smoking

We sometimes treat them like second-class citizens. Or do we? Certainly smokers hate it when we force them out into the cold for a butt. Here in Michigan, we're thinking about restricting smoking in a lot of public places. There benefits are supposed to accrue to three groups: the smokers themselves, their co-workers who are exposed to second-hand smoke, and the public, who pays more for health care because of smoking. I asked a simplistic question once about whether smokers should pay higher insurance premiums, that doesn't really bring the same benefits to everyone as a more…
If the Osama bin Laden Foundation or the Adoph Hitler Memorial Fund offered to support your scientific research -- no strings attached -- would you take the money? Remember, you are hoping to do good with your work, say, investigate a new cancer drug or a model of the cardiovascular system. Pure science but with possibly beneficial applications. And the funders delivered the money and never interfered. Not once. Would you be willing to get in bed with these guys, just to that extent? Probably most US scientists today wouldn't. Probably. But the Boston Globe reported yesterday and the New…
tags: two-fork toothpick trick, physics, streaming video This streaming video is a variation on a theme that I've posted about before: smoking is BAD BAD BAD for you! In this video, tar is extracted from 400 cigarettes -- in the kitchen, so you too, can do this experiment [4:09] Still Smoking? Watch This !! - video powered by Metacafe
A reader alerted me to a poignant "confessional" from arch conservative William F. Buckley (hat tip Cathie). Buckley, the founder and long time editor (now retired) of the very conservative National Review is devoted to the Free Market, devoted as in religoius adoration. But it seems that even he has his limits: My own story is that I am the founder of a doughty magazine which, if space was solicited tomorrow by a tobacco company, would agree to sell the space. We would come up with serious arguments featuring personal independence and pain/pleasure correlations to justify selling the space…
A week ago we defended a colleague against attacks from overzealous anti-smoking crusaders when he criticized their patently absurd claim that breathing 30 minutes of second hand smoke in a public place was equivalent heart attack risk to that of a smoker. Some interpreted this as our saying second hand smoke was not as bad as alleged. I suppose the question here is "alleged by whom," but we don't have to play those games. Second hand smoke is bad for the health of those exposed to it for any length of time, as a new study shows graphically -- literally: It's not a smoking gun, but it's…
If I am going to defend a public health heretic, I'd better get my disclaimers out on the table at the outset. The tobacco habit is among the world's top public health threats and the purveyors of the deadly products that cause it have a lot to answer for. They belong in jail. As a public health scientist, I've never taken a penny from Big Tobacco and never will. But as a scientist I cannot fight them with half truths or lies any more than I can fight torture by torturing someone. Religion distorts science and I'm not an adherent of any religion, including cults within academic public health…
CDC has just released current smoking prevalence data showing that about 21% of Americans smoke daily or some days on a regular basis. This number has not changed in three years, so we seem to have plateaued. Since everyone knows what a deadly habit smoking is, this is disturbing. The operative word, of course, is "habit," although addiction would seem to be a better choice. We persist in using the word "voluntary" to describe smoking, but CDC data also show that almost half of all smokers quit for a day or more -- unsuccessfully. Since I'm a native English speaker I think I know what the…
More and more places around the world are following the US lead and banning smoking in public places. When they are proposed, we usually hear about all sorts of dire consequences on business from these bans, In the US this hasn't happened to any significant extent and many businesses are reporting increased patronage now that the annoyance of second hand smoke has been eliminated. So whenever I hear news reports that some industry or other has just taken a big hit from a smoking ban I look at it closely. Spin is part of the game in the political battle. The latest example comes from Australia…
When smoking bans in public places were first broached, some of the fiercest opposition came from bar and restaurant lobbyists who predicted it would be their ruination. In March of this year 2006 Scotland instituted a ban and the rest of the UK on July 1. What's the verdict so far? If you read the business news, you might be a bit confused. Here are five headlines about pub chain, JD Weatherspoon: Wetherspoon sales slump on smoking ban (TimesOnline) Wetherspoon Says Pub Sales Growth Slowed After Smoking Ban (Bloomberg) Wetherspoon warns on smoking ban (Daily Telegraph) Wetherspoon cautious…
tags: cancer, smokers, pets Maybe this will surprise you but, having worked in cancer research for a few years, it isn't surprising to me to learn that secondhand smoke can cause cancer in your pets as well as in people. I mean, this just makes sense, ya know? However, according to a study study done by the Tufts College of Veterinary Medicine, some of the nuances of this cancer risk might be unexpected. For example, of all pets, cats living with smokers are three times more likely to develop oral cancers (also known as squamous cell carcinoma) because they lick carcinogens from their fur…
Rooks in Exeter, England have discovered a unique health benefit to cigarettes that may just be enough to save the embattled industry. Commuters observed the rooks at St. David's train station fumigating their feathers with cigarette smoke. Swooping down to snatch up lit cigarette butts, the rooks would eventually drop the butt and tent their wings over it. It is believed that the birds did this to coax mites and other parasites out of their feathers. Jeff Jones, a passenger waiting on the platform described the behavior (with a charming British accent we're sure), "They were generally…