CVS Tobacco Announcement

Maine CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services applaud CVS Caremark Corp. for their leadership in helping to make the next generation tobacco-free.

The company's announcement that CVS/pharmacy stores will no longer sell cigarettes and other tobacco products is an unprecedented step in the retail industry. We look forward to seeing other stores and chains follow suit.

  

To see the related article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, visit http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1828530 

To see the statement by HHS Secretary Sebelius, visit: http://go.usa.gov/BkDH 

  

For support and resources related to tobacco cessation, visit http://tobaccofreemaine.org/ or call 1-800-207-1230

The Health Consequences of Smoking-50 Years of Progress

The Health Consequences of Smoking-50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General was released on Jan. 17, a half century after the historic 1964 Surgeon General's report that concluded that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Since that time, smoking has been identified as a cause of serious diseases of nearly all the body's organs. 

Today, scientists add diabetes, colorectal and liver cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction, age-related macular degeneration, and other conditions to the list of diseases that cigarette smoking causes. In addition, the report concludes that secondhand smoke exposure is now known to cause strokes in nonsmokers.

For the full report, executive summary, consumer guide and PSA, visit http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/index.html.

For free help quitting smoking, visit www.tobaccofreemaine.org or call 1-800-207-1230

Third-hand smoke

Ever take a whiff of a smoker's hair and feel faint from the pungent scent of cigarette smoke? Or perhaps you have stepped into an elevator and wondered why it smells like someone has lit up when there is not a smoker in sight. Welcome to the world of third-hand smoke.

 

“Third-hand smoke is tobacco smoke contamination that remains after a cigarette has been extinguished," says Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician at the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Boston and author of a study on the new phenomenon published in the journal Pediatrics. “Third-hand smoke," a term coined by Winickoff's research team, is a relatively new concept, but one that has worried researchers and nonsmokers for several years.

 

Third-hand smoke refers to the tobacco toxins that build up over time—one cigarette will coat the surface of a certain room, a second cigarette will add another coat, and so on. The third-hand smoke is what remains after visible or "second-hand smoke" has dissipated from the air.

 

The 2006 surgeon general's report says there is no risk-free level of tobacco exposure. There are more than 250 poisonous toxins found in cigarette smoke.

 

For more information:

• http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2006/index.htm
• http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/e74.abstract
• http://www.portlandmaine.gov/hhs/phbreatheeasy.asp
• http://www.smokefreeforme.org

Tobacco prevention

The Cancer Action Network of the American Cancer Society recently released a report, Staying Well: Real Stories from the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The report includes a feature on the Maine Tobacco HelpLine and the Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine on pages 20-21.
Young tobacco prevention activists from Maine and throughout the United States are participating in a youth leadership training in Washington, DC, this week and meeting with members of Congress to urge them to support strong policies to reduce tobacco use.

In particular, the youth are calling attention to the marketing of cheap, sweet-flavored cigars that appeal to kids. Nearly 30 youth from across the country are participating in the training, which is organized by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and includes skill-building workshops on leadership, advocacy and communications.

In Maine, tobacco use kills 2,200 residents and costs the state $602 million in health care bills each year, and 15.2 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes.

For more information, visit http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/