A NSW Health survey of more than 5000 school students aged 12 to 17 revealed 75 per cent of them believed seeing celebrities with cigarettes encouraged young people to start smoking.

The findings of the Australian Secondary School Alcohol and Drug survey, due for release in March next year, also show teenage smoking rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.

About 41,000 NSW students had smoked at least one cigarette in the previous week, with those who did saying they smoked an average of 22 cigarettes a week.

Frank Sartor, the minister assisting the Health Minister, said the research showed young people were more likely to start smoking before they turned 16.

“The survey reveals that more than half the students surveyed believed that smoking by celebrities encouraged young people to take up smoking,” Mr Sartor said.

They also indicate that advertising campaigns and graphic warnings on cigarette packets are helping to reduce smoking rates.

Professor Simon Chapman, of Sydney University’s public health faculty, said people in the public eye needed to be aware they were important role models for children.

“Just as we say cigarette advertising influences smoking, so does the image of somebody who is well known for being beautiful, interesting or talented,” he said.

Source: News.com.au

Cr Buman, who owns an inner city cafe, says he will not abide by the new policy and has published a newspaper advertisement today stating his cafe still boasts an outdoor smoking section.

Council general manager Janet Dore says the advertisement shows Cr Buman is determined to defy the policy.

“It’s of great concern and I will be looking into it very carefully and reporting to council,” she said.

“I’d be concerned if any proprietor did this in such a blatant way and I’m sure council will take a very serious view of one of its own blatantly defying it.”

Cr Buman says defying the council ban on outdoor smoking is purely a business decision and he will encourage every other restaurant owner in Newcastle to do the same.

“At the end of the day I’ve got a business to run, and while I love Newcastle, my business, and the employment of my staff is far more important than council wanting to make up stupid, ridiculous laws that they can’t enforce,” he said.

“I’m definitely encouraging restaurateurs to ignore it, because it’s just ridiculous.”

Source: ABC Australia

A report prepared for the Australian Council of Smoking and Health shows that people who drink and smoke are up to five times more likely to develop head and neck cancers than those who only drink or only smoke.

The research also shows passive smoking while drinking can lead to an increased risk of cancers of the mouth and respiratory tract.

Author David Preen says the report also finds most cancer deaths caused by alcohol could be avoided if the person did not smoke.

“So I guess the take home message from the review that we performed was that considering that many people are going to continue to drink obviously, those that choose to do so, one thing they can potentially do to decrease risk of developing head and neck cancer is to make sure they don’t smoke,” he said.

Source: ABC Australia

Dr John Greenwood from the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s burns unit is treating a 67-year-old Loxton woman who suffered burns to a large area of her body when she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in her lounge room.

He says the woman’s condition has now improved and she will receive surgery to begin closing her wounds early this week.

Dr Greenwood says while the woman’s injuries are not common, the community should be cautious, particularly about smoking in bed.

“People who go to bed and smoke in bed, you know you go to bed for a good reason and that reason is usually to sleep,” he said.

There have been plenty of cases of people actually dying because they were smoking in bed and fell asleep, another great reason to quit smoking!

An example here:

An older woman and her daughter were slightly hurt early Friday after a fire broke out in their apartment in north Seattle near Shoreline.

Seattle firefighters were called to the apartment in the 13500 block of Linden Avenue North shortly after 4:30 a.m., fire spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said both women received minor injuries and were taken to Northwest Hospital. The cause of the fire was found to be smoking in bed. Damage was estimated at $15,000.

Source: Seattle PI

“You usually go to bed because you’re ready to sleep and you know this kind of injury … it might be dwindling … as less and less people smoke, it’s still phenomenally dangerous.”

Source: ABC News

Newspapers reported Sunday that the Australian Adult Entertainment Industry had written to Victoria state officials seeking an exemption to laws which ban smoking in workplaces for fear they will drive prostitutes back onto the street.

“People smoke when they drink, and people smoke when they fornicate,” the industry group’s William Albon was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press.

Smoking is banned in most public buildings across Australia and will be outlawed in hotels and other licensed premises in Victoria in July.

Albon said the ban would force “men, women and transgender persons” who work as prostitutes out of the state’s 87 legal brothels and onto the streets, where they could potentially become targets for violence.

“Having them standing dressed in terms not conventional for the street might be a magnet for violent, anti-social behavior,” he said.

Source: Yahoo News

We have more information on Quitting or Stopping Smoking in Australia here.

The advertisement, which will be launched on national television tonight, seeks to revive the element of shock in the campaign by focusing on a consequence few people associate with cigarettes — gangrene.

Smokers are 2 times more likely to develop peripheral vascular disease, a blockage of the arteries in the legs and arms which can cause the infection. In the most severe cases, amputation is the only option.

About 800 Victorians are diagnosed with peripheral vascular disease every year . It usually affects older people, but vascular surgeon Mark Westcott said some smokers in their 30s had been affected and had major amputations. “It’s a bit despairing when there is nothing more that can be done,” he said.

For Fotios Tsigaridis, 78, the campaign comes too late. A father of three and former railway labourer, Mr Tsigaridis learned the brutal lesson some 13 years ago when, after 50 years of smoking, he developed gangrene in his right leg and had to have it amputated.

With a prosthetic limb and two walking sticks, Mr Tsigaridis, whose name means cigarettes in Greek, can walk short distances but do little more on his own.

In the past five years, more than 1500 amputations have been performed in Victoria. Of the 125 patients who had major amputations at St Vincent’s Hospital in that time, 100 were current or former smokers. Yet a recent survey showed that almost 75 per cent of smokers did not accept that smoking could cause gangrene.

Source: The Age

Over 23,000 people die each year from smoking related illness in Australia (Victoria Canberra Sydney). That means, the cigarette and tobacco companies lose over 23,000 customers a year. Research from the national drug strategy states that tobacco abuse costs Australia (as of April 2003) 21 Billion Dollars in health care, business and other social related costs. Passive smoking (non smokers exposed to smokers smoking) kills over 200 Australians per year, half of them – children. These figures are frightening.

2004
In Australia, Smoking 25 cigarettes a day costs on average $ .70.00 a week or $3,640.00 a year
In Australia, Smoking 50 cigarettes a day costs on average $140.00 a week or $7,280.00 a year

Globally 350,000 people die each month worldwide from smoking. (World Health Organisation) Over 4000 chemicals are found in cigarettes 43 are known to cause cancer.

Tobacco REALLY Kills around 20,000 Australians a year.

That’s more than drugs, alcohol, car accidents, suicides, homicides and AIDS deaths combined. Better health warnings are only part of the solution. We also need higher tobacco taxes, smoke free work and public places, effective ways to protect kids from cigarette advertising, clearer rules on tobacco company behaviour and increased resources for health promotion and cessation programs.

More Information:

Australian Council on Smoking and Health
Quit WA
The Non Smokers’ Movement of Australia
Quit Victoria