Poll shows near split on cigarette taxes

Taxation of cigarette sales on Native American reservations is an issue on which voters appear to be almost evenly split.

That may be a sign that the perennial issue simply isn't that important to them, said pollster Larry Harris, principal of Mason Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C. Issues such as the state of the economy and jobs reveal greater attachment, he suggested.

Among respondents in the Voice of the Voter poll, 46 percent support the state's efforts to collect taxes on reservation sales of cigarettes to non-Native Americans, while 50 percent said they oppose it and 4 percent were undecided.

At first glance, those results suggest there's been a shift in thought. In the 2010 Voice of the Voter poll, 53 percent of voters polled supported the state's efforts, just 40 percent opposed them, and 7 percent were undecided.

But Harris said when the poll's margin for error of 4.5 percent is taken into account, the opinion shift is really minimal.

"You wouldn't say there's been a whipsaw in political opinion. It was never overwhelmingly supported nor is it now overwhelmingly opposed," Harris said. "It's not a top-of-mind issue with folks."

Indeed, among a handful of poll participants queried about the issue, several were unaware of or dismissive of details such as federal treaties with native Nations that would seem to prohibit or at least hinder the state's ability to collect taxes.

"I want to help the Indians but I also think we need their tax money," said Dolores Sibs, a retired teacher and Greece resident who described herself as "over 70."

"This is new times now and you have to go with the situations of the times," Sibs said. "There's a lot of these grandfather clauses that have to be changed."

Court stops MMDA smoking ban

A Mandaluyong City trial court has issued a writ of preliminary injunction against the Metro Manila Development Authority(MMDA)'s anti-smoking campaign in Metro Manila.

In a six-page order handed down on Tuesday, Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court(RTC) Branch 21 Judge Carlos Valenzuela enjoined MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino and those persons acting within his authority to stop from arresting persons who will be caught smoking in public places along major and secondary roads in the metropolis and places not listed in Republic Act No. 9211(Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003).

The injunctive writ stays until the court lifts it or until the pending case filed by a certain Antony Clemente and several smokers arrested by virtue of the campaign is decided.

"[P]ending the determination of whether or not the respondent MMDA has valid authority to implement RA 9211, there is an obvious and imperative need for preliminary injunction, a provisional measure to prevent or restrain in the meantime the MMDA to implement its Smoking Ban in open areas not covered by the definition of public places in RA 9211 so that its implementation may not render moot and academic the main issue in this case," the order read.

Section 5 of RA No. 9211 "absolutely" prohibits smoking in the following public places:
a. Centers of youth activity such as playschools, preparatory schools, elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities, youth hostels, and recreational facilities for persons under eighteen (18) years old;
b. Elevator and stairwells;
c. Location in which fire hazards are present, including gas stations and storage areas for flammable liquids, gas, explosives or combustible materials;
d. Within the buildings and premises of public and private hospitals. Medical, dental, and optical clinics, health centers, nursing homes, dispensaries and laboratories;
e. Public conveyance and public facilities including airport and ship terminals and train and bus stations, restaurant and conference halls, except for separate smoking areas; and
f. Food preparation areas.

The court stated that the bond in the amount of P100,000 earlier posted by petitioners for the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court in August shall suffice as the bond for the injunctive writ.

The MMDA has recorded 8,427 violators, 7,878 of whom are male, and 549, female, as of September 21. In spite of the TRO, the MMDA continued the campaign arguing that the restraining order only barred the agency from apprehending violators in places not covered by RA No. 9211.

Violators were fined P500 on first offense while those who cannot afford to pay the fine were obliged to render an eight-hour community service.

Blood test 'could measure smokers' heart risk'

A blood test could be used to measure a smoker's danger of heart disease, researchers have found.

Levels of a lung protein found in the blood of smokers could indicate their risk of dangerous plaque build-up in blood vessels, according to a study published in journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Researchers were able to determine the amount of circulating pulmonary surfactant B (SP-B), a protein which is found in damaged lung cells, in the study.

It was found that smokers who had higher levels of SP-B also had more build-up of dangerous plaque in the aorta.

"We now are close to having a blood test to help measure the smoking-related effects that contribute to atherosclerotic heart disease," said Dr Anand Rohatgi, co-lead author of the study.

"Smoking is one of the biggest contributors to the development of heart disease."

In other news, a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology has found that increasing the levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cuts the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Recurrent Depression Linked to Poor Resiliency, Smoking

A new Canadian study discovers that previous depression, daily smoking and a lack of control over life circumstances are risk factors for repeat episodes of depression.

Depression is a common disorder and can be associated with weight and dietary control, pain and inattention to other health issues. According to the authors, about 65 percent of people with depression have repeat episodes.

In the study, researchers studied 585 adults from Statistics Canada’s National Population Health Survey who had suffered depression in 2000/01.

Of the patients, 65 percent were women with an average age of 38.5 years. Interestingly, 82 percent of the depressed individuals were in the middle- to high-income bracket.

More than half the patients had one or more episodes of depression in the following six years.

The researchers found that age, sex and income were not associated with future depressive episodes but that daily smoking and difficulty mastering life circumstances were associated with long-term depression.

Mastery is the sense that people have control over their lives and their circumstances. In this study, high levels of mastery appeared to be protective against further depression.

“History of depression is a well-known clinical indicator of future depressive episodes; however, smoking and mastery are more novel prognostic factors that are not well accounted for in current clinical practice,” said lead researcher Ian Colman, Ph.D.

“Future research should evaluate the benefits of including smoking cessation and mastery in existing clinical guidelines for the treatment of depression.”

Norway anti-smoking debate puffs along

Last week’s proposal, leaked by Dagsavisen before Minister of Health and Care Services Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen had even so much issued a statement, called for abolishing smoking in outside serving areas, educational and medical establishments, and entrances to public buildings.
The ‘smoke-free Norway’ minister’s measures add to an already restrictive practise of a ban on indoor smoking, tightened sales controls, and other proposals to further curb young peoples’ access to tobacco products.
Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing the Norwegian state under EEA anti-competition laws.

Anti-smoker Dagfinn Høybråten, leader of the Christian Democrats (KrF) who successfully introduced current Norwegian legislation, agrees smoking should be banned to eliminate children being at risk from passive smoking. However, he kicks the threatened anti-smoking extension for going too far.
“The Tobacco Law applies indoors and not outside. I’m sceptical to banning smoking in outdoor serving areas. There is a choice to go inside, after all,” he said.
Accusing the nanny state of going too far, Conservative (H) MP Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, a former and now occasional party smoker, declared, “it must be okay, for example, to smoke in outside serving areas and people should display common good manners, but there are limits to what can be micromanaged.”
Social Democratic Party (SV) politicians announce, this week, they will not be supporting some the government’s proposals.
“We agree to sending these to Hearing, but have made it clear to the Minister of Health and Care Services [Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen that we cannot condone all of these measures, amongst others, banning smoking in homes for the elderly. Vetoing smoking for elderly people makes no sense,” says Geir-Ketil Hansen.

More organisations should ban smoking on their grounds

I refer to the letters by Ms Coral Ang, "The no-smoking path" (Oct 17), and Mr Muhammad Haziq Jani, "The no-smoking path is Utopia" (Oct 18).

Like Ms Ang, I am in favour of smoking being banned completely at certain public places. Perhaps Mr Muhammad Haziq has not heard of passive smoking. Just to breath in cigarette smoke from someone puffing away in close proximity is detrimental to one's health.

While denying work permits or citizenship to smokers may sound too extreme, it may help if there are more rules as to which places are okay for smoking. For example, should smoking while walking be allowed?

As an ex-student of SIM University, I was happy to read in its newsletter that smoking has been banned entirely in its campus.

Others should follow suit and lead by example, to prevent more people from suffering unwittingly from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, as many go undiagnosed. I would therefore agree that smoking requires more regulation.

Smoking Linked to Earlier Menopause

Women who smoke may hit menopause about a year earlier than those who don't light up, according to a study that also notes an earlier menopause may influence the risk of getting bone and heart diseases.
The study, which was carried in the journal Menopause, pooled data from several previous studies that included about 6,000 women in the United States, Poland, Turkey and Iran.
Non-smokers hit menopause between age 46 and 51, on average. But in all but two of the studies, smokers were younger when they hit menopause, between 43 and 50 overall.
During menopause, a woman's ovaries stop producing eggs and she can no longer get pregnant.
"Our results give further evidence that smoking is significantly associated with earlier (age at menopause) and provide yet another justification for women to avoid this habit," wrote study author Volodymyr Dvornyk, from the University of Hong Kong.
Dvornyk and his colleagues also analysed five other studies that used a cut-off age of 50 or 51 to group women into "early" and "late" menopause. Out of more than 43,000 women in that analysis, women who smoked were 43 percent more likely than nonsmokers to have early menopause.
Both early and late menopause have been linked to health risks. Women who hit menopause late, for instance, are thought to be at higher risk of breast cancer because one risk factor for the disease is more time exposed to estrogen.
"General consensus is that earlier menopause is likely to be associated with the larger number and higher risk of postmenopausal health problems, such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and others," Dvornyk told Reuters Health in an email.
Overall, he added, early menopause is also thought to slightly raise a woman's risk of death in the years following.
There are two theories for why smoking might mean earlier menopause, said Jennie Kline, an epidemiologist from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
Smoking make have an effect on how women's bodies make, or get rid of, estrogen.
lternatively, some researchers believe certain components of cigarette smoke might kill eggs, added Kline, who was not involved in the study.
Dvornyk's team did not have information on how long women had been smoking or how many cigarettes they smoked each day, so his team could not determine how either of those factors may have affected age at menopause.
For that reason, and a lack of data on other health and lifestyle factors linked to menopause, the analysis may not be enough to resolve lingering questions on the link between smoking and menopause, they said.
Alcohol, weight and whether or not women have given birth may each also play a role in when they hit menopause, but the evidence for everything other than smoking has been mixed, Kline said.
It is also possible that the same factors that influence age at menopause may determine whether women have trouble with infertility or not, or how late they can get pregnant.
Still, Kline said, "There are way better reasons to stop smoking than worrying about menopause."