Harmful levels of smoke found at outdoor patios

Being a lung transplant recipient with only one working lung to exist on, I'm probably super critical of second-hand smoke but it really bothers me. Last weekend at the local crowded farmer's market there were numerous people smoking cigarettes and pipes mingling throughout the crowds of adults and children. The smokers were oblivious to others around them and I guess they assumed it was their right. I congratulate those jurisdictions who have banned smoking in all public places and hopefully more will follow suit soon.

"Even if a patio is completely uncovered … smoking on a patio can generate very high concentrations of fine particles — those which penetrate deep into the lungs," Kennedy said.

Quebec anti-tobacco advocates push for smoking ban on outdoor patios

CBC News

Anti-tobacco advocates are using a new study to make the case for a smoking ban on bar and restaurant patios.

A researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland found harmful levels of second-hand smoke in a survey of Montreal bar patios.

The study found that a single lit cigarette could create air quality levels comparable to a smoggy day in Los Angeles.

Professor Ryan Kennedy, who conducted the study, says the tests suggests second-hand smoke can be harmful outdoors, even on a windy day.

"Even if a patio is completely uncovered … smoking on a patio can generate very high concentrations of fine particles — those which penetrate deep into the lungs," Kennedy said.

However, the president of the Quebec bar-owners union, Peter Sergakis, says he doesn't believe the study's findings.

He says he plans to commission his own research.

Sergakis says his businesses have not recovered after smoking was banned inside restaurants and bars in Quebec in 2006.

"When they stopped smoking inside, we lost about 25 per cent of the business," he said. "Our clientele is smokers and drinkers."

Quebec to review Tobacco Act

The provincial Tobacco Act is expected to be studied later this month by members of the government committee on health and social services.

David Lefebvre, spokesman for the Quebec council on tobacco and health, says advocates are hoping the study will be taken into consideration.

"The current act risks the health of employees who work on restaurant and bar patios, while it protects the office workers," Lefebvre said in a statement.

Several provinces have already banned smoking on patios, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Alberta.

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Russia imposes smoking ban

Congratulations to Russian authorities for taking this first step to improve the health of their people. Second-hand smoke causes the same problems as direct smoking.

Effective this past Saturday, June 1st, Russian smokers are not allowed to light-up in places such as airports, railway stations and bus stops. Smoking is now banned in public transport, schools, healthcare and sports venues, government offices, elevators and apartment complexes. 

Smoking is still temporarily allowed in pubs, cafes and restaurants, trains, ships, hotels and market places. The ban will be imposed in these areas next year on July 1, 2014.

The cost of a pack of cigarettes will increase to $2 from the current $1. (at these prices it's no wonder that almost half the Russian population smokes).

Russia ranks 172 in the Geobase world ranking for life expectancy as compared to Canada,  ranked 13, France  ranked 14 and the U.S. ranked number 53. 

Ten years ago I met several patients on the waiting list for a lung transplant, all suffering from COPD and carrying oxygen tanks. To this day I still vividly remember one patient sadly saying to me "Why did I ever smoke?" 

Not only does smoking cause lung disease that can only be cured by a lung transplant, it also can cause coronary heart disease, lung cancer, kidney disease and high blood pressure. All smokers are at risk for more than two dozen diseases and conditions and the average smoker will die about 8 years earlier than a similar non-smoker. About half of all smokers will die from smoking, most before their 70th birthday after years of sickness and reduced life style.

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Secondhand Smoke May Increase Risk for Nicotine Addiction

Evidence continues to support the dangers of second-hand smoke and hopefully more jurisdictions will join the move to enact smoking bans in public places.

At my transplant center I met many patients on the waiting list for a lung transplant due to COPD. I remember them saying to me "why did I ever smoke?" but, to a person, they had no problem quitting cold turkey when told they would die without a transplant and had to be smoke-free in order to get one.

In addition to the lung disease, heart disease and other debilitating effects that smokers bring upon themselves, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that almost 50,000 deaths per year can be attributed to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in non-smoking adults. In children, secondhand smoke causes many serious health conditions, including sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections, more severe asthma, low infant birth weight, and chronic middle ear infections.

Megan Brooks Medscape Pulmonary Medicine

May 10, 2011 — Moderate secondhand smoke exposure results in occupancy of brain α4 β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), which may increase vulnerability to smoking and nicotine addiction, new research shows.

Study investigators found that after 1 hour of exposure to secondhand smoke in an enclosed space, a substantial amount of nicotine reaches the brains of nonsmokers and binds to receptors that are normally targeted by direct exposure to tobacco smoke — a finding that has important implications.

"We know that secondhand smoke exposure results in exposed individuals being more likely to become smokers and to have a harder time quitting smoking [if they are already smokers]," first author Arthur L. Brody, MD, from the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and the University of California, Los Angeles, told Medscape Medical News.

"Our study presents further evidence for the need to limit exposure to secondhand smoke in vulnerable individuals," he added.

The study was published online May 2 in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Priming the Brain

In laboratory rats, long-term exposure to cigarette smoke leads to nicotine dependence and an upregulation of nAChR levels in the brain. Yet, "brain nAChR occupancy from secondhand smoke exposure has not yet (to our knowledge) been demonstrated," the researchers write.

In the study, 11 moderately dependent cigarette smokers and 12 nonsmokers underwent positron emission tomography with the radioligand 2-(18)F-FA-85380, which permits visualization of brain α4 β2 nAChRs, one of the most abundant nAChR subtypes in the brain.

Each participant underwent 2 scanning sessions during which they sat in the passenger seat of a car for 1 hour and were exposed to moderate secondhand smoke or to no secondhand smoke.

During the smoke exposure condition, the mean air carbon monoxide level was 7.4 parts per million (ppm) — significantly higher (P < .001) than during the control condition (0.5 ppm).

For the entire group (smokers and nonsmokers), moderate secondhand smoke exposure led to an average 19% brain α4 β2 nAChR occupancy, the researchers say.

Evidence Supports Public Smoking Ban

"These results show that even limited secondhand smoke exposure delivers enough nicotine to the brain to alter its function," Nora D. Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who was not involved in the study, noted in a statement.

"Chronic or severe exposure could result in even higher brain nicotine levels, which may explain why secondhand smoke exposure increases vulnerability to nicotine addiction," Dr. Volkow added.

The researchers also found that smokers had a 23% increase, on average, in craving with secondhand smoke exposure, and they saw a correlation between nAChR occupancy and craving alleviation with subsequent cigarette smoking. This finding suggests that moderate secondhand smoke exposure delivers a priming dose of nicotine to the brain that contributes to continued cigarette use in smokers, they say.

"This study," Dr. Brody said, "gives concrete evidence to support policies that ban smoking in public places, particularly enclosed spaces and around children.''

This study was supported in part by grants from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Arch Gen Psych. Published online May 2, 2011.

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For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

NYC bans smoking in parks, Times Square

Congratulations to the City of New York for taking this aggressive measure to limit exposure to second-hand smoke. I hope more jurisdictions will follow suit. As a lung transplant recipient it bothers me to no end when I'm attending an out-door event and someone beside me lights-up and exposes me to their smoke. Here's a reminder of the hazards of breathing second-hand smoke:

Health effects of second-hand smoke

The hazardous health effects of exposure to second-hand smoke are now well-documented and established in various independent research studies and numerous international reports. The body of scientific evidence is overwhelming: there is no doubt within the international scientific community that second-hand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma and middle ear infections in children and various other respiratory illnesses. Second-hand smoke exposure is also causally associated with stroke, low birthweight, spontaneous abortion, negative effects on the development of cognition and behaviour, exacerbation of cystic fibrosis and cervical cancer.

CBC News
New York City's parks, beaches and even Times Square will be off-limits to smokers under one of the nation's toughest anti-cigarette laws passed Wednesday by the city council.

"This summer, New Yorkers who go to our parks and beaches for some fresh air and fun will be able to breathe even cleaner air and sit on a beach not littered with cigarette butts," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after the 36-12 vote.

The smoking ban will cover 1,700 parks and 14 miles of public beaches plus boardwalks, marinas and pedestrian plazas like the one in the heart of Times Square. The ban goes into effect 90 days after Bloomberg signs the bill; the mayor has 20 days to do that.

States and cities from Maine to California have banned smoking in public parks and beaches, but New York is pursuing one of the widest-reaching urban bans. Smoking is also prohibited in Los Angeles city parks and in Chicago parks with playgrounds.

Supporters of the New York ban said exposure to second-hand smoke poses health risks.

"The statistics don't lie: second-hand smoke kills," Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "With this bill, all New Yorkers can now breathe easier and breathe cleaner air."

A law banning smoking in New York City bars and restaurants went into effect in 2003.

Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz voted for the latest ban despite her ambivalence about earlier anti-smoking measures that forced her outdoors in bad weather when she was a smoker.

"My grandson used to tell me, 'Grandma, you're going to die,"' Koslowitz, now a nonsmoking legislator, said in announcing her vote.

Outside on Wednesday, the wet, raw winter weather didn't seem to bother Cal Johnson as he strolled through the park in front of city hall, puffing on a cigarette.

"I guess I'll have to stop smoking in this park," said the 68-year-old retired Wall Street analyst when he was told of the anti-smoking vote.

However, "in principle, I support this ban on smoking — even though I'm a smoker," said Johnson, adding he'll smoke on a nearby street where he lives once the new law kicks in.

The expanded smoking ban will give the city's parks department the power to slap violators with quality-of-life summonses, which are tickets for minor offences like begging or public urination that typically carry fines of under $100.

However, Councilwoman Gale Brewer, the bill's prime sponsor, said the ban isn't intended to be a legally "punitive program." She said the city expects the law will be primarily self-enforced, with residents warning anyone who lights a cigarette in a park or on a beach that it's illegal. Police won't be responsible for enforcing it, she said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today!
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You