chewing tobacco

(CNN) – At Tuesday’s All-Star game in Minnesota, it will be hard not to think of Padre great Tony Gwynn.

He was an all star 15 times, a man who lived to play and teach and talk baseball, and a man who died way too early because of a habit associated with it – chewing tobacco, a known cause of cancer.

Now, after more than 100 years, there’s a renewed push to get rid of it on the field.

Gwynn died last month of cancer in his salivary gland, a diagnosis the hall of famer blamed on chewing tobacco.

Baseball great Babe Ruth, also a longtime tobacco chewer, died of oral cancer

Now nine major public health organizations are pushing Major League Baseball to ban all tobacco use by players and staff at games, and on camera, to honor Gwynn’s memory

They sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association chief Tony Clark, calling on them to “set the right example for America’s kids.”

“Kids see their heroes on the field, and they want to emulate and be just like their favorite slugger, or their favorite pitcher,” said Erika Sward, with the American Lung Association.

A June CDC report found that while smoking rates for high school students have fallen by more than half since 1999, smokeless tobacco use by students has held steady.

Groups have been waging this battle over baseball and health for years. Similar letters in 2011 and 2012 pushed the league to act, as did a tobacco-free kids PSA ad.

Selig pushed for a total ban in 2011, but the players union instead called for restrictions, opting to let players keep their habit, as long as it was out of the public’s eye.

The 2011 labor contract bans smokeless tobacco use during TV interviews and club appearances, orders players and staff to hide tobacco products when fans are around, and bans carrying them in their uniforms or on their bodies.

“You can’t go through a three-hour game, and not see players with a big wad of chaw in their jaws,” said Sward. “It’s clear that the 2011 agreement did not go far enough ,and what we really need to have with the agreement starting in 2017 is an end of smokeless tobacco use in general on the field.”

Advocates are hoping that if they build awareness for it, their dream of tobacco free fields comes true.

Read more or watch the video: http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2014/07/15/tony-gwynns-death-renews-call-for-mlb-to-ban-chewing-tobacco/

 

Increasing popularity of smokeless tobacco poses cancer risk to young men

By , FoxNews.com

Though rates of cigarette smoking in America continue to decline, smokeless tobacco use remains popular, especially among young men — and with potentially dangerous health consequences.

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the use of smokeless tobacco among workers in the U.S. has held steady since 2005 – with rates of smokeless tobacco use being highest among males ages 25 – 44.

“In recent years there have been declines in cigarette smoking, but there’s really other tobacco products making up a large proportion of tobacco use in certain populations,” Brian King, scientific advisor at the CDC’s office of smoking and health, and lead author of the study, told FoxNews.com.
The dangers of smokeless tobacco use recently entered the national spotlight after the death of baseball hall-of-fame player Tony Gwynn, who died of salivary gland cancer after spending years dipping tobacco on the field.
According to the CDC, more than 30,000 people in the U.S are diagnosed with oral cancer every year. And every year, over 8,000 die of the disease, which has only a 50 percent five-year survival rate. A 2008 study from the World Health Organization indicated that smokeless tobacco users have an 80 percent greater chance of developing oral cancer than a non-user.
“Smokeless tobacco is a proven cause of oral cancer, including of the lips, throat and lining of the cheeks,” King said. “…With combustible tobacco the primary cancer is lung because people are inhaling, but with smokeless use, it’s primarily in the oral region, [which is] why we’re seeing a lot of cancers associated with smokeless tobacco around the oral cavity.”
In addition to being deadly, oral cancers often have devastating effects on a person’s appearance, as surgeries to remove cancerous lesions often require removal of portions of the face. Smokeless tobacco has also been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer and heart disease.
The CDC’s study utilized data from the National Health Interview Survey to compare rates of smokeless tobacco use in 2005 and 2010. In 2005, 2.7 percent of U.S. workers admitted to using smokeless tobacco, compared to 3 percent in 2010.

“In terms of major findings, it primarily is that we haven’t seen any change, so that is concerning to us because obviously we’d like to see it decline over time,” King said. “So that finding is potentially a useful tool to inform strategies to start to address all forms of tobacco use, not just cigarette smoking.”
Another recent study by the CDC indicated that 2.6 percent of the population uses smokeless tobacco on some days, or every day, while 9.6 percent admitted ever having used these products, according to data from the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey.

King said a lack of research on the effects of smokeless tobacco, combined with fewer public health initiatives geared towards this form of tobacco use, may be contributing to the steady use of these products in the U.S.
“A lot of campaigns and interventions have focused on combustible tobacco, and smoke-free policies have proliferated,” King said. “But all forms of smokeless tobacco use are really permitted in a lot of areas.”
Furthermore, loopholes in laws regulating cigarette use allow smokeless tobacco to be more accessible – and cheaper to the majority of the population.
“Cigarettes are taxed pretty uniformly in every state, but in most cases smokeless tobacco is taxed considerably lower than cigarettes in most states,” King said. “And we know increasing price is the single most effective way to reduce consumption, so the fact that these are available cheaper obviously increases the potential for people to use them.”
As the CDC continues to monitor the growing landscape of nicotine and tobacco products, they also have an eye on new products coming to the marketplace – including spit-less smokeless tobacco, tobacco sticks, orbs and strips and tobacco products featuring kid-friendly flavors.
While evidence is still emerging on the ill effects of smokeless tobacco, and how to curb its use, one thing is certain: quitting will benefit your health.
“Given the adverse health effects associated with smokeless tobacco, quitting is beneficial and since we know there’s no safe form of tobacco, if you were to quit completely that would considerably improve your health and potential for future disease and death,” King said. “There are a lot of evidence-based treatments to help people quit, and those are same as for cigarettes. The FDA has also approved seven medications including nicotine replacement therapy, and those can be used for smokeless tobacco as well.”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/07/02/smokeless-tobacco-rates-remain-steady-in-us-as-cigarette-use-declines/

Increasing popularity of smokeless tobacco poses cancer risk to young men

By , FOXNews.com

Though rates of cigarette smoking in America continue to decline, smokeless tobacco use remains popular, especially among young men — and with potentially dangerous health consequences.

A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the use of smokeless tobacco among workers in the U.S. has held steady since 2005 – with rates of smokeless tobacco use being highest among males ages 25 – 44.

“In recent years there have been declines in cigarette smoking, but there’s really other tobacco products making up a large proportion of tobacco use in certain populations,” Brian King, scientific advisor at the CDC’s office of smoking and health, and lead author of the study, told FoxNews.com.
The dangers of smokeless tobacco use recently entered the national spotlight after the death of baseball hall-of-fame player Tony Gwynn, who died of salivary gland cancer after spending years dipping tobacco on the field.
According to the CDC, more than 30,000 people in the U.S are diagnosed with oral cancer every year. And every year, over 8,000 die of the disease, which has only a 50 percent five-year survival rate. A 2008 study from the World Health Organization indicated that smokeless tobacco users have an 80 percent greater chance of developing oral cancer than a non-user.
“Smokeless tobacco is a proven cause of oral cancer, including of the lips, throat and lining of the cheeks,” King said. “…With combustible tobacco the primary cancer is lung because people are inhaling, but with smokeless use, it’s primarily in the oral region, [which is] why we’re seeing a lot of cancers associated with smokeless tobacco around the oral cavity.”
In addition to being deadly, oral cancers often have devastating effects on a person’s appearance, as surgeries to remove cancerous lesions often require removal of portions of the face. Smokeless tobacco has also been associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer and heart disease.
The CDC’s study utilized data from the National Health Interview Survey to compare rates of smokeless tobacco use in 2005 and 2010. In 2005, 2.7 percent of U.S. workers admitted to using smokeless tobacco, compared to 3 percent in 2010.

“In terms of major findings, it primarily is that we haven’t seen any change, so that is concerning to us because obviously we’d like to see it decline over time,” King said. “So that finding is potentially a useful tool to inform strategies to start to address all forms of tobacco use, not just cigarette smoking.”
Another recent study by the CDC indicated that 2.6 percent of the population uses smokeless tobacco on some days, or every day, while 9.6 percent admitted ever having used these products, according to data from the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey.

King said a lack of research on the effects of smokeless tobacco, combined with fewer public health initiatives geared towards this form of tobacco use, may be contributing to the steady use of these products in the U.S.
“A lot of campaigns and interventions have focused on combustible tobacco, and smoke-free policies have proliferated,” King said. “But all forms of smokeless tobacco use are really permitted in a lot of areas.”
Furthermore, loopholes in laws regulating cigarette use allow smokeless tobacco to be more accessible – and cheaper to the majority of the population.
“Cigarettes are taxed pretty uniformly in every state, but in most cases smokeless tobacco is taxed considerably lower than cigarettes in most states,” King said. “And we know increasing price is the single most effective way to reduce consumption, so the fact that these are available cheaper obviously increases the potential for people to use them.”
As the CDC continues to monitor the growing landscape of nicotine and tobacco products, they also have an eye on new products coming to the marketplace – including spit-less smokeless tobacco, tobacco sticks, orbs and strips and tobacco products featuring kid-friendly flavors.
While evidence is still emerging on the ill effects of smokeless tobacco, and how to curb its use, one thing is certain: quitting will benefit your health.
“Given the adverse health effects associated with smokeless tobacco, quitting is beneficial and since we know there’s no safe form of tobacco, if you were to quit completely that would considerably improve your health and potential for future disease and death,” King said. “There are a lot of evidence-based treatments to help people quit, and those are same as for cigarettes. The FDA has also approved seven medications including nicotine replacement therapy, and those can be used for smokeless tobacco as well.”

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/07/02/smokeless-tobacco-rates-remain-steady-in-us-as-cigarette-use-declines/

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

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/

'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/

Letter to the Editor: The issue with smoking is addiction, not freedom

I am writing in response to the Herald’s editorial on tobacco use in Grand Forks parks (“Too much loss for too little gain,” Page F1, June 1).

Tobacco prevention policies have, throughout history, always been met with some resistance. Tobacco use was so common when I was a child that it was normal to see smokers in grocery stores, movie theaters, school classrooms, teacher’s lounges, doctors’ offices, airplanes, airports and hospital rooms.

Each of those changes was met with the attitude that it was beyond the pale to even consider making changes. But today, it would seem unusual to see someone smoking in their hospital room or at a movie theater.

Tobacco use rates were high, and we all paid the price of the damage tobacco use does to the human body by way of health care costs, Medicaid costs, loss of productivity and sadly, early deaths of loved ones.

As a result of sound evidence-based practices, such as 1) preventing initiation among youth and young adults, 2) promoting quitting among adults and youth, 3) eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke and 4) identifying and eliminating tobacco-related disparities among population groups, headway has been made in reducing tobacco-use rates. But there still is work to be done.

Grand Forks Park District Commissioner Molly Soeby’s column put it well: “Tobacco use kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined” (“For health’s sake, Grand Forks parks should ban tobacco use,” Page F1, June 1).

“It is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in our country. Young people in North Dakota use tobacco more than the national averages. They smoke at higher rates (19.4 percent vs. 18.1 percent), and they use more chewing tobacco than adults (13.6 percent vs. 8.2 percent).”

Tobacco use kills about 480,000 people each and every year in the United States. That equals the number of American deaths in all the U.S. wars since the American Revolution, every 2½ years.

So, what can be done to improve these numbers? What does the research show us works?

The Centers for Disease Control recommends creating tobacco-free social norms through the use of “increasing the unit price of tobacco products, sustaining anti-tobacco media campaigns and making environments smoke-free.”

Tobacco-free parks policies are part of a comprehensive combination of strategies to get our youth tobacco use rates lowered.

Tobacco-free parks policies will keep young people from ever starting. The research is done, the evidence is clear. According to the CDC, comprehensive tobacco-free policies prevent young people from seeing tobacco use as a normal adult activity and show a significant effect on reducing tobacco use initiation among youth.

Our community would not be the first to adopt a tobacco-free parks policy. North Dakota currently has 12 communities with tobacco-free parks, and Minnesota has more than 150.

According to the editorial, “secondhand smoke in indoor areas is a health hazard; secondhand smoke in parks in inconsequential.”

But it’s not about secondhand smoke, which, by the way, many people consider a nuisance that interferes with their personal enjoyment of the parks. It is about what we know will work to keep young people from starting to use tobacco.

The editorial says that this is not a good enough reason to “clamp down on personal freedom.”

But this is not a personal freedom issue, either. Tobacco use is an addiction, and most adult tobacco users report that they started using before age 18.

A policy such at this will not prohibit anyone from using tobacco. It will help to keep children, who do not use tobacco, from starting.

That is a public health issue, not a personal freedom issue.

Recent studies in Grand Forks show overwhelming support in the community for the adoption of tobacco-free policies on all of our Park District properties. (The community-wide study is available on www.tobaccobytes.com)

Tobacco-free parks policies are cost effective. They’re good for the health of North Dakotans now and, as Soeby put it, “for future generations of residents of Grand Forks.”

Knox coordinates the tobacco prevention program for the Grand Forks Public Health Department.

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/theresa-knox-issue-smoking-addiction-not-freedom

AMA, Doctor Allies Push CVS Rivals To End Tobacco Sales

The American Medical Association and allied physician groups this week are exacting added pressure on pharmacies and others that sell health products to join CVS’ move to cease peddling cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Earlier this year, CVS grabbed international kudos that included acclaim from the White House for the giant pharmacy chain’s decision to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its more than 7,600 stores by October 1, according to its parent company, CVS/Caremark (CVS).

Public health advocates said CVS’ move was particularly notable given its drugstores would be sacrificing $2 billion in annual sales for public health and future growth.

Now, the largest doctor group in the U.S. and affiliated state and national medical societies are voicing a more unified chorus against retail sales of tobacco products at the AMA’s annual policy-making House of Delegates meeting that runs through Tuesday in Chicago.

Several doctor groups said Sunday that they want the AMA to push pharmacies and “providers of health services and products” to stop-selling cigarettes and tobacco products or work to pressure them to limit sales of such products. An AMA reference committee Sunday considered two resolutions urging the organization to step up the pressure on pharmacies and other retailers.

The American College of Cardiology, for example, said even limiting tobacco has led to its reduced use.

“We urge retailers that sell health related products to follow the example set by CVS Caremark CVS +0.38% and discontinue the sale of all tobacco products,” said Dr. L. Samuel Wann, an AMA delegate representing the American College of Cardiology. “Selling both prescription medicines and cigarettes in the same store is hypocritical. Large pharmacy chains that continue to sell cigarettes appear irresponsible to society. The ACC supports all possible action to reduce tobacco access and use, especially when it comes to our nation’s youth.”

The resolutions before the AMA didn’t name retailers specifically. CVS rivals Wal-Mart (WMT) and Walgreen WAG -0.75% (WAG) continue to sell tobacco products.

The AMA reference committee ultimately reaffirmed the organization’s existing policy which opposes “the sale of tobacco at any facility where health services are provided.” 

The AMA’s annual House of Delegates’ meeting serves as more of a bully pulpit for health issues than anything.

“The power of the AMA is in its role as a single umbrella organization that covers all physicians, across specialty, geography, practice type or career stage,” Dr. Robert Wah, the incoming AMA president, said in a statement at the meeting’s open. “We have the ability to convene all the parties that need to come to the table to work on solutions to the challenges physicians face today. It’s the bringing together of different perspectives that makes the organization stronger.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2014/06/08/ama-doctor-allies-push-cvs-rivals-to-end-tobacco-sales/