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• BROIN v. PHILLIP MORRIS COMPANIES, INC. - Opinion filed March 21, 2012. 

Norma R. Broin, et al. (flight attendants) petition for certiorari review of an order disqualifying their attorneys in this case. We quash the trial court order because it departs from the essential requirements of law.

This appeal arises from a 1991 class action brought by numerous flight attendants against several tobacco companies. . . .

Here, petitioners' right to be represented by experienced counsel of their choice is outweighed by any prejudice to the respondents. Mr. Gerson and Mr. Hunter are familiar with the history of this litigation, have demonstrated their ability to effectively advocate for their clients, and seek to provide greater benefits to all class members. Conversely, prejudice to the respondents is minimal. Mr. Gerson and Mr. Hunter were not lead counsel in the original action. Thus, their limited interaction with the respondents and their counsel would have resulted in little access to confidential information. Moreover, although arising from the prior litigation, the present action involves a different issue. Petitioners are not asking that the court undo the prior settlement, rather they are requesting that the court determine whether the foundation created under the settlement is functioning as originally intended.

For these reasons, we find that the trial court departed from the essential requirements of law in disqualifying petitioners' counsel, quash the order of disqualification, and remand to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

Petitions granted.

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Associations between respiratory illnesses and secondhand smoke exposure in flight attendants: A cross-sectional analysis of the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute Survey. 

CONCLUSIONS:

Flight attendants experience increased rates of respiratory illnesses compared to a population sample. The frequency of symptoms of nasal congestion, throat or eye irritation is associated with occupational SHS exposure in the pre-smoking ban era.

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• Secondhand smoke raises the stakes in America's casinos 

According to a new study by scientists from Stanford and Tufts universities published in the journal Environmental Research, each year 50 million nonsmoking casino patrons and 400,000 nonsmoking casino workers gamble with their lives inside casinos that allow smoking. Less than 2 hours of exposure to secondhand smoke in half of the casinos surveyed is enough to impair the heart's ability to pump blood, placing susceptible casino patrons and workers at acute risk of heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of disability, costing the country an estimated $151.6 billion in 2007. Approximately 8 percent of the population 45 to 64 years of age, and 20 percent of those aged over 65, suffers from coronary heart disease. These older people are at greater risk from exposure to secondhand smoke. Compounding the concern, the two age groups have higher gambling rates than those under 45.

The team of experts from Stanford and Tufts examined pollution levels in 66 smoky casinos in five states, and three casinos that are smoke-free, comparing them with the pollution levels outdoors. The study is a continuation of earlier research conducted at 36 casinos in California. An additional 30 casinos were tested in four other states.

To make their measurements, the researchers operated covertly. Two to three researchers at a time entered casinos carrying small monitoring devices tucked inside purses or jackets. Combining the Stanford/Tufts data with previously published measurements from three other states, the team developed nationwide averages and ranges for pollution levels inside casinos.

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• Secondhand Smoke Laws May Reduce Childhood Ear Infections 

Harvard School of Public Health ( HSPH ) researchers and colleagues from the Research Institute for a Tobacco Free Society, Republic of Ireland, have found that a reduction in secondhand smoking in American homes was associated with fewer cases of otitis media, the scientific name for middle ear infection. The study appears on January 26, 2011, as an online first article on the website of the journal Tobacco Control.

Link to abstract

"Our study is the first to demonstrate the public health benefits to children of the increase in smoke-free homes across the nation. It also is the first study to quantify over the past 13 years a reversal in what had been a long-term increasing trend in middle ear infections among children," said lead author Hillel Alpert, research scientist in HSPH's Department of Society, Human Development, and Health. "If parents avoid smoking at home, they can protect their children from the disease that is the most common cause of visits to physicians and hospitals for medical care," he said.

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Tobacco Smoke Mediated Induction of Sinonasal Microbial Biofilms 

Cigarette smokers and those exposed to second hand smoke are more susceptible to life threatening infection than non-smokers. While much is known about the devastating effect tobacco exposure has on the human body, less is known about the effect of tobacco smoke on the commensal and commonly found pathogenic bacteria of the human respiratory tract, or human respiratory tract microbiome. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common medical complaint, affecting 16% of the US population with an estimated aggregated cost of $6 billion annually. Epidemiologic studies demonstrate a correlation between tobacco smoke exposure and rhinosinusitis. Although a common cause of CRS has not been defined, bacterial presence within the nasal and paranasal sinuses is assumed to be contributory. Here we demonstrate that repetitive tobacco smoke exposure induces biofilm formation in a diverse set of bacteria isolated from the sinonasal cavities of patients with CRS. Additionally, bacteria isolated from patients with tobacco smoke exposure demonstrate robust in vitro biofilm formation when challenged with tobacco smoke compared to those isolated from smoke naïve patients. Lastly, bacteria from smoke exposed patients can revert to a non-biofilm phenotype when grown in the absence of tobacco smoke. These observations support the hypothesis that tobacco exposure induces sinonasal biofilm formation, thereby contributing to the conversion of a transient and medically treatable infection to a persistent and therapeutically recalcitrant condition.

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• Attorneys: Big Tobacco snuffed out dealΩ 

Attorneys say Big Tobacco conspired to kill a deal that would have yielded $10 million for flight attendants suing the companies over health problems they attribute to the second-hand smoke they inhaled on the job for years.Ω

Soon after lawyers from a tobacco company asked for time to think about a $10 million offer to settle suits filed by thousands of flight attendants, they took the offer off the table.

Attorneys for the flight attendants -- who spent years working on smoke-filled planes -- say they can prove that Big Tobacco banded together to thwart the deal.

Three tobacco companies offered to help a fourth pay for future judgments and attorneys' fees if it rejected the settlement, according to a motion filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court this month.

``It is quite an outrageous circumstance that we discovered,'' said Miami Beach attorney Marvin Weinstein, who represents many of the flight attendants. ``It's the justice process they've interfered with here.''

He said the company that wanted to settle in 2000, Lorillard, was convinced by R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and Brown & Williamson to forgo the deal. For one thing, it would have given the flight attendants a ``war chest'' to use to continue fighting against the remaining companies. . . .

Weinstein is demanding the companies pay $30 million -- three times what the original settlement would have yielded, or $12,000 for each of the 2,500 flight attendants suing.

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• Attorneys: Companies conspired not to settle with flight attendants sickened by secondhand cigarette smoke 

Attorneys for flight attendants who allege secondhand smoke aboard commercial aircraft made them sick want a Miami-Dade judge to hit tobacco companies with $30 million in sanctions for crafting an agreement they say violates Florida's good faith laws.

The allegations stem from cases of nearly 3,000 flight attendants -- all members of a former class action -- who pursued individual claims against the tobacco companies for more than a decade.

Each airline employee sued several cigarette makers but it was only one, Lorillard Tobacco, whose decision to decline a proposed settlement in 2000 is now at issue.

The company was on the verge of accepting a $10 million settlement that would have ended its role in the case. But fellow defendant companies talked Lorillard into abandoning the settlement, according to a motion filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court last Thursday by three plaintiff attorneys.

Steven Hunter, Roy Wasson and Marvin Weinstein say the tobacco companies acted in bad faith when they interfered in the settlement. . . .

The three attorneys represent Saundra Jett, a former member of the class action led by flight attendant Norma Broin, who says she spent two decades inhaling cigarette smoke while she was an American Airlines attendant. . . .

Like Jett, who filed her lawsuit in January 2000, many proceeded on their own. Few have met with success at trial, where defense attorneys have presented studies showing flight attendants historically develop lung cancer at a lower rate than the general public. The tobacco industry also claims cabin conditions only exposed employees to the smoke of about 50 cigarettes a year.

By 2008, tobacco companies had recorded nearly a dozen court victories and one loss.

But what attorneys in Jett's case are asking for could mark a turning point.

In their motion for sanctions, Jett's attorneys said Lorrilard and the three other tobacco companies' agreement violates Florida laws that encourage swift settlements and "constitutes a clear abuse of the court system."

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Smoke Gets in Your Ears 

Action Points

* Explain that scond-hand tobacco smoke exposure may increase the risk of hearing loss for former and never-smokers.

* Note that additional epidemiologic research and animal studies will be needed to validate the second-hand smoke exposure link to hearing loss and to explore the mechanisms that might explain it.

Second-hand tobacco smoke exposure may boost risk of hearing loss, according to a population-based study.

Passive exposure was linked to significantly elevated risk of hearing loss in the low-to-mid frequencies for never smokers (adjusted odds ratio 1.14; 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.28) and former smokers (adjusted OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.54), David A. Fabry, PhD, of hearing aid company Starkey Laboratories in Eden Prairie, Minn., and colleagues found.

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• Summer Recreation Draws Public Attention to Outdoor Smoking Policies  

Results from the annual Social Climate Survey of Tobacco Control, released today, indicate that a sizeable group of Americans support smoke-free outdoor public spaces. More than two-thirds (67.3 percent) of Americans feel that smoking should not be allowed within 20 feet of a doorway--a finding that is increasingly relevant as more indoor spaces have gone smoke-free. The survey was funded by Legacy, a non-profit public health organization dedicated to reducing tobacco use in the United States, and by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute, through grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence.

"As America heads outside this summer, more and more public spaces are smoke-free in light of growing evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke. Families deserve to have smoke-free spaces to play and relax, both indoors and out," said Cheryl G. Healton, DrPH, president and CEO of Legacy. "This survey is a consistent reality check on how America perceives tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. This year's survey focus on outdoor spaces reminds us that passive smoking is a public health threat, whether in a bar, restaurant, office or even at the beach or park."

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Smoke-free Air Laws Effective at Protecting Children from Secondhand Smoke 

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that children and adolescents living in non-smoking homes in counties with laws promoting smoke-free public places have significantly lower levels of a common biomarker of secondhand smoke exposure than those living in counties with no smoke-free laws.

no-smoking signThe children living in non-smoking homes in U.S. counties with smoke-free laws had 39% lower prevalence of cotinine in their blood, an indicator of tobacco smoke exposure, compared to those living in counties with no smoke-free laws. Children living in homes with smokers exhibited little or no benefit from the smoke-free laws.

The study appears in the June 7, 2010 advance online edition of the journal Pediatrics.

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Namibia Observes World No-tobacco Day On May 31 

World No-Tobacco Day 2010 themes "Gender and Tobacco, with an emphasis on marketing to Women" will be nationally commerated in Namibia on May 31, this year, the Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA).

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Kahijoro Kahuure said this year's theme is selected in recognition of the effects of tobacco on the health of women, and will also be part of a global movement to make people's bodies free from tobacco smoke.

According to Kahuure, the activities of the day will give due recognition to the importance of controlling the epidemic of tobacco amongst women.

As part of the event, the Ministry of Health and Social Services will work hand-in-hand with the World Health Organisation (WHO)' Country Office in order to encourage the Namibian authorities to pay particular attention to measures that would protect women from lives of nicotine dependence.

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Chronic Sinus Congestion Linked to Secondhand Smoke  

Exposure to secondhand smoke increased the risk of chronic rhinosinusitis by up to 2.8-fold in a case-control analysis, researchers said.

After adjusting for other factors such as socioeconomics and exposure to other respiratory irritants, exposure to secondhand smoke in different places was associated with chronic nasal and sinus congestion with odds ratios of 1.69 to 2.81, reported C. Martin Tammemagi, DVM, PhD, of Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario, and colleagues.

"Exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with chronic rhinosinusitis in a dose-response fashion and independently of environmental and occupational exposures," Tammemagi and colleagues wrote in the April Archives of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.

Action Points

* Explain to interested patients that exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to several adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular diseases as well as respiratory problems.

* Explain that this study was based on a retrospective analysis of people with and without chronic nasal and sinus congestion, which cannot prove a causal relation to secondhand smoke exposure.

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Determinants of Hair Nicotine Concentrations in Nonsmoking Women and Children: A Multicountry Study of Secondhand Smoke Exposure in Homes  

The main purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate determinants of hair nicotine concentrations in nonsmoking women and children exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke at home. Hair samples were collected from nonsmoking women (n = 852) and from children (n = 1,017) <11 years of age living in households (n = 1,095) with smokers from 31 countries from July 2005 to October 2006. . . .

After controlling for age, length of exposure, and socioeconomic characteristics, hair nicotine concentrations in nonsmoking children and women were estimated to be increased by 3% and 1%, respectively, for a 1 μg/m3 increase in air nicotine concentration. The association between children's exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke at home and hair nicotine concentration was stronger among younger children and children with longer exposure at home.

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Do You Think Big Tobacco Is a Bunch of Rotten, Death-Dealing Bastards? Well, Survey Says You're Probably Not a Smoker. 

A U.C. San Francisco study has revealed that young adults who deeply believe that the tobacco industry is composed of low-down, degenerate, gutless, slimy, watermelon-fucking sons of bitches are far less likely to smoke than their colleagues with less malevolent feelings toward Big Tobacco.

While this seems like the ultimate no-brainer, UCSF scientists say the data reveals a lot; this, they claim, is the first study to ever link interviewees' attitudes toward the tobacco industry to 18-to-25-year-olds' actual behavior. Depending upon young adults' responses to queries like "Taking a stand against smoking is important to me" or "I would like to see cigarette companies go out of business," researchers claim those with strongly anti-tobacco sentiments are only one-third as likely to smoke as their more wishy-washy companions. Those who do smoke -- but badmouth the industry -- are four times more likely to seriously contemplate quitting than blasé respondents.

The findings -- published this month in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine -- give ammo to those who'd like to see Big Tobacco targeted as a bunch of heartless bastards . . .

it warrants mentioning that the study was funded in part by the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute -- because such an organization exists. You are now free to demonize the tobacco industry -- BING!

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Beliefs About the Health Effects of "Thirdhand" Smoke and Home Smoking (Full Text PDF) 

What’s Known on This Subject

There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Thirdhand smoke is residual tobacco smoke contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. Children are uniquely susceptible to thirdhand smoke exposure.

What This Study Adds

No studies have explored whether beliefs toward thirdhand smoke are associated with behaviors that affect the health of children, such as setting strict no-smoking policies in the home. . . .

Our exploratory results do suggest a difference in protective home rules between those who simply agree that SHS is harmful to children and those who strongly agree that SHS is harmful to children. Emphasizing a high degree of harm caused by visible SHS may still have activity for encouraging home smoking bans. . . .

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated that beliefs about the health effects of thirdhand smoke are independently associated with home smoking bans. Emphasizing that thirdhand smoke harms the health of children may be an important element in encouraging home smoking bans. Health messages about thirdhand smoke contamination could be easily incorporated into current tobacco control campaigns, programs, and routine clinical practice.

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