Researchers said that hookah smoke exposed people to higher levels of carbon monoxide which is especially hazardous for those suffering from heart disease or respiratory conditions. It also exposes users to higher levels of benzene which has long been associated with leukaemia. The main reason scientists embarked on this research was because a number of people wanted to know if switching from a regular cigarette to a water pipe was a wiser option. Since they found no real difference in the amount of danger a smoker puts himself/herself in they suggest that quitting and switching is the best way to go.  Compared to non-smokers, if an individual smokes a hookah everyday, he or she is more likely to be at increased risk for cancer, scientists said.

The UCSF study included eight men and five women, all of whom had previous experience smoking cigarettes and using water pipes. Benowitz and Jacob had the volunteers smoke an average of three water pipe sessions or 11 cigarettes per day. Scientists found that the level of benzene byproducts doubled in urine. When compared to smoking this was a huge leap. Occupational exposure to benzene has been shown to increase the risk of developing leukaemia.Furthermore, the researchers measured carbon monoxide in the breath over 24 hours and found levels 2.5 higher after water pipe use in comparison to cigarette smoking. The differences in the slew of toxins that ended up in the bodies of volunteers were due largely to the fact that the smokers were smoking two different materials, according to Benowitz.

The chief scientist benowitz said that the smoking a hookah is basically burning tobacco over coal with some fruit flavouring. When there organic compounds are burned, they release a toxic substance called, VOC (volatile organic compound) and PAH’s (polycyclic aromatic compounds) which are highly carcinogenic (cancer causing).

The bright side to the study, it found that smoking a hookah reduced the amount of nicotine, (the addictive compound in cigarette) inhaled.

Nicotine activates the dopamine system and reward-related regions in the brain. Nicotine withdrawal naturally results in decreased activity of these regions, which has been closely associated with craving, relapse, and continued nicotine consumption.

One of the critical reward-related regions is the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which can be targeted using a brain stimulation technology called trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, according to the study published in journal Biological Psychiatry. Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells.

It does not require sedation or anaesthesia and so patients remain awake, reclined in a chair, while treatment is administered through coils placed near the forehead. Dr Xingbao Li and colleagues at Medical University of South Carolina examined cravings triggered by smoking cues in 6 nicotine-dependent volunteers who received one session each of high frequency or sham repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

They found that craving induced by smoking cues was reduced after participants received real stimulation. They also reported that the reduction in cue-induced craving was positively correlated with level of nicotine dependence, in other words, the TMS-induced craving reductions were greater in those with higher levels of nicotine use.

‘While this was only a temporary effect, it raises the possibility that repeated TMS sessions might ultimately be used to help smokers quit smoking,’ said Li. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths globally. Smoking cessation is difficult, with more than 90 per cent of attempts to quit resulting in relapse.

The court passed the order after Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising brought to its notice a circular issued by the union health and family welfare ministry in August 2012 asking the states to ban gutka (tobacco-laced areca nut pieces) and pan masala laced with tobacco and nicotine. The court directed the listing of the matter after four weeks.

The court also issued notice to the Central Pollution Control Board and the pollution control boards of all the states asking whether they were implementing the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. The court was told that under the rules it was the responsibility of the municipal authorities to set up collection system for plastic waste.

A note submitted to the court by the board said that as per the latest survey conducted by it in 60 major cities, the municipal solid waste generated is 50,592 tonnes per day out of which plastic waste was 843.2 tonnes. Describing the situation as alarming, the court said that it was like sitting on a time bomb.

Source: IANS

In 2009, USFDA analysed e-cigarettes and found they contained traces of carcinogen nitrosamine and other potentially harmful substances in products from several manufactures, in addition to ethanol and glycerine. E-cig firms maintain that the amounts are far lesser than regular cigarettes.

One issue is the lack of research carried out on e-cigarettes. Professor John Britton from the Royal College of Physicians’ Tobacco Advisory Group, is calling for regulation of e-cigarettes that would ensure a ‘guaranteed standard’. Britton said the devices should be regulated in the UK to a degree to make sure there are reasonable levels of nicotine in them. According to the report, e-cigarettes have been banned in Canada, Australia, and some American states.

What’s in an e-cig?

The e-cigarette basically consists of three parts: Cartridge, Atomizer and Power supply The cartridge’s a mouthpiece (like a cigarette’s butt) that usually holds the liquid that is to be vaporized. The atomizer serves as a heating element and vaporizes the liquid and each of them contains a power supply like a chargeable plug, USB drive or batteries.

Are they really less harmful?

E-cigs are primary used as a smoking replacement or a smoking cessation device to help smokers quit though the lack of studies and its relative novelty make it hard to judge its health effects. According to United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), known carcinogens were detected into the nicotine-cartridges and there were also concerns it could be marketed to younger people. However FDA methods have been derided in various journals for lack of evidence and which claimed that the nicotine content was a lot lower than actual cigarettes as were the health hazards.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also claimed that though they were usually marketed as devices for nicotine replacement therapy there were no studies to back up that claim and has refused to endorse the device.

Read more about e-cigarettes here. 

One in five people said they smoked to help them deal with stress, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported. All took part in a National Health Service (NHS) smoking cessation programme, which involved being given nicotine patches and attending two-monthly appointments.

Six months after signing up for the course, 68 of the 491 participants were still abstaining – and they were less anxious than before. However, those who tried to give up and failed were more stressed than in the beginning, according to the findings published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. ‘The belief that smoking is stress-relieving is pervasive but almost certainly wrong,’ researchers, from Oxford University and King’s College London, said. ‘The reverse is true: smoking probably causes anxiety and smokers deserve to know this and understand how their own experience may be misleading,’ they said.

 Researchers believe the confusion has arisen because one of the withdrawal effects of nicotine is edginess. Smokers in need of a top-up will repeatedly suffer this feeling throughout the day and find it eases when they have a cigarette, the report said. While smoking may take the edge off stress related to lack of nicotine, it probably does nothing to ease the pressures of everyday life.

However, researchers are less sure why stress levels rose in those who failed to quit. They say it may be that their failure – and thoughts of the damage their habit was doing to their health – made them worry more. This increase in stress levels was particularly high in those with depression and other psychiatric problems and the researchers said doctors should be aware of this.

Her team controlled for other factors as well, such as whether students reported drug use in the past year. Smoking itself was linked to an increased risk of hangover compared with not smoking at all, the Mail said. According to experts, tobacco smoke contains the chemical acetaldehyde which is also formed in your tissues when you drink alcohol and is responsible for many nasty hangover symptoms. Rohsenow said other research has shown that nicotine receptors in the brain are involved in our subjective response to drinking. For example, smoking and drinking at the same time boosts the release of dopamine, a ‘feel-good’ brain chemical.  So the fact that nicotine and alcohol are connected in the brain may explain why smoking is tied to hangovers.

Source: IANS

Gutkha is banned in 14 states of India and the union territory of Chandigarh. Kerala has banned pan masala and gutka containing tobacco under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulation, 2011. Chandy said: ‘This is a momentous achievement as we have successfully crossed the half-way mark, and have only 14 more states and six union territories to address.’ Paul Sebastian, vice-chairman, Tobacco Free Kerala, welcomed the chief minister’s efforts to curb and control the use of tobacco products in the state.

‘Everyday I come across scores of patients suffering from various types of cancers due to tobacco use,’ said Sebastian, director of the regional cancer centre here. Directors of 12 other regional cancer centres, and the heads of Indian Dental Association and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, have also made individual appeals to the prime minister and union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to ban gutkha in all states.

Source: IANS

Raising serious concerns over the growing gutka/paan masala menace, the directors have urged the Centre to take speedy action to completely ban the manufacture and sale of all smokeless tobacco products throughout the country. Findings have shown that gutka and pan masala contain tobacco, nicotine and magnesium carbonate, responsible for causing oral cancer.

‘Tobacco is a crime against humanity and cancer patients are the victims of the tobacco industry. Indian youth are dying of mouth cancer in epidemic proportions. Gutka is one of the most deadly avatars of tobacco that is unique to India,’ said head and neck surgeon Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi of Tata Memorial Hospital.

A nationwide gutka ban will prevent millions of youth from dying prematurely and save crores of rupees spent on health care, he added. 

As per Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) India, over 80,000 fresh cases of oral cancer are being reported in the country annually. The data estimates the number of tobacco users in the country as 275 million of which 25.9 per cent are smokeless tobacco users, while 5.7 per cent are cigarette smokers and 9.2 per cent smoke bidi. About 8.2% of the Indian population is hooked to gutka and 25.9% to other smokeless tobacco like betel quid with tobacco, gul, gudaku, khaini, mishri, etc., the findings showed.

The states and union territories to ban gutka are Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana,  Jharkand, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Mizoram, Goa, Chandigarh.

The dangers of smoking on users and their children are known. But it also can cause asthma in their grandchildren, a new research demonstrates. Asthma is a major public health problem. It is the most common chronic disease of childhood. While there are many factors which contribute to asthma – maternal smoking during pregnancy is a well-known, and avoidable risk. During pregnancy nicotine can affect a developing foetus’ lungs, predisposing the infant to childhood asthma. 

Researchers from Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre, California, tested the effect of nicotine exposure during pregnancy on rats, looking not only at their pups but also at second generation pups. Exposure inside the uterus resulted in both male and female offspring having reduced lung function consistent with asthma. 

It also impaired lung function of their own offspring, even though the first generation rats were not themselves exposed to nicotine once they were born, according to an UCLA statement.

Levels of proteins increased by maternal smoking in the lungs of their offspring such as fibronectin, collagen and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, were also found to be raised in the grandchildren.

Source: IANS

Source: IANS