Lifestyle choices to blame for poor bone health

Kathmandu

There are vehicles plying by and we don’t want to miss a ride than walk even a short distance. Varieties of foods available in the market tempt us. We like to sit at one place and use computers for hours. Sedentary and easy lifestyle is what we are attracted to. Age, lifestyle choices, dietary habits such as Vitamin D deficient diet and low calcium nutrition and medical conditions have an adverse effect on our bone health. Therefore, one needs to make a change in one’s lifestyle if one is to protect one’s bones and live a healthy and happy life.

Strengthening your muscles
Changes in lifestyle affect one’s health. Smoking and lack of exercise are to blame for poor bone health. In addition to this, many of us opt riding vehicles instead of walking.

“Walking and exercising have advantages for our bone health. Walking helps the muscles to strengthen and also in maintaining calcium which in turn delays osteoporosis — a medical condition in which bones weaken due to hormonal changes, or deficiency of calcium or Vitamin D,” explains Dr Yagya Khadka, MS Orthopaedics, Green City Hospital, Basundhara.

Dairy products such as milk and yoghurt are rich in calcium and Vitamin D. An intake of such dairy products helps in the supply of calcium and Vitamin D to the body. However, as the practice of keeping cows, milking them and drinking pure milk is no longer an option, people are prone to suffer from weakening of the bones, as per the doctor.

Adverse effect of smoking
Smoking is quite common in the country. According to the Nepal Demographic and Health survey 2011, tobacco use is more common among Nepali men than women (52 per cent compared to 13 per cent). Thirty per cent of men smoke cigarettes, while 38 per cent consume other forms of tobacco. Among the women, nine per cent smoke cigarettes and six per cent consume other forms of tobacco. Five per cent of pregnant women and seven per cent of breastfeeding women smoke cigarettes.

Smoking has an adverse effect on our bones. It plays a vital role in deficiency of calcium. “Nicotine and tar in tobacco does not let calcium get deposited in the body. There is also a difficulty in absorption of calcium. As a result of calcium deficiency, one is likely to suffer from hypertension, coronary artery disease, among others,” as per the doctor.

When one suffers from hypocalcaemia — low calcium levels in the blood — then one is likely to suffer from muscle cramps, fatigue, irritation and seizures. Bone pain, weakness and muscle pain are some of the problems one has to endure because of calcium deficiency. Hump deformity too can be seen. The elderly population and women are more susceptible to suffer fragility fractures. Lack of Vitamin D will lead to rickets in children.

Weight gain
Tempting food, fast food and lack of exercise make us gain weight. Such a gain will lead to wear-and-tear of bones. The load in knees increases when one gains weight. If Vitamin D supplement isn’t given, the joints will get deformed. There are chances for fractures too.

Women, after menopause, are prone to suffer from osteoporosis. Production of oestrogen hormone decreases after menopause. “Oestrogen helps in maintaining calcium in the body and a lack of production of the hormone will lead to severe deficiency of calcium. As a result, women around the ages of 50-55 are prone to bone fractures. There is more risk for hip fractures,” informs Dr Khadka.

Obesity and weight gain are risk factors for diabetics. There are chances of Vitamin D and calcium deficiency in diabetics. Muscle cramp is quite common. Diabetics must drink milk and yoghurt to maintain bone health, as per the doctor. Vitamin D and calcium supplements, if necessary, must be taken as per the advice of the doctor. “To maintain one’s bone health, one needs to maintain one’s weight. One must exercise daily as it helps in deposition of calcium in the bones,” suggests Dr Khadka.

Sunlight and ageing
Poor sunlight exposure and use of sun blocks are other reasons for poor bone health. Poor exposure to sunlight means no production of Vitamin D in the body. Large amounts of Vitamin D can be produced when the skin is exposed to the sun. “One needs to sit in the sun at least for 10-15 minutes exposing his/her skin,” advises the doctor.

As people age, there are chances for one to suffer from spondylosis — a degenerative condition of spine. Lack of Vitamin D and calcium leads to the degeneration and as a result people suffer from back pain and have difficulty in bowing down. Bone spurs — formation of new bones — appear leading to narrowing of spinal canal causing weakness and numbness in upper part of the body, impaired walking ability, and pain in the arm.A version of this article appears in print on December 27, 2016 of The Himalayan Times.

Resource:https://thehimalayantimes.com/health/lifestyle-choices-blame-poor-bone-health/

Soon smokers under age 21 won’t be able to buy tobacco in Ann Arbor

The city joins a growing movement aimed at improving public health.

A local law banning retailers in Ann Arbor from selling cigarettes to those under age 21 takes effect January 1. The local law restricts retailers from selling tobacco to people under 21 but it doesn’t target 18 to 21 year olds for possessing cigarettes.

Backers hope the change will help prevent younger teens from having easy access to cigarettes from their 18-year-old high school peers. In a written statement, Ann Arbor leaders call tobacco use among University of Michigan undergrads and teens a “significant” public health concern. Around 1 in 10 high school students in Washtenaw County says they’ve smoked cigarettes.


Tobacco 21 policy targets initiation, as well as the transition period from experimental to regular tobacco use. By curtailing social sources of tobacco products, the Institute of Medicine found that raising the minimum legal age of access to 21 will likely delay initiation and reduce tobacco prevalence across all ages with the largest proportionate reduction in initiation likely occurring among adolescents age 15-17.
Resource :http://michiganradio.org/post/soon-smokers-under-age-21-won-t-be-able-buy-tobacco-ann-arbor

Ready to give up smoking for good

DEAR HARRIETTE: I am trying to kick my casual smoking habit. I never thought I would become a smoker -- I know how horrendous it is for the body. However, when I am outside the bar getting some fresh air and get offered a cigarette, I get excited and can't say no. I have tried refusing, but this typically falls on deaf ears. I want to kick this habit for good. What can I say to those who harmlessly offer me a cigarette? -- Deathly Habit, Cincinnati

DEAR DEATHLY HABIT: In 12-step programs, the recommendation is to avoid people, places and things. What does this mean? If you are trying to kick an addiction, you need to put yourself in situations that will support you. It also means you have to walk away from the people who make it easy for you to smoke, the places that inspire lighting up and the cigarettes themselves. Attempting to reason with your smoking friends will not work. It doesn't mean that they don't care about you. It does mean that they care more about their cigarettes. Remember that cigarette smoking is an addiction. That means it defies logic. To stop smoking for good, you have to remove yourself from the influences that make it too easy for you to slip into unhealthy behavior. You can do it!


DEAR HARRIETTE: A wedding invitation just came in the mail addressed only to me -- not my husband. This was bizarre, considering the groom-to-be is our nephew. I deal with all of the mail, bills and house maintenance, so I think this could be foresight that I would be the only one seeing the invitation and RSVPing. Yet, I am still not positive. Should I call and ask if my husband was purposely not put on the envelope? Nothing has occurred in the family to have my husband not be invited. -- Not All the Names, Denver

DEAR NOT ALL THE NAMES: Under "normal" circumstances, a wedding invitation sent to a married couple should include both spouses. These days, you never know. Rather than wondering what the intention of the couple is, by all means, call and ask. Call the bride and congratulate her on her upcoming nuptials. Tell her that you received her invitation. As you were preparing to RSVP, you realize that the invitation was sent to you, but not to you and your husband. Ask her directly if your husband is invited. If you think he wants to attend, be clear with her that you would like for him to come with you. It is rare that a married couple is not invited as a unit. If she has room for you only, perhaps due to the number of guests that she can invite, you will then have to decide if you go alone or pass on participating. Either way, stay positive.

Resource http://thetandd.com/ready-to-give-up-smoking-for-good/article_dad1cb75-3c06-5c72-8bb0-fad1bf273668.html

Call made for regulation, taxes, no-smoking law enforcement for ‘e-cigs’

After seeing the number of smokers in the Western world decline, Phillip Morris decided to invest huge sums in a new product, and employed hundreds of scientists to work on the project. 

 The Israel Cancer Association on Monday castigated the world’s largest international tobacco company – Phillip Morris International – for introducing a non-burning “cigarette alternative” that the company claimed was safer than tobacco.

After seeing the number of smokers in the Western world decline, Phillip Morris decided to invest huge sums in a new product and employed hundreds of scientists to work on the project.


The device – called Iqos – looks like an electronic, or e-cigarette. But instead of using chemicals, it contains non-burning, liquid tobacco that heated to 350 degrees Celsius.

The heating causes the tobacco to vaporize. The user inhales the nicotine and feels that he is smoking a regular cigarette.

The ICA called for regulation of all tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. It demanded that all of the products be limited in advertising, marketing, promotion and media sponsorship, including in social media.

It also insisted that local authorities enforce no-smoking laws in public places – including restaurants, bars, event halls, sports stadiums, Jerusalem’s Light Rail stations, railway stations – to prevent non-smokers from being exposed against their will to second-hand smoke and what is now called thirdhand smoke, or residues from chemicals left on surfaces from smoke.

The taxes on electronic alternatives should be just as high as on conventional cigarettes, said the ICA, and all products should be required to show health warnings (preferably graphic ones, which are not yet required by the Health Ministry).

E-cigs first came onto the market in 2007, said the ICA.

Manufacturers specifically targeted young people who wanted to try something new as potential customers. Internet, magazines, TV, radio and sales displays are used to advertise the devices. Ads have tried to portray the products as cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than yellow stain-causing tobacco.

Various countries have already looked into e-cigs and set policies on their uses, production, sales, marketing and exposure to fumes. In Israel, the ministry has not determined the extent of their use, even though it sponsored the MABAT study on teenage health, which asked about tobacco consumption.

The ministry now says that it “intends to follow up the matter of new tobacco products and prepare suitable regulations on the basis of serious scientific evidence in other countries.”

There are no serious, longterm studies on the health effects of e-cigs, but at least one Israeli baby died after ingesting some of the product’s chemicals.

There are reports that suggest their use encourages youngsters to start smoking.

There is no proof, the ICA said, that the use of e-cigs helps smokers kick the tobacco habit, something that some e-cig manufacturers have claimed.

Public health experts around the world have warned that after years of declining smoking rates, e-cigs have increased the use of addictive tobacco and other electronic alternatives.

The American Cancer Society has declined to recommend alternative cigarettes as being safer, or more effective in helping give up smoking, because those claims have not been proven.

“We must not forget that for decades the tobacco industry lied about the fact that nicotine was addictive and dangerous,” the ICA said. Only in 1996 did the US Food and Drug Administration describe cigarettes as “drug-delivery devices.”

Resource http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Call-made-for-regulation-taxes-no-smoking-law-enforcement-for-e-cigs-476575

EU report backs joint effort to trace illicit cigarettes

Tobacco industry says it should be allowed to manage tracking system itself  

 A Europe-wide system to track cigarettes should be run by the industry together with independent third parties, according to a draft report commissioned by the EU, in a blow to the companies hoping to secure an individual contract and big tobacco groups.

A new programme to trace illicit cigarettes is due to be up and running by May 2019, as specified by new EU tobacco legislation.

The measures are designed to prevent the smuggling and counterfeiting of cigarettes, which the European Commission says costs €10bn a year in lost revenue.

Under the new laws, EU countries must ensure that all packets of tobacco products are “marked with a unique identifier” and security stamp, in order to track the packet from factory to shop floor and ensure its legitimacy.

The European Commission is deciding whether to allow the tobacco industry to implement the track and trace programme, or whether it should be given to a third party.

The leaked draft report, seen by the Financial Times, says that tobacco companies should work with a number of third parties to implement the system.

The tobacco industry has argued that it should be allowed to run the system itself, saying that external influence would cause disruption. “I understand the need to trace, but I don’t see why we need to give millions of profit to [a third party],” said one senior official at a tobacco company.

Anti-tobacco campaigners say that the industry cannot be trusted, however, given past allegations that some big tobacco groups have benefited from the smuggling of and illicit trade in cigarettes.

The draft report concludes that a mixed option scored highest on a range of measures, including “interoperability with other systems and ease of operation”, and said that a solution operated solely by the tobacco industry would be the worst of the three possible outcomes.

The recommendation comes after the EU earlier this year ended a controversial $1.25bn tracing deal with Philip Morris International agreed in 2004, following criticism from lawmakers. MEPs had urged the commission not to renew the agreement, saying that it was ineffective and inappropriate.

The EU report adds that giving the contract solely to a third party would be technically unfeasible compared with the other options and could disrupt manufacturing. “The potential negative impact on the production process is high compared with the other two alternatives,” it notes.

Sicpa, a Swiss company which produces authentication technology, had been tipped as a favourite to land the contract.

Yet Sicpa, which plays a central role in the printing of European banknotes, has come under scrutiny in recent months over alleged corruption.

Its Brazilian arm is being investigated by Brazil’s federal police over allegations that it paid bribes to secure contracts. Sicpa insists that it has not been involved in any irregularity, and is co-operating with the Brazilian authorities.

The report also suggests that the system is unlikely to be in place by the May 2019 deadline stipulated by the legislation, noting that more time is needed “to establish the integration of such systems”.

Resource: https://www.ft.com/content/d9dd2a2a-c2ee-11e6-9bca-2b93a6856354

Report: High Tax Rate Leads To More Cigarette Smuggling

A new report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy takes a look at the prevalence of cigarette smuggling and finds the higher your state’s cigarette taxes are, the more likely smokes are being sneaked in from states with lower taxes. Police Director Michael LaFaive tells WSJM News the amount of illegal cigarettes brought into Michigan has been going down as other states raise the tax and we don’t.

    “We were ranked tenth in the nation overall for the amount of inbound smuggling that’s occurring in Michigan, but we’ve dropped to 12th, so our position is getting better, and I expect that to continue getting better as states raise taxes,” LaFaive said.

LaFaive tells us the biggest source of smuggled smokes is New Hampshire.

    “The reason they are the highest export state is they are surrounded by states that have very high excise tax rates, like Massachusetts or Rhode Island,” Lafaive said. “So, they’re  basically cigarette providers to New England.”

LaFaive says tons of cigarettes are sneaked into New York each year, as an estimated 55% of the cigarettes smoked there are from out of state. To get its data, the Mackinac Center looked at smoking rates in each state, versus tobacco sales there. LaFaive says people either go to other states and buy cigarettes for their own personal use, or commercial smugglers bring them in. From there, the cigarettes are likely to be sold as “looseys” at smaller shops.
Resource: http://www.wsjm.com/2016/12/26/report-high-tax-rate-leads-to-more-cigarette-smuggling/

Cigarette shares in focus; Godfrey Phillips surges 20%

Cigarette stocks led by Godfrey Phillips India were in focus today gaining up to 20% on the BSE in intra-day trade on back of heavy volumes.

Besides Godfrey Phillips India, ITC, VST Industries and Golden Tobacco were up between 3% to 11% on the BSE. At 02:51 pm; the S&P BSE Sensex was up 1.2% or 309 points at 26,114.


Godfrey Phillips India has surged 20% to Rs 999 on the BSE on back of heavy volumes. A combined 978,161 shares changed hands on the counter so far and there were pending buy orders for 25,442 shares on the BSE and NSE.

Except, VST Industries, the remaining three stock had underperformed the market by falling more than 10% after the recent demonetisation of high value currency notes. Since November 8, the benchmark index was down 6.5% till Monday.

Karvy Stock Broking recommended ‘buy’ rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 270 per share.

“ITC is expected to register double digit growth in the next 2 years, by strengthening its leadership position in cigarettes segment, higher growth in FMCG business and steady performance in non-FMCG segments. Higher disposable income in rural areas could result in consumers switching from lower end products like beedis and local made cigarettes to 64mm micro filter cigarettes,” the brokerage firm said in December report.

Resource: http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/cigarette-shares-in-focus-godfrey-phillips-surges-20-116122700478_1.html

Forget those occasional cigarettes: There is no safe smoking level

There's bad news for people who think it's safe to smoke a few cigarettes a day or even a week: They face a substantially higher risk of earlier death compared with people who don't smoke, according to a study published Monday.

The US National Cancer Institute study found that people who consistently smoked an average of less than one cigarette per day over their lifetimes had a 64 percent higher risk of earlier death. Those who smoked one to 10 cigarettes a day had an 87 percent greater risk.

The link to lung cancer was especially high. The group that smoked less than one cigarette a day over their lifetimes had nine times as high a risk of dying from the disease than nonsmokers, while those who smoked one to 10 cigarettes a day had a 12-fold increased risk.

"The message is that there is no safe level of smoking," said Maki Inoue Choi, NCI researcher and lead author of the study, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The researchers said in the study that there was "a common perception, particularly among young people," that smoking a few cigarettes a day or a week was safe, adding, "These smokers may substantially underestimate" the risks.

Previous studies have shown that the duration of a person's smoking habit, independent of the number of cigarettes smoked a day, is the most critical factor in the risk of getting a smoking-related disease, the researchers said.


Over the past several years, smoking rates have declined in the United States and many other countries, reflecting increased awareness about the health damage caused by cigarettes. At the same time, a growing proportion of total smokers use fewer than 10 cigarettes a day, said Neal Freedman, another NCI researcher involved in the study. Yet, the health effects of this "low-intensity smoking" have not been well studied.

Such smoking was once viewed as a temporary practice for people who were trying to quit. But more recent studies have indicated that many smokers stick to this pattern for years.

The study analysed data for almost 300,000 adults in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants were age 59 to 82 at the start of the study, which found that health risks were lower for those who had quit, especially at earlier ages.

Researchers relied on participants remembering their smoking histories over many years, a limitation of the study, because memories often aren't accurate. Other limitations, the authors said, were that most participants were older and white, and the data didn't provide detailed information about patterns among people who smoked less than one cigarette a day. For example, it wasn't clear whether they smoked just on the weekends or every other day.

Resource: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/wellbeing/forget-those-occasional-cigarettes-there-is-no-safe-smoking-level-20161207-gt6e3c.html

E-cigarette use growing threat for U.S. youth

The U.S. surgeon general says e-cigarettes are a public health threat to youth. In a new report, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy lists the dangers of e-cigarettes, and outlines strategies to help combat the problem of tobacco use among the nation’s youth.

Murthy says tobacco use is not safe in any form, including e-cigarettes. He adds that the rate of vaping among youth has increased at an alarming rate, and e-cigarettes may introduce young people to other tobacco products, possibly making them lifetime tobacco users.

Mayo Clinic’s Dr. J. Taylor Hays agrees with the surgeon general’s report. He says, “E-cigarette use among high school students has dramatically increased. Since we started tracking use in 2011, the percent of students who have used e-cigarettes in the past month has increased almost four-fold. This is a dangerous trend, because we do not know the long-term health risks of e-cigarette use, and do not understand the implications that increased youth uptake of e-cigarettes will have on public health. The U.S. surgeon general correctly points out that, ‘Your kids are not an experiment.'”

Hays adds, “While there is little doubt that, for adults who smoke, the use of e-cigarettes is less harmful than continuing to smoke combustible tobacco cigarettes, the danger for youth is entirely unknown. We may be setting ourselves up for another generation addicted to nicotine and, worse, youth who use e-cigarettes may transition to tobacco cigarettes. It would be tragic if another generation of Americans had to deal with a new tobacco epidemic. Parents, teachers, policy makers and health care providers should do all they can to raise this generation of children as a tobacco-free and nicotine-free generation.”

Strategies for reducing e-cigarette use outlined in the report include:

• Increasing price of tobacco products

• Implementing and enforcing smoke-free laws

• Creating media campaigns

While the dangers of e-cigarette use among youth are unknown, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tightened regulations of all tobacco products. The regulations, which went into effect earlier in 2016, include requiring photo ID at purchase, prohibiting uncovered tobacco products in certain vending machines and prohibiting distribution of free samples.

The FDA says the regulations protect consumers and stop preventable tobacco-related disease and death. Experts in the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center encourage people to avoid all tobacco products. If you’re trying to quit using tobacco products, these tips may help:

• Try nicotine replacement therapy.

• Avoid triggers or situations where you tend to light up.

• Delay smoking: Wait at least 10 minutes before giving in to a craving.

For help kicking the nicotine habit, call the CDC hotline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (toll-free).

Resource: https://www.abqjournal.com/916036/ecig-use-growing-threat-for-youth.html

Connecticut Senator urges airlines to ban e-cigarettes from planes

As travel picks up for the holiday season, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal is looking to keep e-cigarettes from being allowed on planes, according to a report from the Hill.

Blumenthal, the senior senator from Connecticut, urged airlines to prohibit e-cigarettes from being carried on planes due to reports the batteries of the popular smoking devices have been exploding.

“Last week, American Airlines flight traveling from Dallas to Indianapolis was forced to make an emergency landing when an electronic cigarette in a passenger’s carry-on luggage caught on fire mid-flight,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter directed to a number of major airlines.

“This troubling incident is not uncommon, and the increase in e-cigarette use means the likelihood of in-flight fires is only going to grow, creating a terrifying risk for all who rely on safe air travel,” he said.

The letter from Blumenthal was sent Virgin America, United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Allegiant Air, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Island Air and Sun Country Airlines.

Earlier this year, the Transportation Department (DOT) explicitly banned the use of e-cigarettes on commercial flights. In 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an interim final rule prohibiting plane passengers from storying e-cigarettes in checked bags and banned charging the devices on board a plane.

Blumenthal’s request would extend that prohibition to e-cigarettes being carried on the plane. The request would require airlines to issue a voluntary ban on the devices.

The senator also sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) requesting a recall of e-cigarette devices that have a history of exploding. He also called for new safety standards to be applied to the rechargable batteries used in the devices.

There have been 134 recorded cases of e-cigarettes exploding, catching fire, or overheating reported to the FDA since 2009.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone was banned from flights by the DOT earlier this year over fears of the device exploding; airlines around the world followed suit with bans of their own. Several airlines also issued voluntary bans on hoverboards following reports of battery explosions.

Resource: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/connecticut-senator-urges-airlines-to-ban-e-cigarettes-from-planes/

Up in Smoke – The Truth About Cigarette Alternatives

Story provided and presented by Henry Ford Health System This story is provided and presented by our sponsor.

It’s no secret smoking is bad for your health. It increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and cancer (lung and otherwise) — and it’s the single largest cause of preventable death in the United States. And while cigarette smoking is slowly but steadily declining, many people are turning to e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco, hookah and crafty cigarette imitators called cigarillos to fill the gap.

Trouble is, unlike the medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for smoking cessation, all of these cigarette alternatives may carry serious risks. It’s a mistake to use them to help quit cigarettes in place of medications that are proven safe and effective — or when quitting cold turkey is an option. (And they’re not risk-free on their own, either.)

So, before you pick up yet another bad habit, here’s what you need to know about trendy cigarette alternatives:

    E-cigarettes. These battery-operated devices use vapor instead of smoke to deliver nicotine and flavorings. And while they’ve been around for nearly a decade, researchers are still studying their long-term effects. Each of the hundreds of brands on the market may use different formulas and have questionable quality control. In fact, regardless of what the label states, there’s no telling how much (if any) nicotine a product contains. The FDA started a process to regulate them, but that won’t have any effects on the marketplace for 1-3 years. Right now, the e-cigarette industry is still like the Wild West.

The fine print: The flavors used in e-cigarettes have been approved by the FDA to be added to foods, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe to breathe into your lungs. What’s more, the vials of candy-flavored nicotine juice can be enticing but deadly for little kids and pets.

    Hookah. Hookah is a water pipe used to smoke flavored and sweetened tobacco. The water doesn’t filter out the bad stuff; it just cools the smoke. That allows you to inhale more deeply, which could be more harmful. Proponents may say hookah is safer than cigarettes, but there can be a great deal of tobacco in the apparatus. A 1-2 hour hookah session is the equivalent of several packs of cigarettes. Smoke it all yourself and you’ve just inhaled 5 packs. Share it with a group and you could contract communicable diseases from the pipe.

The fine print: Sellers may claim their hookah contains only herbal ingredients, but that doesn’t mean it’s tobacco-free. Most hookah tobacco contains the same toxic chemicals (and addictive nicotine) that make cigarettes so harmful.

    Spit tobacco. For decades, spit tobacco (chewing tobacco or snuff) has been a popular pastime among American baseball players. These days, you don’t see as many ballplayers with brown gobs in their cheeks, but plenty of people still use spit tobacco. Also called chew, dip, and chaw among other names, this product comes in two forms: snuff (for dipping) and chewing tobacco (for chewing). In either case, the nicotine-laced grains sit in your mouth where you suck on the juices, spitting as necessary to ditch the saliva that builds up.

    The risk profile is different from that of cigarettes, but the problems it can cause are equally concerning. In addition to short-term issues like bad breath and stained teeth, chewing tobacco causes mouth sores, cracked and bleeding lips, and gum disease, and dramatically increases the risk of heart disease and cancer, particularly oral, throat, and stomach cancer.

The fine print: Spit tobacco has higher concentrations of nicotine, making it even more addictive than cigarettes.

    Cigarillos. While cigar use isn’t necessarily on the upswing, smokers who want an inexpensive hit of nicotine may turn to cigarillos, or little cigars. These products look and function like cigarettes, but they’re wrapped in brown paper instead of white. Perhaps most important, they’re not subject to the same taxes as cigarettes, making them a tempting alternative to smokers more concerned about the cost of their habit.

The fine print: Cigarillos are as dangerous as cigarettes. They just cost less.

Your best bet: Commit to quit. Decide on a date to go without cigarettes or alternatives. Then, get your ducks in a row. Inform your friends and family about your decision, ask for their support, and start planning strategies to manage a life free of tobacco. Track your smoking habits, taking note of the times when you smoke and the emotions that come up, then determine what you can do in place of smoking to fill up that space.

For example, do you typically smoke after breakfast? Brush your teeth instead. Are you used to smoking during social situations? Occupy your hands with a fruity drink. Rely on chain smoking to get through your evening commute? Take a different route and chew gum.

The key is identifying strategies that fit into your daily routine. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. The FDA has approved a number of medications, both with and without nicotine, to help smokers quit.

Not sure how to get started? Check out Henry Ford’s Tobacco Treatment Services Program and/or talk with your doctor. Make an appointment or find a doctor today.

Amanda L. Holm, MPH, is the immediate past chair of Tobacco-Free Michigan and project manager for Tobacco Treatment Services for the Henry Ford Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

This article originally appeared on henryfordlivewell.com, a health and wellness web site featuring advice from Henry Ford experts. Subscribe to receive a weekly email with our latest posts.

Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA TODAY Network were not involved in the creation of this content.

Resource:http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sponsor-story/henry-ford-health-system/2016/12/12/the-truth-about-cigarette-alternatives/95213954/

Ask Doctor K: Hookahs not harmless, despite what teens may say

Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D.

DEAR DOCTOR K: I recently read that e-cigarettes not being safe for teens. What about hookahs? I don’t completely understand what they are. Are they OK for my teen? I think he might be smoking them.

DEAR READER: A hookah is a water pipe that people use to smoke a specially made tobacco. Often the tobacco used in hookahs is flavored, which makes smoking it more attractive to some people.

A hookah uses coal to burn the tobacco. This creates either smoke or a vapor that is inhaled through a tube. People usually smoke a hookah as a group, passing the mouthpiece from one person to another.

Hookah smoking is on the rise among youths. According to a 2014 study in the journal Pediatrics, 18 percent of high school seniors have smoked a hookah.

Hookahs have been around for centuries. In ancient Persia and Asia, smoking a hookah was considered an aristocratic and elegant thing to do. Perhaps because of this reputation — and because it’s an ancient practice — many people think that it isn’t as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. But it is just as dangerous, if not more so.

The smoke you inhale from a hookah contains the smoke from both coal and tobacco, which are full of toxins and cancer-causing substances. In fact, tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer. The smoke also has nicotine. Nicotine, by itself, does not cause cancer — but it is the chemical that makes people addicted to tobacco.

Smoking a hookah increases all the same health risks as smoking a cigarette. This includes cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, lung, bladder and other parts of the body. It can lead to lung disease, cardiovascular disease, infertility, and low birth weight in the babies of women who smoke hookahs. Also, because the mouthpiece is often passed from person to person, there is the risk of passing infection.

Since hookahs are smoked as a group, the smoking session may last a while, which can lead to more exposure to the toxins. A person smoking a hookah with a group of other people not only is exposed to the smoke he deliberately sucks into his body through the tube. He is also exposed to smoke in the air around him, which typically is heavy. As a result, an hour of hookah smoking exposes someone to as much as 200 times the smoke as smoking one cigarette.

Smoking a hookah may be more appealing to teens than smoking cigarettes. First, there’s the novelty of the device itself. Second is the fact that it’s a group activity — and it’s particularly important for teens to feel like part of a group.

Your teen may think that smoking a hookah is just something fun to do with his friends. Tell him about the health risks involved. Be sure to let him know that he and his friends could end up putting their health, even their lives, in danger if they continue the practice.

Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. Copyright 2016 The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Resource: http://chicago.suntimes.com/lifestyles/ask-doctor-k-hookas-not-harmless-despite-what-teens-may-say/

As pot becomes legal, head shops can drop the smoke screen

Of course it was for marijuana. All of it. The cheapo metal one-hitters that are supposed to look like a cigarette. The glass shelves lined with pocket vaporizers. The $175 Magic Butter machine. All of it.

And at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday in Massachusetts, as recreational marijuana became legal, the shops that have been selling all this paraphernalia could finally end their long public wink, take down the “for tobacco use only” signs, and admit that their glass cases have always been filled with toys for getting high.

“I’m so sick of telling customers they can’t say bong, or marijuana. And I’ll be so glad to not have to say ‘tobacco’ anymore,” said Zelda Feinberg, throwing up huge, dramatic air quotes around the word “tobacco.” Feinberg is one of the cofounders of Buried Treasures, a “smoke shop” that has been pretending it had no idea what you were talking about with this weed stuff in various locations in Boston and Cambridge since 1983.

Bongs for sale inside Fast Eddie's.

The “it’s for tobacco” deceit was a thin and often ludicrous charade carried out for decades by shops all over the state. With names like the Trippy Hippy, The Hempest, and Wild Side Smoke Shop, it’s unlikely anybody was fooled. But Massachusetts laws were clear — no sales of drug paraphernalia — and the penalties for violating them stiff, up to two years in prison or fines up to $5,000. So retailers strictly enforced the rules.

Customers who dared drop the “tobacco” ruse at her shop would usually get a warning, Feinberg said, and then the door. No talk of weed. And no using the “b word” — “bong just feels like a drug word,” Feinberg said. Customers were asked to call it a “water pipe” and pretend they were asking about the 4-foot, 4-inch chambered glass tower because they just weren’t getting enough out of their cigarettes.

“Now I don’t care what you call it. Call it a bong. Call it whatever you want,” said Feinberg, who said she stopped pretending about all of it after the ballot measure passed in November. For the first time in the shop’s 33-year history, they brought in apparel featuring the marijuana leaf. “Having that stuff in here feels like a big deal. We always had to be so careful.”

Upholding the “for tobacco use only” façade has always meant that it is somehow plausible that the product be usable for tobacco or some other legal pursuit. Could you use a glass pipe for tobacco? Most definitely. Could you eat a cookie made with tobacco butter? Technically, probably. Could you use the carbon-lined odor-absorbing messenger bag on sale at Buried Treasures for something other than transporting marijuana? Sure. Are there scenarios in which you’d want to disguise a cigarette by using a metal cigarette? Maybe so. And on and on. That has been the drill: Just pretend the items sold by the shop were for tobacco and everything was fine.

And now, well, it’s over. Right? Everyone can drop the act on Thursday? Just up the street from Buried Treasures in Allston, Richard Lamoretti, the owner of Fast Eddie’s Smoke Shop, still wasn’t ready to budge. “I’ve got a copy of the old laws around here somewhere,” he said, sifting through binders behind the counter. “The section on paraphernalia is like four pages long and whoever wrote it was good.”

Fast Eddie's store manager Cathleen McCarthy (left) and owner Richard Lamoretti.

He asked a Globe reporter to read him the new law, twice, which states that it is not a crime “for possessing, purchasing or otherwise obtaining or manufacturing marijuana accessories or for selling or otherwise transferring marijuana accessories to a person who is 21 years of age or older.”

His face continued to make clear that he was not sold.

“My current story is that this is all for tobacco use only,” he said.

On Thursday, would that change? Would he admit that nearly everything in his shop was for weed?

“You just told me that I can, right?” he asked, still with the suspicious face, triggering another assurance that no one here was a narc.

“I’ll tell you this, though,” he said finally. “We’re not going to have any huge jump in our business.”

And why is that?

“Because I don’t think we have many law-abiding citizens who have been sitting around waiting until it was legal to say the word bong.”

A hookah inside Buried Treasures.

Related

    With legal marijuana, state enters hazy legal gray zone
    Here’s what police might do if you’re stopped with marijuana
    It’s official: Marijuana legal in Massachusetts at midnight

Billy Baker can be reached at billy.baker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @billy_baker.

Resource: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/14/paraphernalia-shops-drop-smoke-screen/PrQgvhT4fBOoX18OoXJlzM/story.html

City now home to three smoke shops

GLOUCESTER — Inside the Washington Street storefront that most recently housed headquarters for the Cape Ann Republican Committee, Boston Smoke Shop manager Kaws Najib spent much of Wednesday unpacking and placing a number of glass hookahs, water pipes and other smoking paraphernalia on shelves for the store he hopes to open next week.

He says the accessories in his 182 Washington St. shop — the ninth in a chain that, until now, had been rooted in Boston and Cambridge with a lone venture into Malden — are all geared toward tobacco products, even though the company's foray here comes a week after a new state law made it legal to smoke marijuana recreationally.

"We don't do marijuana," said Rajib, setting up displays for pipes, vapor apparatus and other equipment. He concedes most could also be used to smoke the now-legal drug. "We're not looking to sell marijuana — that's a dispensary business. We're a retail business; we sell accessories."

Shops across Gloucester and Massachusetts couldn't legally yet sell marijuana for recreational use it they wanted to. But city officials say it's time Gloucester prepared for when they can.

"Do we need to do some rezoning, to decide where we should have these shops placed?" said Ward 3 Councilor Steve LeBlanc, whose territory includes the Boston Smoke Shop site. "I know it's legal, and they're legal, but we do have to think about a lot of issues here."

The smoking accessory business has quickly sprouted three such licenses and shops in Gloucester since the end of October. And the operators of the other two shops say they've geared their openings toward the legalization and the chance to sell marijuana over the counter perhaps as early as next year.

"That's the dream in my book," says Tyler Palm, who opened Cape Ann Vapors seven weeks ago at 242 Main St., in a unit adjacent to Stone's Pub & Eatery. His shop features a wide range of water pipes and vapor paraphernalia geared toward the increasingly popular e-cigarettes. He also notes many of the pipes and vaporizers in the store now don't work for smoking pot. "They would get all gummed up," he says.

But once the state legalizes the sale of recreational marijuana products, Palm says he'd like to be all in.

"A lot would depend on how the law is written," he says. "If it were written, for example, to require that I grew 70 percent of what I could sell, that wouldn't work for me. But if I could buy from a wholesaler, that's what I would want to do. That's a goal."

At Sunny's Variety on Railroad Avenue, owner Sunny Patel noted that his shop — open for 41/2 years — has sold hookahs for some time. Beginning Dec. 15 — the day the state's legalization took effect — he started stocking an added supply of water pipes and other accessories that can be used for smoking tobacco and marijuana products alike.

"That's why we did it on the 15th — because (marijuana) went legal," he said. "We can't sell yet, obviously, but would we want to sell it legally when and if we get the chance? Of course."

A question of regulation

LeBlanc is not the only city official who sees the legalization and the sudden burst of local smoke shop commerce as raising red flags.

Interim police Chief John McCarthy said he and other officers made the rounds to the three shops Wednesday.

"It's just a matter of making sure they're in compliance, and they are," McCarthy said. Among other mandates, the licenses for the shops limit any tobacco, e-cigarette or smoking accessory sales to those age 21 or older.

McCarthy also said he believes the city has some "work to do," adding that he, Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, Chief Administrative Officer James Destino and others are looking at potential zoning provisions to regulate such shops and eventual pot sales.

"The thing is, the law was passed, it's in effect — and the whole state is playing catch-up right now," McCarthy said. He said he doesn't see any problems with regulation, suggesting there is even a model of sorts in place.

"We have controls over alcohol sales," he noted. "That's regulated and a lot of the same laws apply — the age limit and open container regulations. So in a way it's similar. But this is new — and it's new to everybody. Some planning just needs to be done on how we regulate from the city's side."

Max Schenk, the city's assistant health director, noted that a lot of tobacco and smoking regulation comes from the state — "and there hasn't been much information coming down as to what the expectations are going to be for oversight from local boards of health."

The city's health board issues licenses for retail shops to sell tobacco products, he said — adding that a Boston Smoke Shop license had not been issued as of Wednesday — but he, too, said a venture toward marijuana sales is "new ground."

Schenk added that there are no guidelines to date regarding any limits on the number of smoke shop licenses.

"It might be tied to the number of liquor licenses, but we don't know," he said. "There are a lot of questions as to how this is all going to play out."

Christopher Sicuranza, constituent liaison in the mayor's office, said the administration wants to tread carefully.

"We're looking closely at what other municipalities are doing," he said. "We want to be business-friendly, and we want to encourage entrepreneurs who want to come in and help us build revenue. But at the same time, we want to work with the public to do what is safe, and get a sense of what we can and cannot do legally in terms of regulation.

"Clearly, there is a real evolution here, and it seems like Gloucester is in the middle of it," he said. "But at this point, we're actively watching and waiting."

Staff writer Ray Lamont can be reached at 978-675-2705, or via email at rlamont@gloucestertimes.com.

Resource:http://www.salemnews.com/news/city-now-home-to-three-smoke-shops/article_f890cfcb-d71b-5bbe-b539-a2ae188d508b.html

Group wants special panel for the vape entrepreneurs

Putra Jaya: The Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Association of Malaysia (Ikhlas) wants a special committee to be set up at the Cabinet ministers' level to address the issue of electronic cigarettes or vape.

Its President Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah said the special committee should comprise Ikhlas representatives and vape entrepreneurs so that their views could be heard and understood by all parties.

He said a memorandum would be submitted to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the near future on the proposed establishment of the special committee.

"Issues related to the vape should be given attention because currently over 70 per cent of the vape entrepreneurs have gone bankrupt as they could not operate in the country," he said in a media conference in Puchong near here.

According to Mohd Ridzuan, the vape industry generated almost RM2.8 billion besides producing many entrepreneurs that produced liquids of various flavours for vape last year.

However, the number is expected to decrease due to various issues faced by vape entrepreneurs in several states and they were now turning to vape liquid export activities for the overseas market, he added. – Bernama 

Resource: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=114715

NJ Man Files One Of Several Lawsuits Regarding E-Cigarette Explosions

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Four lawsuits were filed locally on Thursday, for injuries related to electronic cigarettes. The vaping devices can explode and cause serious burns.

They were supposed to be an alternative to smoking tobacco. Now e-cigarettes have become especially popular among high school students. Two of the suits filed today are on behalf of minors who were injured. A third victim from Berlin N.J. says he had no idea vaping could be so dangerous.

Cancer Drug Reducing Size Of Tumors In Dogs

It’s painful, but Gregory Burdash feels lucky to be able to walk with his wife. He has 3rd degree burns on his leg from an e-cigarette battery that exploded in the pocket of his pants. “I looked down I was on fire. The battery pin-balled down my leg. It burned a hole through my pant leg and escaped and that’s when the real searing pain started,” Gregory says.

The FDA has documented 66 e-cig explosions, with a growing number of injuries.

Attorney Greg Bentley says, “the cigarette industry, without regulations and protocol in place, has been operating like the wild west. That is unacceptable and needs to change.”

Bentley is representing Burdash and three others in lawsuits filed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania related to injuries caused by electronic cigarettes.

Most of the e-cig fires are linked to their lithium- ion batteries. There are issues with overcharging, manufacturing defects and punctures that cause overheating and explosions.

“It’s kind of like if people are doing it, it’s Russian roulette right now,” says Stacey Burdash, Gregory’s wife. She says her husband turned to vaping with e-cigarettes to help him quit smoking.

Now, two months after the battery exploded, he’s still bleeding from the burns. Gregory says, “I will be required to have skin grafts. My journey isn’t over. I want people to be aware of the dangers of vaping.”

The lawsuits are being filed against stores where the devices were purchased. The FDA started regulating e-cigarettes in May and is reviewing health impacts, a growing number of doctors say they should be banned.

Resource: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/12/15/e-cig-explosions/

Surgeon general: E-cigarettes are 'major public health concern,' especially for young people

Electronic cigarettes have all the addictive potential of traditional tobacco products, and health officials should do all they can to keep them out of the hands of teens and young adults, according to the federal government’s first comprehensive review of e-cigarettes.

The report released Thursday by the U.S. surgeon general focuses on Americans under the age of 25, the cohort that has embraced e-cigarettes with the most enthusiasm. Teens and young adults are more likely to be using the vaping devices than people in any other age group. Indeed, among middle and high school students, e-cigarettes have become more popular than traditional cigarettes.

These trends are alarming to public health officials for several reasons. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been warning for years that e-cigarettes have the potential to get kids hooked on nicotine, paving the way for them to “graduate” to regular smoking and setting themselves up for a lifetime of addiction. About 90 percent of adult smokers say they started smoking as teens.

Plus, mounting scientific evidence suggests the adolescent brain is uniquely vulnerable to the harmful effects of nicotine. Among other problems, nicotine exposure can lead to “reduced impulse control, deficits in attention and cognition, and mood disorders,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, wrote in a preface to the report.

Put it all together, and “e-cigarette use among U.S. youth and young adults is now a major public health concern,” Murthy wrote.

In 2011, when the National Youth Tobacco Survey began tracking e-cigarette use, fewer than 5 percent of middle and high school students said they had tried the devices. By 2015, more than 1 in 10 middle-schoolers and 1 in 3 high-schoolers had used them at least once, according to the survey

Many of these students are vaping on a regular basis. Last year, 16 percent of high school students used e-cigarettes at least once in the 30 days before they took the survey, up from 1.5 percent in 2011. That 16 percent translates into 2.4 million teens. In addition, 5.3 percent of middle school students — or 620,000 younger adolescents — vaped at least once in the month before they were surveyed.

Among young adults 18 to 25, 55 percent of electronic cigarette users also smoke regular cigarettes, according to CDC data from 2013 and 2014. Although older smokers often use e-cigarettes to help them kick the habit, this is not a common practice for young adults, the report says.

Americans spent an estimated $3.5 billion on e-cigarette products last year, a 40 percent increase from the year before. Purveyors of e-cigarettes have lured their young customers by using the same tactics once employed by Big Tobacco, including ads highlighting themes like freedom and sex, according to the report. E-cigarettes appeal to teens and young adults because they heat liquids with flavors like mint chocolate and milk and cookies.

They also benefit from the perception that vaping is safer than smoking. That may be true, but the devices are far from harmless, the report emphasizes.

“E-cigarette aerosol is not harmless ‘water vapor,’ “ the report says. “Users of e-cigarettes risk respiratory exposure to a variety of aerosolized chemicals,” including several known to cause cancer.

The nearly 300-page report from the surgeon general doesn’t include much new data on e-cigarette use or the health risks they present. But it does include a research agenda to help fill gaps in knowledge. Among the most pressing questions: Do the chemicals in e-cigarette liquids become more dangerous when heated? To what degree are those chemicals absorbed into the bloodstream? Could changes in product design minimize the risk?

On the epidemiology front, long-term studies of teens and young adults are needed to determine whether e-cigarettes really do make people more likely to take up smoking or if they take the place of traditional cigarettes, among other questions.

Even before all the answers are in, there are things health officials can do in the name of protecting young people, the report says.

One of the biggies is to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate how e-cigarettes are manufactured, marketed and sold. The FDA has announced its intention to prohibit sales of e-cigarettes to minors, ban free samples of vaping products and mandate health warnings about the nicotine, among other measures. The FDA says it has this authority under the Tobacco Control Act, but the matter is currently tied up in court.

State and local governments should extend smoking bans to include electronic cigarettes, even indoors, the surgeon general argues. Meanwhile, health officials should educate pediatricians, teachers, coaches and parents so they can help teens and young adults steer clear of the devices.

“We know a great deal about what works to effectively prevent tobacco use among young people,” the report says. “Now we must apply these strategies to e-cigarettes.”

Resource: http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/nation-and-world/surgeon-general-e-cigarettes-are-major-public-health-concern-especially-for-young-people-20161215

E-cigarettes are dangerous, too

The surgeon general’s latest report should spur state and local action

Last week, the surgeon general issued a report on the hazards of electronic cigarettes, the first of its kind. Of particular note is that e-cigarette use has increased 900 percent among youths nationwide over the past five years.

In Allegheny County, according to a Pennsylvania survey, 25 percent of 10th-graders and 28 percent of 12th-graders smoke e-cigarettes compared to a range in other counties of 20 percent to 27 percent. In addition to exposing youth to nicotine, e-cigarette use is highly correlated with the use of other tobacco products, and recent research suggests that e-cigarettes can act as a gateway to cigarette use.

E-cigarette smoking, which includes vaping, involves inhaling an aerosol. This aerosol is not harmless, contrary to claims of the e-cigarette industry. It often contains nicotine, a tobacco product that is highly addictive and harmful to the developing adolescent brain and to pregnant women and fetuses. E-cigarette aerosols can contain a variety of other chemicals, including carbonyl compounds and volatile organic compounds, which are harmful to health and not approved for inhalation.

The e-cigarette industry has heavily marketed to young people using many of the same techniques employed to attract young people to cigarettes years ago. Flavors such as bubble gum and cotton candy and glamorous advertising are tactics specifically targeting youth.

Yes, e-cigarettes may be used by smokers as a less harmful alternative to smoking, but they are not risk-free. Especially worrying is nicotine, an addictive substance that can set the stage for lifetime addiction and future cigarette use.

The surgeon general’s report urges states and local governments to take action, such as including e-cigarettes in existing smoke-free policies. More than 500 localities and states already have done so.

The Allegheny County Health Department now has acted to join other jurisdictions. In October, the Board of Health passed a regulation to prohibit e-cigarettes from smoke-free indoor spaces, but it will not go into effect until it is approved by county council as an ordinance.

E-cigarettes are not covered by Pennsylvania’s Clean Indoor Air Law. We support a more comprehensive law that encompasses  e-cigarettes, but, given the vacuum at the state level, county regulations are a common-sense step in the right direction.

We applaud cigarette smokers’ efforts to quit, and e-cigarettes might someday be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a cessation strategy. Still, we are greatly concerned about the impact of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes on youth and children, and on those who don’t smoke but are forced to inhale emissions second-hand.

We urge Allegheny County residents to support local efforts to limit the use of e-cigarettes in indoor public places where smoking lit tobacco products already is prohibited.

Karen Hacker is director of the Allegheny County Health Department. Lawrence R. John is president of the Allegheny County Medical Society. Both are medical doctors.

Resource:http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2016/12/16/E-cigarettes-are-dangerous-too/stories/201612160064

4 injured N.J. vapers sue e-cigarette retailers for selling exploding devices

PLAINSBORO -- Four New Jersey residents -- including two teenagers -- who suffered third-degree burns when their e-cigarette batteries ignited "like a rocket" are suing the shops that sold the "defective" devices, their attorneys announced Thursday.

The manufacturers of the lithium ion batteries that power the vaping devices are also the targets of the litigation, although the attorneys acknowledged it would be tougher to hold them accountable. The batteries are made in China.

But with the burgeoning $10 billion e-cigarette industry operating without meaningful oversight yet by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, going after the retailers is the only way to draw attention to these dangerous devices, said Gregory Bentley, an Irvine, Calif. attorney who is teaming up with the personal injury firm Stark & Stark in Lawrenceville.

The lawsuit alleges the manufacturers, the distributors and the sellers should be liable because they should have known the cylinder batteries "can be shot out like a bullet or a rocket" when they malfunction, the lawsuits say.
"By filing these lawsuits, our goal is to bring attention to the problem, so the industry knows they have to do something," said Bentley, who last year won a $1.9 million judgment against a retailer, a distributor and a wholesale company.

"My office has looked at 130 cases since the verdict last year," Bentley said during a press conference at the Westin hotel in Princeton Forrestal Village. "There is no agency that is keeping track of this to see this is truly a hazard."

According to the lawsuits filed in state Superior Court:

* Gregory and Stacey L. Burdash of Berlin sued Mode E. Vape Lounge, also in Berlin, which sold the e-cigarette device, and Kanger Tech, the Chinese company which manufactured the battery and charger.



Burdash, 40, said the battery exploded in his pants pocket on Sept. 29, setting his leg on fire and causing third-degree burns to 20 percent of his body. He has not been able to work, and will need skin graft surgery, attorney Dominic Sanginiti Jr. said.

"I have had incredible pain since then. I have not been able to return to work, and as the sole breadwinner in the family, it hurts you mentally and physically," Burdash said. "I want people to be aware of the dangers of vaping and how harmful this can be. I want to this to be made safer for the future."

A man reached at the Mode E. Vape Lounge who identified himself as an owner said he was aware of the lawsuit and deferred comment to his partner, who did not return a phone call.

* William D. Gant of Cumberland County has already filed suit in Atlantic County against Vortex Vapor in Galloway, which sold him the e-cigarette battery that exploded in his pants on March 18, 2015. The explosion "caused a scathing hot mixture of shrapnel and battery acid that burned through his pants, thigh, right shoe and onto his foot," according to the lawsuit. He suffered third-degree burns.

"His foot will require a skin graft," Sanginiti said. "He has been hospitalized twice. He has difficulty putting on shoes."

Vortex Vapor did not return a call or email seeking comment.

* Two identified teenagers from Hopewell Township separately sued Sports Depot & Village Tobacco and the Columbus Farmers Market, where they both purchased vaping products made by GP Custom of China.

M.C., a 16-year-old girl "was holding the vaping device near her face when the battery exploded, flew at her mouth and blew out her four top teeth," Sanginiti said.

She required immediate plastic surgery for her lips and mouth, and lost her vision for three to four days because she had suffered "corneal abrasions," he said. She will need future bone grafts for her jaw and extensive dental work, he added.

A 17-year-old boy from Hopewell Township suffered extensive burns on his arms and torso after the battery inside his e-cigarette device exploded. "The pain was unbearable," according to the lawsuit.

The owner of Sports Depot & Tobacco Village who identified himself as BJ said he was not aware of the lawsuits or of the teen-agers' injuries. "We don't sell that kind of battery, I don't think," he said.

E-Cigarettes may be the reason smoking of regular cigarettes among teenagers is at an all-time low. Nearly a quarter of high school students surveyed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had vaped during the previous 30 days, the agency said last summer.

However, e-cigs are beginning to show signs of being a fad whose cachet is waning. A recently released University of Michigan survey of nearly 50,000 middle school and high school students shows a dip in vaping. Along with that has come a slight rise in the number of teens who perceive vaping may pose a risk of harm.

"Whether adolescent vaping has peaked or only paused is something we will be able to determine in the coming years," said Richard Miech, a senior investigator in the Monitoring the Future project. "In the past, we have seen new drugs follow a pattern in which use increases at a fast pace during a honeymoon period and then reverses course and declines as knowledge of the substance's drawbacks became known."

Resource:http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2016/12/4_injured_nj_vapers_sue_e-cigarette_retailers_for.html

Grey Bruce Health Unit is Looking to Hire Teen Shoppers

Teens between the ages of 15 and 18 are being hired to visit stores to see if they can buy tobacco and electronic cigarette products. Working with Tobacco Education and Enforcement Officers, the youth will visit retailers across Grey Bruce. In Ontario, tobacco and electronic cigarettes cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 19.

“It’s a good experience for young people, especially for someone considering a future in law enforcement,” says Tobacco Program manager Angela Newman. “It is a great opportunity to learn about note taking, about being observant and documenting.”

Teens must have a parent’s permission. Training is provided.

Once trained, the teens go into the store on their own while a tobacco enforcement officer remains outside. The test shopper asks to buy a product. If it’s not sold, they go back to the vehicle and fill out a report confirming they could not make a purchase. If they are able to buy the product, the enforcement officer takes over. In some of those cases, the teen may become involved in the court process.

The days, times, and locations of the visits vary. Teens do not make store visits in their home area. Some vendors might be visited more than once, especially if they’re considered at high risk for selling to youth. Transportation is provided.

“We keep it a very normal situation so that it stays in the legal realm, it’s safe for the student and it’s a realistic approach for a vendor,” says Newman. “Tobacco retailers need to understand that test shopping will occur. It’s as simple as asking for I.D.”

The deadline to apply is Friday, December 16. For more information or to send a resume and cover letter, e-mail: apply.jobs@publichealthgreybruce.on.ca.

Resource: http://www.themeafordindependent.ca/news/community-news/5156-grey-bruce-health-unit-is-looking-to-hire-teen-shoppers

Vaperanger.com announces new supplies of e-liquid and e-cigs

Vaperanger.com, the largest supplier of e-cig needs has announced a new stock of supplies. The online cig shop stocks a variety of electronic cigarettes. While making the announcement, the shop manager said that they are committed to providing customers with products which meet their tastes and budget. While making the announcement, the shop manager said that the online shop has ensured that the products in their vape section are all sourced from manufacturers who have ensured that the e cigs are made in an environment which is free of dust and contaminants. The shop manager added that they test all the e cigs supplies to ensure that they meet the best quality test. “Customers who are buying from us can rest assured that they are getting the best products, we have set in place strict measures to ensure that what we have in stock meets the highest quality,” said the shop manager while assuring buyers of not only high standard products but also clean e cigs.

E cigs have become popular products, especially to people who would like to reduce the amount of tobacco and nicotine they inhale in their bodies. The e cigarette has been recognized as a safe alternative to tobacco cigarettes as it does gives the same kind of satisfaction but has little effect to an individual’s health. The fact that it also comes in a variety of flavours gives the users a wide range of choice. Consumers also have a choice in the quantity of the e-liquid they want to purchase as it comes in different sizes ranging from 10 ml e-liquid, to 20 ml and 30 ml, among other sizes. According to the shop manager, this gives the customer freedom to choose the amount of the e liquid to consume at any given time.

“VapeRanger.com sells electronic cigarettes both at retail and wholesale prices. Buyers who are looking to resell e-liquid and other types of electronic cigarettes, can get good bargains allowing them to have a handsome profit margin,” said the shop manager while also acknowledging that retail buyers also get good bargains for the products.

The shop manager also added that the online shop gives occasional special offers to buyers, where they have an opportunity to purchase electronic cigarettes and e-liquids at a discounted price. He urged shoppers to be on the lookout for discounts and to take advantage of these offers and get their favorite high quality products at reduced prices.

For more information buyers are encouraged to visit https://www.vaperanger.com/collections/e-liquid

About VapeRanger.com

VapeRanger.com is an online store stocking a variety of high quality electronic cigarettes and e-liquids. VapeRanger.com is a reliable source for e-liquid wholesale.

Media Contact
Company Name: Vaperanger
Contact Person: Darren
Email: Info@VapeRanger.com
Phone: +1.631.249.8273
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://www.vaperanger.com/

Resource: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/3162011

Between Smoking And Vaping, There Is Now A Third Way - The Smokeless Cigarette

In what could be the biggest step forward in the tobacco industry in decades, a new product could revolutionize how people smoke and reduce harmful risks significantly.

According to Philip Morris, the makers of Marlboro , this new product heats tobacco rather than burning which means smokers get the same nicotine hit but 90 per cent less of the toxins that come with cigarette smoke, CityA.M. quotes the company.

However, the company stresses that it is not the same as electronic cigarettes which caused a big uproar when it became a trend and triggered concern over the volumes of smoke produced by vapers.

'Unlike electronic cigarettes, which vapourise nicotine suspended in a liquid, this alternative product heats tobacco enough to produce a vapour without burning it, which the company believes makes it much less harmful,' CityA.M. describes the differences.

As most smokers can attest, the taste of tobacco is part of the sensation of smoking and in this new product, the smoker still gets the nicotine but 10 percent less of the harmful ingredients as traditional cigarette smoke.

However, the product which is branded as IQOS is now on limited release and only available in over a dozen markets including Japan, Switzerland and Italy, with a flagship store just launched in central London so our Malaysian readers will not be able to try it out.

"I believe there will come a moment in time where I would say we have sufficient adoption of these alternative products. I hope this time will come soon.

"For us, it’s to offer our consumers the best product we can in a category that we all know is addictive and causes harm.

"Once we have the alternative, as we have today, we offer them the alternative and we will do everything we can to convince people to switch to these products," Philip Morris International (PMI) chief executive Andre Calantzopoulos told the BBC.

According to PMI, the "reduced risk" cigarette is getting a good response from its customers and the company states that over one million cigarette smokers have switched to IQOS since its initial pilot launch.

The response from the anti-smoking lobby and NGOs is to express caution, with lobbyist Action on Smoking Health stating that independent evidence shows the product and ones like it are substantially less harmful than smoking, they should be regulated in the same way.

"On current trends, smoking will kill one billion people in the 21st century, most in poor countries.

"If Philip Morris really want to see the end of smoking they have to stop promoting smoking to new young smokers around the world," Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health said.

- mD

Resource: http://malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/29-4-tile/646090-between-smoking-and-vaping-there-is-now-a-third-way-the-smokeless-cigarette.html

Flavored liquids in e-cigarettes can be hazardous for health

WASHINGTON: Examining the effects of electronic cigarettes, researchers found what happens to e-liquid flavorings when they're heated inside e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine-delivery systems.

Published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, the study found that when converted into a vapor, some flavorings break down into toxic compounds at levels that exceed occupational safety standards.

Since electronic cigarettes were first introduced to the market in 2003, health officials have been tracking usage and studying potential health effects.

A 2015 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics reported that 3.7 percent of adults used the devices regularly and 12.6 percent had tried them at least once.

Some studies have identified the ingredients in e-liquid flavorings, but very little research has been done to determine what happens to them when they are transformed inside the device.

A growing body of research on e-cigs has shown that the heat that converts e-liquids into vapor decomposes its contents, producing aldehydes and other toxic compounds that can potentially cause health problems.

Andrey Khlystov and his team o investigated the specific role that flavorings play in these reactions.

The researchers analyzed vapors created from both unflavored and flavored e-liquids loaded into three popular types of e-cigarettes.

The tests for 12 different aldehydes showed that the amount of potentially harmful compounds varied widely across e-liquid brands and flavors.

However, the study also showed that in general, one puff of flavored vapor contained levels of aldehydes exceeding the safe thresholds for occupational exposure - set by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists - by factors of 1.5 to 270.

Vapors from unflavored e-liquids contained aldehydes at significantly lower levels.

Resource:http://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/2016/dec/01/flavored-liquids-in-e-cigarettes-can-be-hazardous-for-health-1544517.html

Scientists say flavoured e-cigarettes 250 times more toxic than recommended safety level

According to a recent study, some additives break down into toxic compounds that dramatically exceed guidance for occupational health when converted into vapour

 One puff of a flavoured e-cigarette can expose a smoker to cancer causing chemicals that are more than 250 times the recommended safety level, say scientists.

When converted into a vapour, some additives break down into toxic compounds that dramatically exceed guidance for occupational health, according to the study.

Previous research has identified the ingredients in vapour flavourings, but very little has been done to determine what happens when they are transformed inside the device.

A growing body of evidence has shown the heat that converts e-liquids into vapour decomposes its contents.

This chemical breakdown produces toxic aldehydes, including formaldehyde, during the rapid heating process that happens inside the devices.

Aldehydes are members of a class of organic chemical compounds used in the textile, food, rubber, plastics, leather, chemical and health care industries.

So Dr Andrey Khlystov and colleague analysed vapours created from both unflavoured and flavoured e-liquids loaded into three popular types of e-cigarettes.

The tests for 12 different aldehydes showed the amount of potentially harmful compounds varied widely across e-liquid brands and flavours.

But in general one puff of flavoured vapour contained levels of aldehydes 1.5 to 270 times above the safe thresholds for occupational exposure set by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

Vapours from unflavored e-liquids contained aldehydes at significantly lower levels, reports the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Dr Khlystov, of the Desert Research Institute, Nevada, said: "The growing popularity of electronic cigarettes raises concerns about the possibility of adverse health effects to primary users and people exposed to e cigarette vapours.

E-cigarettes offer a very wide variety of flavours, which is one of the main factors that attract new, especially young, users.

"How flavouring compounds in e-cigarette liquids affect the chemical composition and toxicity of e-cigarette vapors is practically unknown.

"Although e-cigarettes are marketed as safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes, several studies have demonstrated formation of toxic aldehydes in e-cigarette vapours during vaping."

Sales of e-cigarettes have been rising steadily since they first went on sale in the UK, in 2007. They are now used by nearly three million people in the UK.

In the past few years, they have replaced nicotine patches and gum to become the most popular choice of smoking cessation aid in England.

It is illegal to sell e-cigs to under-18s in the UK - but their use among teenagers is growing.

Use of e-cigarettes among under-18s rose from 5 per cent in 2013 to 8 per cent in 2014 - and some experts are concerned that they may act as a 'gateway' to smoking tobacco.

Added Dr Khlystov: "So far, aldehyde formation has been attributed to thermal decomposition of the main components of e-cigarette e-liquids (propylene glycol and glycerol), while the role of flavouring compounds has been ignored.

"In this study, we have measured several toxic aldehydes produced by three popular brands of e-cigarettes with flavoured and unflavoured e-liquids.

"We show that, within the tested e-cigarette brands, thermal decomposition of flavouring compounds dominates formation of aldehydes during vaping, producing levels that exceed occupational safety standards.

"Production of aldehydes was found to be exponentially dependent on concentration of flavouring compounds.

"These findings stress the need for a further, thorough investigation of the effect of flavouring compounds on the toxicity of e-cigarettes."

E-cigarette liquids are marketed in nearly 8,000 different flavours, according to a 2014 report by the World Health Organisation .

Recent reports show many of these flavours, such as Gummy Bear, Tutti Fruity, and Bubble Gum, are especially appealing to teens and kids, encouraging them to use the devices.

The Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association said the results reflected “dry puff”, when too little liquid reaching the heating element causes overheating.

It added: “Levels like these are extremely unlikely to reflect real-world exposures.”
Resource: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/scientists-say-flavoured-e-cigarettes-9374556