In her Personal Health column in the New York Times, Jane Brody tackles perhaps the greatest problem facing public health professionals today how to get smokers to quit, or prevent non-smokers from ever starting.
harm reduction
A new Perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine almost allows for the likely benefits of electronic cigarettes as part of a harm reduction approach to reducing the deadly toll of smoking. At last some science-based progress!
The New York Times bemoans the fate of smokers in America. Reminding us that tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first Surgeon General s report on smoking, the editors wish there were more that could be done for the 44 million smokers. They do not mention what that might be.
The effects of nicotine on human health - Consumer version
This year, how about making a truly meaningful, life-altering New Year s resolution?
If you thought the debates about the role of e-cigarettes in dealing with the most important public health problem we face smoking was hot before, you ain t seen nothin yet. There were a flurry of new commentaries this weekend, based on sound science and commonsense.
When it comes to teen smoking, primary care physicians shouldn t butt out. New recommendations suggest that the dangers of smoking, when broached by the family doctor rather than friends or family, are more likely to influence teenagers to quit the habit, or better yet, to never start.
ACSH staffers met for 2 hours with several representatives of the NYC Council to educate the officials about harm reduction and e-cigarettes. The session went quite well, with much information being exchanged. Stay tuned for the videotape. And the current JAMA has a misleading, useless propaganda piece on e-cigarette regulation.
Today s edition of Lancet Respiratory Medicine has a debate on the crucial question of whether e-cigarettes should be regulated, and if so how, and by whom?
Many smokers are unable to quit smoking through complete nicotine and tobacco abstinence, and conventional quit-smoking programs generally present smokers with two unpleasant alternatives: quit or die.