News for volunteers, ALASC board members and friends of the
June 2002
Coastal Region
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News for volunteers, ALASC board members and friends of the |
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June 2002 |
Coastal Region |
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American Lung Association Events Coastal Region:
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Dr. Marc Judson, the Coastal Region's President, and Jim Gooden, ALASC's Representative to the ALA, made it possible for the Coastal Region to highlight its Online Tobacco Essay Contest at the national American Lung Association annual meeting in Atlanta in May. ALA staff members and volunteers from across the country were able to get information on how to set up a similar essay contest which was created for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. |
Shaquanda Stevenson, from Ridgeland Middle School in Jasper County said "It's not a smart idea to smoke. I love myself and God loves me, so I would never do anything to hurt my body." That's great, Shaquanda.
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The Charles Webb / Ed Croft Endowment Fund and the Houghton Fund are sponsors of this year's Camp Puff 'n Stuff. These funds are managed by The Community Foundation, which is also a camp sponsor. |
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The news stories summarized in Breath Matters are taken from secondary sources. |
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TOBACCO NEWS US Reports Sharp Drop in High School Smoking Rate Health experts have reported a sharp drop in smoking among U.S. high school students, bolstering hopes the teen smoking epidemic of the 1990s has been reversed. Under 29 percent of high school students in grades 9 to 12 admitted smoking at least once in the previous month in the 2001 national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, down from 34.8 percent in 1999 and from 36.4 percent at the height of the epidemic in 1997. The prevalence of smoking fell among male and female students as well as for whites, blacks and Hispanics, the only racial groups counted in the survey. The CDC, which hopes to reduce smoking among students to 16 percent or less by 2010, said cigarette price hikes, intensified anti-tobacco campaigns in schools and the mass media had likely contributed to the recent decline. Anti-smoking advocates say the toll could be dramatically reduced if authorities clamped down on tobacco advertising and raised taxes on cigarettes to make them less affordable, particularly to young people. But there is apparently evidence from states such as Florida and California, showing that cutbacks in tobacco prevention could stall and even reverse progress in reducing youth smoking. Source: Reuters |
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New Cigarette Tax Sets Off Alarms - Smuggling Authorities in Maryland say there is a vast and burgeoning underworld of criminals who smuggle cigarettes across state lines to avoid paying taxes. And they fear now that Maryland's $1-per-pack cigarette tax has gone into effect, the problem will only get worse. Most of the smuggled cigarettes in the Washington area come from Virginia, where the tax is just 2.5 cents a pack and is the lowest in the nation. The cigarettes are then sold in states where the tax is higher, and the crooks pocket the difference. Authorities in Maryland have recently begun treating the trade as a serious criminal enterprise, compiling intelligence files on key suspects, pumping informants for information and working closely with law enforcement officials in other states. In the past two weeks, state authorities issued citations to six Maryland stores that were selling out-of-state cigarettes as a warning in anticipation of increased smuggling. "You have to attack these cases like you're going after a drug ring," said Dale Irwin, assistant director of the comptroller's field enforcement division. "This is something organized crime members have gotten into." Criminals who once dealt exclusively in illegal drugs are now smuggling cigarettes because it is so lucrative and punishments generally are much less severe, he said. Maryland officials could not estimate how much tax revenue the state loses to smuggling each year. Source: Washington Post |
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Industry Anti-Smoking Ads Make Kids Smoke Advertisements launched by the tobacco industry to limit teen smoking may actually make them want to smoke more, according to researchers and anti-smoking activists. The ads seem to appeal to the contrary nature of many teens, and are "distinctly counter" to expert findings that directly telling teens not to smoke only encourages them, a report published in the American Journal of Public Health finds. They urged Philip Morris to drop its "Think. Don't Smoke" campaign, and said their own approach seemed to work better to discourage adolescents from smoking. Philip Morris said it would consider the criticisms. The researchers, led by Matthew Farrelly at the Research Triangle Institute in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, surveyed nearly 18,000 young men and women aged 12 to 24 in late 1999 and early 2000. Philip Morris's "Think. Don't Smoke" campaign began in 1998, and the American Legacy Foundation's "Truths" campaign had been running for 10 months. The "Truths" campaign seemed to be working, the researchers said. "Whereas exposure to the 'Truths' campaign positively changed youths' attitudes toward tobacco, the Philip Morris campaign had a counterproductive influence," they wrote. "Philip Morris's 'Think. Don't Smoke' effort parades as a youth anti-smoking campaign, but it's really a wolf in sheep's clothing," Cheryl Healton, president and chief executive officer of Legacy, said and William Corr, executive vice president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, added, "Instead of reducing youth smoking, they insidiously encourage kids to use tobacco and become addicted Philip Morris customers." The Federal Trade Commission reported this month that the six largest cigarette manufacturers spent $9.57 billion on advertising and promotions in 2000, a 16.2% increase over 1999. Source: Reuters |
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Access Laws Do Not Lower Rates of Teen Smoking Laws that prohibit merchants from selling cigarettes to minors have not helped to reduce rates of teenage smoking in the US and should therefore be abandoned, researchers conclude. Their study found no association between laws that make it difficult for teenagers to buy cigarettes and the prevalence of smoking. There was no difference in rates of teenage smoking between communities with and without such laws, and no association between compliance with the laws and the incidence of smoking among teenagers, according to the report in the June issue of Pediatrics. The findings indicate that resources to curb smoking among adolescents may be better directed at other types of interventions such as taxes on cigarettes, smoke-free workplaces and homes, and educational efforts on the health effects of secondhand smoke, according to Dr. Stanton A. Glantz and Caroline M. Fichtenberg from the University of California, San Francisco. While these laws may present obstacles to buying cigarettes, they do not actually influence overall rates of youth smoking, possibly because many teens obtain cigarettes from parents, friends and strangers. What's more, these laws may reinforce the belief that smoking makes kids seem more grown-up, the researchers note. SOURCE: Pediatrics 2002;109:1088-1092 / Reuters Health |
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Substance Abuse Up in NYC After Sept. 11 Attacks The use of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana intensified in Manhattan in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, according to a recent survey. Nearly 29% of adults interviewed said they had increased their use of at least one of these three substances in the 5 to 8 weeks following the attacks, with the majority drinking more alcohol than they had previously consumed, according to the random telephone survey of nearly 1,000 Manhattan households. Cigarette smoking had increased by about 10% and marijuana use had risen by just over 3% when the survey, published in the June 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, was conducted. And depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more common among individuals who admitted to smoking more cigarettes following the attack, the researchers found. PTSD is a condition that affects combat veterans and survivors of natural disasters, violent crimes and serious accidents. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks to the trauma, nightmares, difficulty falling asleep and emotional withdrawal. The results of the survey may help substance abuse counselors to shape treatment programs for individuals dealing with stressful or traumatic events, Dr. Glen R. Hanson, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse said. At this point, it is not clear whether Manhattan residents continue to smoke and drink more, note the study authors, who are from The New York Academy of Medicine. "This is a particular concern because of the highly addictive nature of tobacco," Dr. David Vlahov, the study's lead author and a professor at Columbia University in New York City, said. In other findings, people who lived closer to the World Trade Center were more likely to smoke more cigarettes following the attacks. Men and women were equally likely to increase their abuse of substances and there were no differences noted among different racial or ethnic groups, although the study consisted mostly of white adults. Low-income individuals, those over 65 years of age, and adults who were divorced, separated or widowed were more likely to abuse substances in the weeks after the attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people and destroyed a large area of the city. The study authors emphasize that at the time of the telephone survey, anthrax had been recently discovered in the city, which could have contributed to feelings of insecurity and fear. An economic recession may have contributed to an already stressful situation, they add. SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology 2002 June. / Reuters Health |
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Mexican Government Bans Cigarettes on Television and Radio Marking the International Day Without Tobacco, Mexico's health secretary announced that cigarette ads will no longer be allowed on television or radio after January 1, 2003. In addition, a majority of the nation's pharmacies gradually will phase out the sale of tobacco products starting in June 2003, Secretary Julio Frenk said in a ceremony held at President Vicente Fox 's official residence. In support of the measure, Fox announced that he was prohibiting cigarette smoking at his residence, known as Los Pinos, or The Pines. "There simply won't be enough resources to treat the complex and costly chronic problems resulting from tobacco addiction", according to Frenk. Six percent to 12 percent of Mexico's health care costs go to treating smoking-related illnesses, the health secretary said, adding that five people die of such illnesses every hour in Mexico. The action brings Mexico in line with other developed countries including the United States that have adopted such measures. Other elements of the agreement include placing warning notices on least 25 percent of a cigarette pack's surface in addition to current side-label warnings and restricting billboard, sports and arts-related advertising. The advertising restrictions will go into effect on January 1 and the cigarette package warnings will be effective as of June 1, 2003. As of June 1, 2004, cigarette packs also will contain inserted messages directing smokers to treatment programs. In a separate accord with the Health Department, 70 percent of the nation's pharmacies agreed to phase out cigarette sales by June 2003 and the rest will stop selling tobacco products by June 2005. |
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Soccer World Cup Organizers Aim for Smoke-Free Event Chain-smoking soccer fans are advised not to set out for World Cup matches in Japan and Korea without their nicotine gum and patches. Smoking has been banned at the World Cup stadiums to comply with an agreement between FIFA and the World Health Organization (WHO) that the tournament would be tobacco-free, a spokeswoman for the Japan World Cup Organizing Committee (JAWOC) announced. In Japan, more than half of the adult male population smokes. Cigarette vending machines will be removed from stadiums or unplugged for the duration of the tournament, but there may be a reprieve for those who cannot last out a match without a cigarette. "If the stadiums already have special smoking areas, spectators will be allowed to smoke there," the JAWOC spokeswoman said. Keith Cooper, FIFA's director of communications, said that the organization had refused tobacco sponsorship for the past 16 years. |
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American Lung Association Film Wins PRISM Award The American Lung Association sponsored documentary, "Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial," produced by Torrie Rosenzweig, won the new PRISM Film Festival Award. The award is presented to a film that has not yet been released, but is playing the festival circuit; it must be live-action or animated; dramatic or documentary; at least 60 minutes long. PRISM Awards are the entertainment industry's annual awards honoring the accurate depiction of drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction in movies, television, video, music, interactive and comic book entertainment. For more information, visit www.eiconline.org or www.prismawards.com. |
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AIR QUALITY Improved Air Quality in the Southeast for Pennies a Day Reducing air pollution could cost Southeast residents only three pennies a day according to a recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service. The agencies examined the monetary benefits and costs of implementing emissions-control strategies developed by the Southern Appalachian Mountains Initiative (SAMI) and found improved public health and visibility in national parks could be relatively inexpensive. In their report, Impacts of the SAMI Strategies: An Independent Analysis of the Benefits and Economic Impacts, the three agencies estimate implementing the most stringent emissions-control strategy SAMI outlined would result in a $12-per-year increase in the electric bill of the average household, if all costs were passed on to consumers. The most rigorous SAMI strategy would cut healthcare costs associated with respiratory illnesses such as asthma and cut agriculture loss from reduced tree growth. In their analysis of a strategy controlling only one pollutant -- fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) -- the agencies estimate 8,000 fewer premature deaths and 16,000 fewer cases of acute bronchitis in children, with economic benefits ranging from $36 billion to $68 billion annually. Source: U.S. Newswire |
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Big U.S.Truck Fleets Scramble to Place Orders Some trucking fleet operators in the United States are rushing to buy current truck models to avoid a new generation of less-polluting diesel engines that take over the market in October. Trucking companies complain that the new engines mandated by federal rules to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions will cost more, weigh more, use more fuel and likely require more maintenance such as oil changes. Nitrogen oxides help produce ozone and smog, and can aggravate asthma and cause respiratory problems. Heavy diesel trucks pump about 2.6 million tons of oxides and other pollutants into the air each year. The new rules are expected to cut truck pollution by more than 90 percent by 2010. But the new engines are likely to add $3,000 to $5,000 to the price of a heavy diesel truck engine, which now costs $12,000 to $25,000. Source: AP |
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Officials Release WTC Asbestos Study Workers at the World Trade Center site were not exposed to hazardous levels of asbestos during weeks 2, 3 and 4 of the cleanup, according to hundreds of air samples taken at ground zero. But health officials cautioned that the samples were taken beginning Sept.18, a full week after the twin towers collapsed and after much of the huge cloud of smoke had settled. "The piece of data we don't have is what was the exposure to these folks who got caught in the dust cloud," said Ken Wallingford, a researcher with the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. "That would've been a massive skin and inhalation exposure." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Health Department took 1,174 air samples from Sept. 18 to Oct. 4, mostly by clipping filters to the collars of workers at the site, where the cleanup officially ended on Thursday after 8 months. None of the air samples tested higher than 1 percent asbestos, the level deemed hazardous in federal work safety standards. Long-term exposure to high levels of asbestos can cause scarring of the lungs and cancer. Other agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, have taken hundreds of air samples at the site, and some have tested above federal limits for indoor spaces. The CDC also tested for a wide variety of toxins, including heavy metals, acids and volatile chemicals. Source: AP |
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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Workplace Hazards Kill 2 Million Each Year Two million workers die each year due to accidents and illness caused by workplace-related hazards including chemicals, stress and passive smoking, according to the International Labor Organization. The annual toll includes 12,000 children, according to its report issued for the annual World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health at Work. Agriculture, which employs more than half of the world's workers, claims more than 50% of occupational fatalities, injuries and diseases, it said. Construction, logging, fishing and mining are also among the most hazardous industries. The biggest killer in the workplace is cancer, causing about 640,000 or 32% of deaths. It is followed by circulatory diseases (23%), accidents (19%), communicable diseases (17%) and respiratory diseases (7%). Hazardous substances kill 340,000 workers each year, with asbestos alone claiming about 100,000 lives, it said. "Smoking is clearly a newly recognized major problem at work...According to one estimate, mortality from occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking at work) causes 2.8 per cent of all lung cancers," the ILO said. About 200,000 fatalities result from chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular strokes caused by passive smoking, it added. "Many of these are people in the restaurant, entertainment and service sectors while the problem exists in every occupation and job," it said. Source: Reuters |
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The 2002 Golf Privilege Club book - the Lung Book is available at:
Click on underlined names to visit web sites. The books offer reduced green fees at over 300 courses in South Carolina. Additional information is available at www.lungsc.org or call 843-556-8451. |
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American Lung Association - ABOUT TOWN
In other news . . .
Call the Coastal office - (843) 556-8451 if you've promoted ALASC about town or in the media. |
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AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION The mission of the American Lung Association is to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. |
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