In case you missed it, an ad for e-cigarettes just ran on the Oscars. That’s a new one. Look at the fine print here — it contains nicotine. (ht @SpireAd)
EDIT: No matter your opinion on e-cigs, my point is that they shouldn’t be advertised on TV. They’re too similar to the real thing.
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This case raises novel questions about the scope of the government’s authority to force the manufacturer of a product to go beyond making purely factual and accurate commercial disclosures and undermine its own economic interest — in this case, by making ‘every single pack of cigarettes in the country mini billboard’ for the government’s anti-smoking message.U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Janice Rogers Brown • In her opinion regarding the graphic packaging used for cigarette packs, which are federally-regulated. The Washington D.C. Court of Appeals struck down the ads in a 2-1 ruling Friday, with Brown writing that the government “has not provided a shred of evidence” that the packaging actually reduces smoking, and the court as a whole saying that the images violated corporate speech requirements. Five cigarette companies challenged the branding rules — which were upheld by another appeals court, raising the chances that the Supreme Court will rule on the issue.
By the numbers: The Economist put together a great infographic, visualizing the information provided by a new study from the University of Buffalo’s Gary Giovino. Printed in The Lancet, Giovino’s new study closely examines tobacco use, among 3 billion people in 16 countries, offers an interesting look at the gender, age, and economic affluency of those who choose to use. source
» That brings the grand total to $600 million: Michael Bloomberg’s spent hundreds of millions to fight smoking globally through his charitable foundation. The NYC mayor, who calls tobacco ”a scourge all over the world,” plans to use the money to fund legal challenges against smoking in low-and-moderate-income countries where smoking is widespread, including Russia, China and India. Bloomberg’s anti-smoking efforts in NYC (which included increasing cigarette taxes and encouraging directors not to film actors smoking in films) have met with success; the smoking rate has dropped in the city. Bloomberg might face trouble in China, however: Smoking is a very common part of socializing in the region and cigarettes cost less than a dollar a pack, and China relies heavily on tax revenues raised through packs of cigarettes.
Patchwork: On one hand, nicotine patches have a good side effect outside of their intended purpose. On the other, they don’t work well for their intended purpose. Apparently, whoever decided to do these studies didn’t bother to check to make sure the nicotine patch market wasn’t clear that day, so Google News has a little of both. It’s OK, guys. We’ll just chew our way out of our imaginary smoking habit.
Further research is needed to demonstrate a causal link, but in the meantime to protect your child’s hearing, and health, it would be advisable to avoid smoking around them.Dr. Ralph Holme, of Action on Hearing Loss • Speaking about recent studies which indicate a strong correlation between the secondhand smoke exposure of teenagers, and hearing loss. The doctor makes a very worthwhile point when he emphasizes further research is needed — the distinction between correlation and causation is something we feel is too often overlooked in media coverage of health-related studies. That said, his conclusion is still the prudent one; put the cigarette out when you’re hanging out with kids and teens. Seeing as this is hardly the only risk associated with smoking on the whole, this probably isn’t a case where a slew of new studies need to come out to warrant some lifestyle adjustments. source (via • follow)
Your doctor may have to give you the go-ahead if you want to keep up the habit. Officials are hoping to do this as an effort to get people to quit. Recently, they’ve raised taxes on cigarettes and they’re on the way to banning them in many public places. Under the proposal, smokers would have to go through treatment programs to try to kick their habit. If they couldn’t pull it off, they’d get prescribed cigarettes. This seems like a bit far to reach, if you ask us, and it could create a black market because it’s so restrictive. Regardless, it should help people quit, should this measure pass —because that’s a lot of trouble to go through for a smoke. (photo via Flickr user mamagrrl) source
Starting next year, cigarettes Will have to put warnings like this on all their packs. The graphic warnings will cover up about half of the pack — both front and back. (For a slideshow of the graphic images, check here.) They should hit around September of next year. While the FDA says that this will help people quit, others say smokers are already aware of the risk they take when they light up. It’s also worth noting that other countries have had much harsher warnings on their cigarettes for years, and studies have shown they’ve helped people quit smoking. Either way, tobacco companies aren’t happy with this, and neither are many smokers. What do you think? source
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Never a bad time: The new, concerning report on cell phone use isn’t the only place you’ll hear the word “carcinogenic” being used today; May 31st is World No Tobacco Day, a cause that could probably benefit from a slightly less clunky title. The World Health Organization estimates that some 6 million people die each year from tobacco-related illness. Anti-smoking measures within the U.S. have blossomed over the last decade, with smoking bans in public places, restaurants, and bars becoming more and more prevalent across the states — check here for a list of smoking bans applicable in your area. source
» Won’t someone please think of the CHILD-REN?! Some groups are coming out against the Johnny Depp film as a result, saying that there are so many scenes of characters smoking in “Rango,” they need a DVD to get a firm number. ”A lot of kids are going to start smoking because of this movie,” said Stanton Glantz, an anti-tobacco activist and official at the University of California-San Francisco. While they have a point, is it really worth all this hand-wringing?
If you’re an unemployed smoker, don’t bother trying to be a nurse. Around the country, hospitals are implementing no-smoking-allowed policies for their employees, subjecting new applicants to urine tests and treating smoking as a terminable offense. This isn’t entirely without merit: an average smoker costs their employer about $3,391 per year in health costs and lost productivity. On the other hand, it may set a troublesome precedent for other lifestyle choices that result in higher-than-average health costs (skiing, eating meat from Taco Bell). Oddly, though both the SEIU and the tobacco lobby have voiced opposition to the law, neither are aggressively campaigning against it. (thanks for the tip, toutlejour) source
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