Smoking and Tobacco News

The transformation of the tobacco industry into a pharmaceutical-like manufacturer and seller of “safer” noncombustible tobacco and nicotine products for smoking cessation poses a new threat to public health, according to a commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

A notable decrease in smoking among high school students was observed between 2015 and 2016, with declines in current use of any tobacco product, use of any combustible product, use of two or more tobacco products and hookah use, according to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued by the CDC.

Life expectancy is up and tobacco use is down, but there are still several concerning health indicators in the CDC’s 40th annual report on long-term trends in health and health care delivery of the nation between 1975 and 2015 which was delivered from the Secretary of HHS to President Donald Trump and Congress.

Today’s observance of World No Tobacco Day features the theme, “Tobacco — a threat to development.”

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day, a WHO-sponsored event to draw attention to the health risks linked to tobacco use and encourage governments to adopt policies that can lower smoking and other tobacco use.

According to 2015 CDC survey data, nearly 40% of U.S. adults think exposure to secondhand aerosol from electronic vapor products causes only “some” or “little” harm to children, and 33.3% remain ignorant of the risk factors of exposing nonusers to harmful substances such as aerosolized nicotine, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and ultrafine particulates, indicating a need to educate the public of the dangers of secondhand aerosol exposure from electronic vapor products.

Smoke released from heat-not-burn tobacco cigarettes contains the same harmful components as conventional tobacco cigarette smoke, according to data published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Patients with chronic lung disease who used Chantix — an agent approved to help stop smoking by addressing tobacco dependence — showed no increased risk for adverse events compared to those who used nicotine replacement therapy, according to a study that was recently published in Thorax. The findings were also applicable to bupropion, according to researchers.

Children who live in households with smokers exhibited significant levels of tobacco smoke toxins on their hands through contact with contaminated surfaces – referred to as “third-hand smoke exposure” –  despite not being present during smoking activity, according to research published in Tobacco Control.

More than one in four adults and nearly one in 10 young adults in the United States report some form of tobacco use.