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12:57 AM - Feb. 14, 2009 - comments {0} - post comment

Bhutan prohibits all tobacco sales

A prohibition on the sale of all tobacco products has come into effect in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The Bhutanese government ordered hotels, shops, bars and restaurants selling tobacco products to dispose of existing stocks ahead of the restriction. The tobacco ban will not apply to diplomats, foreign tourists, or those working for NGOs.

The predominantly Buddhist nation is thought to be the first country in the world to impose such a prohibition. All smoking in public places has also been banned. The moves are also part of government attempts to make Bhutan a smoke-free nation. Bhutanese minister, Jigme Thinley said: “We want no pollution and good health for our citizens.”

Eighteen of the kingdom’s 20 districts had already prohibited the sale of tobacco products before the deadline. The capital district of Thimphu and the eastern district of Samdrup Jongkhar are the last to introduce the ban. Bhutan’s trade and industry ministry has warned of severe penalties if any group, person or firm is found selling cigarettes. Karma Tshering, Bhutanese customs, said: “If foreigner is caught selling tobacco products to Bhutanese nationals, he will be charged with smuggling. Those who violate the ban will be fined $210 and owners of shops and hotels will lose their business licenses.”

The authority has decided to set a 100% tax on all tobacco products brought into the country for personal consumption by Bhutanese. Karma Tshering of Bhutanese Customs told the BBC: “If any foreigner is caught selling tobacco products to Bhutanese nationals, he will be charged with smuggling. Tobacco will be treated as contraband.”

Smoking was only popular with a small percentage of the Bhutanese population. Chewing tobacco was much more in demand.

1:18 AM - Sep. 29, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Altria Group is in going to buy UST

Altria Group is in going to buy UST, the maker of the popular Copenhagen and Skoal smokeless tobacco brands, for more than $10 billion.

The purchase, which is at a delicate state and could still fall apart, would be Altria’s first major acquisition since the company split in March, spinning off Philip Morris International to become an independent company aimed at the overseas tobacco business and giving the Altria name to Philip Morris USA.

David M. Sylvia, Altria’s director of media affairs, said: “We don’t comment on any speculation that’s out there.” After UST said that there had been a scheduling conflict, company shares fell back. Stock in UST, formerly the United States Tobacco Company, closed down 4 cents, at $54 a share, and Altria fell 60 cents, to $20.66 a share.

Analysts have long been bullish on the deal because of Altria’s weak situation in the growing smokeless tobacco market and because huge cost savings are possible by removing redundancies between the two companies. Christopher Growe, an analyst in St. Louis for Stifel Nicolaus said: “It’s very logical.” Smokeless tobacco is one of the few fields of the tobacco business that grows very fast, Mr. Growe added: “It has increased about 7 percent a year over the last four years.”

Altria is the nation’s largest cigarette producer, had hoped to use its potent Marlboro brand to make its own successful smokeless tobacco products. It has introduced Marlboro-brand moist smokeless tobacco and snus that are popular in Sweden.

The company’s policy in the USA has been clear for some time as cigarette sales have followed decades of diminish. As part of that strategy, Philip Morris USA acquired John Middleton, a producer of pipe tobacco and cigars, last year.

It has opened a research facility in Richmond to manufacture tobacco products that are lower risk than regular cigarettes.

The House has approved legislation that would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. The measure, which the White House opposes, is expected to be taken up by the Senate this autumn.

4:42 AM - Sep. 8, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Smoking and its Effect on Body Weight

Scientists found that obesity rates are up because smoking rates is down. Now nonsmokers make up a greater proportion of the population than smokers. And nonsmokers weigh more than smokers.

According to studies smokers burn more calories because nicotine speeds up their metabolic rates. It may also break their enthusiasm for food. This may be why smokers tend to weigh less than nonsmokers and gain weight when they quit.

Smokers weigh less because they consume less and they gain weight upon stopping smoking as a consequence of consuming more. Some studies of daily caloric intake suggesting that smokers may, in fact, consume more calories per day than nonsmokers.

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for 1971-75 and 1999-2002, in which health professionals interviewed and examined thousands of people nationwide, rates among men ages 25 to 39 fell from 50.4% to 32.3%. Among women that age, rates fell from 39.9% to 28.3%.

But a 2007 study found that the drop in smoking rates couldn't well explain the rise in obesity. Katherine Flegal of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, projected that if smoking rates hadn't decreased, the obesity rate would have been 22.4% for men ages 25-39 in the 1999-2002 survey, compared with the actual rate of 23.8%. It would have been 30.2% for women in that age groups lower than the actual rate of 30.4%.

Susan Roberts of Tufts University said that, although people gain weight when they quit smoking, often they are gaining back weight they lost when they started.

Cigarette smoking and excess body weight, both contribute to poor health and risk of death.

4:32 AM - Aug. 28, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Nicotine Addiction Slashed In Test Of New Cigarette Smoking Strategy

The study provides strong support for proposals now being considered in Congress to authorize FDA regulation of cigarette smoking, according to the research ... Scientists are reporting the first successful strategy to reduce smokers’ nicotine dependence while allowing them to continue smoking. The study provides strong support for proposals now being considered in Congress to authorize FDA regulation of cigarette smoking, according to the research team. The key to the clinical trial’s success was providing smokers with cigarettes of gradually decreasing nicotine content over a number of weeks.

If such cigarettes were federally mandated, smokers would find it easier to quit, and more young smokers could avoid addiction, according to the scientists. Tobacco company products marketed as low-nicotine alternatives, in fact, do not change the level of nicotine taken in by smokers, they added. The research was carried out by scientists at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center and is reported in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention." Legislation giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products is currently being considered in Congress. Such regulatory authority would empower the agency to develop and enforce standards to make cigarettes less harmful — including the reduction of the nicotine yields so that cigarettes would be less addictive, said Dr. Neal Benowitz, leader of the study team and an expert on the pharmacology and health effects of nicotine and other smoking products.

Smoking and health experts have been concerned that reducing the nicotine content of cigarettes would lead to smoking a greater number of cigarettes and therefore increased exposure to other tobacco smoke toxins, as is seen in smokers of the currently marketed low-nicotine yield cigarettes, Benowitz said. The new research on reduced-nicotine content cigarettes strongly counters that prediction. In the study, 20 healthy adult smokers smoked their usual brand for a week and then followed a five-week regimen of smoking cigarettes with progressively decreased nicotine content.

At the end of this period, they were free to return to their usual commercial cigarette brand, and most of them did. When tested one month later, they were smoking about 40 percent fewer cigarettes per day, with a comparable reduction in nicotine intake, compared to when the study began. Even more promising, one fourth of the smokers quit smoking entirely while the study was in progress, the researchers found. "This study supports the idea that if tobacco companies were required to reduce the levels of nicotine in cigarette tobacco, young people who start smoking could avoid becoming addicted, and long-time smokers could reduce or end their smoking," Benowitz said. "This could spare millions of people from the severe health effects of long-term smoking," he added.

Benowitz is a UCSF professor of medicine, psychiatry and biopharmaceutical sciences, and chief of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at SFGH. In 1994, Benowitz and colleague Jack Henningfield proposed in the "New England Journal of Medicine" that federal regulations should require cigarette manufacturers to gradually reduce nicotine content of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. Scientists have conducted studies to test nicotine-reduction strategies, using commercial low-yield cigarettes. Such cigarettes do reduce nicotine yield when tested by smoking machines because manufacturers have engineered the cigarettes to burn faster, and they have used highly porous paper and ventilation holes above the filter.

These cigarettes contain significant levels of nicotine and such "cigarette engineering" does not lead to decreased nicotine intake, because smokers are easily able to obtain the nicotine by taking more frequent and bigger puffs, Benowitz and his co-authors noted. In addition to the reduced smoking and nicotine levels, the UCSF scientists looked for changes in exposure to carbon monoxide, tobacco smoke carcinogens and cardiovascular disease risk factors. All these remained stable or decreased, indicatingthat smokers were not exposed to higher levels of tobacco smoke toxins when they switched, and therefore would not be put at risk by a nicotine reduction intervention. Benowitz and his colleagues are now conducting a much larger and longer clinical study on the effectiveness and safety of reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes. They plan also to examine whether reduced-nicotine cigarettes result in reduced addiction potential among adolescent experimental smokers.

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1:27 AM - Jul. 14, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

What does nicotine do?

In large doses nicotine is a poison and can kill by stopping a person's breathing muscles. Smokers usually take in small amounts that the body can quickly break down and get rid of. The first dose of nicotine causes a person to feel awake and alert, while later doses result in a calm, relaxed feeling.

Nicotine can make new smokers, and regular smokers who get too much of it, feel dizzy or sick to their stomachs. The resting heart rate for young smokers increases 2 to 3 beats per minute. Nicotine also lowers skin temperature and reduces blood flow in the legs and feet. It plays an important role in increasing smokers' risk of heart disease and stroke. Because nicotine is such a powerful constrictor of arteries, many vascular surgeons refuse to operate on patients with peripheral artery disease unless they stop smoking.

Many people mistakenly think that nicotine is the substance in tobacco that causes cancer. This belief may cause some people to avoid using nicotine replacement therapy when trying to quit. While nicotine is what gets (and keeps) people addicted to tobacco, other substances in tobacco are responsible for its cancer-causing effects. There is some early evidence from lab-based studies that nicotine may help existing tumors to grow, but whether these results apply in people is not yet known and more research is needed.

Why do people begin to smoke?

Most people begin smoking as teens, generally because of peer pressure and curiosity. Also, people with friends and/or parents who smoke are more likely to take up smoking than those who don't.

Another prevalent influence in our society is the tobacco industry's ads and other promotional activities for its products. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars.

11:58 PM - May. 24, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

4:00 PM - Dec. 31, 1969 - comments {0} - post comment