Cigarette Smoking •

Study backs unbranded, plain cigarette packaging to check smoking habit

A new study has backed the policy of removing branding from cigarette packets will as it has showed that the measure would succeed in compelling smokers abandon the habit.

The research findings have contradicted the claims made by the tobacco industry that such a policy would turn ineffective in deterring the smokers.

The report comes in the midst of a crucial voting on switching to plain packaging in England by the lawmakers in March this year.

If the MPs votes in favour of the move, England would become the second country in the world after Australia to bring the measure to combat the rise in number of smokers.

According to the researchers, plain packaging slashed the “unconscious trigger for smoking urges” that is said to be created by the tobacco products branding.

The study showed that the branding of such injurious products increase the amount of attention that young as well as occasional smokers paid to the health warnings.

Highlighting the findings of the study, Addiction editor-in-chief Professor Robert West said, “Even if standardized packaging had no effect at all on current smokers and only stopped one in 20 young people from being lured into smoking it would save about 2,000 lives each year.”

As the government had announced in January that it would be introducing legislation supporting unbranded, plain packs ahead of the general election, the analysts are expecting the sale of tobacco products in plain, unbranded packets as early as May 2016.

The findings of the study were published in the scientific journal Addiction.

California may increase legal minimum smoking age to 21

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California may become the first US state to make 21 years the minimum legal age required for cigarette smoking.

State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa) on Thursday proposed a bill to raise the legal age for smoking in California from the existing 18 to 21 years.

If the Senate Bill 151 bill would be passed by the council, California will become the first American state to have the highest legal minimum smoking age.

Tabling in the bill in the Senate on Friday, Hernandez said, “Tobacco companies are aware that people tend to become addicted to smoking if they start it at young age. Senate Bill 151 proposes to increase the legitimate smoking age in California from 18 to 21 years in an offer to restrain tobacco smoking in children and teenagers.”

As per a report from American Lung Association of California, nine in ten smokers develop the habit of cigarette smoking when they reach the age of 18 years.

36,000 children in the golden state started smoking every year, according to the report.

Expressing concern over the rising inclination of youths toward smoking habit, Hernandez said, “We can no more bear to sit on the sidelines while huge tobacco markets to our children and gets another era of youngsters snared on an item that will at last kill them.”

Meanwhile, the experts said that such remarkable comparable recommendations of raising minimum smoking age have drastically failed in many American states, including New Jersey, Utah, Colorado and Maryland.

The bill not only intends to check the tobacco sale to those under 21 years, it would also officially allow the state health authorities carry random or on location review of the retailers linked with dealings of tobacco item. Moreover, it will also boycott commercial ads of tobacco products having individuals who are under 21.

Agencies like Cancer Action Network, American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association back the proposal.

Cigarette smoking claims lives of more than 480,000 preventable deaths every year, according to the Centers of Drug Administration and Prevention (CDC).

Alcohol consumption, Marijuana drug use decline among American teens

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A latest national study released on Tuesday has found that only fewer teenagers in the United States are now smoking cigarettes or consuming alcohol in at least last 40 years, but the use of many illicit drugs remains steady among them.

The study was conducted by the researchers at the University of Michigan under the Monitoring the Future program, which is used by the federal health officials to keep a track on the data on youth substance abuse.

Highlighting about the study’s findings, principal investigator Lloyd Johnston, said, “There is a lot of good news in this year’s results, but the problems of teen substance use and abuse are still far from going away.”

For the study, the researchers involved around 40,000 to 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in 400 schools and surveyed them about their smoking, drinking and drug addiction habits.

Researchers believe a growing peer rejection is likely to be a top factor that triggered the drop in smoking and drinking this year.

Out of the total teenagers surveyed, only 41 percent said they consumed alcohol. The figure for this year was down from a peak of 61 percent reported in 1997. The study also found a sharp decline in binge drinking.

Similarly, only 8 percent of the participants said they smoked cigarettes. This was down from a peak of 28 percent in 1997.

Researchers noted that both the consumption of alcohol and cigarette smoking was at their lowest in the history of the survey that started in 1975.

The study also showed a drop in the use of some popular illicit drugs, like ecstasy and synthetic marijuana, among the teens. But the use of drugs like cocaine, heroin and crystal methamphetamine was found unchanged in the past two years.

The participants who were surveyed also gave mixed response about the prescription drugs abuse. While the use of narcotic painkiller OxyContin was reported less, the use of stimulants Adderall and Ritalin remained steady. Nearly 5.8 percent of high school seniors this year reported using marijuana on daily or near-daily basis. This is down from 6.5 percent reported last year.

Cigarette smoking among American adults hits record low

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In an encouraging development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the rate of cigarette smoking among American adults has touched its lowest level on record, thanks to the anti-smoking campaigns, smoke-free government policies and a significant drop in its prices.

According to the federal health agency report, nearly 17.8 percent of US adults smoked cigarettes last year, which is a drop from the 2005 and 1965 figures when 20.9 percent and 42.4 percent people had undergone smoking respectively.

Notably, the US government had started keeping records on smoking trends among the adults as well as the teens since 1965.

Along with an overall decline in the numbers of adult smokers, the CDC study also found a significant drop in daily smoking habits.

As per the study, the American smokers consumed an average of 14.2 cigarettes a day in 2013, a drop from 16.7 in 2005.

Brian King, a senior advisor with the CDC’s Smoking and Health office, said even if the declining trend is an encouraging development but the current rate is not sufficient to meet the federal goal of 12 percent reduction in the adult cigarette smoking by 2020.

“We need to accelerate the magnitude of the decline,” King asserted.

With 480,000 premature deaths annually, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable disease in the United States.

The CDC credited the large scale anti-smoking and anti-tobacco awareness programs and the increased access to proper medications and rehabilitation programs for playing a major role in the dropping smoking rates.

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