A group of researchers has developed a novel tea filter to treat cigarette addiction and have discovered the molecular mechanism behind the smoking cessation effect.

Professor Zhao Baolu and his group from the State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences identified theanine as the active ingredient in the tea filter that inhibits nicotine addiction.

Their work entitled “The cessation and detoxification effect of tea filters on cigarette smoke” was published in the X. edition Science of China in 2010.

Cigarette smoking has been linked to many life threatening diseases including heart disease, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Many methods have been developed for smoking cessation by researchers and clinicians. Despite all efforts, currently available smoking cessation methods produce only modest success rates with frequent relapse. Due to the addictive nature of nicotine, quitting smoking remains an extremely difficult task. Therefore, the need for developing new smoking cessation strategies with better efficacy and fewer side effects is urgent.

Human tests using a newly developed tea filter were conducted at the Addiction Branch of Beijing Military Region General Hospital. A total of more than 100 male smokers participated in this study. The results from the first trial showed that the participants’ average daily cigarette consumption decreased by about 43 per cent and 56.5 per cent after using the tea filters for 1 and 2 months, respectively. The results from the second trial showed that the participants’ average daily cigarette consumption decreased by about 48 per cent, 83 per cent and 91 per cent after using the tea filters for 1, 2 and 3 months, respectively.

The average daily cigarettes consumed by the participants decreased from about 24.5 per day to about 3 per day at the end of 3 months of treatment. In addition, most participants indicated that sputum and their smoking-related symptoms were reduced compared with the control group. Physical examinations of the participants did not reveal any apparent side effects.

The mechanism of action (MOA) studies indicated that theanine in the filter exerted an inhibitory effect similar to the nicotine acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) inhibitor. In addition, theanine could significantly inhibit the nicotine-induced increased expression of nAChR and the increase of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) released in mouse brains.

The toxicological studies showed that the tea filters could significantly reduce the carcinogenic materials such as tar, free radicals, nitrosamine, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) generated in cigarette smoking.

Animal studies also revealed that tea filters could significantly reduce the acute toxicity, mutagenicity, lung damage and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels in the blood caused by cigarette smoking.

Timesofindia

The rising popularity of hookah smoking in Canada is a boon to lounge owners and a bane to anti-smoking groups.
Hookah smoking, a centuries-old tradition in the Middle East, has found a resurgence in North America in recent years, with lounges and cafes popping up in most major cities to meet the demand.

A hookah is a large bowl connected to a vase of water with a long tube or mouthpiece used for smoking flavoured tobacco known as shisha.

It has become a popular social activity for young adults in the the U.S., Canada and Europe, thanks to the mass production of shisha in a variety of flavours.

A new study out of Montreal confirms hookah smoking’s rising popularity in Quebec.

Researchers from the University of Montreal, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec and McGill University surveyed 871 people between the ages of 18 to 24 and found 23% had used a hookah within the past 12 months, and 5% had used one in the past month.

Patrick St-Onge has been running the Hookah Cafe Lounge in Montreal for six years. He says his customer base is steadily growing, especially among the 18 to 30 age group.

St-Onge, who sells over 30 flavours of shisha and a variety of teas at his establishment, said the beauty of hookah smoking is that it’s more social than smoking cigarettes.

“It’s a social context. You can come in with friends and you share a hookah. It opens up conversation.”

Nathan Downey, a 24-year-old student in St. John’s, N.L., loves the experience of smoking shisha. He used to frequent a local hookah lounge regularly when he lived in Calgary.

“The thing I really enjoyed about it was that the cloud of smoke you exhale is thick and white and almost never-ending, and you could make killer smoke rings with it. It was almost like smoking steam rather than smoke, since it passed through water before reaching the smoker’s lungs,” he said.

A lot of shisha smokers praise the health benefits of the hookah — after all, the tobacco isn’t packed full of chemical additives like cigarettes.

But health agencies are worried that people don’t fully grasp the dangers associated with hookah smoking.

Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, said too many people mistakenly believe the water filters out the unhealthy chemicals, but medical studies prove that’s just a myth.

“Using a water pipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking,” reads a 2007 World Health Organization report. “Contrary to ancient lore and popular belief, the smoke that emerges from a water pipe contains numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases.”

Studies from the Mayo Clinic and the American Lung Association echo those findings.

“The popularity of water pipes may be due in part to perceptions that they are safer than cigarettes. However, water pipe smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, carcinogens and may contain greater amounts of tar and heavy metals than cigarette smoke,” said Jennifer O’Loughlin, a University of Montreal professor and senior investigator in the Quebec study.

When asked if Health Canada would be looking into the effects of hookah smoking in light of its rising popularity, a spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Health Canada does not have current plans to look at the health effects of hookah smoking, as it has been scientifically established that all tobacco products pose significant risks to health, including waterpipe tobacco.”

St-Onge makes no bones about a hookah’s side-effects. “For sure it’s not good for your health. It’s still tobacco. It’s still smoke,” he said, adding that it is, at the very least, less addictive than cigarettes.

The lack of research into hookah smoking is such that there’s enough legal ambiguity to get around a lot of Canada’s anti-smoking laws, which vary by province.

Many hookah lounges purport to only sell tobacco-free shisha, thereby avoiding the same anti-tobacco laws that force smokers to stick to the sidewalks, explained Perley.

“Health units and inspectors have to get a hold of the material being sold, take it away and get it tested,” Perley said. “It’s a very cumbersome process and a very expensive process.”

Plus, if an establishment says it’s tobacco-free, and police have no reason to suspect otherwise, it’s legally difficult to come in and seize product.

That’s why Perley believes provincial laws should be re-written to cover anything that’s lit and smoked, not just tobacco.

But as the laws catch up to the trend, hookah lounges that openly serve tobacco are under threat.

St-Onge is only able to do what he does because Cafe Hookah Lounge opened before a 2005 bill outlawing indoor smoking in Ontario and Quebec came into effect.

When he opened shop in 2004, he had to get government approval by demonstrating proper ventilation and promising not to sell shisha to minors — the same legal hoops a cigar bar would have to jump through.

While he lucked out with his timing, he doesn’t foresee any more genuine hookah lounges opening in the city any time soon.

“You won’t see another place,” he said. “(The new law) is really restrictive.”

Authority to regulate Internet cigarette sales made from an American Indian reservation in another state was upheld Wednesday in a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
Scott Maybee, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians in New York state, had argued Oregon law did not apply to the reservation and he was subject only to federal law.

The court rejected his claims, ruling that Oregon law did not regulate his business operations on the reservation, and instead affected only the products his business sold in Oregon.

In an opinion by Presiding Judge David Schuman, the Court of Appeals said that “state courts may exercise jurisdiction in civil cases involving Native Americans and relating to conduct that extends beyond the reservation’s boundaries.”

The case involved cigarette brands that were not part of a 1998 national settlement with large tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states that required cigarette manufacturers to make payments to the states to help recover their health care costs for smoking-related illnesses.

Oregon lawmakers required manufacturers that did not participate in the agreement to pay into an escrow fund that would be used to ensure payment of any future judgment the state won against those manufacturers.

But the court noted that Oregon lawmakers in 2003 limited sales of those nonparticipating brands because violations of the escrow fund requirement threatened to undermine the $206 billion “master settlement agreement” with the major tobacco companies.

The opinion said Maybee sold cigarettes in Oregon that were not listed on the attorney general’s directory of brands that have met the required state certification.

Maybee was sued by former Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, who specifically mentioned Maybee in a 2006 report on various law enforcement problems in Oregon, including cigarette tax evasion.

Although the appeals court case dealt with limits on cigarette brand sales and not taxes, Myers noted in his report that in 2006 Maybee operated three of the top eight Internet cigarette retail sites with the largest number of sales in Oregon.

As a result of enforcement action, Myers also said in that report the Oregon Department of Revenue collected more than $680,000 in past-due taxes from consumers who purchased from Maybee’s sites.

By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press

Some state legislators were tired of battling over the cigarette tax increase when they voted to override the governor’s veto of the bill, some legislators said Wednesday.Rep. Dan Cooper, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he believes many overrode Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto because they were tired of the issue.

House Speaker Pro Tem Harry Cato of Travelers Rest, who opposed the increase, said he agrees some legislators were tired of dealing with it.

He said one argument by the tax increase supporters was that the increase wouldn’t grow government, an argument he disagrees with.

“There was so much pressure,” he said. “We’ve been dealing with this for 20 years, and a lot of people just wanted it behind them.”

Supporters said they were pleased at the House vote and hope the override will be repeated as early as today in the Senate.

If the Senate votes to override Sanford’s veto, smokers would immediately have to find two extra quarters to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Supporters of the tax increase say they are cautiously optimistic after the House swamped Sanford’s veto, 90-29, sending the issue to the Senate. A vote there against Sanford, which could come as early as today, would immediately add 50 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes and end the state’s title as having the nation’s lowest tobacco tax.

“It was a very impressive margin in the House today,” said Sen. Joel Lourie, a Columbia Democrat who has pushed for the tax increase for years. “I’m hopeful that momentum will continue tomorrow in a successful override.”

Sen. Thomas Alexander, a Walhalla Republican who also supports the tax increase, said he isn’t taking the vote for granted.

“It has the potential for being a close vote,” he said. “I commend the House. I’d love to have those percentages here, but I think the reality is it will be closer.”

The Senate last voted 41-1 to approve the tax increase, after the House changed some of the provisions. But Alexander said he expects the vote to be closer to what it received on final approval, 32-12. To override Sanford, two-thirds of those present must vote against his veto.

Most of the proceeds, more than $125 million a year, would go into a health care trust fund that could be tapped in 2012 to help patch a huge Medicaid budget shortfall.

Medicaid is a health care program for the poor that is paid for through state and federal funding.

Sanford said Medicaid, which comprised about 9 percent of the state’s budget a few years ago, now makes up 19 percent of the budget and will comprise 29 percent of state spending within a decade when the recently passed federal health care system expands Medicaid rolls.

Another $5 million from the tax increase would be spent on smoking cessation programs, $5 million on cancer research and $1 million on marketing efforts for South Carolina agricultural products.

Sanford has repeatedly said he favors an increase in the cigarette tax but would veto any tax increase unless it was coupled with a corresponding decrease in another tax. He said the 50-cent increase amounts to a $1.3 billion tax hike over 10 years.

By Tim Smith, Greenvilleonline

After being caught by an anti-tobacco watchdog for smoking in a college campus in Goa, Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi has vowed not to smoke while making a public appearance.

In a letter to National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE) General Secretary Shekhar Salkar dated May 10, Arshad has expressed regret about the incident earlier this month and has admitted that “fans follow their on-screen idols and copy their actions”.

“Henceforth, I will ensure that I throw away the cigarette before I make a public appearance,” Arshad has said in his letter to NOTE.

Arshad Warsi

Explaining the course of events earlier this month, which eventually ended up with him being photographed along with actor Tusshar Kapoor, smoking in public, Arshad said that he was in his vanity van, when fans stopped by to meet him.

“I was smoking in my vanity van parked far away from the college building, when a group of youngsters knocked on the door. As usual I go out of my way to satisfy my fans and I came out to sign the autographs, involuntarily holding the cigarette in my hand,” said the actor, who played the memorable role of Circuit in the “Munnabhai” series.

Speaking to IANS, Salkar said that Arshad’s response speaks well about the actor.

“We are delighted to know that somewhere deep in Circuit’s heart, traces of good old Munnabhai still live on,” said Salkar, whose organisation has in the past dragged Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan to court for directly or indirectly promoting smoking.

“We at NOTE appreciate that you have accepted it was wrong on your part to interact with your fans with a cigarette in your hand. It was nice to learn through your explanation that it was just a subconscious act,” said Salkar.

By IANS, Timesofindia

Hookah smoking is on the rise among Calgary teens, which supports the results of a University of Montreal study released this week.
Desiree Carlson, of the Hemporium located a couple of blocks from the city’s Western Canada High School, said she’s seen smoking hookah take off.

“Since I started in November, I’ve seen the craze of smoking shisha and hookahs go crazy,” said Carlson. “Everybody’s wanting it.”

Smoking hookah is not a healthy alternative to cigarettes, suggests a study by researchers at the University of Montreal. (Canadian Press)

Hookahs or shishas are large communal water pipes designed to burn fragrant blends of tobacco or similar substances mixed with molasses. Smoking hookah is a centuries-old Middle Eastern tradition.

While it’s illegal to sell tobacco-free hookah products to minors, the water-based pipes can be purchased by anyone.

Some of Calgary’s hookah cafés offer in-house hookah smoking, circumventing indoor smoking bans by selling tobacco-free products to adults only.

“It’s just a good relaxing environment and I like to smoke,” said Mike Wilkie, a hookah café patron in Marda Loop. “It tastes good.”

The Hemporium serves a lot of high school students with hookah-related products, said Carlson.

“There’s a fair amount of younger kids that come in for the herbal,” she said. “Probably because it’s social, delicious and you get to smoke without harmful effects.”

Not a safe alternative

Jennifer O’Loughlin, professor of medicine at the University of Montreal and co-author of the study, said smoking hookah is not a healthy alternative to cigarettes.

The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, showed about 23 per cent of 871 youth aged 18 to 24 reported smoking a water pipe at least once in the previous year. Most reported smoking only on rare occasions, but five per cent had used water pipes once or more in the past month.

“It’s been confirmed that the smoke does contain harmful constituents that do contain nicotine, carbon monoxide and carcinogens,” said O’Loughlin. “Compared to cigarettes water pipe smoke might also contain greater amounts of tar and heavy metals such as cobalt, chromium and lead.”

Researchers have also linked the product to lung cancer and heart disease.

Carlson said fruit-flavoured shisha is most popular, but other flavours include coffee, cola and Earl Grey.

CBC News

Lawmakers expect a close vote in the House when it decides whether to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a cigarette tax increase.The matter could be debated today and must pass the House by a two-thirds margin before the issue can be sent to the Senate.

“It’s apparently an easy override in the Senate, but in the House it’s a little closer,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell told The Greenville News . “But I’m hearing more and more members indicate they intend to vote to override, so we’ll have to see when the votes are cast.”

House Speaker Pro Tem Harry Cato of Travelers Rest said the vote in the House is “fairly close.”

Cato is among about a dozen House members who stood Tuesday with Sanford when the governor announced to no one’s surprise that he was vetoing the 50-cent per pack tax increase.

“Those of us who are against the tax increase felt we should stand with him,” he said.

Rep. Eric Bedingfield, a Mauldin Republican, is among those who agree with Sanford.

“We are a party of core values, and those values require us to say no to raising taxes that fund the Medicaid program that is spiraling out of control in this state,” he said. “I know the cigarette tax is popular among some. But it is just plain bad public policy to use it as a program funding source.”

Rep. Bob Leach of Greenville, who also opposes the tax hike, called Sanford’s veto “courageous.”

The legislation would hike the state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax of seven cents per pack to 57 cents.

Most of the proceeds, more than $125 million a year, would go into a health care trust fund that could be tapped in 2012 to help patch a huge Medicaid budget shortfall.

Medicaid is a health care program for the poor that is paid for through state and federal funding.

According to Sanford, Medicaid, which comprised about 9 percent of the state’s budget a few years ago, now makes up 19 percent of the budget and will comprise 29 percent of state spending within a decade, when the recently passed federal health care system expands Medicaid rolls.

Another $5 million from the tax increase would be spent on smoking cessation programs, $5 million on cancer research and $1 million on marketing efforts for South Carolina agricultural products.

Sanford successfully vetoed a cigarette tax increase two years ago. The House this year inserted a 30-cent increase in the budget. The Senate approved separate legislation to raise the tax by 50 cents.

Sanford has repeatedly said he favors an increase in the cigarette tax but would veto any tax increase unless it was coupled with a corresponding decrease in another tax. He said the 50-cent increase amounts to a $1.3 billion tax hike over 10 years.

The governor argued that a tax increase now is wrong, not only because it would only provide temporary aid for the state’s Medicaid program that is in dire need of structural reform, but also because it would increase a tax on consumers at a time when government should be spending less and taking less from taxpayers.

“In these difficult economic times, we believe it would be sheer folly to impose the largest tax increase since 1995,” he said.

Sanford said the revenue from the tax increase would stop covering the growth in Medicaid within two years.

Also urging lawmakers to sustain the veto is David Jordan, president of the South Carolina Association of Convenience Stores, who said he feared the impact of a raised tax on sales of cigarettes in stores, especially in border counties, since cigarette taxes in North Carolina and Georgia would be lower than South Carolina’s tax if it was raised to 57 cents.

“Jobs of my employees, myself, my small company are at risk,” he said. “Small business in South Carolina needs to be protected — we need to have a chance. We don’t need to send South Carolina dollars into North Carolina and Georgia.”

Don Weaver, president of the South Carolina Taxpayers Association, said the increase disproportionately affects the poor. He said in other states the increased tax wasn’t enough to sustain the programs it was meant to fund and more money had to be taken from the state’s general funds.

“Ultimately, it will be all South Carolinians who will suffer from this planned expansion of more government spending,” he said.

However, Carol Fowler, chairwoman of the State Democratic Party, charged that Sanford was “putting lives at risk to make a political point.”

“Raising the cigarette tax would first of all save lives by keeping thousands of teenagers from starting to smoke,” she said.

“It would also enable our state to pay for programs that most South Carolinians think are essential. If Gov. Sanford were in touch with his constituents, he would know that vetoing an increase in the cigarette tax seems foolish to the great majority of working people.”

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a 50-cent cigarette tax increase would prevent 23,300 South Carolina kids from becoming smokers and prompt 12,800 adult smokers to stop. The tax increase also would result in more than $529.4 million in long-term health care savings.

“Instead of leaving a legacy of protecting our state’s public health for generations to come, Gov. Sanford is choosing to side with the tobacco companies and others who profit from the deadly addiction to tobacco,” said June Deen, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in South Carolina.

“This veto represents an incredible missed opportunity for him and for the citizens of our state.”

By Tim Smith, Capital Bureau

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is again testing the brand loyalty and financial elasticity of smokers.
The company said yesterday that it will raise the list price of its cigarette brands for wholesale customers between 8 and 33 cents a pack, effective Wednesday.

The smaller increase affects mostly Reynolds’ top brands, including its flagships Camel and Pall Mall, along with support brands Doral, GPC, Kool, Misty, Salem and Winston.

The larger increase affects mostly Reynolds’ nonsupport brands, such as Capri, Carlton, Eclipse, Lucky Strike, More, Now and Vantage.

David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds, said that the company doesn’t comment on its pricing strategy and the price that wholesalers set at retail. “It’s just a business decision,” he said.

However, the decision came after Philip Morris USA and Lorillard Inc. announced price increases, both of which were effective yesterday.

Philip Morris increased prices by 8 cents a pack. In addition, Philip Morris said it was ending a promotional initiative for its Basic brand that would raise its price another 21 cents a pack.

Lorillard raised its prices on Newport and other premium brands by 41/2 cents. Old Gold prices were raised by 8 cents a pack. Lorillard took a similar price increase with Newport in February, which was not matched by Philip Morris and Reynolds.

It is the fourth price increase by Reynolds since September 2007.

In March 2009, Reynolds raised the list price in the range of 41 cents to 78 cents a pack for wholesale customers, including 41 cents to 44 cents for most of its growth and support brands. That was in response to Congress passing the 62-cent increase in the federal excise tax to pay for expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The latest increase comes at a time when local tobacco wholesalers say that demand for discount cigarettes is rising.

“Every time you have an increase like this, some more smokers will switch to cheaper brands,” said Ann Yountz, the owner of TNT Smoke Shop in Lexington. “Many consumers want to smoke the main brands, but they can’t afford them anymore.”

For example, Yountz said that it can cost more than $50 a week to buy a carton of some brand-name cigarettes. “For every 10 cartons of Marlboro or Camel I sell, I’m easily selling 200 of the low-end brands,” Yountz said.

Reynolds is raising the list price about two weeks after reporting its cigarette-shipment volume fell 2.5 percent in the first quarter to 18.2 billion cigarettes. The industry decline was down 2.4 percent, according to Reynolds.

Reynolds said that the majority of its shipment decline came from its decision to “move away from private-label brands.” In recent years, Reynolds’ decision to lower its marketing costs on some former top brands has contributed to a slow decline in sales.

“Some people will smoke their brand no matter the cost as long as it remains available,” said Mark Sowers, the vice president of K&M Wholesale Co. Inc. in Lexington.

Analysts said they will focus in particular on how consumers respond to the Pall Mall price increase. Pall Mall sales have surged recently in large part because Reynolds has offered price discounts at times to position it as a high-quality discount brand.

Pall Mall sales jumped 134.3 percent to 4.4 billion cigarettes in the first quarter, just 300 million shy of Camel’s sales. The brand also expanded its grip on being the No. 4 cigarette brand in the United States at 6.5 percent market share, while Camel is third at 7.1 percent.

“They are really counting on the view that the race to bottom in terms of discounting price and reduced quality has to end soon,” said Stephen Pope, the chief global-market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald Europe.

“They have determined that they are there now, and with a quality product they can afford to press the price a little higher and not experience any detriment to the bottom line.”

By Richard Craver, Journal Reporter

State lawmakers need to override any Sanford veto of the cigarette tax increase.
Around noon today, Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to announce his decision on whether to veto the 50-cent-per-pack increase in the state cigarette tax recently approved by the Legislature. We hope he chooses not to.

However, if, as expected, he does decide to veto the increase, we hope residents will urge their state legislators to override it.

Last week, the Senate voted 41-1 to approve the House’s bill to raise the tax by 50 cents. The state’s current tax of 7 cents is the lowest in the nation and hasn’t been increased since 1977, when a pack cost 48 cents.

Significantly, the tax increase would generate $125 million, primarily for a Medicaid trust fund to be tapped when money from the federal stimulus program runs out next year. The bill also sets aside $5 million each for cancer research and programs to reduce smoking, and $1 million for marketing agriculture products.

But perhaps just as significantly, this measure will help discourage thousands of South Carolina teenagers from taking up the smoking habit. Research shows that for every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, smoking by young people drops by about 7 percent and overall smoking by about 4 percent.

So, in addition to providing needed revenue to help provide medical care for the state’s neediest residents, including thousands of children, this bill also will save lives by preventing people from smoking.

Sanford has vetoed similar legislation in the past, and the House sustained that veto. The governor has said he would veto any tax increase that is not accompanied by a matching tax cut somewhere else in the budget.

In regard to the cigarette tax, that view is unjustifiable. This tax increase, which would do immeasurable good for the state, is supported by a large majority of South Carolinians.

But if Sanford does veto the measure, lawmakers need to stand up to him and oppose it. Please urge our delegation to do what’s best for the state.

Heraldonline