ASH Daily News for 05 August 2009

Bristol campaign to stop women smoking

Bristol has been selected as the first city to take part in the "beauty event" which is a partnership between the Department of Health, Smokefree South West and Boots [Pharmacy]

The event is based on the concept that "real beauty is smokefree" and that the best thing you can do to enhance your looks this summer is to stop smoking.

According to a recent survey, nearly a quarter of women in the region and almost a third of young people aged 16-24 smoke.

The research reveals that the South West has the largest number of young people who smoke compared to the rest of England. Beauty consultants will be on hand in-store to provide free manicures and health and beauty advice to female smokers, and to reinforce the positive beauty effects to be gained by quitting smoking.

They will be supported by advisers from Bristol NHS Stop Smoking Service who will offer advice to women on how to take the first steps towards quitting.

Source: thisisbristol, 04 August 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/mblbvd

Drug significantly improves smoking-caused lung damage in former smokers

Iloprost, a drug used regularly to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, has been found to significantly improve the damage in former smokers, according to results of a multicenter Phase II clinical trial led by the University of Colorado Cancer Center. The results of the study were presented Aug. 2 at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting in San Francisco.

The researchers examined lung biopsies of 152 people who had smoked at least 20 pack-years—equivalent to one pack a day for 20 years—before and after six months of treatment with either oral iloprost or placebo.

None of the 82 current smokers who entered the trial saw significant improvement in the signs of lung disease, but former smokers treated with iloprost showed significant improvement.

“These results are exciting because they show we can actually keep former smokers from developing lung cancer with a drug that has been used routinely for other problems,” said the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Robert Keith, associate professor of pulmonary medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and associate chief of staff for research at the Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Iloprost is commonly used to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, called pulmonary hypertension. It is similar to a body chemical called prostacyclin which widens blood vessels to lessen blood pressure.

The project started at the University of Colorado Cancer Center Lung Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence. In 1997, while doing animal work with prostacyclin in pulmonary hypertension, Keith and his UCCC research collaborators realized that the mice did not develop lung cancer.

“We then looked at tumor tissue and learned that if you have the enzyme that makes prostacyclin and have lung cancer, you live longer,” Keith said. “We have also learned that prostacyclin helps prevent tumours from creating new blood vessels and prevents cells from dividing abnormally. We tested iloprost in animal models, and after showing that animals were protected from developing cancer, we moved the drug into human trials.”

Keith said the next step is to test the drug in a bigger, Phase III study, to determine exactly who will benefit most from taking the drug.

Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer of men and women. The National Cancer Institute estimates more than 219,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, and more than 159,000 will die from the disease. There is no confirmed early detection test for lung cancer.

The study, which was funded by National Cancer Institute and the Department of Veterans Affairs, was conducted at multiple centers specializing in lung cancer.

Source: Health News Digest, 03 August 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/l5xjck

New Zealand: Duty-free cigarettes costing millions

The Government is missing out on millions of dollars in tax because of cigarettes bought overseas, according to a study of litter by Otago University.

The researchers, from the university's Wellington campus, collected 1310 empty cigarette packets from the streets of four cities and six towns for the study.

They identified 3.2 per cent of the packs as being from outside New Zealand, meaning the Government missed out on at least $36 million in tax on tobacco and GST.

Lead investigator Nick Wilson believed the amount of missing tax was actually much higher, as it was not possible to determine which New Zealand-branded cigarettes had been bought duty-free.

The missed revenue could have been used for quitting campaigns.

"The scale of this revenue loss and the health implications are a strong argument for the Government to consider ending the sale of duty-free tobacco on entry to New Zealand, and to remove any duty-free allowance for incoming passengers, as in Singapore," Dr Wilson said.

"A further possibility is to ban the carrying in of any amount of tobacco altogether."

Source:  NZ Herald, 04 August 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/nkwcj3

One third of Bulgarian cigarettes sold illegally

One third of the tobacco products in Bulgaria are sold on the black market according to state owned tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac.

The illegal selling of cigarettes has risen exponentially due to the financial crisis, with most shop owners being tempted by the large number of offers of products without excise labels.

In a market in Sofia, 10 packets of a famous brand can be bought without an excise label for BGN 25 and with a label for BGN 39.

Meanwhile, the energy and economy minister Traicho Traikov said on Monday.that the previous governments had missed the right time to privatize Bulgartabac but that the new cabinet could speed up the process.

He added that they could even sell the company by the end of the year through a public tender, and under the condition that the new owner would buy out the existing tobacco yield.

Source: Novinite, 03 August 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/ms2z7x