Smoking marijuana once a week can cause coughing, wheezing and the production of phlegm, all signs of chronic bronchitis, according to a story by Dennis Thompson in HealthDay citing new evidence review reports.
For the evidence review, researchers led by Dr. Mehrnaz Ghasemiesfe, of the San Francisco VA Medical Center, analyzed data from 22 studies of the effects of pot smoking on lung health.
Pot smoking reportedly doubles a person’s risk of developing a regular hacking cough.
It also triples the risk of coughing up phlegm and suffering from wheezy constricted breathing, researchers found.
“We know that smoke from tobacco and other entities – including burning wood in your fireplace – causes chronic bronchitis, so it’s not at all surprising they found chronic bronchitis in prior marijuana research,” said Dr. Norman Edelman, senior scientific adviser to the American Lung Association.
Edelman said he’s concerned that heavy marijuana use could lead to bigger health problems for those who develop chronic bronchitis.
Meanwhile, Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group supporting reform of marijuana laws, was quoted as saying that, unlike the inhalation of tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke exposure – even long-term – was not associated with the kinds of serious respiratory effects that were often identified with long-term tobacco use, such as COPD, emphysema or lung cancer.
Category: People
Smoking compared
Imperial Board change
Imperial Brands said yesterday that David Haines, a non-executive director and chairman of the Remuneration Committee, was stepping down from its Board of Directors, with immediate effect.
This follows Haines’ appointment as chief executive of the Upfield Group, the Amsterdam-based parent company of Unilever’s former global spreads business purchased by KKR.
Haines will be succeeded as chairman of the Remuneration Committee by Malcolm Wyman, who will remain the senior independent director.
Chairman Mark Williamson said: “I would like to thank David for his significant contribution over the past six years and wish him well in his new role”.UK smoking incidence falls
The incidence of smoking among UK adults fell ‘significantly’ between 2016 and 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
ONS figures, released yesterday in the Statistical bulletin: Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2017, indicate that the incidence of adult smoking in the UK stood at 15.1 percent last year, which equates to about 7.4 million people (based on an ONS estimate from figures in the Annual Population Survey), down from 15.8 percent in 2016.
The incidence of adult smoking in the UK’s constituent countries stood at 16.5 percent, equating to about 226,000 people, in Northern Ireland; at 16.3 percent, equating to about 677,000 people, in Scotland; at 16.1 percent, equating to 386,000 people, in Wales; and 14.9 percent, equating to about 6.1 million people, in England.
‘Since 2011, there has been a statistically significant decline in the proportion of current smokers in England, Scotland and Wales,’ the ONS reported. ‘For Northern Ireland, the estimate over time has been more variable due to the smaller sample size.’
Meanwhile, in the UK, 17.0 percent of men and 13.3 percent of women smoked in 2017.
The highest proportion of smokers, 19.7 percent, was among those 25-34 years of age.
About 25.9 percent of people in routine and manual jobs, and about 10.2 percent of those in managerial and professional occupations smoked.
In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), 60.8 percent of smokers aged 16 years and above said they wanted to quit, and 59.5 percent of those who had ever smoked said they had quit, based on ONS estimates from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
Also in Great Britain, 5.5 percent of people in 2017 said they used e-cigarettes, which equates to about 2.8 million adults.
Commenting on the ONS figures, Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said that far from being a public health success story, the recent decline in smoking rates represented a victory for the bully state.
“Instead of focussing on education, successive governments have chosen to denormalise a legitimate habit,” he said. “Punitive taxation and smoking bans discriminate against millions of ordinary decent people.
“Despite this a significant number of adults continue to smoke because they enjoy it. Government must respect their choice and stop harassing them to quit.”A matter of choice
In many parts of the world, it would be uncontroversial to say that women have the right to smoke, though this right often comes burdened with the unspoken idea that really they shouldn’t. No doubt this partly explains why smoking rates among men are higher than they are among women even in liberal societies.
In India, according to a piece by Rhea Almeida in Feminism in India, the pressures that women alone are subjected to are disguised under the claim that smoking – and much else that is enjoyable – is against India’s moral fiber and traditional customs of ‘dutifulness’.
Almeida is aware that she is standing on shaky ground in respect of smoking and she makes clear that she is not advocating that women should smoke, only that they should have the right to choose whether to smoke.
‘Smoking kills, this we know,’ she writes. ‘But for several women in urban India, not smoking isn’t always an informed, health-conscious choice. Often it’s not a choice at all, it’s a social construct. And for many who do choose to smoke, it’s a struggle or a secret you’re forced to keep.’
Almeida, who works for women’s economic development in India, closes here lengthy piece by saying that the trend of curbing a woman’s freedom exists across India in many colours and shapes.
‘While the act of smoking itself is not a liberator or emancipator for women, despite what big tobacco would have us believe, the freedom of choice to smoke or not to smoke, is,’ she said.Leaf growing not lucrative
An abstract of a research paper posted on the Tobacco Control website concludes that tobacco farming is not a lucrative economic undertaking for smallholder farmers in Kenya.
The paper is entitled: Costs, contracts and the narrative of prosperity: an economic analysis of smallholder tobacco farming livelihoods in Kenya.
The researchers found that: ‘Both contract and independent farmers experience small profit margins per acre, with contract farmers operating at a loss. Even when family labour is excluded from the calculation, income levels remain low, particularly considering the typically large households.’Promotion at Villiger
Villiger Cigars said yesterday that Hector J. Pires (pictured, right) had been promoted to national sales manager for Villiger Cigars North America, with immediate effect.
Pires was previously south eastern territory manager, a position now filled by new-hire Roger Peña.
Pires, who was born and educated in Caracas, Venezuela, holds a degree in international trade. After rising through the ranks of his family’s restaurant group in Caracas, he moved to Miami to open a restaurant serving international cuisine, which he ran for 10 years.
At this point, he decided to sell the restaurant and follow his passion for tobacco, which had been with him since his early 20s.
“Hector has been a great asset to Villiger Cigars over the past year-and-a-half, and has proven that he can be an effective leader for our sales staff,” said Rene Castañeda (pictured, left), president of Villiger North America. “I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to spread the Villager message to our retailers and consumers.”Vapers; here’s your chance
People in the US who have quit smoking by using vapor products are being offered the opportunity to submit sworn statements about their quitting to help forestall bans or restrictions on flavored e-liquids – and, thereby, allow current and future smokers the chance of taking the same route to quitting.
In a blog last week, Brad Rodu, who is a professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville and who holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research, noted that a year and a half ago, he had blogged about government agencies ignoring federal survey data showing that 2.5 million former smokers were current vapers.
Rodu said that when the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco-center director Mitch Zeller dismissed this evidence as mere “anecdotal reports”, he – Rodu – had argued that such data constituted legitimate population-level evidence.
Rodu went on to say that, in aiming to build a fresh dataset on smokers’ success in using vapor as a quitting aid, the Vapor Technology Association and Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives had recently launched a national campaign called I Am Not An Anecdote.
‘The groups are asking vapers to submit to the FDA detailed, sworn statements to “encourage Congress and federal regulators to reject any proposal that would ban OR limit flavored e-liquid products”, said Rodu. ‘The groups note that FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has said that your “personal stories are important to me”. But, he also refers to your stories of quitting cigarettes with vapor products as “anecdotes”.’
Rodu admitted that, in scientific terminology, individual cases were anecdotal, but said that their cumulative value was considerable.
‘FDA should give weight to published studies, even when they do not conform to visions of a tobacco-free society,’ he said. ‘The agency should also recognize the scientific value of mass declarations of smoking cessation accomplished through vaping substitution.’Sporting chance for smokers
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly has passed an anti-smoking ordinance that is stricter than the national version currently under consideration, according to a story in The Japan Times.
The Times said the capital city’s smoking ban, which had preceded the passage of a similar amendment to the Health Promotion Law that was being deliberated by the national Diet, was intended to rein in second-hand smoke and create a tobacco-free 2020 Olympics.
The Tokyo measure will cover an estimated 84 percent of restaurants and bars across the capital, whereas 45 percent are likely to be regulated by the revised national law.
The new ordinance is said to seek to protect the well-being of those deemed vulnerable, particularly children and employees, with a ban on tobacco smoking on public-facility premises, such as kindergartens, schools and day care centers.
Although tougher than the national legislation, the ordinance stops short of banning smoking in all facilities.
A less stringent measure, for example, will apply to the premises of institutions such as universities, hospitals and government offices, where smoking can be allowed in designated areas outside buildings.
Among those subject to the most relaxed regulation are gyms, hotels and some eateries, where only indoor smoking will be outlawed. And even inside, people will be able to smoke tobacco in segregated rooms specially equipped to prevent smoke from leaking out.
Tokyo’s ordinance is set to take effect from April 2020, just a few months before the start of the Olympics.Smokers off the rails
A Beijing court has ordered a railway authority to eliminate smoking areas on trains to provide a ‘better traveling environment for passengers’, according to a story in The China Daily.
The court said also that ashtrays should be removed.
The Beijing Railway Transport Court gave the order to the Harbin Railway Bureau in a ruling that said the removal of smoking-related facilities and zones would protect the public interest.
‘People’s rights sometimes come into conflict in a closed space, such as trains,’ the verdict said. ‘Passengers’ rights to stay healthy in coaches, we believe, is more important than the rights of smokers.’
Sun Weihong, the railway bureau’s attorney, said after the announcement that the bureau hadn’t decided whether to appeal against the decision.
Jiang Yuan, deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, applauded the ruling, describing it as the beginning of the end of smoking on ‘ordinary trains’.
In China, smoking is prohibited on high-speed trains, but not on ordinary trains.
“The case can be considered the country’s first lawsuit in which an ordinary train was ordered to prohibit smoking,” Jiang said.
The decision, Jiang added, would help contribute to smoking control in other public places.Packs finding welcomed
US-based Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has welcomed Thursday’s decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in favor of Australia’s regulations on standardized tobacco-product packaging.
‘The tobacco industry has long used litigation as a weapon against meaningful public health measures,’ ASH said. ‘Australia deserves credit for standing up to the barrage of lawsuits that followed its implementation of plain packaging, including a domestic constitutional challenge, a direct trade challenge under an investment agreement, and the WTO challenge launched by four countries on behalf of the industry (Ukraine, the original litigant, eventually dropped its challenge).’
ASH said that the WTO decision had not come as a surprise for the tobacco industry. ‘Their litigation strategy is not focused on winning but on imposing economic penalties on countries that try to push the envelope on tobacco control, in the hopes that other governments will shy away, a strategy often called “regulatory chill”,’ it said. ‘Unfortunately, the tactic is all too often successful. Several countries delayed or ended plain packaging efforts as a result of the Australia case.’
ASH went on to say that there existed an irreconcilable conflict of interest between industry profits and public health.
‘In addition to prioritizing health over profits, this WTO decision demonstrates the rights of governments to legislate in the public interest,’ it said. ‘International trade law has long been skewed in favor of corporate rights. Today the WTO panel demonstrated its understanding that governments have a duty to their citizens, not foreign investors.’
ASH said that Australia should not have had to litigate these trade cases. ‘Corporate litigation rights are included in many trade agreements as a backstop for cases where domestic rule of law is weak,’ it said. ‘This is certainly not true for Australia, where Big Tobacco’s case was heard fairly.
‘Action on Smoking and Health will continue to work diligently for exclusions in trade agreements that protect tobacco control regulations from challenges, as we did in the draft Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.’
