Smoking a pack (or two) of cigarettes each day is obviously not good for your lungs. But for those who enjoy an occasional smoke, an obvious question is, “How many cigarettes can I smoke before I start to do some damage?” The sobering answer: Zero. That’s the conclusion of a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University in New York.

The researchers recruited 121 healthy volunteers to pee into a cup and submit to a bronchoscopy, a procedure that included removing cells from the lining of the part of the airway that would first come into contact with inhaled smoke.

Smoking status was determined based on levels of nicotine and cotinine (a chemical produced in the body as nicotine is metabolized) found in their urine. The 40 people with undetectable levels of nicotine and cotinine were classified as nonsmokers; those with low levels were considered occasional smokers or people exposed to secondhand smoke; and those with high levels were considered regular smokers.

By comparing the lung biopsies from regular smokers to those from nonsmokers, the researchers identified 372 genes whose expression was triggered by tobacco smoke. Then they checked to see what those genes were doing in the occasional smokers. It turned out that 128 of those genes (34%) had been activated — presumably by cigarettes — including 41 (11%) that were “significantly modified,” according to the study.

Next, the researchers checked to see how much nicotine and cotinine had to be in the urine before changes in the lung cell genes were noticeable. For nicotine, that level was a mere 1.8 nanograms per milliliter — too low to be picked up in tests. In other words, “there was no detectable level” of nicotine that was considered harmless, the researchers wrote. For cotinine, the threshold was 11 ng/ml, only slightly higher than the amount that the most sensitive tests can detect.

Digging further, the researchers found that the two groups of genes that responded most strongly in the occasional smokers were the same two groups that are most active in regular smokers. “These changes in gene expression are likely the earliest biologic abnormalities in the small airway epithelium that lead to clinically detectable lung disease,” they wrote.

Considering that so many people are exposed to secondhand smoke or partake in an occasional cigarette, the findings are significant, they concluded.

Take a trip back in time while touring the Tobacco Valley Historical Village in Eureka. The village was established in 1971 when the Fewkes general store, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church and the train depot were relocated from the old town of Rexford before it was flooded by Lake Koocanusa. In addition, the village houses the historic county library, Iowa Flats one-room school house, a hand-hewn log home complete with furnishings, a Great Northern caboose and a fire tower from Mount Roberts. All of the historic buildings and artifacts are from the Tobacco Valley area and date back to the 1880s and 1920s.

To aid in visualizing the life of settlers in the Tobacco Valley, each building is furnished with artifacts common to the area and time periods. See printing presses, photographs, home décor, school desks, books, utensils, Christmas treeing and logging tools among hundreds of other historical relics.

The Fewkes general store now serves as the Historical Village Museum. Become utterly lost in history while wandering the aisles of the store. Among the large collection of archival materials there is an extensive catalog of archived written and photographic resources.

How to get there: From Kalispell, take U.S. Highway 93 north to Eureka. The village is on the west side of the highway as you enter downtown Eureka.

By Lido Vizzutti, flatheadbeacon.com, June 14, 2010

Recently the chairman of a retailers’ group wrote in the Herald about his concerns over proposed restrictions around the sale of tobacco products. Health groups are saying the commercial self-interest of those backed by the tobacco industry needs to be set aside if we are to make gains against a disease that annually is responsible for 10 times the number of the deaths that occur on our roads. Following on from the rise in tobacco tax, other moves are being formulated to further reduce the impact of smoking-related diseases. Many different organisations have just finished making submissions to the Maori Affairs health select committee.

The committee’s focus is gathering evidence on the effect of tobacco on Maori communities and to consider the vision of a tobacco-free New Zealand in the future.

The Ministry of Health has also called for submissions on one particular strategy – the issue of removing tobacco displays in retail outlets. Several organisations are working to protect children from a tobacco addiction that, on average, starts below 15 years of age.

Removing these displays is part of a range of measures that will achieve this goal. Opposition from retailer organisations and tobacco companies is designed to protect turnover and profits.

So what do smokers actually think? Most smokers support putting tobacco under the counter, because they do not want their children to smoke.

Smokers themselves won’t be particularly affected by this move. They will still be able to buy tobacco at their local store or any of the usual outlets around town.

Just as they do now, customers will be able to ask for their preferred brand which will be kept in a drawer under the counter or perhaps on a covered shelf.

Many supermarkets have been selling cigarettes this way for years. What the tobacco industry is really worried about is how things will change over time. These displays are ubiquitous and they exist because they work as a de facto marketing tool.

In the near future our children will not see colourful and eye-catching displays of cigarettes sitting on the shelves next to the lollies every time they visit the dairy.

Smokers who are trying to quit will find the job a little easier when they aren’t confronted by shelves full of cigarettes each time they pay for their petrol or go to buy their milk and bread.

By John Loof, nzherald.co.nz, June 14, 2010

The next terror attack on America could be a self-inflicted wound — specifically, a cigarette burn.
Politicians expand tobacco taxes to discourage smoking and to feed their own nicotine-like addiction to public spending. Like so many others, this government action smolders with unintended consequences. Tobacco taxes create a perfect arbitrage opportunity that radical Muslims exploit to collect money for terrorist groups that murder Americans and our allies. Tobacco taxes should be cut, or at least frozen, before they fuel further Islamic-extremist violence.

Consider the first attack on the Twin Towers, which killed six and injured 1,040. As Patrick Fleenor recalled in a Cato Institute study, “counterfeit cigarette tax stamps were found in an apartment used by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad cell that carried out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.”

By article.nationalreview.com, June 10, 2010

If you are one of those smoking popular cigarettes brands from America, you might be inhaling more cancer-causing chemicals, reveals a new study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).As per the research conducted by researchers, the U.S. cigarettes brands are packed with more cancer causing agents than brands of cigarettes manufactured in other countries like Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
126 smokers studied
For their study, researchers recruited 126 smokers from four countries. The participants were between the ages of 18 and 55, and were those who had been smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day for the past one year.

All smokers were loyal to a particular brand of “American blend” tobacco for at least three months.
The popular brands under study included, Marlboro, manufactured by Philip Morris U.S., Newport by Lorillard U.S., Players by Imperial Tobacco in Canada, Winfield in Australia, and Benson & Hedges in United Kingdom.

Analyzing the cigarette brands in United States and other countries, the researchers found that brands manufactured in America contained “American blend” tobacco, which has high levels of nitrosamines, a substance directly involved in the exacerbation of cancer or in the increase of its propagation.

The researchers analyzed more than 2000 cigarette butts.

U.S. brands highest in nitrosamines
Analyzing the cigarette brands in United States and other countries, the researchers found that brands manufactured in America contained “American blend” tobacco, which has high levels of nitrosamines, which are carcinogens.

Carcinogen is a substance directly involved in the exacerbation of cancer or in the increase of its propagation.

The brands from other countries were made with tobacco that was lighter in color and had low levels of nitrosamines.

To examine how much nitrosamines smokers were exposed to, researchers tested saliva and urine samples of the smokers. They found that smokers smoking U.S. brand cigarettes were three times more exposed to cancer causing chemicals than those who smoked brands from other countries.

“All of these cigarettes contain harmful levels of carcinogens, but these findings show that amounts of tobacco–specific nitrosamines differ from country to country, and U.S. brands are the highest in the study,” stated Jim Pirkle, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director for science at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, Division of Laboratory Sciences.

The study has been published in the June issue of ‘Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.’

Toxic chemicals posing threat to life
The findings only highlight the adverse effects of tobacco, which is one of the leading cause of death. Globally, deaths as a result of tobacco have topped 5 million a year.

If tobacco consumption is not controlled, the number is likely to exceed to 8 million in a year by a year by 2030.

In United States alone, every year 443,000 U.S. residents die from cigarette smoking and passive smoking, and around 8.6 million suffer from problems caused by smoking.

The problems are caused due to chemicals like nitrosamines, which are formed from nicotine and related alkaloids during the production and processing of tobacco and tobacco products.

Apart from nitrosamines, other toxic chemicals often found in cigarettes include arsenic, commonly used in rat poison, cadmium, a heavy metal found in batteries, ammonia compounds, used in cleaning products. Ammonia is used to boost the impact of nicotine in cigarettes.

Cigarette smoke has high level of carbon monoxide, which is lethal in large amounts. It also contains hydrogen cyanide, a chemical that kill people in the gas chambers in Nazi Germany during World War II.

by Jaspreet Virk – June 2, 2010 themoneytimes.com

Think smokers are sexy? Think again.
In one of the first columns I wrote four years ago I stated that being a cigarette smoker lowered a single person’s Dating Quotient more than any other factor. I guess it’s OK to plagiarize myself, so I will paraphrase two statements that I wrote in 2005.

I repeat that the absolute hardest person to match in the singles’ marketplace is someone who smokes cigarettes on a regular basis, every day. Moreover, if that person identifies himself as a pack a day (or more) smoker, the resulting stigma is somewhat equivalent to being at least 100 pounds overweight or, even worse, being a Yankees fan looking for love in the bleachers at Fenway Park.

Yet many people continue to smoke. Today adult cigarette smokers in the dating world tend to fall into two categories. The first group consists of single men and women in their 20s who (like many people) started smoking to look cool and grown up as teenagers and have been unable to break the habit.

The second group consists of divorced adults who also started smoking in their adolescence and eventually did quit. But owing to the stress surrounding their divorce, fell off the non-smoking wagon.

The purpose of this column is not to preach to smokers that they should quit to improve their chances of meeting someone. Although just for the heck of it, I suggest that anyone who belongs to online dating service do the following.

Complete a profile in which you state that you are a non-smoker. Then after a while change your profile to read that you are a moderate to heavy smoker. The difference both in the number and quantity of your matches will amaze you.

But this column is not aimed at cigarette smokers. Rather it is aimed at people who have started to date or who are considering dating someone who is a cigarette smoker.

I have one question for you. Are you nuts? What are you thinking? (OK that is two questions.)

If you are looking to meet a partner with whom you can have a long-term relationship, you should be aware that most studies indicate that cigarette smoking will reduce one’s life expectancy anywhere from an average of 12 to 15 years! (If you doubt that statement because you have an uncle who is 95 and has smoked for 80 years, just Google, as I did, “life expectancy of smokers versus nonsmokers.”)

That doesn’t count those years when you would have to be a full-time caregiver to a partner suffering from emphysema, lung cancer, or any of the other smoking-related ailments.

Or perhaps you are looking to meet someone with whom you can start a family. I suggest you research studies by the American Council on Science and Health or the Centers for Disease Control. If you are a man, such studies show that “Women who smoke cigarettes are three times likelier than nonsmoking women to have difficulty conceiving; and the higher the average number of cigarettes a woman of reproductive age smokes, the smaller her chances are of becoming pregnant.”

Moreover, these studies also show that “Of the approximately 140,000 cases of miscarriage per year in the United States, about 19,000 have been attributed to cigarette smoking.”

If you are a woman, you should be aware of studies that indicate “evidence has increasingly suggested that cigarette smoking adversely affects the male reproductive system as well. Cigarette smoking damages sperm, affects hormone concentrations in men, and reduces blood flow to the penis. This reduction in blood flow can result in erectile dysfunction, or impotence.”

But let’s say that you are an admittedly shallow man just looking for a hot gal to “hook up with” for a while. Putting aside the obvious and distasteful odor of cigarettes that permeates one’s skin, breath and clothing, studies have also shown that smoking discolors teeth and lessens the skin’s elasticity, which results in increased cellulite accumulation.

The same is true in the case of men who smoke. Remember the old Marlboro Man commercials that purported that cigarette smoking brings out a manly, rugged, macho appearance?

Research shows that of the nine men who predominantly appeared over the years in these commercials, at least three died of lung cancer, including Wayne McLaren, a professional rodeo rider who succumbed at the ripe old age of 51. Just before he died, a withered McLaren appeared in a television ad in a hospital bed with tubes sticking out of him.

Yet many movies depict cigarette smoking even today as looking cool and hip. (We can forgive period pieces like “Mad Men” and the recently released “Shutter Island” in which cigarette smoking appears in almost every scene.)

The Centers for Disease Control has stated that “smoking in the movies is the most powerful pro-tobacco influence on kids today.”

Yet with all the anti-smoking health evidence, I know that some of you still walk into a bar, spot a man or woman holding a cigarette and think he or she looks sexy.

Before you approach that person, I suggest you close your eyes for a minute and picture that same person in a few years with yellow teeth and wheezing after a half mile stroll on the beach.

Then look around for someone else.

By Steve Penner, Seacoastonline

MANILA – Whether they choose to light up their first cigarette on their own or are unwitting victims of passive smoking, Filipino youth are increasingly at risk from tobacco exposure.

“The younger a child starts to smoke, the greater the chances of becoming a regular smoker,” said Dr Maricar Limpin, executive director of the non- government group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), during a media forum on tobacco use in the Philippines, held on Feb. 12 in the Philippine capital Manila. “The youth are being specifically targeted by the tobacco industry as future customers.”

Among Filipino youth aged 13 to 15 years, three in 10 currently use tobacco products, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco and use ‘shisha’ (a water pipe for smoking), which is gaining popularity in Mid-Eastern restaurants in select urban areas in the country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “messages that tobacco kills is not very relevant to young smokers, who believe themselves to be immortal. By the time they understand the health risks and are ready to quit smoking, addiction has taken hold.”

Furthermore, young people are regularly exposed to second-hand and even third-hand smoke, the residue left in a room after someone smokes, which often sticks to furniture and clothes. Infants and young children who play with items that have been exposed to cigarette smoke can eventually develop asthma and other smoking-related diseases.

Based on the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), a school-based survey that tracks tobacco use among young people across the world, the Philippines has one of the highest percentages of young smokers across Asian countries. About 30 percent of adolescents in the Philippines’ urban areas smoke. Of these, more than 70 percent started smoking between the ages of 13 and 15.

The GYTS was developed by the WHO and the Center for Disease Control, a U.S. federal health agency. Data are compiled by participating countries and released in different years. The latest Philippine study was conducted in 2007.

In other Asian countries, figures are much lower. Country reports indicate, for instance, that Indonesia has 12.6 percent students who “currently smoke cigarettes” and Thailand, 11.7 percent.

In South-east Asia alone, the Philippines has the second highest number of smokers, noted FCAP, one of the organisers of the recent tobacco forum. Over a third of the country’s 90 million population smokes cigarettes.

“Children are the most vulnerable to second-hand smoke, which is six times more poisonous than mainstream smoke. Cigarette smoke is being imposed on them even if they don’t like it. This is a violation of their right to remain healthy and breathe clean air,” said Dr Limpin.

About six in ten children live in Filipino houses where other people smoke. Figures from FCAP further show that about 200,000 young Filipinos will suffer from smoking-related diseases early on in their lives, and about 80,000 will perish from it.

Globally, WHO estimates that 250 million children could eventually die of tobacco-related diseases.

Despite a Philippine ban on selling cigarettes to minors aged 18 and below, more than half of the country’s youth can easily buy cigarettes in stores. Enforcement remains weak as most cigarette vendors do not know the law or refuse to enforce it for fear of losing business, according to Dr Limpin.

“Tobacco companies don’t care about existing users. They’re addicted already and will continue to buy cigarettes. They need to replace all those consumers who will eventually die,” said health undersecretary Alex Padilla during the forum.

He added that when it comes to cost, the Philippines has gained a reputation for having the highest-priced medicines and cheapest cigarettes in Asia. In the United States, a standard pack of cigarettes averages $4.50 to $5, including taxes. In the Philippines, a pack of 20 cigarettes costs roughly 35 to 40 pesos (80 U.S. cents).

The cost of each cigarette stick hawked on the streets is about the same as that of a piece of candy or gum. About 70 percent of cigarette sales in the country come from single stick sales (about two pesos or less than one U.S. cent apiece), reported ‘Tobacco Reporter’ Magazine in 2008. Many of the cigarette vendors on the street are children.

Accessibility and cheap prices bring cigarettes closer to the youth’s grasp, so they often get introduced to smoking at early ages. The youngest child that FCAP has on record was only six years old when he started smoking.

The Philippines’ Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 bans cigarette advertisements on television, radio, cable, print and billboards except within “point of sale retail establishments.”

The law stipulates that the ban on advertising was supposed to take place in January 2007, but the total ban on advertising only took place in July 2008.

Tobacco companies have been able to skirt these advertising bans by employing creative tactics. Creative marketing strategies employed by tobacco companies, such as product placements and posters in visible areas like restaurants, malls, community stores, smoking lounges, and sponsorships in concerts, also add to the brand recall among the youth, said FCAP.

Another example of a subtle product placement is commercial outdoor parasols bearing the signature colors and brand names of cigarettes. Cigarettes are also sold openly in convenience stores and mall kiosks.

FCAP has been lobbying Congress to pass the Graphic Health Warning Bill, which will require cigarette manufacturers to put warning images depicting diseases and disabilities people can get from smoking on cigarette packs.

Philippine lawmakers, particularly those hailing from the tobacco farmlands in the northern parts of the country, have opposed the proposed legislation, saying it would adversely affect the tobacco farmers’ income and the economy in general.

At present, cigarette packs in the Philippines carry warning labels that read, “Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.” FCAP said text warnings are not effective because smoking prevalence in the country is still increasing.

Scientific and international studies show that graphic health warnings have been effective in reducing smoking in other countries.

“Consumers know that smoking is bad for their health, but they don’t know why it is. Graphical health warnings will show consumers clearly the effects of smoking and hopefully deter children from starting to smoke,” said Bobby del Rosario, vice-president and founding member of FCAP.

Some countries like Australia, New Zealand and Mexico have implemented graphic health warnings on cigarette packs, covering up to 60 percent of the packaging face. In Britain, half of the packaging reads “Smoking kills.”

Meanwhile, advocates stress the urgency of putting preventive measures in place, as tobacco companies shift their focus from developed to developing countries.

“Markets in developed countries are declining. That’s why companies are targeting emerging economies like Asia and Africa, which are less literate and more corrupt,” said del Rosario.

The Department of Health cited the need to educate the mass-based retailers so they will stop selling cigarettes to minors. Cigarette affordability must also be addressed, it added.

“We have to put the cigarettes beyond the reach of the youth and that may be (done) by increasing their prices. While graphic warnings may work, the more effective way to address the problem is by increasing taxes and prices for cigarettes,” said the health department’s Padilla.

“What we only are trying to achieve is to minimise the introduction of tobacco to the youth as they are the prime targets of these tobacco companies.”

By Kara Santos, Ipsnews
Feb 15, 2010

Raising Virginia’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack would bring in $317.7 million in new annual revenue to help close the state’s budget shortfall, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other health groups.

Increasing the tax in Virginia also would prevent 65,100 children from becoming smokers; spur 34,100 current adult smokers to quit; save 29,800 residents from premature, smoking-caused deaths; and save $1.4 billion in health care costs, the report said.

Virginia’s cigarette tax is 30 cents per pack, which ranks 49th in the nation. The national average is $1.34 per pack.

Nationally, increasing cigarette taxes by $1 a pack would raise $9.1 billion in revenue annually.

Tobacco makers oppose higher taxes after a 62-cent-a-pack increase in U.S. taxes last year hurt demand for cigarettes made by Altria Group Inc., the largest producer, Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc.

“Cigarettes are already extremely heavily taxed” and taxes “inflict long-term pain on all taxpayers, not just smokers,” said Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Henrico County-based Altria.
Web site holding job seekers’ contest

In celebration of its one-year anniversary, RichmondJobNet.com is running a contest for job seekers to win personal career counseling valued at more than $1,500.

Run by the Greater Richmond Partnership, the Web site for job seekers, employers and entrepreneurs now also includes career-focused blogs, a career assessment tool and a job search function. The site also offers RichmondJobNet Radio, a collection of interviews with authors and experts available as podcasts.

To be eligible for the contest, you must be at least 18, actively seeking employment and live in Richmond or the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico. An explanation, in 150 words or less, of what you need the makeover is required. The contest runs through Feb. 26.
THE NATION
Citigroup launches new foreclosure plan

Citigroup Inc. plans to let homeowners on the verge of foreclosure stay in their homes for six months — if they turn over the deed to their property.

Citi is launching the pilot program, dubbed “Foreclosure Alternatives,” this week in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio. Initially, about 1,000 homeowners are expected to participate. It may expand the program nationwide.

In a normal foreclosure, a lender assumes legal control of the property and evicts the homeowner. But Citi’s program, like other “deed in lieu of foreclosure” efforts, allows the homeowner to avoid a completed foreclosure. While the owner must still leave the home after six months, the program results in a less severe hit to the borrower’s credit score.
Google Inc. to build Internet networks

Google Inc. plans to build a handful of experimental, ultra-fast Internet networks around the country to ensure that tomorrow’s systems can keep up with online video and other advanced applications that the search company will want to deliver.

The Google project, announced yesterday, also is intended to provide a platform for outside developers to create and try out applications that will require far more bandwidth than today’s networks offer.

The company said its fiber-optic broadband networks will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 Americans. The systems will be many times faster than the existing DSL, cable and fiber-optic networks that connect most U.S. consumers to the Internet today at speeds typically ranging from 3 megabits to 20 megabits per second.

By Staff Reports, Timesdispatch

A common indoor air chemical reacts with residues of tobacco smoke clinging to clothing, skin and surfaces to form potent carcinogens, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory reported in a study published Monday.

A few years ago, researchers began paying closer attention to the potential health effects of “thirdhand smoke,” which is a thin layer of toxic substances from tobacco smoke that settles on surfaces long after cigarettes have been extinguished.

The scientists, however, are the first to find that nitrous acid, an indoor air pollutant created by gas appliances, vehicle engines and tobacco smoke, reacts with nicotine found on surfaces.

“We want to make people aware that there’s a potential
hazard from thirdhand smoke that has not been recognized before,” said Lara Gundel, one of the authors of the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“This is a new finding that a common pollutant can react with nicotine to form carcinogens right in our own homes,” said Gundel, who works in the lab’s Indoor Environment Department.

The term “thirdhand smoke” was coined in 2009, in a study in the journal Pediatrics which found that 65 percent of nonsmokers thought that the residue of tobacco smoke found on furniture and drapes, in rugs and dust, and on skin and clothing, can harm children and infants. Only 43 percent of smokers thought that it posed a health risk.

That study focused n earlier research analyzing the potential harms to children and infants from ingesting or breathing any of the 250 toxic substances found in tobacco smoke, such as lead. Research also found that many children had detectable blood levels of cotinine, a chemical formed by exposure to nicotine.

However, the Berkeley lab researchers also found that when nitrous acid in the air reacts with nicotine, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, or TSNAs, are created.

Unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke already contain TSNAs, which in 1989 the U.S. surgeon general listed among the carcinogens found in tobacco.

What’s new is how many more of them are created when nicotine reacts with nitrous acid. After exposing surfaces to tobacco smoke, the Berkeley lab researchers found levels of TSNAs increased 10 times after exposure to nitrous acid.

The health hazards of tobacco smoking and secondhand smoke are well known, with research associating inhalation of the smoke with elevated risk of cancer and heart disease.

This thirdhand smoke, however, enters the body via a different route, either through skin exposure, dust inhalation and ingestion, and it poses an “unappreciated health risk,” the Berkeley researchers wrote. Children and infants are of particular concern, since they have far more exposure to contaminated surfaces, and with their smaller sizes would absorb proportionately more TSNAs than adults.

The human health effects of thirdhand smoke have not been well-studied, Gundel said, and further work is needed to understand the extent of the threat they pose.

David Sutton, a spokesman with the Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris USA, noted that no human exposure measurements were done as part of the Berkeley study.

“The study authors recommended more research on the topic,” he said. Sutton said that Altria discourages adults from smoking when children are present.

Still, smoking outside does not eliminate exposure to TSNAs, since nicotine from smoke adheres to clothing and skin, and it can be carried back inside. Nor does opening windows or using a fan help much, since nicotine, a sticky molecule, readily clings to surfaces.

As a precaution, Gundel advised replacing furniture and drapes that have been heavily exposed to nicotine, and she supports 100 percent smoke-free public places. In addition, smoking inside vehicles also leaves behind nicotine on surfaces, she noted.

The Berkeley researchers plan to continue their studies on thirdhand smoke, assessing how long TSNAs can remain on surfaces, and seeking reliable biomarkers for studying the uptake of them into the body.

The study was sponsored by the University of California’s Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.

By Suzanne Bohan, Mercurynews

3 per cent increase in 15-19 age group, StatsCan reports
More teenagers in Quebec are turning to smoking – a troubling new development that raises questions about whether the provincial government has gone far enough to curb tobacco use among youth, experts say.

The latest survey on smoking by Statistics Canada shows that in Quebec, one in five teens age 15 to 19 lit up last year – an increase of three per cent from 2008.

By comparison, the national smoking rate for that age group declined to 14 per cent from 15 per cent.

What’s more, 11 per cent of Quebec children up to the age of 11 said that they were exposed to second-hand smoke at home, compared with five per cent for the whole country.

“Something is attracting teenagers to smoking,” said Marc Drolet, a spokesperson for the Quebec division of the Canadian Cancer Society.

“There was a downward trend for the past 10 years, and now for some reason, the trend has probably reversed. Unfortunately, we are now the Canadian champions in that (smoking age) category.”

Drolet conceded that the government has taken some strong anti-smoking measures to date, like banning it in bars and restaurants. But he urged Quebec to do more to curb subtle marketing campaigns by tobacco companies aimed at youth.

Karine Rivard, press attaché to Health Minister Yves Bolduc, defended the government’s anti-smoking initiatives and said that more were planned for this year.

She noted that Quebec has banned the sale of single cigarillos with grape and other flavours that had been popular with some teens.

“The government intends to continue to intensify the fight against tobacco,” Rivard said. She declined to describe some of the proposed anti-smoking measures.

The survey did contain some good news, however. The prevalence of tobacco use in an older age group of Quebecers – 20 to 24 – dropped to 25 per cent last year from 31 per cent for the corresponding period in 2008.

Smoking is considered the main cause of avoidable cancer globally, killing more than 5 million people each year.

Tobacco use has been linked to 85 per cent of cases of lung cancer and is responsible for 30 per cent of all cancers, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. In Quebec, 7,400 Quebecers received a diagnosis of lung cancer last year and 6,500 died from that illness.

The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey is carried out semi-annually and is based on a survey of more than 9,000 respondents. The latest survey was for the months of February to June 2009.

By AARON DERFEL, The Gazette

The company that manufactured a cigarette that allegedly exploded in the mouth of a security guard has paid compensation equal to less than Rp 1 million for each of the teeth the man lost.

Andi Susanto, 31, was riding his motorcycle along Jl. Teuku Umar in Cibitung, Bekasi, last Thursday, and smoking a Bentoel Clas Mild — marketed as the ultimate experience of satisfaction and smoothness — exploded in his mouth with devastating consequences.

The mysterious explosion blew five teeth from his mouth and required numerous stitches.

His helmet was also found to have cracked.

Widia, Andi’s sister, confirmed that Bentoel had paid Rp 5 million ($535) in compensation — a figure that would have equated to Rp 1 million per tooth had it not been for the fact that another two teeth were extracted on Monday.

“The cigarette company has provided us with compensation. We have accepted their goodwill to help us,” Widia said.

She said the company had agreed to pay all of Andi’s immediate medical expenses at the Bekasi General Hospital and would also fund the ongoing rehabilitation treatment — presumably to include a new set of teeth.

“We have settled all the outstanding matters with the cigarette company,” she said, adding that Andi’s condition was steadily improving.

“The doctor says that he can go home, but we have to wait until his condition is much better,” she said.

Bekasi Police investigators are waiting on the results of laboratory tests, which are expected today, to help shed light on what they admit is a highly unusual case.

Bekasi Police Chief Herry Wibowo said on Sunday that the laboratory would test the remaining fragments of the cigarette as well as Andi’s jacket and helmet.

Herry said investigators were looking for traces of explosives, including potassium.

He said there were no plans to recall Clas Mild cigarettes.

Iwan Sulistyo, the marketing chief of the Clas Mild brand, said the company could offer no explanation for what had happened to Andi.

Iwan confirmed, however, that the company had agreed to provide compensation and would also ensure that Andi’s medical bills were paid in full.

“We are communicating with the police and still waiting on the forensic laboratory tests,” Iwan said. “We do not put any strange materials in the cigarettes so we think that this is a weird case. This is the first time for us.”

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance is excluding the $518 billion Government Pension Fund Global from investing in 17 tobacco companies including British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco.

The Ministry of Finance drafted rules states the fund will exclude all companies that produce any tobacco, regardless of the amount the company produces.

This means the pension fund will exclude more companies than those companies that are described as “tobacco” by index providers.

Information regarding each company’s involvement in tobacco production was sourced from index provider, FTSE Group, and analysis of company websites.

Alliance One International, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris, Altria Group, Imperial Tobacco Group, Souza Cruz SA, Universal Corp VA and Reynolds American Inc are among those excluded from the fund’s investment universe.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global is a very active responsible investor. Last year, the fund placed the European engineering conglomerate, Siemens AG, ‘on observation’ after it was revealed the company had been embroiled in corruption early last year.