Cancer warning after big rise in people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in UK

THREE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS 

NO CHAIN SMOKING LIKE CIGARETTES

Tobi Thomas
Mon, 4 March 2024

Tobacco is estimated to be directly linked to 54,300 cases of cancer a year 

in the UK.

Photograph: David Jones/PA

The number of people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in the UK has risen fivefold over a decade, and experts say this could lead to a rise in smoking-related cancers such as mouth and lung cancer.

Last year there were about 772,800 exclusive non-cigarette tobacco users, compared with 151,200 in 2013, according to a study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

The figures are based on research by UCL academics, who surveyed a representative sample of about 1,700 adults a month on their smoking habits between 2013 and 2023.


The research found that the greatest increase in the use of non-cigarette tobacco was among young adults, with 3% of 18-year-olds using these forms, compared with 1.1% of 65-year-olds. The study also found the prevalence to be higher among men and current vapers.

In 2022-23, one in 10 smokers used only non-cigarette tobacco, such as in cigars and shisha pipes. Cigars, shisha, cigarillos and pipes are non-cigarette forms of smoking and can be more harmful than cigarettes.

A person smoking a shisha pipe for between 20 and 80 minutes can inhale the same amount of smoke as someone smoking more than 100 cigarettes, according to the British Heart Foundation. The charity said tobacco-free shisha still produced dangerous toxins from the smoke.

The study said possible reasons for the stark rise could include people believing these forms of smoking may be less harmful than cigarettes, as well as financial reasons.

The study noted that the ban on menthol cigarettes in May 2020 did not include these forms of smoking. This could mean that people who preferred the flavour may have turned to other products not included in the ban, such as shisha and cigars.

Tobacco is estimated to be directly linked to 54,300 cases of cancer a year in the UK. Ministers are considering legislation that would mean anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 would not legally be able to buy cigarettes in England at any point during their lives, as the smoking age would be raised by one year every year.

Dr Ian Walker, the executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said: “Tobacco kills one person every five minutes in the UK. Research like this shows that the issue of smoking isn’t just about cigarettes – all tobacco products are harmful and cause cancer, no matter what form they come in.

“That’s why it’s crucial that the government’s age-of-sale legislation applies to all tobacco products. If implemented, this policy will be a vital step towards creating a smoke-free UK, preventing future generations from ever becoming addicted to tobacco.”

Dr Sarah Jackson, the lead author of the paper, based at UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health, said: “This 10-year-long study captures the shift in trends of non-cigarette tobacco use and paints a concerning picture. Although rates of cigarette smoking have fallen, our data show there has been a sharp rise in use of other smoked tobacco products, particularly among young people.

“It’s vital that smoking cessation services are adequately funded and available across the UK so that the around 772,800 people who use non-cigarette tobacco products, and the millions who use cigarettes, are given the support they need to quit.”

 

Study shows that smoking ‘stops’ cancer-fighting proteins, causing cancer and making it harder to treat

In-depth analysis links harmful DNA mutations to tobacco smoking and other causes of cancer

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH

November 3, TORONTO — Scientists at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) have uncovered one way tobacco smoking causes cancer and makes it harder to treat by undermining the body’s anti-cancer safeguards.

Their new study, published today in Science Advances, links tobacco smoking to harmful changes in DNA called ‘stop-gain mutations’ that tell the body to stop making certain proteins before they are fully formed.

They found that these stop-gain mutations were especially prevalent in genes known as ‘tumour-suppressors’, which make proteins that would normally prevent abnormal cells from growing.

“Our study showed that smoking is associated with changes to DNA that disrupt the formation of tumour suppressors,” says Nina Adler, a University of Toronto PhD student who led the study during her postgraduate research in Dr. Jüri Reimand’s lab at OICR. “Without them, abnormal cells are allowed to keep growing unchecked by the cell’s defenses and cancer can develop more easily.”

Adler, Reimand and colleagues used powerful computational tools to analyze DNA from more than 12,000 tumour samples across 18 different types of cancer. Their analysis showed a strong link between stop-gain mutations in lung cancer and the telltale ‘footprint’ that smoking leaves in DNA.

The researchers then looked at whether how much someone smoked had an impact. Sure enough, their analysis showed that more smoking led to more of these harmful mutations, which can ultimately make cancer more complex and harder to treat.

“Tobacco does a lot of damage to our DNA, and that can have a major impact on the function of our cells,” says Reimand, an OICR Investigator and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. “Our study highlights how tobacco smoking actually deactivates critical proteins, which are the building blocks of our cells, and the impact that can have on our long-term health.”

The study also identified other factors and processes responsible for creating large numbers of stop-gain mutations, which are also called ‘nonsense’ mutations. Some, like a group of enzymes called APOBEC that is strongly linked to stop-gain mutations in breast cancer and other cancer types, occur naturally in the body. Other factors like unhealthy diet and alcohol consumption are also likely to have similar damaging effects on DNA, but Reimand says more information is needed to fully understand how that works.

As for smoking, Adler says the findings from this study are an important piece of the puzzle behind a leading cause cancer in the world.

“Everyone knows that smoking can cause cancer, but being able to explain one of the ways this works at a molecular level is an important step in understanding how our lifestyle affects our risk of cancer,” Adler says.

OICR President and Scientific Director Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi says these new insights should reinforce that tobacco smoking is one of the biggest threats to our health.

“This is further proof of the immense damage smoking has on our bodies, and further evidence that stopping smoking is always the right choice,” Radvanyi says.

OICR is a collaborative, not-for-profit research institute funded by the Government of Ontario. We conduct and enable high-impact translational cancer research to accelerate the development of discoveries for patients around the world while maximizing the economic benefit of this research for the people of Ontario. For more information visit http://www.oicr.on.ca.

The views expressed are those of OICR and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province of Ontario.

---

JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adh3083 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Mutational processes of tobacco smoking and APOBEC activity generate protein-truncating mutations in cancer genomes

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

3-Nov-2023

Smoking Bans Hurt Business

Two interesting blog posts on the impact of smoking bans in Canada.

In Edmonton with the most draconian smoking ban in Canada bingos have lost $6 million dollars reports Surreality Times.

ST also exposes the taxpayer funded cabal behind the anti-smoking crusade. Who are pushing their agenda on the current crop of wannabe Ralphs.

Werner Patels takes up the issue of the Quebec smoking ban; Québec bar owners to go to court

The smoking ban in Edmonton will have a direct impact on casinos now that there is a new casino just outside the city limits which allows for smoking. Rivals say Enoch casino has advantage

Since the anti-smoking lobby is directly funded by taxpayers who smoke is it any wonder they want to increase tobbaco taxes?Anti-smoking Group Urges $2 Increase In Cost Of Cigarettes Gives them more money for their lobby industry, and it is a very lucrative industry for doctors and the government.

See:

Smoking


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta, Quebec, anti-smoking, smoking, tobbaco, smoking-ban, bings, casinos, Enoch, cigarettes, ADDAC, Edmonton, lobby, Canada, bylaws, smoking-laws, blogs, bloggers

Smoking At Home Will Be Banned

The social fascists that want to stamp out smoking will now be calling for the end of smoking in your home.Most Canadian homes now smoke-free, poll finds

Its just a matter of time, we have been exiled from public places, forced to smoke outside and now we are being forced to smoke outside our homes.Smokers taking it outside

And no sooner will that be encouraged then some Anti Smoking Advocate, paid for with our tax dollars from our cigarette taxes will tell us they want to ban us from smoking outside. Cause it might conflict with all the toxins already in the air from gasoline, pollution, industrial exhausts, etc.

Smokers: Butt out this year

There is no better time to quit your habit, says Jim Watson

Jan. 17, 2006. 01:00 AM

As we mark Weedless Wednesday tomorrow, it is time to take a serious look at the costs of smoking in Ontario. The Conference Board of Canada says that it costs $1,995 more to employ a smoker than a non-smoker. That cost includes increased absenteeism, decreased productivity, higher life insurance premiums and costs related to maintaining a smoking area.In Ontario, smoking costs us $1.7 billion in health-care costs. Smoking harms every organ in the body and half of all heavy smokers will die as a result of their habit.Basic math tells us that a pack a day smoker will spend approximately $2,500 on cigarettes in 2006.

And thats all tax money for the provincial and federal government to use for healthcare. Smokers have rights too. Though the social fascists forget that.

The Public Health Risk from Second Hand Smoke is STATISTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT
Because they never measure the existing non-tobacco pollutants in either the outside or indoor air.

Also See: Where there's Smoke there's Smokers and Smoking Mad

SMOKERS RIGHTS GROUPS

Smokers' rights group takes to the web

http://www.mychoice.ca/

Smokers Blogs

Smoking Freedom Activist Network

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FORCES INTERNATIONAL






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Canada
smoking
smokers rights
anti-smoking
ASH

Most US adults who vape want to quit, study finds

Vaping cessation interest is highest among former cigarette smokers, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers find

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Research News

 

IMAGE: HEADSHOT OF THE STUDY'S FIRST AUTHOR AMANDA PALMER, PH.D., POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES AT THE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA view more 

CREDIT: MUSC HOLLINGS CANCER CENTER

More than 60% of U.S. adults who vape are interested in quitting, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open by MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers. And among those who vape to help them to quit smoking, some are successful while others continue smoking and using electronic cigarettes.

The study, which analyzed longitudinal survey data from more than 30,000 adults across the country, aimed to provide the most up-to-date estimate of how many Americans are interested in stopping their use of e-cigarettes or have made past attempts to quit.

According to the findings, former cigarette smokers had the highest intentions and interest in quitting. This is likely due to an increasing number of smokers using e-cigarettes to transition away from cigarettes, said the study's authors.

While evidence has shown that switching to e-cigarettes can be as effective as medication-based treatments for smoking cessation in some cases, many people continue to vape even after they've quit smoking. Those who aren't able to stop smoking often end up using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes simultaneously, increasing potential risks to their health.

"One of the best things you can do for your health is to stop smoking. While e-cigarettes may work for some people, they're hindering quit attempts for other people," said Amanda Palmer, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in MUSC's Department of Public Health Sciences and the study's first author.

"What's interesting about the people who keep using e-cigarettes after they've quit smoking is that we don't really see that effect with other types of nicotine replacement drugs. It's rare to see someone still using a nicotine patch or nicotine gum months or years after they've quit smoking, so there's something special about e-cigarettes, even though they're delivering the same drug."

From one addictive habit to another

Unlike other nicotine replacement therapies, e-cigarettes are created to be addictive and have a similar nicotine curve to regular cigarettes, making it difficult for people to quit. People who use both cigarettes and e-cigarettes often report feeling more addicted and have trouble quitting either product.

To make matters worse, there are currently no evidence-based treatments that help people who want to quit vaping. Psychologists like Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., chief of Tobacco Cessation and Health Behaviors at Hollings and the study's senior author, can only offer methods that are proven to help people to quit smoking, which may not be relevant to adults who vape.

"I think we're doing patients a disservice by not having rigorous research to give these patients appropriate evidence-based care," said Toll, who also co-directs Hollings' Lung Cancer Screening Program. "Many of my patients who have switched to e-cigarettes find it challenging to stop using them. I would like to have data supporting the methods I share with them, and we currently don't have those in any of our clinical practice guidelines."

Smoking cessation is best achieved through a combination of medication and behavioral counseling that helps people to break the habit with coping skills and substituted behaviors. But because there may be different reasons and situations that cause people to pick up an e-cigarette versus a cigarette, the methods that help people to quit successfully may vary.

Palmer explained it this way. "If you use cigarettes, you're probably smoking for a short duration 10 to 20 times per day, whereas a lot of our e-cigarette users are vaping continuously all day and in situations where they might not otherwise be smoking," she said. "That's evidence that there needs to be different behavioral treatments, because the coping strategies I would recommend to someone who smokes are not the same for someone using e-cigarettes."

A growing need for data

Aside from uncovering how many people want to quit vaping, this study sheds light on the urgent need to understand e-cigarette use among adults more fully. Recent estimates show that roughly 3% of U.S. adults vape, but the popularity of these products may be rising.

"A lot of the press and attention around e-cigarette use has to do with youth and adolescents, but it feels like a lot of people older than 25 who use e-cigarettes tend to be left out of that conversation," said Palmer, who noted that adults are likely vaping for different reasons than those age 18 and younger.

Young people are more likely to vape on an experimental basis, whereas adults - especially those who are using e-cigarettes to quit smoking - are often using them consistently, resulting in a need for tailored interventions.

Now that they know that most adults who vape want to quit eventually, Hollings researchers plan to focus on developing data-driven interventions to help people to achieve that goal.

Palmer is beginning a new pilot study to test basic self-help kits that combine tailored medications and behavioral support that providers can offer to patients who express interest in quitting e-cigarettes. The study will also solicit feedback from providers and adults who vape about what they think they may need to quit or to help their patients to quit.

Until more data is available, Palmer and Toll recommend that people who want to use e-cigarettes as a method to stop smoking weigh the pros and cons of all available interventions before making that decision. They also urge patients to speak with their medical providers to determine which approach may be best for them.

"E-cigarettes are addictive and are not 100% safe," said Palmer. "If you're considering vaping as a method to quit smoking, consider some of the risks and benefits, and be aware that many people continue to vape after they quit smoking."

###

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the oldest medical school in the South, as well as the state's only integrated, academic health sciences center with a unique charge to serve the state through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and nearly 800 residents in six colleges: Dental Medicine, Graduate Studies, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The state's leader in obtaining biomedical research funds, in fiscal year 2019, MUSC set a new high, bringing in more than $284 million. For information on academic programs, visit musc.edu.

As the clinical health system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest quality patient care available, while training generations of competent, compassionate health care providers to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. Comprising some 1,600 beds, more than 100 outreach sites, the MUSC College of Medicine, the physicians' practice plan, and nearly 275 telehealth locations, MUSC Health owns and operates eight hospitals situated in Charleston, Chester, Florence, Lancaster and Marion counties. In 2019, for the fifth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visit muschealth.org.

MUSC and its affiliates have collective annual budgets of $3.2 billion. The more than 17,000 MUSC team members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers and scientists who deliver groundbreaking education, research, technology and patient care.

About MUSC Hollings Cancer Center

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and the largest academic-based cancer research program in South Carolina. The cancer center comprises more than 100 faculty cancer scientists and 20 academic departments. It has an annual research funding portfolio of more than $44 million and a dedication to reducing the cancer burden in South Carolina. Hollings offers state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques within multidisciplinary clinics that include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation therapists, radiologists, pathologists, psychologists and other specialists equipped for the full range of cancer care, including more than 200 clinical trials. For more information, visit hollingscancercenter.musc.edu.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the ac

UC San Diego study: E-cigarettes don’t help smokers stay off cigarettes

Cigarette smokers who quit smoking but substitute e-cigarettes, or other tobacco product, are more likely to relapse

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO

 

IMAGE: JOHN P. PIERCE, PH.D., DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR AT THE HERBERT WERTHEIM SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN LONGEVITY SCIENCE AT UC SAN DIEGO view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have suggested that smokers who are unable to quit smoking may benefit by switching from smoking cigarettes to vaping e-cigarettes if they switch completely and are able to avoid relapsing to cigarette smoking.

However, there have been few studies on whether smokers are able to transition to e-cigarettes—battery-operated devices that heat a liquid made of nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals to make an aerosol that users inhale into their lungs—without relapsing back to cigarette smoking.

Published in the Oct. 19, 2021 online issue of JAMA Network Open, an analysis by the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center reports that e-cigarette use—even on a daily basis—did not help smokers successfully stay off cigarettes.

“Our findings suggest that individuals who quit smoking and switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products actually increased their risk of a relapse back to smoking over the next year by 8.5 percentage points compared to those who quit using all tobacco products,” said first author John P. Pierce, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

“Quitting is the most important thing a smoker can do to improve their health, but the evidence indicates that switching to e-cigarettes made it less likely, not more likely, to stay off of cigarettes.”

Researchers used data from the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) longitudinal study, undertaken by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the FDA Center for Tobacco Products under contract with Westat. The team identified 13,604 smokers between in 2013 and 2015 who were followed over two sequential annual surveys to explore changes in use of 12 tobacco products.

At the first annual follow up, 9.4% of these established smokers had quit. Now considered “former smokers,” 62.9% of these individuals remained tobacco free, while 37.1% had switched to another form of tobacco use. Of these recent smokers who switched to another product, 22.8% used e-cigarettes, with 17.6% of switchers using e-cigarettes daily.

Recent former smokers who switched to e-cigarettes were more likely to be non-Hispanic white, have higher incomes, have higher tobacco dependence scores and view e-cigarettes as less harmful than traditional cigarettes.

“Our goal in this study was to assess whether recent former smokers who had switched to e-cigarettes or another tobacco product were less likely to relapse to cigarette smoking compared to those who remained tobacco free,” said senior author Karen Messer, Ph.D., professor and chief of the Division of Biostatistics at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.

At the second annual follow up, the authors compared the former smokers who were tobacco free to those who had switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products. Individuals who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, were more likely to relapse compared to former smokers who had quit all tobacco, by a total of 8.5 percentage points.

Among recent former smokers who abstained from all tobacco products, 50% were 12 or more months off cigarettes at the second follow up and were considered to have successfully quit smoking; this compared to 41.5% of recent former smokers who switched to any other form of tobacco use, including e-cigarettes.

While individuals who switched were more likely to relapse to smoking, they were also more likely to attempt to quit again and be off cigarettes for at least three months at the second follow up. A further follow-up survey is needed to identify whether this is evidence of a pattern of chronic quitting and relapsing to cigarette smoking, or whether it is part of progress toward successful quitting, said the researchers.

“This is the first study to take a deep look at whether switching to a less harmful nicotine source can be maintained over time without relapsing to cigarette smoking,” said Pierce. “If switching to e-cigarettes was a viable way to quit cigarette smoking, then those who switched to e-cigarettes should have much lower relapse rates to cigarette smoking. We found no evidence of this.”

Co-authors include: Ruifeng Chen, Sheila Kealey, Eric C. Leas, Martha M. White, Matthew D. Stone, Sara B. McMenamin, Dennis R. Trinidad, David R. Strong and Tarik Benmarhnia, all of UC San Diego.

This research was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (1R01CA234539) and the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of the University of California Office of the President (28IR-0066).

Disclosures: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Full study when embargo lifts: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28810?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=101921

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Incidence of Cigarette Smoking Relapse Among Quitters Who Switched to E-Cigarettes or Other Tobacco Products: A Cohort Study

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Oct-2021

COI STATEMENT

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Smoking is even more damaging to the heart than previously thought

Reports and Proceedings

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CARDIOLOGY

Barcelona, Spain – 25 Aug 2022: Smokers have weaker hearts than non-smokers, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2022.1 The study found that the more people smoked, the worse their heart function became. Some function was restored when people kicked the habit.

“It is well known that smoking causes blocked arteries, leading to coronary heart disease and stroke,” said study author Dr. Eva Holt of Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. “Our study shows that smoking also leads to thicker, weaker hearts. It means that smokers have a smaller volume of blood in the left heart chamber and less power to pump it out to the rest of the body. The more you smoke, the worse your heart function becomes. The heart can recuperate to some degree with smoking cessation, so it is never too late to quit.”

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco kills more than eight million people each year.2 Cigarette smoking is responsible for 50% of all avoidable deaths in smokers, with half of these due to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke.3 The detrimental effects of smoking on the arteries and arterial diseases such as heart attack and stroke are well established.4

Studies have also shown that smoking is associated with a higher risk of heart failure, where the heart muscle does not pump blood around the body as well as it should, usually because it is too weak or stiff. This means that the body does not receive the oxygen and nutrients it needs to work normally. The link between smoking and heart structure and function has not been fully examined. This study therefore explored whether smoking was related to changes in the structure and function of the heart in people without cardiovascular disease, and the effect of changing smoking habits.

The study used data from the 5th Copenhagen City Heart Study which investigated cardiovascular risk factors and diseases in the general population. A total of 3,874 participants aged 20 to 99 years without heart disease were enrolled. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on smoking history and to estimate pack-years, which is the number of cigarettes smoked through life. One pack-year is defined as 20 cigarettes smoked every day for one year.

Participants had an ultrasound of the heart, called echocardiography, which provides information about its structure and how well it is working. The researchers compared the echocardiography measures of current smokers versus never smokers after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and lung function.

The average age of participants was 56 years and 43% were women. Nearly one in five participants were current smokers (18.6%), while 40.9% were former smokers and 40.5% had never smoked. Compared to never smokers, current smokers had thicker, weaker and heavier hearts. Increasing pack-years were associated with pumping less blood. Dr. Holt explained: “We found that current smoking and accumulated pack-years were associated with worsening of the structure and function of the left heart chamber – the most important part of the heart. Furthermore, we found that over a 10-year period, those who continued smoking developed thicker, heavier and weaker hearts that were less able to pump blood compared to never smokers and those who quit during that time.”

She concluded: “Our study indicates that smoking not only damages the blood vessels but also directly harms the heart. The good news is that some of the damage is reversible by giving up.”

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

Email: press@escardio.org

The hashtag for ESC Congress 2022 is #ESCCongress.

Follow us on Twitter @ESCardioNews 

Funding: The Copenhagen City Heart Study is funded by The Danish Heart Foundation and The Metropolitan Region of Denmark.

 

Disclosures: Tor Biering-Sørensen reports: Steering Committee member of the Amgen financed GALACTIC-HF trial. Chief investigator and steering committee chair of the Sanofi Pasteur financed “NUDGE- FLU” trial. Chief investigator and steering committee chair of the Sanofi Pasteur financed “DANFLU-1” trial. Chief investigator and steering committee chair of the Sanofi Pasteur financed “DANFLU-2” trial. Steering Committee member of “LUX-Dx TRENDS Evaluates Diagnostics Sensors in Heart Failure Patients Receiving Boston Scientific's Investigational ICM System” trial. Advisory Board: Sanofi Pasteur, Amgen and GSK. Speaker Honorarium: Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur and GSK. Research grants: GE Healthcare and Sanofi Pasteur. The remaining authors have nothing to disclose.

 

References and notes

1The abstract “The effects of smoking on cardiac structure and function in a general population” will be presented during the session Risk stratification with echocardiographic parameters on Friday 26 August at 10:15 to 11:00 CEST at Station 1.

2World Health Organization tobacco fact sheet: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco.

3Visseren FLJ, Mach F, Smulders YM, et al. 2021 ESC Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. Eur Heart J. 2021;42:3227–3337.

4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention smoking and cardiovascular disease fact sheet: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/50th-anniversary/pdfs/fs_smoking_CVD_508.pdf.

 

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology brings together health care professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people lead longer, healthier lives.

About ESC Congress 2022

It is the world’s largest gathering of cardiovascular professionals, disseminating ground-breaking science both onsite in Barcelona and online – from 26 to 29 August. Explore the scientific programme. More information is available from the ESC Press Office at press@escardio.org.

Public call for tougher restrictions on buying tobacco in Britain

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

People in Britain strongly support restricting the sale of tobacco near schools and raising the legal age of sale to 21, finds a new UCL-led study.

In collaboration with The University of Edinburgh and Cardiff University, the research, published in Tobacco Control, examined data from the Cancer Research UK and SPECTRUM*-funded Smoking Toolkit Study, which has surveyed approximately 1,700 adults each month from England since 2006, and 2,200 adults each month from England, Scotland and Wales, since 2020.

The researchers examined data from September 2021, which asked participants about their views on potential policies targeting the availability of tobacco and cigarettes.

The results indicated that most of those surveyed supported retailers having their license revoked if they sold tobacco products to those under-age (89.6%) and for restrictions on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco near schools (69.9%).

Meanwhile, half (49.2%) thought that the legal age of sale for cigarettes and tobacco should be raised to 21, compared with just under a third who were opposed to the idea (30.7%).

Participants were also in favour of reducing the number of retailers selling tobacco in neighbourhoods that already had a high density of tobacco retailers – with almost half (46.5%) showing their support, compared with less than a quarter (23.3%) who disagreed.

Lead author Dr Loren Kock (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health) said: “Our findings indicate that policies to restrict tobacco retail near schools, and for tobacco retailer licences would receive strong majority support from the British public if legislated.

“Raising the age of sale to 21 and reducing the number of tobacco retailers also received greater support than opposition.

“However, a substantial proportion of respondents report having no opinion either way on these policies, suggesting there is potential to grow public support through clearer communication on the evidence and benefits of these policies.

“Moreover, support for tobacco availability policy may grow, and opposition diminish, if policies are demonstrated to be effective, and as future generations grow up without cigarettes.”

There are around 6.9million adult cigarette smokers in the UK, who spend approximately £15.6billion a year on legal and illicit tobacco.

Currently the law prohibits the sale of tobacco products to those under the age of 18. And previous studies have shown that a ban on the sale of tobacco products near schools could stop children from taking up the habit.

In 2019, the UK Government set an objective for England to be smokefree by 2030, meaning only 5% of the population would smoke by then. However, a recent report by Dr Javed Khan OBE, highlighted that particularly poorer areas may struggle to reach this target unless the rate of decline of people who smoke is accelerated by 40% **.

Niamh Shortt, Personal Chair of Health Geographies, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, said: “Across the UK nations targets have been set to radically reduce the proportion of people that smoke over the next decade.

“This new research shows that the public strongly support the introduction of new measures needed to meet these ambitious targets, including reducing the local availability of tobacco products.

“Having wide scale public support to introduce restrictions on the sales of tobacco should embolden the UK and devolved governments to introduce new policies restricting access to tobacco, particularly amongst children, and ensure future generations are tobacco free.”

Study limitations

The use of cross-sectional observational data and potentially unmeasured covariates limits the ability to infer causality between included variables (namely sociodemographic and smoking and quitting characteristics) and support for policies. The sample sizes for the sub-group analyses in Scotland and Wales analyses may also be underpowered.

Data on support for tobacco availability were collected during one survey wave, and if further data were collected the results may change.

* SPECTRUM is a UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) consortium.

** https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-khan-review-making-smoking-obsolete/making-smoking-obsolete-summary

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JOURNAL

Tobacco Control

DOI

10.1136/tc-2022-057508 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Assessing the profile of support for potential tobacco control policies targeting availability in Great Britain: a cross-sectional population survey

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Aug-2022

The New Prohibition

Smoking....

Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday.




SEE:

Casablanca R Rated

Anti-Smoking Hypocrites

Punishing the Victim

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Scientists discover cause of smoking addiction – and how to cure it

Joe Pinkstone
Tue, 15 August 2023 a

Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the UK

A cure for smoking could be on the horizon after scientists discovered how the brain becomes addicted to nicotine.

Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the UK and is responsible for more than a quarter of all cancer deaths.

University of Cambridge scientists studied brain scans of more than 800 people taken when they were 14, 19 and 24 and analysed any impact smoking had.

They found that smokers were more likely to have a smaller region in the frontal lobe called the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

This part of the brain is linked to rule breaking and the study suggests people with a naturally smaller lobe are likely more inclined to break rules and be a renegade.

However, data also show that the right-hand side of the same brain region is also affected by smoking. This section is involved in controlling willpower and triggering feelings of pleasure and the scans reveal it shrinks in smokers.

“There was a reduction in brain grey matter volume in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex which likely causes impulsive behaviour and rule breaking that leads to the initiation of cigarette smoking,” study author Prof Barbara Sahakian, from the University of Cambridge, told The Telegraph.

“Cigarette smoking leads to reductions in brain grey matter volume in the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with sensation seeking and pleasurable experiences that reinforces and maintains future cigarette smoking. This eventually leads to addiction.”

The study, published in Nature Communications, looked at any brain changes that happened after people started smoking and found nicotine was associated with significant changes.

Vaping addiction

Although the study only looked at smoking of cigarettes the scientists think the changes in the brain could also be caused by vaping.

“The nicotine effect we found with smoking cigarettes may also apply to e-cigarettes,” Prof Sahakian told The Telegraph. “Both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is highly addictive. There is an increasing concern about adolescents becoming addicted to vaping.”

The scientists believe they have discovered a “neurological mechanism” which underpins how people start smoking and what makes it so hard to quit.

The team says that now they know where, and how, nicotine is warping the mind then it could be possible to treat addiction.

Some therapies, such as psychotropic drugs, could stop the brain shrinking or keep the frontal lobe working normally, they write in their paper.

Another option could be using brain-zapping technology to target this region of the brain as a “potential treatment for addiction”, the team added.