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Subscribe to RSSLONDON -–Women in developing countries are starting to smoke at younger ages, according to a study that found "alarming patterns" of tobacco use around the world.
Despite years of anti-smoking measures being encouraged across the world, most developing countries have low quit rates, according to the study in The Lancet medical journal on Friday -- and tobacco is likely to kill half its users.
Wide differences exist in the rates of smoking between genders and nations, as well as major disparities in access to effective anti-smoking policies and treatments.
"Although 1.1 billion people have been covered by the adoption of the most effective tobacco-control policies since 2008, 83 percent of the world's population are not covered by two or more of these policies," Gary Giovino of the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions in New York, who led the research, told Reuters.
Such measures include legislation in some developed nations banning smoking in public places, imposing advertising bans and requiring more graphic health warnings on cigarette packets.
The findings come as the world's leading tobacco firms, British American Tobacco, Britain's Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco lost a crucial legal appeal in Australia this week against the introduction of plain tobacco packaging.
Australia's planned "no logo" laws are in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and are being watched closely by Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures to help fight smoking.
Full Health coverage on NBCNews.com
Tobacco kills up to half of its users, according to the WHO. Smoking causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killers. Other forms of tobacco use include snuff or chewing tobacco.
Australian court OKs logo ban on cigarette packs
Giovino said his findings "reinforce the need for effective tobacco control."
Higher rate of smoking in men
Using data from Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS) carried out between 2008 and 2010, Giovino's team compared patterns of tobacco use and cessation in people aged 15 or older from 14 low- and middle-income countries. They included data from Britain and the United States for comparison.
CNBC's Brian Shactman explains why investors are attracted to high dividend yielding tobacco stocks.
More Cancer news and information on NBCNews.com
They found disproportionately high rates of smoking among men -- at an average 41 percent versus 5 percent in women -- and wide variation in smoking prevalence between GATS countries, ranging from about 22 percent of men in Brazil to more than 60 percent in Russia.
Rates of female smoking ranged from 0.5 percent in Egypt to almost 25 percent in Poland. Women in Britain and the United States also had high smoking rates, at 21 percent and 16 percent respectively.
Study finds slowing drop in youth tobacco use
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the rate of decline in youth smoking in the United States has virtually ceased in recent years.
In the wake of a new study showing high rates of smoking among teens, the Centers for Disease Control issued a new 12-week ad campaign to get people to stop smoking. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
The new study in The Lancet found that around 64 percent of tobacco users smoke manufactured cigarettes, although loose-leaf chewing tobacco and snuff were particularly common in India and Bangladesh.
Giovino also pointed to the link between tobacco use and escalating health-care costs.
"Tobacco contributes an enormous burden to the health care system in developed countries, and that scenario will play out in the not-too-distant future in low and middle income countries. It already has in many countries, in India for example," Giovino told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America broadcaster.
Complete World news coverage on NBCNews.com
Dr. Cheryl Healton with the American Legacy Foundation offers tips for smokers trying to quit smoking. NBC's Erika Edwards has the report.
Hundreds of millions of smokers in China
With an estimated 301 million tobacco users, China has more than any other country, closely followed by India with almost 275 million. Other countries included in the study were Bangladesh, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam.
The researchers said the rise in tobacco use among young women was of particular concern.
Researchers also said that powerful pro-tobacco forces were at work in countries such as China.
"The China National Tobacco Company has supported elementary schools in China, dozens and dozens of them. And they use their support to promote propaganda about tobacco use, and they are basically telling students that genius comes from hard work and tobacco helps them to be successful. That to me is mind boggling, that a government would tell its children to use tobacco to be successful when tobacco will addict them and shorten their lives," Giovino told Voice of America.
EU considering cigarette logo ban to deter smoking
A new study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health says nicotine gum and patches may not help people quit smoking after all. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
'Extraordinary' under-funding
In a commentary about the study also published in The Lancet, Jeffrey Koplan from Emory University in Atlanta and Judith Mackay from the World Lung Foundation in Hong Kong called for more investment in tobacco control measures, saying current under-funding was "extraordinary."
In low income countries, they said, for every $9,100 received in tobacco taxes, only $1 was spent on tobacco control.
Cigarettes are to be banished from sight in England's shops. After 2015, retailers won't be allowed to display tobacco. The British government is also considering whether to require tobacco products be sold in plain packaging. ITV's Chris Choi reports.
The WHO says tobacco already kills around 6 million people a year worldwide, including more than 600,000 non-smokers who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
By 2030, if current trends continue, the WHO predicts tobacco could be killing 8 million people a year.
Read the full report on The Lancet (registration required to read the full study)
Reuters contributed to this report.
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We may have just discovered a new Malthusian check.
Here is a sad but inescapable truth - you are going to die: We all do; eventually. Now - do you want to die after living a life during which faceless bureaucrats and do-gooders harp incessantly about smoking and 24-ounce sugary drinks; or do you want to live free of nannies and cottonwool Stasi agents . . .and make up your own mind . . .
The tobacco companies know if you don't hook em while their young you won't hook em at all. Crack dealers are on the same page as the tobacco companies.
I won't lie, I've been smoking on and off since I was 13 yrs old. It seemed so cool back then. For some reason I just can't kick the habit. The educated part of me says "no" but there is another part that says "smoking is the best feeling in the world".
What could be a better feeling then knowing that you are destroying your own and other life forms?
What could be a better feeling then knowing you are getting a temporary fix that involves negative results such as: Blackened lungs, rotted teeth, blindness, yellowed skin, foul stench on breath, clothes, hands, furniture, walls, cars and all that the smoke touches, possible, cancer, Asthma, or emphysema, Wheezing, coughing and sinus trouble.
Filters are not, but aside from that do you know how many fires are caused every year by cigarette butts being thrown out the windows of cars. Your tax dollars at work putting out the fires and traffic delays are expensive for us but makes the oil corporations millions. Oh, one more thing, I know by your post you don't ride a motorcycle!
This is really getting old. I don't smoke but I am getting tired of listening to these anti smoking clowns. My god, just breathing air can kill you, but these clowns have decided they have to tell others what they can and cannot do. What a bunch of controlling fools.
If they really want to do something, go after the fatsos who cost the Health Care Billions. THese fat fools have a lot more problems than smokers, and funny enough most of the pictures I have seen of these clowns is they are either overweight tons of fun, or skinny little twerps who have their own problems.
And the smoker in the White House should just tell them all to go to Hell, and get the Govt. out of the Anti Smoking Campaign.
Chippie I am a recent ex-smoker going on two Months anyway I agree with you about the Obese people. When I smoked I would have a Fat Lady and her Fat Kid standing outside a store and have the nerve to tell me not to smoke by her Child. I very well could have told her Lady keep that fork out of your mouth and then you can comment about the harm my cigarette is causing. Obese people the picture of health aren't they. You don't go to bed weighing 150lbs then wake up weighing 300lbs.
You idiot! The obese women and her child is not affecting your health. But your fuching cigarette does encroach on my health. My grandmother lost her voice becaue she worked with idiot women who smoked for 25 years. Try losing your voice idiot and we'll see how much that obese women caused that to happen. I have NO problem with smokers as it is natures way of eliminating the stupid from this earth. Survival of the fittest and I am doing well, thank you!
ranknfile--your argument only works if that fat lady was forcing her fat food down your throat.....but I do want to commend you for quitting smoking after 35 years--that is DEFINITELY an accomplishment! I've watched loved ones try to quit smoking, and I realize how hard it was for them--some succeeded, others died of it, some smoke still.
These comments are sooo depressing. I think I'll go down to the loading dock and have smoke. That'll make me feel a little better. ;-)
All the revenue in taxes that these countries get in order to try to convince the population to stop smoking will be lost. Don't tell someone to stop using something you are dependent on the taxes to balance your budget. If you are going to show human suffering due to smoking show the suffering due to religion. When one group of religious nuts go against the other in the middle east. Show the effects of drinking and driving. Show the result of the biggest problem, drugs. We have declared "war of drugs" for years now and guess what, we are losing. Certainly you have to count the Mexican deaths due to the cartels. The crimes to support the expensive habit are rampant. We tell the public to not use the very things we tax the most. I speak of gas and tobacco. Things we don't tax and therefore get no revenue from we don't tell them to quit those. I would think we spend more money treating drug addiction than we do treating smokers. Now Calif. wants to legalize drugs just so they can tax it. Perhaps they figure that by doing that they will make up for the revenue loss on legal tobacco. I would like to see figures of the poppy trade in Afghanistan since we tried to bribe the poor farmers to stop growing it. A Florida official admitted once that the top cash crop in his state was pot. He of course couldn't list it on the official reports since it wouldn't look good for the top cash crop to be an illegal one. Looks bad on law enforcement. As for the shock ad photos you can find a few in any subject from drugs to texting while driving or even snake bite photos in the magazines where the guy had his whole arm cut up or off.
The problem is that the research is so lacking that people don't know what to think.
On top of that, we all probably know someone that has smoked since they were 13, and they are now in their 80's or 90's and only have normal aging issues, no smoking related illnesses. That is my mothers case. A pack a day smoker since her early teens, 80 years of age, and only normal, age related health issues.
People see the images in the ads and think that person was smoking 3-4 packs a day. And the research doesn't ever cover that kind of data. We don't hear about a breakdown based on usage. We don't hear if they smoked lights, menthol or full flavor. There are so many variables which the public understands exist, but it seems that the researchers don't think variables exist, or that those facts don't need to be reported.
A blanket statement about smoking is the most ineffective statement that the anti-smoking groups could put out. The public needs facts and figures, facts and figures that support what they see in their lives and their day to day actions, facts and figures that reflect reality.
If tobacco is so bad for you, why don't they start with the manufacturer? If they make tobacco available to purchase, people will buy it. If this is the major
cause to the increase in medical costs, then ban it. Then you will have fewer people dying from tobacco related diseases. They banned marijuana, so why not tobacco…. Or force the manufacturers to design less destructive tobacco, or stop them from putting all the chemicals in it.
It is sad that at this late date in time the tobacco industry is freely allowed to sell their poisonous drug. But when politicians are paid off... anything goes.
"The latest update shows that so far during the 2011-2012 election cycle, tobacco company political action committees (PACs) donated $748,015 directly to federal candidates. During the 2009-2010 election cycle, tobacco PACs gave more than $1.5 million in contributions to federal candidates."
In spite of what they say about the patches they worked for me anyway I smoked for 35 yrs and finally quit using all three steps of the patches. I quit mainly because of the price of Cigarettes then Health concerns of course. And it really is like being Free again. If your on the fence about quitting don't be it's worth it but you can't go at it alone. "Good Luck"
They don't care because they are depressed about the world. It's the same reason they drink alcohol and use other drugs. No, medication is not the answer. Give people a world and governments they can believe in and all sorts of social ills will diminish.
Stop using Zippo fluid lighters. That has never been brought up about causing cancer.
7 Billion people and counting. Light em up!
Of all the retorts against smoking, I have not heard one single smoker give a concrete positive reason WHY smoking is beneficial.
What positive personal benefit do you get from smoking?
Feeling calm or feeling enjoyment does not count, because it is a temporary fix that involves negative results such as: Blackened lungs, rotted teeth, blindness, yellowed skin, foul stench on breath, clothes, hands, furniture, walls, cars and all that the smoke touches, possible, cancer, Asthma, or emphysema, Wheezing, coughing and sinus trouble.
First off I doubt your a Reverend, And second I take it your not a Smoker.
:(
Special Ed says smoking "is the best feeling in the world." One cup of tar in your lungs per year. OOOOoooohhhh "the best feeling in the world." Smokers have yellow teeth, they smell, croak like a frog and have leathery skin. OOOOOoooohhhh "the best feeling in the world."
a reasoning for addictive behavior? are you stupid or what?
ranknfile,
I am indeed a reverend and you are correct, I am proud to say that I am much too higher aware to smoke.
Yus,
It is because smoking is an addictive HOBBY that murders that it should be outlawed.
Reason #1, pursuit of happiness. We are each given, by your deity the ability to choose how to pursue it. We may be right or wrong, but it is still our choice.
OneVoice - I was not given that choice as a child. Today I have Reactive Airway Disease as a result of breathing my parents cigarette smoke. BTW, Reactive Airway Disease is not as severe as asthma, but I still have to use inhalers.
OneVoice--I just gotta say this--did the Borg implants hurt when they forced them on you? Yes, I'm a Trekker. "We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."
Did we learn NOTHING from Prohibition? Outlawing substances DOESN'T WORK; it always backfires and eventually INCREASES use. A modern case in point is the decades-long "war on drugs." One great big failure.
Full disclosure: I have never smoked; in fact, I'm deathly allergic to cigarette smoke and can rarely even leave my house because of it. That said, I seriously doubt that tobacco itself is the cause of all those diseases; it's all the garbage they add to it: cyanide, arsenic, and formaldehyde, to name a few. Don't know why they feel they have to add all that sh*t to tobacco, but I suspect the additives are more to blame for the cancer, heart disease, and lung disease than the tobacco itself.
I'm suprised the stupid mayor of NYC, the governor of NJ and California don't try to make smoking a CRIME. It would certainly fit the NEW "united states of amerika",... and don't forget to vote for your Communist, socialist, marxist, muslem pro-queer illegal president.
I wonder how the governments will make up that lost tax renenue.
What is the problem here? Its natures way of eliminating the stupid.
Just stop government subsidies to tobacco growers. Let them grow marijuana instead (some of them do anyway).
Whats wrong with reducing the world's population, especially when they do it voluntarily, willingly and out of their own pocket. Stop feeling sorry for other people's life choices, perhaps you'll be happier yourself.
It is the non smokers that matter. The ones the smokers are crucifying.
The surgeon General agrees that all radionuclides in tobacco including the ones that are found in second hand smoke are destroying the life upon this Earth. According to the American Lung Association, there are about 48 million adult smokers in the U.S., and 4.8 million adolescent smokers. This means that the U.S., population, directly exposed to radioactivity in cigarette smoke, is approximately 53 million.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing), including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers. Levels of a chemical called cotinine, a biomarker of secondhand smoke exposure, fell by 70 percent from 1988-91 to 2001-02. In national surveys, however, 43 percent of U.S. nonsmokers still have detectable levels of cotinine.
Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. • Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are higher in secondhand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers.
Breathing second hand smoke for even a short time can have immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of a heart attack.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 - 30 percent.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20 - 30 percent.
The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of a heart attack.
Secondhand smoke contains many chemicals that can quickly irritate and damage the lining of the airways. Even brief exposure can result in upper airway changes in healthy persons and can lead to more frequent and more asthma attacks in children who already have asthma. Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Conventional air cleaning systems can remove large particles, but not the smaller particles or the gases found in secondhand smoke. Routine operation of a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building.
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the preeminent U.S. body on ventilation issues, has concluded that ventilation technology cannot be relied on to control health risks from secondhand smoke exposure. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing), including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has concluded that secondhand smoke is an occupational carcinogen. Because their bodies are developing, infants and young children are especially vulnerable to the poisons in secondhand smoke. Both babies whose mothers smoke while pregnant and babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than babies who are not exposed to cigarette smoke.
Mothers who are exposed to secondhand smoke while pregnant are more likely to have lower birth weight babies, which makes babies weaker and increases the risk for many health problems. Babies whose mothers smoke while pregnant or who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth have weaker lungs than other babies, which increases the risk for many health problems.
Secondhand smoke exposure causes acute lower respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia in infants and young children.
Secondhand smoke exposure causes children who already have asthma to experience more frequent and severe attacks. Secondhand smoke exposure causes respiratory symptoms, including cough, phlegm, wheeze, and breathlessness, among school-aged children.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for ear infections and are more likely to need an operation to insert ear tubes for drainage.
Based on levels of cotinine (a biological marker of secondhand smoke exposure), an estimated 22 million children aged 3-11 years and 18 million youth aged 12-19 years, were exposed to secondhand smoke in the United States in 2000. Children aged 3-11 years and youth aged 12-19 years are significantly more likely than adults to live in a household with at least one smoker. Children aged 3-11 years have cotinine levels more than twice as high as nonsmoking adults. Children who live in homes where smoking is allowed have higher cotinine levels than children who live in homes where smoking is not allowed.
The law in a human mind is there conscious. Those who live as spirit have a higher conscious. Those that do as the please without concern for whom they might harm are of lower conscious.
When I see a skinny girl smoking a cigarette, I think "she's having lunch"
What's killing people is the many taxes on cigarettes. Its state and federal private piggy bank to rob the people blind. Its outrageous with so many people that smoke that they allow it to happen. Open your mouth all you smokers. You have the power. Use it.
If God had meant people to smoke, he would have given them lighters for fingers
Burning tobacco contains over 4,000 dangerous chemicals. While cigarette and cigar manufacturing machines use over 40 miles of paper per day to make their cigarettes and cigars. One whole tree is needed to cure the tobacco for 300 cigarettes. Cigarette smoke contains two of the main gases related to the greenhouse effect, they are carbon dioxide and methane. Cigarette smoke kills not only the one who inhales it. It also kills anyone who stands within 20 feet of the smoke they are exhaling.
It is atrocious how the human race has destroyed this Earth. From animal cruelty to unsafe habits and vices the human race needs to progress in the way that they think and act so that their actions will stop causing harm to the Earth and her life forms. This is spirituality at its highest level. Being able to take complete control of mortal impulses, urges and desires while
re-programming the human mind to only do that which is beneficial to the Earth and all life upon her.
One of the most destructive pleasures that human beings partake in is the smoking of caustic chemicals. Many human beings do not realize that the second hand smoke that a smoker exhales from a cigarette is much worse than the first hand Smoke that they are ingesting, in fact, every smoker that exhales these pollutants into the air, are slowly killing you, the planet and all of your loved ones.
The entire Earth and ecosystem is being destroyed by mankind’s carelessness even though some human beings believe that the eco system has nothing to do with the Earth.
The EPA states that; an ecosystem is defined as a place having unique physical features, encompassing air, water, and land, and habitats that support plant and animal life. Radioactive elements, called radionuclides, are part of our ecosystem because they are a part of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.
Ecosystem science focuses on the interaction among the water, air, land, and plants, animals and humans. Whether the radionuclides are natural or man-made, they move through the earth and can become part of the food chain. For example:
Some radionuclides remain a part of the soil and are taken up by plants.
Animals consume these plants, drink the water and breathe the air. The radionuclides are now in the animals.
Humans eat the plants and the animals that ate the plants, drink the water and breathe the air. The radionuclides also are in humans. The remains of plants and animals are returned to the earth and, over time, are crushed and pressured back into rock and the cycle begins again. All life is equal for all life comes from the Earth and returns to the Earth.
The surgeon General agrees that all radionuclides in tobacco including the ones that are found in second hand smoke are destroying the life upon this Earth. According to the American Lung Association, there are about 48 million adult smokers in the U.S., and 4.8 million adolescent smokers. This means that the U.S., population, directly exposed to radioactivity in cigarette smoke, is approximately 53 million.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer-causing), including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers. Levels of a chemical called cotinine, a biomarker of secondhand smoke exposure, fell by 70 percent from 1988-91 to 2001-02. In national surveys, however, 43 percent of U.S. nonsmokers still have detectable levels of cotinine.
Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. • Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are higher in secondhand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers.
Breathing second hand smoke for even a short time can have immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of a heart attack.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 - 30 percent.
Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20 - 30 percent.
The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of a heart attack.
Secondhand smoke contains many chemicals that can quickly irritate and damage the lining of the airways. Even brief exposure can result in upper airway changes in healthy persons and can lead to more frequent and more asthma attacks in children who already have asthma. Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Conventional air cleaning systems can remove large particles, but not the smaller particles or the gases found in secondhand smoke. Routine operation of a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building.
Cigarette smoke is the least of your problems. pollution of every type is whats killing you.The amount of toxins in the air especially in metro areas is a million times more toxic to breath. Even if you were in the middle of Montana the air is more toxic then if you were in a room filled with smokers. You have NO idea.
These kinds of initiatives coming from WHO, reminds me of the justifications the Nazi's used to bring about thier social changes. They make up numbers such as 8 million people will die each year - total bull$%^^&, as use that as evidence that the "state" needs to control behavior. All the costs and people numbers coming from the WHO and other organizations are based on assumptions and percentages that may, could, or might take place if this or that should happen at some point in time with some people who may or may not smoke including some people that may or may not be in close proximity to a smoker - really! Everyone should remember that the true purpose of these origanizations is CONTROL not health.