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Archive for the ‘lung cancer’ Category

CDC launches frank “Tips from former smokers” campaign

Thursday, March 15, 2012 by:Amanda Cuda
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With the Food and Drug Administration still reeling from the recent ruling that declared its controversial cigarette labels unconstitutional, you wouldn’t think it would be the best time to launch another anti-smoking campaign that graphically depicts the consequences of lighting up.

Well, the Centers for Disease Control an Prevention think it’s a swell time for such a campaign. On Thursday, the CDC launched its “Tips from Former Smokers” campaign, which features compelling stories of former smokers living with smoking-related diseases and disabilities, and the toll smoking-related illnesses take on smokers and their loved ones. The ads, which start running on Monday,  focus on smoking-related lung and throat cancer, heart attack, stroke, Buerger’s disease, and asthma.

The CDC has samples of several ads on its web site, including this one, depicting the story of a young man with Buerger’s disease, a disorder linked to tobacco use that causes blood vessels in the hands and feet to become blocked and can result in infection or gangrene.

The ads will be tagged with 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a toll-free number to access quit support across the country, or the www.smokefree.gov web site, which provides free quitting information.

Not sure how the ads will be received, particularly by those who opposed the cigarette labels that featured, among other things, a smoker with rotten teeth and a man smoking out of a tracheotomy hole. But they do represent another bold step in the fight against smoking.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 443,000 Americans each year. Cigarette smoking costs the nation $96 billion in direct medical costs and $97 billion in lost productivity each year. More than 8 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease, and every day over 1,000 youth under 18 become daily smokers. Still, nearly 70 percent of smokers say they want to quit, and half make a serious quit attempt each year.

For more information on the “Tips from Former Smokers” campaign, including profiles of the former smokers, other campaign resources, and links to the ads, visit www.cdc.gov/Quitting/Tips.

Study: More than 800,000 lives saved by anti-smoking efforts

Thursday, March 15, 2012 by:Amanda Cuda
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A new study reports that more than 800,000 lives were saved in the United States between 1975 and 2000 thanks to anti-smoking measures. That number was reached partly by using a mathematical model developed at Yale University. Below is a press release on the study, put out by Yale:

More than 800,000 lives were saved in the United States between 1975 and 2000 thanks to anti-smoking measures, according to a new study that used a Yale mathematical model to quantify for the first time the impact of anti-smoking measures on lung cancer. The authors also note that 2.5 million people who died from smoking-related lung cancer in this same period might have survived if stricter tobacco control measures had been in effect. The study appears online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health and more than a dozen other universities and institutes formed the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) consortium and used various mathematical models, including one developed at Yale, to analyze trends in cigarette smoking and quantify the impact of various tobacco control measures. Detailed cigarette smoking histories were recreated for generations dating back to 1890, and significant events, such as the U.S. surgeon general’s landmark report on the dangers of tobacco use in the mid 1960s, were factored in.

In the years after the surgeon general’s report, smoking habits started to change. Some people began to quit, and others reduced their smoking, increasingly influenced by measures such as higher tobacco taxes, public health campaigns, and restricting areas where people can smoke.

Using Yale’s mathematical model to calculate smoking rates, the researchers found that this gradual reduction in smoking over a 25-year period beginning in 1975 resulted in approximately 824,000 fewer lung cancer deaths, 603,000 of which were among men. Models used by other teams produced similar results, showing tobacco control averted about one-third of potentially avoidable lung cancer deaths.

“Tobacco-control strategies in the United States have saved hundreds of thousands of lives from lung cancer death,” said co-author Theodore R. Holford, professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public health and leader of Yale’s CISNET team. “But there is still much more that needs to be done because globally millions continue to die from lung cancer caused by smoking. Most lung cancer deaths are preventable and the challenge is to find effective ways to reduce cigarette smoking.”

“The magnitude of what has been achieved by tobacco control should encourage us to redouble efforts to further reduce the cost in life and treasure from cigarette smoking,” Holford adds.

While other factors contribute to lung cancer, such as genetic polymorphisms, the vast majority of cases result from smoking. Smoking-related diseases other than lung cancer were not part of the research. The study was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute.

American Lung Association gives Connecticut mixed grades in tobacco ‘report card’

Thursday, January 19, 2012 by:Amanda Cuda
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Yesterday the American Lung Association released its State of Tobacco Control 2012 report — an annual report card that monitors progress on key tobacco control policies at the federal and state levels.

Most states, including Connecticut, scored at least one “F” on their report card. States were graded on four main areas: tobacco prevention and control spending, smokefree air initiatives, cigarette taxes and smoking cessation coverage. The good news in Connecticut is that the state got an “A” on its cigarette taxes, which, last year, went to $3.40 per pack — the third highest rate in the country.

However, the state did poorly in other areas, scoring a “C” in smokefree air and “F”s in cessation coverage and tobacco prevention and control spending. The ALA admitted that, despite its failing grade, Connecticut has made some progress in cessation coverage, as Gov. Dannel Malloy included comprehensive smoking cessation coverage for Medicaid recipients in the state’s budget. As of Jan. 1, any adult receiving Medicaid is eligible to receive over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies and prescription smoking cessation medications.

Overall, six states received straight “F”s — Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Only four states — Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma — received all passing grades. No state received straight “A”s.

The federal government, meanwhile, received an “A” for U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco products, a “C” for coverage of cessation treatments, a “D” for the federal cigarette tax and a “D” for signing, but failing to ratify, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty.

According to the Lung Association, about 443,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses and secondhand smoke exposure each year. Tobacco causes and estimated 4,786 deaths annually in Connecticut alone and costs the state’s economy $2.4 billion in health care costs and lost productivity.

Naugatuck Valley Health District handing out radon kits

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by:Amanda Cuda
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As you likely know from reading my story in Sunday’s Connecticut Post, this is National Radon Action Month.

The Naugatuck Valley Health District (NVHD) is working with the state Department of Public Health in a nationwide campaign to educate Americans about the dangers of radon exposure and to encourage them to take action to protect their homes and families.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon is responsible for more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year, and is named the second leading cause of lung cancer deaths after smoking.  Radon is a colorless, odorless, carcinogenic gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in soil, and can enter the home through the foundation or crawlspace that comes in contact with soil.

In an effort to increase community awareness, NVHD will be distributing educational materials and free radon test kits during the month of January at the following locations:

  • NVHD Office, 98 Bank Street, Seymour, Monday through Friday between 8:30am – 4:00pm (excludes Monday 1/16/12)
  • Derby Public Library: January 5th 10am – 2pm, January  10th 3:45 – 8pm, January 23rd 5:30 – 8pm
  • Howard Whittemore Library, Naugatuck: January 17th 3:30 – 7:30pm
  • Shelton Library, Huntington Branch: January 18th 10am – 1pm
  • Beacon Falls Public Library: January 26th 5:30 – 7:30pm, January 28th 10am – 12pm

Free test kits are available while supplies last. Individuals can call the health district at 203-881-3255 to find out if kits are still available.

NVHD urges residents of Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Derby, Naugatuck, Seymour, and Shelton to take action during National Radon Action Month by testing their homes for radon. Radon can pose serious health threats to the community, but there is a simple solution. For more information on radon, call NVHD at 203-881-3255 or visit www.nvhd.org. You can also visit EPA’s National Radon Action Month website at www.epa.gov/radon/nram.

Happy Great American Smokeout day!

Thursday, November 17, 2011 by:Amanda Cuda
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Today is the Great American Smokeout, the American Cancer Society-sponsored event that encourages all smokers to kick their habit and aim for better health. You can read a story linked to the smokeout (about a possible anti-smoking vaccine in the works) in today’s Connecticut Post (or by clicking here). Also, here are a few no-so-fun facts about smoking and its various health risks, courtesy of the American Cancer Society.

  • Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United Staes.
  • Each year, smoking results in an estimated 443,000 premature deaths, of which about 49,400 are in non-smokers  as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.
  • In the United States, tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths.
  • Nearly 47 million Americans still smoke.
  • Smoking accounts for $193 billion in health care expenditures and productivity losses.
  • Tobacco use accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of lung cancer deaths.
  • Tobacco use increases the risk of cancers of the lung, mouth, nasal cavities, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colorectum, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, uterine, cervix,over and myloid leukemia.
  • Cigarette use has had a dramatic decline since the release of the first U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health in 1964. Even so, about 24 percent of men and 18 percent of women still smoked cigarettes in 2009, with almost 80 percent of these people smoking daily.

U-Conn researcher gets grant to develop smoking vaccine

Friday, November 4, 2011 by:Amanda Cuda
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Biologist Peter Burkhard with the molecule he developed to deliver nicotine to the immune system. (Daniel Buttrey/UConn Photo)

Biologists at the University of Connecticut are developing a novel vaccine that uses the body’s immune system to combat the addictive properties of nicotine. If successful, it would be the first vaccine of its kind to help people stop smoking.

Dr. Peter Burkhard, an associate professor of molecular and cell biology in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, recently received a five-year, $2.5 million Avant-Garde Medications Development Award from the National Institutes Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, to develop and test the new vaccine.

The vaccine borrows from the principles of how viruses stimulate the immune system. When you smoke, nicotine travels from your lungs to your blood, and finally to your brain, where it acts as a stimulant and produces a good feeling, or a “kick,” as Burkhard says.

But if the immune system could be trained to recognize and bind nicotine molecules in the blood, before they reach the

Burkhard emphasizes that the vaccine would not protect against any other risks of tobacco use, such as lung cancer and heart problems. The goal, he says, is to help people quit by breaking their addiction to nicotine.

The goal of his grant will be to test the compound’s safety in clinical trials. These tests will observe different reactions to the drug to help the researchers optimize it for use in the general population.

Burkhard will conduct his clinical trials with colleague and medical doctor Thomas Cerny, who is head of the oncology department at the hospital Kantonsspital St. Gallen in Switzerland. Two post-doctoral researchers will be hired to work on the project at UConn.

To learn more, go to the NIDA announcement page.

Lung cancer vigil taking place Friday

Wednesday, November 2, 2011 by:Amanda Cuda
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The Lung Cancer Alliance and Team Rose are sponsoring a lung cancer vigil Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Paradise Green Gazebo in Stratford. The vigil is part of the National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Vigil effort.  In honor of this being Lung Cancer Awareness Month,  vigils will be held in 71 states, the District of Columbia, and a military base in Afghanistan.

Team Rose was started in 2009 by the family and friends of Theresa (Terry) Rose Convertino who was diagnosed with stage IIIB adenocarcinoma lung cancer in January, 2009, and passed away on September 2, of that year, at the age of 45.  Terry’s family is determined to improve the survival rate for lung cancer through better early detection and treatment options for the estimated 156,000 U.S. families who will lose someone to lung cancer this year.
Today, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and in Connecticut.  This year, it will take more lives each year than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined. Nearly 80 percent of those newly diagnosed are never smokers or former smokers, many of whom quit decades ago. The five year survival rate for breast cancer now stands at 88 percent, prostate cancer 99 percent and colon cancer 65 percent, while lung cancer remains at 15 percent.

To learn more about the event, visit www.shinealightonlungcancer.org or call 203-414-7405 or  karenprhl0@gmail.com. 

Study: The chill of menthol might make smoking more addictive

Monday, September 12, 2011 by:Amanda Cuda
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A research team from Yale and the University of Connecticut has found that the cooling effect of menthol may actually cause people to smoke more and become addicted to cigarettes because it reduces the protective respiratory response to irritants in cigarette smoke.

The study appears online in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).

Menthol, the cooling agent in peppermint, is added to almost all commercially sold cigarettes these days, in varying degrees. Sven-Eric Jordt, associate professor pharmacology at the Yale University School of Medicine, said he long believed the soothing ingredient played a role in smokers’ addictions — particularly new or young smokers. The main ingredients in cigarettes are naturally irritating, he said, often prompting such reactions as coughing or sneezing.

“There was always a suspicion that tobacco companies added menthol as a kind anesthetic to make it easier for beginning to inhale this irritating smoke,” Jordt said. “We hypothesized that this might be why menthol cigarettes are popular with new smokers.”

The study, which lasted about a year, examined the effect of menthol on mice. About 80 to 100 mice total were used in the study, Jordt said.

Researchers found that in mice, inhaled menthol immediately abolished the response in airway receptors that promote sensations of irritation to protect the respiratory system. The mouse equivalent of a “smoker’s cough” was almost completely blocked when mice inhaled menthol and tobacco irritants together.

In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which outlawed flavored tobacco additives such as cloves, cinnamon, candy, chocolate or fruit flavors. But menthol was specifically exempted from the ban. The Food and Drug Administration is currently evaluating scientific data on menthol, however, and could decide to ban it as well if it is deemed harmful.

Other authors are John B. Morris, Michael A. Ha and Daniel N. Willis of the University of Connecticut, and Boyi Liu of Yale. This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Asthma Foundation.

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