Household environmental tobacco smoke and risks of asthma

The reported prevalence of childhood asthma/wheeze is increasing around the world. The changing pattern of these diseases has not been fully explained, in part because of an incomplete understanding of its pathogenesis. The change has been too rapid to be accounted for by changes in gene frequencies. It is also unlikely that it can be totally accounted for by changes in either clinical diagnostic patterns or increased recognition of respiratory symptoms by the general population.
This shift does, however, suggest a role for environmental exposures in the etiology of this evolving epidemic. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion people worldwide smoke, and the number is predicted to increase in the coming years as smoking rates continue to increase among youth, primarily among young girls.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is common in children and causes substantial morbidity. Estimates of population attributable risk for household ETS exposure in children range from 9% for asthma prevalence to 25% for hospital admissions due to respiratory symptoms. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately half of the children in the world are exposed to ETS, mostly in their homes. In Taiwan, schoolchildren are not typically exposed in public due to the legislative ban on public smoking and regular health promotion campaigns; home exposure is likely the dominant source of ETS. It was reported that approximately 60% Taiwanese children under the age of 17 were exposed to household ETS, and therefore an estimated 3.3 million children were at risk for adverse health effects from this exposure.
Evidence of the effects of ETS exposure on childhood respiratory outcomes is inconsistent. Although an effect for paternal smoking has been reported, exposure to maternal smoking has consistently had the strongest association with adverse respiratory health effects. The strength of the association between maternal smoking and asthma/wheeze is in part due to larger ETS doses from maternal smoking than from other sources. Although there is evidence that maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of asthma/wheeze in childhood, the effects of in utero exposure on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms have not been extensively studied or compared with other household sources of ETS.
The Taiwan Children Health Study (TCHS) offers an opportunity to investigate the effects of household ETS exposure on the occurrence of respiratory symptoms in Taiwanese children. At cohort entry, we used lifetime tobacco smoke exposure histories to investigate the relationships of multiple sources of ETS exposure with parental- reported respiratory outcomes. The individual and joint effects of parental smoking habits were also examined for associations with early-onset and late-onset childhood asthma.

Elderly Smokers displeased because Smoking Ban

Elderly inhabitants decided to start a fight against smoking ban, in order to protect the smokers’ rights which want to continue to hang American flags from their apartments and to smoke within their friends.

"HUD don’t care, housing don’t care, we’re like slaves to them", an angry Ann Musk said in opening comments to about 50 Warwick Housing Authority tenants gathered at the Meadowbrook Terrace community room.

The group is worried by the authority’s action by prohibiting smoking at all its lodging complexes, both inside individual units and anywhere on authority property, by Jan. 1, 2011. New inhabitants should accept the new conditions with any other objections.

Also the Meadowbrook tenants have been advised because of recently renovated ornaments which they will no longer be permitted to hang them, including flags. Will be accepted only flags which will be placed in a stand.

Inhabitants became angry not only because smoking and flag bans but because of many other causes. Fr example during a 45-minute organizational meeting, tenants complained that their units have not been painted, and the electrical fixtures have not been renovated and that there is mold in their apartments. Also, they complained that the authority keeps establishing new restrictions.

"They keep taking things away from us", said one of displeased inhabitant, Greene Musk. She explained that quit smoking cigarettes after a heart attack, but she knows how much smoking can mean to people.

After the meeting, Michael Lyckland, executive director of the Warwick Housing Authority, said that there is a no smoking trend for the Housing and Urban Development funded housing units across the country.

Lyckland declared that for the policy, safety and health are major reasons. But the safety and health reasons failed to fly with the tenants.

While there is no set indication, Lyckland said that if a unit is occupied for a long period it will be painted. Otherwise, he explained, as a tradition, a unit is repainted when tenants move out and before new ones move in. He declared that about 20 percent of the more than 500 city elderly housing units are repainted every year.

alternative cigarettes

An alternative method of puffing away at the pub has drifted into the national consciousness and is causing quite a stir in the industry.
So-called electronic or alternative cigarettes give users the sensation of smoking, even producing a vapour that can be inhaled and exhaled while delivering the nicotine hit, but are legal as no harmful smoke is emitted.
One brand on the market is called the SuperSmoker.
Its Ultimo model, which retails at around £78, allows smokers to dodge the smoking ban, which has now been in place for a year.
Inventors say the system helps people lead a healthier lifestyle and is much cheaper, claiming it can knock 65 per cent off of normal smoking costs.
It is legal to use inside pubs and clubs as it causes no harm to those sharing their air.
Cartridges are placed into a pre-charged atomizer and users suck on it like a normal cigarette.
The firm say it looks, tastes and smokes like a conventional cigarette but has no detrimental health effects on others and say it doesn’t cause cancer.
We asked 58-year-old smoker Graham Bates from Herne Bay to trial the SuperSmoker Ultimo on a trip to his local.
He said: “I felt a little strange using it. It does have a certain sensation of smoking but you have to suck pretty hard to get much out and it leaves a sugary taste on the lips.
“I used it in the pub and the barman did initially ask me to stop but I showed him the product and he was fine with it. He said he had seen them before and had no issues with people using them.”
Mark Bradley, assistant manager of the Prince of Wales pub in Railway Street, Chatham, said: “I’ve actually got one of the electronic cigarettes.
“I went to the London Bar Show last week and they were giving them out. I think they’re brilliant and bought some for my staff.”
Sam Griggs, trainee assistant manager of the Druid’s Arms in Earl Street, Maidstone, said: “I think they’re a good idea.
“I’ve not seen anyone using them in the pub. We’ve only got a little garden and it normally gets packed with smokers so products like this may become quite popular.
“It might cause a bit of conflict, though, as other customers may think they’re real cigarettes.”
Graham Moore, landlord of the Dukes Head in Sellindge, said: “I wouldn’t have any objections to them being used here. If they are legal to use indoors and don’t disturb anyone else then that’s fine.”
Ian Gray, from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, has looked into the sensation.
He said: “We have been the advisors to all the regulatory authorities on this matter and are hearing about it more and more.
“Our main concern was that officers wouldn’t be able to tell the difference but it’s clear if you are close to them they’re not normal cigarettes.”
He added: “They are perfectly legal to use because, in our view, this isn’t smoking. If people are using them it’s very unlikely that a local authority would want to make a prosecution as the legislation is to protect people from second-hand smoke but if there is none of that then there’s not really a basis for a prosecution.”
Mr Gray says the craze is catching on: “They seem to be using them a lot in the North. I suppose if you don’t want to go outside, it’s a real alternative.
“They seem to be particularly popular in bingo halls where older people who may not want to get up and go outside and all that goes with that such as collecting your coat.”

Scottish city to offer smokers food vouchers in return for quitting cigarettes

LONDON — Authorities in a Scottish city are offering smokers food vouchers if they quit.

Health officials in Dundee say ex-smokers will be given $25 a week on an electronic card. The credits can be redeemed in stores for fresh food and groceries, but not alcohol or cigarettes.

Participants in the pilot program will get help giving up cigarettes and will have to undergo weekly carbon monoxide breath tests to prove they have not started again.

Authorities said Saturday that the project will start in the fall. They hope it can help 900 people quit smoking over the next two years.

Dundee is Scotland's fourth-largest city and has one of Britain's highest smoking rates.

New Camel brand contains crushable capsule

Consumers can squeeze this blue capsule inside the filter of the new Camel Crush to release a menthol flavor. The brand is being test-marketed at local Quality Mart stores.

A tiny blue capsule is the key element in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s latest attempt to woo smokers.
The capsule is embedded into the filter of a regular Camel Lights cigarette.
When smokers squeeze and snap the capsule, it releases menthol to change the flavor. The cigarettes — packaged in a sleek black and blue box and called Camel Crush — is being test-marketed at local Quality Mart convenience stores, and beginning this month in Pennsylvania.
"We're giving the adult smoker the ability to savor two distinct flavors with Camel Crush and customize the experience," said Brian Stebbins, the senior business-unit director for Camel. "They can crush it a little and get a slight flavor over the length of the smoke. They can crush it completely and get a fresh menthol blast."
Reynolds views product innovation as a positive and differentiating way to compete for adult smokers and market share.
However, the capsule also has become the latest target of anti-smoking groups, which claim that product innovations such as Camel Crush and the marketing of cigarettesare geared toward attracting young consumers.
"Tobacco companies have carefully designed their products to attract new users, almost all of whom are children," said The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in a February report titled "Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs."
"Tobacco products are far from simple tobacco leaf rolled in paper or other packaging. They are highly engineered nicotine-delivery devices, finely tuned to appeal to the taste, feel, smell, and other sensations of new and addicted smokers," the report says.
Stebbins declined to say how much Reynolds has spent to develop Camel Crush, but it has been in the works for several years.
"We had to find the proper type of capsule," Stebbins said. "We also had to invent manufacturing machinery to put the capsule in the same place in the filter consistently without breaking it." Reynolds said it has obtained a patent on the machinery.

Tobacco market practices

LONDON - Britain's consumer affairs watchdog said on Friday it suspected cigarettes price-fixing involving tobacco companies and retailers, including all big four supermarket chains, between 2000 and 2003.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued a so-called statement of objections naming two tobacco manufacturers -- Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco-owned Gallaher -- and 11 retailers.
The retailers are Wal-Mart-owned Asda, Co-operative Group, First Quench, Morrisons, Safeway, Sainsbury, Shell, Somerfield, T&S Stores, Tesco and TM Retail.
Imperial Tobacco had no immediate comment. Gallaher, which is owned by Japan Tobacco, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The OFT made two allegations, including that there were arrangements between "each manufacturer and each retailer that restricted the ability of each of these cigarettes retailers to determine its selling prices independently, by linking the retail price of a manufacturer's brand to the retail price of a competing brand of another manufacturer".
The second was more specific, alleging "in the case of Gallaher, Imperial Tobacco, Asda, Sainsbury, Shell, Somerfield and Tesco, the indirect exchange of proposed future retail prices between competitors".
The allegations come two days after the OFT was forced to apologise to supermarket Morrisons and pay 100,000 pounds ($197,700) to settle a defamation action over an incorrect accusation in another antitrust probe.

S.Korea's Tobacco Giant Opens First Overseas Plant In Turkey

South Korea`s top tobacco company Korean Tobacco & Ginseng (KT&G) has opened on Thursday a factory in Turkey which is the first overseas plant of the company.
KT&G plans to produce two cigarettes brands at its plant in Aegean province of Izmir, company`s chief executive Kwak Young Kyoon said at the opening ceremony.
The plant, which has the capacity to produce 2 billion cigarettes a year, will ship 60 percent of its production to central European and Middle Eastern countries, mainly to Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain.
Kyoon said his company spent nearly 50 million USD for the plant, adding that KT&G targets 3 percent of market share in its first year in Turkey, and aims at 5 percent market share in the next three year.
KT&G is the largest tobacco company of South Korea and sells 100 billion cigarettes a year to almost 40 countries. The company is also active in ginseng, pharmaceutical and real estate sectors.

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Pay cuts for Japan Tobacco chiefs over tainted dumplings

TOKYO— Japan Tobacco said Friday its entire board of directors will take pay cuts after the company became embroiled in a scandal over poisoned dumplings imported from China.
JT president Hiroshi Kimura and four other JT executives will take a cut of 30 percent for three months, while others will see their salaries reduced by 10 percent over the food scare which erupted in January, a company statement said.
Japanese authorities have confirmed that 10 people suffered pesticide poisoning after eating tainted dumplings that a JT subsidiary imported from China.
Thousands more people complained of illness although the exact circumstances of how the cigarettes products were contaminated has not yet been established.
"We take this incident seriously and have decided at a board meeting today to penalise relevant members," JT said in a statement.
The poisoning scare has alarmed cigarettes consumers in Japan, which relies on imports for 60 percent of its food, with China the top provider after the United States.

Big Tobacco Faces Further Cigarette Market Declines In The U.S.

NEW YORK -The future of Big Tobacco in the U.S. is looking hazy.
Tobacco companies have been steadily selling fewer cigarettes in the U.S., but that rate of decline is likely to accelerate over the next few years. Those declines will mean the biggest cigarette companies could be in for a much tougher fight for their survival and growth in the U.S.
Altria Group Inc. (MO) - which at the end of this week will spin off its Philip Morris International business and transform itself into a domestic tobacco company - expects unit volumes of the overall U.S. cigarettes industry to decline by 2.5% to 3% a year for the next few years. That decline is steeper than the historical rate of about 2%. Altria estimates industry volumes, or the number of cigarettes sold, fell about 4% in 2007.
"We have highlighted accelerated volume declines as one of the bigger risks the industry faces," said Janice Hofferber, a vice president at Moody's Investors Service who follows tobacco and consumer products. Historically, tobacco companies have been able to raise prices fairly easily, but "there is a limit to the pricing flexibility these companies have."
The weaker volumes will mean that cigarette companies will need to focus more on cost cuts, and to dabble in new kinds of tobacco products. One thing, however, is unlikely to change: Altria is likely to continue to have the upperhand in U.S. tobacco market for some years due to the power of its Malboro brand.
In general, volumes have declined as cigarettes sellers have been pushed to boost prices to offset higher federal and state taxes and to make annual payments under a 1998 settlement agreement with states. Bans on smoking in public places and more health-conscious consumers have also contributed to the cigarette volume declines.
The U.S. tobacco companies have been trying to grow in the smaller, growing market for smokeless tobacco products. Altria - or the Big MO as the company is often called for its trading symbol - has a relatively small presence so far in smokeless tobacco. But its Marlboro brand still has 41% share of the retail market, larger than the combined share of the next 10 largest cigarette brands. Marlboro also continues to gain market share. Last year, Altria's U.S. tobacco segment saw revenue net of excise taxes rise 1.2% to $15 billion.
"I think Altria is better positioned to withstand price increases because of their brand position," said Hofferber.
Lorillard is in the next best position after Altria, she said, due to its dominance in menthol cigarettes. At the end of last year, Loews Corp. (LTR) announced plans to spin off Lorillard, its tobacco unit. Lorillard's Newport cigarettes are the top selling brand in the menthol market.
Rival Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) made an astute and quick move through its acquisition of smokeless tobacco maker Conwood in 2006 but Conwood by itself isn't sufficient to offset the challenges of weaker cigarette demand. The smokeless tobacco market is still far smaller than the market for cigarettes. A spokesman for Reynolds, which sells brands like Camel and Kool, said the company is making concerted efforts to get adult smokers to switch to its brands by introducing product and packaging innovation.
Cigarettes accounted for more than 90% of expenditures on all tobacco products in the U.S. in 2006, according data compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Total spending on tobacco was $88.8 billion in 2005, of which $ 82 billion was spent on cigarettes, according to the agency.
Altria, Reynolds American, and the soon-to-be-independent Lorillard will not be able to rely on international growth to offset U.S. declines. Altria will be a U.S. tobacco company after the March 28 spinoff of Philip Morris International. Reynolds does business mainly in the U.S., while Lorillard sold the international rights to substantially all of its brands, including Newport, in 1977.
That said, some investors are still hoping to see steady returns from U.S. tobacco businesses.
"There is still a lot to like," about cigarette stocks, said Charles Norton, portfolio manager of the $183 million Vice Fund, which owns tobacco industry shares. "The story for the U.S. cigarette makers is not one of volume growth."
Norton likes these companies' strong pricing power, emphasis on cost reduction, their expansion into alternative tobacco products, their willingness to distribute cash to shareholders through dividends or buybacks, and an improved legal environment. In the last couple years, cigarette companies have had several important legal victories in tobacco lawsuits in the U.S.
"Tobacco in general offers earnings stability and dividend security that are vital in uncertain times like we are experiencing right now," Norton said. Norton's fund holds shares of Altria and Carolina Group (CG), currently the tracking stock for Lorillard. He has short positions in smokeless tobacco company UST Inc. (UST) and Reynolds American.
So far, no one is predicting the death of the U.S cigarette industry. Standard & Poor's tobacco debt analyst Ken Shea said, "You are going to have a universe of consumers" for cigarettes.

Tobacco Origins and History

Tobacco and cigarettes has a long history dating. The tobacco plant is believed to be widely spread in America since the 1st Century.






The written history of cigarettes dates back to the early 16th century when Spaniards conquerors witnessed the Aztec Indians smoking an ancient cigarette, it was a cane or reed tube stuffed with tobacco.



It was the Spaniards who introduced the cigar in the old world. Early in the 16th century, beggars of Seville picked up discarded cigar butts, shredded the contexts rolled them back in paper and termed those as cigarillos.
Cigarettes spread through Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic wars and became common towards the middle of the century.



A cigarette factory was established in 1853 but it was after the Crimean war where British got the first taste of cigarettes, which was the outset of cigarette’s immense upcoming popularity. The French were the people who gave cigarettes their present name, which meant ‘little cigar’.



In 1882, the cigarette was a specialty item made by hand, sold for a penny apiece, and very much the stepchild of other tobacco products. However, that was about to change.


An automated cigarette rolling machine, developed by 18-year-old James Bonsack, was put into use in 1883 and revolutionized cigarette production. The retail price was cut in half, and volume, which in premachine days had never exceeded 500 million, leaped to 10 billion by 1910. American Tobacco was able to take advantage of this new technology and, like Standard Oil, was such a success that it, too, and was broken up by the feds in 1911.


In the 1840s the cigarette industry was born, although cigarettes were still rolled by hand, mainly by women. In 1881 the cigarette-rolling machine was invented, increasing production exponentially. Offering a cigarette and a light became a ritual of sociability. The two World Wars helped spread the habit widely.


During the 1920s women took up smoking as a sign of modernity. The development of mass media and advertising in the late 19th and 20th Century played a decisive role in securing the popularity of cigarettes . Today 93 percent of the world's tobacco is consumed as cigarettes .

The Marlboro Man

The Marlboro Man




The Marlboro man was the most powerful image of brand of the 20. Centry, that stands worldwide as the ultimate American cowboy and masculine trademark, helping establish Marlboro as the best – selling cigarette in the world. Marlboro man has unprecedented success as a global marketing tool for selling Philip Morris brand.



In the beginning back in the 1950, a time when cigarettes were accepted in even the politest society, Burnett created the macho icon as a way to reposition Marlboro from a woman “mild as May” ladies cigarette to a product with broader appeal. The original newspaper ad from Burnett carried the slogan “delivers the goods on flavor” and it immediately sent sales skyrocketing.

The brilliantly designed campaign, the strong image of the mythical American hero, the cowboy has created an immediately and universally recognized icon representing an idealized and appealing American lifestyle.
The phenomenon is extraordinary, a fast unknown brand in 1950, has steadily increased sales for the past forty years. In 1955 top selling brand in the world. Marlboro remains today the most profitable brand of non – durable consumer good in the world.

The red and white geometric packaging of Marlboro is the foremost display on retail counters of Marlboros firm advertising grasp on the public and media is the visceral American response to the Marlboro cowboy and the draw to his uniquely American paradise of the West, Marlboro country. Aesthetically, the fresh, healthy natural attitude portrayed in this cigarette advertisements appeal to everyone, makers, nonsmokers, men, ladies, old and young.

As a commercial icon he is the most universally recognized, consistently profitable an aesthetically appealing image in the advertising world.

Thus despite the adds, the rugged cowboy with or with out the western landscape and red flip – top box immediately calls to mind the brand Marlboro and has become an icon to more than one generation and zeitgeist, building Marlboro into the top selling brand since the late fifties.