Tobacco.org

$700K spend on smokes deters youth  

A woman whose grandparents spent an estimated $700,000 on cigarettes is teaching Bay of Plenty youth about the dangers of alcohol and drugs this week.

Kirsty Steel's grandparents chain-smoked two packets a day for 40 years, her grandmother dying as a result of her substance abuse when Kirsty's dad was only 18-years-old.

Kirsty Steel has seen first-hand the effect of drugs and alcohol on families.

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• As America's waistline expands, costs soar 

The startling economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the epidemic's second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to find solutions to the obesity epidemic. . . .

Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year, health economists led by Eric Finkelstein of Duke University calculate . . .

One recent surprise is the discovery that the costs of obesity exceed those of smoking. In a paper published in March, scientists at the Mayo Clinic toted up the exact medical costs of 30,529 Mayo employees, adult dependents, and retirees over several years.

"Smoking added about 20 percent a year to medical costs," said Mayo's James Naessens. "Obesity was similar, but morbid obesity increased those costs by 50 percent a year. There really is an economic justification for employers to offer programs to help the very obese lose weight." . . .

For years researchers suspected that the higher medical costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young, and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer's care, and other pricey items.

That's what happens to smokers. While they do incur higher medical costs than nonsmokers in any given year, their lifetime drain on public and private dollars is less because they die sooner. "Smokers die early enough that they save Social Security, private pensions, and Medicare" trillions of dollars, said Duke's Finkelstein. "But mortality isn't that much higher among the obese."

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The influence of a smoking ban on the profitability of Belgian restaurants 

• VIDEO: Sharjah blaze: How 1 cigarette 'burnt' 2,500 people for millions  

Sharjah civic and fire officials have yet to release an official statement on the cause of the fire that destroyed the 40-storied Al Tayer building in Al Nahda, Sharjah.

However, the early consensus among officials and residents is that a single cigarette butt thrown carelessly on to a pile of paper cartons on the first floor started the blaze.

"While only a detailed forensic report will confirm this, residents are convinced that a cigarette butt was thrown carelessly on to a pile of paper cartons kept on the first floor of the building.

"A similar fire in the Al Bakr Tower 4 in Sharjah was also caused by a carelessly thrown out cigarette butt that affected the lives of hundreds of residents," one official said on the condition of anonymity .

If that is indeed proved correct, then it would be fair to say that a single cigarette butt destroyed hundreds of flats, displaced 2,500 residents and cost millions of dirhams in damages.

"It is unfortunate that such a silly act by a careless person has caused such huge damage," said a resident who did not wish to reveal his name.

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No treatment for smokers or the obese: Doctors back measures to deny procedures for those with unhealthier lifestyles  

Cigar time on county dime  

But one veteran investigator added something else to his job description: smoking for hours on end inside a Bridgeport cigar shop while on the taxpayers’ clock.

Now he’s out of a job, and reforms are said to be under way in the 130-person unit that, sources say, long has been known as a place to coast, especially for those with clout.

An investigation by the Better Government Association and FOX Chicago News found Robert L. Thomas — a retired Chicago cop hired by the state’s attorney’s office in 1997 — spent large parts of his days hanging out at Gianni Cigars Etc. at 31st and Canal when he was supposed to be working. (When the shop moved a couple of blocks away this month, he started showing up there, too.) . . .

So who was Thomas’ direct boss?

It was a state’s attorney employee named Frank Cupello, whom FOX and the BGA profiled some weeks back for allegedly engaging in vote fraud — regularly voting from Elmwood Park even though he lived for decades in Lake County. Cupello has close ties to Elmwood Park Mayor Pete Silvestri, who also is a Cook County commissioner.

Cupello gave Thomas good job performance ratings, marking on one review that Thomas is “exceeding expectations” when it comes to “time and resource utilization,” according to a copy obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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• Doctors back denial of treatment for smokers and the obese  

A majority of doctors support measures to deny treatment to smokers and the obese, according to a survey that has sparked a row over the NHS's growing use of "lifestyle rationing".

Some 54% of doctors who took part said the NHS should have the right to withhold non-emergency treatment from patients who do not lose weight or stop smoking. Some medics believe unhealthy behaviour can make procedures less likely to work, and that the service is not obliged to devote scarce resources to them.

However, senior doctors and patient groups have voiced alarm at what they call "blackmailing" of the sick, and denial of their human rights.

Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site, found that 593 (54%) of the 1,096 doctors who took part in the self-selecting survey answered yes when asked: "Should the NHS be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatments to patients unless they lose weight or stop smoking?"

One doctor said that denying in-vitro fertilisation to childless women who smoked was justified because it was only half as successful for them. Another said the NHS was right to expect an obese patient or alcoholic to change their behaviour before they underwent liver transplant surgery.

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• South Australia mounts lawsuit against tobacco companies  

SOUTH Australia is spearheading a push to recoup billions of dollars spent on caring for sick smokers.

Health Minister John Hill put the proposal to a Ministerial Council meeting in Canberra on Friday and said he had received a positive response.

Mr Hill said Australia was well placed to force tobacco companies to compensate governments for the health costs associated with smoking over many decades.

A similar class action in the US led to the major firms agreeing to the 1997 US Master Settlement Agreement, in which tobacco companies agreed to pay up to $200 billion compensation to states over 30 years.

"I raised it with the other Ministers and we agreed that we would ask the Commonwealth to investigate a similar scheme here," Mr Hill said.

"It costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year to look after smokers and it is a cost that is completely preventable, and I think we should be able to make a case in Australia, similar to the case in the US, where tobacco companies were forced to pay compensation to the states."

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World Health Organization anti-smoking program could save millions of lives 

• The potential impact of smoking control policies on future global smoking trends 

Results

The authors estimate global adult cigarette smoking prevalence in 2010 to be 23.7%. If no additional policies are set in place and the initiation and cessation rates existing in 2010 persist, the authors estimate that global prevalence will be 22.7% by 2020 and 22.0% by 2030 (872 million smokers). If MPOWER had been implemented globally starting in 2010 with a 100% price increase for cigarettes, the authors estimate that global cigarette smoking prevalence would be 15.4% in 2020 and 13.2% in 2030 (523 million smokers).

Conclusions

The estimates indicate the magnitude and trajectory of the global tobacco pandemic and of the impact the authors could expect if evidence-based tobacco control policies were applied immediately and universally throughout the world. As half of lifetime smokers die of tobacco-related diseases, if MPOWER were applied globally, within a few decades, many millions of premature tobacco-related deaths would be avoided.

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World Health Organization anti-smoking program could save millions of lives 

Smoking ban proposal ($$) 

Tossed, lighted cigarette caused fire in Al Baker tower 

* The fire that erupted on January 18 in Al Baker Tower 4 in Al Taawun area displaced up to 125 families. More than half of the residents lost their life savings in the blaze.

Sharjah The fire that broke out in Al Baker Tower 4 last January and displaced up to 125 families was caused by a lit cigarette, a forensic laboratory report revealed Monday.

The Forensic Laboratory at Sharjah Police has been investigating the cause of the fire that erupted on January 18 in the Al Taawun area, and has confirmed that the blaze was caused by a lit cigarette that was thrown off the balcony from an upper floor and landed on the balcony on the first floor.

"

During our investigation, we learnt that a cigarette landed on the balcony on the first floor but we cannot know from where it was thrown

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LETTER: IN RESPONSE: Smoker hacks into insurance cost claims of ban backers  

I could not let Jackie Jackson's letter of April 19 go without response.

She regurgitated the typical lies we hear about smoking. It drives up insurance costs, second hand smoke is the root of all evils, blah, blah, blah!

Do smoker's really drive up insurance costs or is it all you do-gooder health nuts who plan on living until you're 100? . . .

And please shut up with all the junk science about secondhand smoke! Do you really think that we are getting unbiased information about smoking and secondhand smoke from groups like The American Heart Association, The American Lung Association, or worst of all, the federal government? I am amazed at how incredibly gullible most people are.

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Kicking a habit to go overseas