Survey Says Smoking on the Decline Among Young People

The global drive to reduce smoking rates appears to be working. A survey by Yahoo of over 1,000 Yahoo users found that campaign appears to be effective particularly among young people.

About 61 per cent of the respondents aged 18 to 34 said they had never smoked.
The changed attitude toward lighting up, partly boosted by graphic warnings on cigarette pack, is evident in smoking being seen as a very uncool activity by 57 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women.

Because of aversion toward the habit, 58 per cent of females and 49 per cent of males said they would not date a smoker, while 32 per cent of women who smoke said they would never light up whenever their loved one is around.

However, 41 per cent of the young respondents said they engage in social smoking, which often happens whenever they are with a social crowd or when they have a drink. Lighting up enhances the drinking experience, the respondents said.

"Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance, making addiction the number one reason why people smoke. Smoking can also be a social habit. When others around you are smoking, you may feel like you should be doing the same. The feeling is known as peer pressure. Most people have a natural tendency to conform, which is an additional reason why people may decide to begin smoking," explained Shirley Beasley-Posey, a wellness educator with the U.S. Marine Corps Community Services.

Youth dies months after smoking medical marijuana

A Westmoreland County youth died Thursday morning at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC months after being hospitalized for smoking artificial marijuana, the Allegheny County medical examiner's office said.

Brandon Rice, 14, of East Huntingdon, was pronounced dead at around 8:20 this morning.

Mike Chichwak of the medical examiner's office said Brandon was admitted to Frick Hospital on June 12 after he told his parents he smoked K2, a type of artificial marijuana. He was later transferred to Children's Hospital.

A cause of death has not been determined. An autopsy and toxicology tests are being performed by Children's Hospital.

If it's established the boy died from the drug, it will be the first death in Westmoreland County caused by smoking artificial marijuana, said John Ackerman, a deputy coroner in Westmoreland County.

Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill June 24 banning the sale of artificial marijuana. It went into effect in August.

Baltimore Co. to ban smoking in county-owned vehicles

Baltimore County plans to prohibit employees from smoking in government vehicles, including police cars and maintenance trucks, a county health official confirmed.

Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch, the county health officer, recommended the move to county Administrative Officer Fred Homan last week, citing the health risks of secondhand smoke.
"Secondhand smoke can remain in [homes and cars] through contaminated dust and surfaces, even if smoking took place days, weeks and even months earlier," Branch wrote in the letter obtained by The Baltimore Sun. "The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has concluded that secondhand smoke is an occupational carcinogen."

Branch said he made the recommendation because he has a responsibility to protect all county constituents, including employees. He said County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's administration has told him that it would adopt the ban.

"What we know is that secondhand smoke is deleterious to adults, to children, to pregnant women and believe it or not, to animals," Branch said.

Employees who smoke in the vehicles can harm others' health, Branch said, and some nonsmoking employees have complained about lingering cigarette smoke.

"There are others that don't smoke that have to ride in those vehicles," he said. "The carcinogens, the smoke, remain in the car, on the surfaces."

In adults, secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, coronary disease, nasal irritation, and an increased risk of bronchitis and pneumonia, Branch wrote in the letter. In children, consequences include middle-ear problems, impaired lung function and lower respiratory illness.

The county owns about 1,500 vehicles, said Don Mohler, chief of staff to Kamenetz. Of those, about 800 are public safety — mostly police — vehicles.

Smoking may be banned at Downey parks

After a heated debate filled with feisty exchanges between council members, the City Council moved forward with plans Tuesday night to enact an ordinance banning cigarette smoking at all Downey parks and city-sponsored events.

In a split decision, Mayor Luis Marquez, Councilmen Fernando Vasquez and Roger Brossmer voted in support while Councilmen Mario Guerra and David Gafin dissented.

With more than 100 community members in attendance, including dozens of Downey teenagers and parents, the Council meeting often took on the tone of a political rally as several residents voiced support for a ban that would curb cigarette smoking near children and playgrounds.

Vasquez, who proposed the smoking ban, said he was surprised by the turnout, but encouraged by the display of community involvement.

“That's the beauty of our country, we can have these discussions,” Vasquez said shortly before addressing the smoking ban. “I agree this country was built on rights – the right for our children to breathe fresh air.

“Let adults be adults, but let children be children by letting them play in a safe environment,” Vasquez added.

Guerra, however, expressed concern over a possible anti-smoking ban and accused Marquez and Vasquez of playing politics, promoting a non-issue at the expense of residents’ civil liberties.

“I am vehemently opposed to this,” Guerra said. “We don't have police to invest in this. Who’s going to enforce it? What are the penalties?

“I'm against tobacco. I agree that it does kill, but this isn't going to stop it. Let's use common sense. This is about our personal rights being taken away.”

Gafin agreed, insisting state and county laws already limit smoking near playgrounds and other outdoor venues.

“I’m a strong proponent of individual rights. If an adult chooses to smoke it's their own right,” Gafin reasoned. “Where do we stop? We should not impose this upon our citizens, taking individuals' rights away.”

Marquez, who announced his support for the ban last week, maintained the issue was not political in nature.

“Children and parents agree this is a concern – it’s a public health issue,” Marquez said. “Our kids always come first.” Read more: The Downey Patriot - Smoking may be banned at Downey parks

Is Lindsay Lohan Turning New Leaf? She Quits Smoking!

Is Lindsay Lohan finally turning a new leaf to mark her debut in Playboy magazine? The actress says she recently quit smoking and says she’s working out regularly in rigorous spinning sessions. Believe it?

Lohan, 25, is notorious for chain smoking cigarettes and was recently embarrassed after she was photographed with yellow, nicotine-stained teeth.

Quitting the habit would be a major step forward for the actress. Her skin is already showing signs of premature aging from heavy tobacco and alcohol use.

The actress who posed nude for Playboy earlier this week for a reported fee just shy of $1 million, says she’s now exercising regularly.

“I’ve gone through enough in my life that I appreciate getting up at 7 or 8 in the morning and going spinning,” Lohan tells ExtraTV. “I like that kind of routine.”

Lindsay, 25, says the high-intensity cardio workout is “exhausting.”

Lohan, who has struggled with drug abuse and legal woes for the past four years, spent the summer flying to New York, Paris and Milan for fashion week, while trying to complete the community service requirements for her parole.

Lindsay, who recently quit smoking, has been in and out of jail and court due to her drug-related legal problems.

She also pleaded no contest to theft charges involving an instance where she walked out of a jewelry store with a necklace.

“I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine and mind-altering substances,” Lindsay revealed in 2009.

She’s currently spending time in the Los Angeles County morgue to met her community service obligations as a result of her theft plea.

Lohan has been trying to get her acting career back on track, and has vowed to leave her past behind. But so far, it’s been touch and go.

Lindsay was taken from the Los Angeles County Superior Court in handcuffs and post $100,000 bond after Judge Stephanie Sautner charged that she had violated the terms of probation in her misdemeanor shoplifting case.

A New York Post article Oct. 23 quoted a source describing her as “delusional.”

“To say she’s delusional would be a major understatement,” one former associate tells The Post.

“She genuinely seems clueless as to why these things keep happening to her. There is always something, or someone, else to blame.”

Lohan failed to show up for community service at a women’s shelter at least nine times, according to the The Post. .

She was also late on her first day of community service at the county morgue, but made sure she got there 45 minutes ahead of time the following day.

Lindsay, 25, is due back in court on Nov. 2, when the judge will decided whether she must return to jail.

E-cigarette store in New York City

This month Vape New York opened their first New York City location which exclusively sells e-cigarettes and accessories. Located in Queens, New York, Vape New York lets shoppers try e-cigarettes free to see if e-cigarettes could be a viable alternative to tobacco cigarettes for them.
Until now, most places that did sell e-cigarettes in New York sold a substandard model at an outrageous price point. The new store makes it affordable and reasonable for smokers to make the switch to e-cigarettes.
With New York City trying to ban indoor use of e-cigarettes, the business strives to educate the public on the difference between smoke and vapor and protect people's right to use the product indoors.
"We are very excited to bring vaping and e-cigarette culture to New York. We love exposing new people to e-cigarettes and we hope to change some lives by doing so." said co-owner Phil Roseman. "We encourage education about the product and we have e-cigarette users (known as vapers) and smokers meet together at our location on the last Sunday of each month so people can come and talk to other e-cigarette users."
The stores website provides literature and how to videos on the product.
"I am so thankful that now I can get on a subway and go to a local store when I need refills instead of ordering online and having to buy a pack of cigarettes while I wait for my order to arrive!" said Leslie Frank of Brooklyn, New York.
The owners have been strong activists for vapers rights and have been active in keeping e-cigarette use legal nationwide. They encourage individuials to do their research on the product and ask questions before buying anything.

Controlled Purchase Operation nets Marlborough cigarette seller

One cigarette retailer in Marlborough could face prosecution by the Ministry of Health after allegedly selling cigarettes recently to a youth under the age of 18 years.

A Controlled Purchase Operation was carried out by Nelson Marlborough Public Health Service in the Nelson/Tasman on October 12, and in Marlborough on October 13, with volunteers under 18 years of age.

The volunteers attempted to buy cigarettes from 46 outlets around Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough.

Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, Community Based Service Director, Peter Burton said, "All tobacco retailers had an audit visit in August this year.

"They were also sent a letter which reminded them of their legal obligations with regard to sales of tobacco to people under 18 years with advice that a Closed Purchase Operation would be conducted."

He said those that did not sell to the minors are to be contacted individually and complimented.

It has been the Ministry of Health's policy to consider prosecution following a sale of tobacco to a minor and a case file and evidence will be prepared and sent to the Ministry for a decision.

Premises visited during the operation included supermarkets, dairies and service station outlets.

Mr Burton said these annual operations are necessary to ensure the community is fully aware that it is illegal to sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18 years.

Colo. medical marijuana dispensaries join union

Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries are getting a boost in political clout after they joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
The U.S. Justice Department has warned that marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws, which union members are vowing to fight.
Daniel J. Rush, a national marijuana dispensary organizer for the union, said dispensary owners are at war with the U.S. Justice Department in California over the issue, and he believes the unions can help them.
"They declared war on us, we didn't declare war on them," Rush said.
Dispensaries in Michigan, California, and Washington state also are seeking union backing.
Dispensary representatives said Monday that they believe medical marijuana is part of the retail health care, agriculture, and food processing industry.
"Our union has over 100 years' experience representing these very types of workers. We intend for our collective bargaining agreements to serve as a first line of regulation in the communities our members work in, and we are proud to do it," said Kim Cordova, president of the UFCW Local 7.
The union chapter has about 25,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming representing grocery, pharmacy, agriculture workers, food processors, meat cutters, textile workers, and health care workers.
As of July, 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized the medical use of marijuana, with programs in various phases of development.
Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, a medical marijuana patients' group, said union backing sends a message that professional organizations are keeping the medical marijuana industry in place.
He said union support, including campaign and financial backing, could help get a constitutional amendment on the Colorado ballot next year that would regulate and tax recreational marijuana to raise money for schools.
Steve Ackerman of the Organic Alternatives dispensary in Fort Collins said about 200 people working for 20 licenses marijuana businesses are counting on union support to fight a measure on the Nov. 1 ballot that would ban medical marijuana businesses in the city. If approved, the 20 licensed marijuana businesses in the city would have 90 days to shut down.
So far, opponents of the ban, including dispensary owners, have raised nearly eight times more money than ban supporters.
Marijuana dispensary advocates said the medical marijuana industry employs more than 8,000 workers and contributes millions of tax dollars to the Colorado economy.
Ray Martinez, who got the initiative on the ballot prohibiting marijuana dispensaries and grow operations, said Fort Collins has become a sanctuary city for medical marijuana and making them unionized won't make them any more legitimate.
"Unions are about making money, and that's what marijuana stores are about. They don't care about the patients," Martinez said.

Bulgaria finalises controversial tobacco deal

Bulgaria finalised on Monday the controversial sale of state-owned cigarette maker Bulgartabac to a firm belonging to Kremlin-controlled Russian bank VTB for 100.1 million euros ($137.4 million), AFP reported.
Numerous other privatisation attempts have failed over the past 13 years, and critics have questioned who is behind the new buyer, an Austria-registered company majority owned by a unit of VTB that was the sole bidder.

Previous privatisation attempts were opposed by the Turkish minority MRF party, in Bulgaria's government between 2001-2009, as tobacco-growing is a major source of employment for the country's 10-percent Turkish population.
The finalisation of the deal, which saw the European Union's poorest member offload a 79.8-percent stake, came six days ahead of presidential and local elections.

City council implements “voluntary” tobacco-free policy

City lawmakers are hoping a new policy will create a healthier atmosphere for children at play in local parks and playgrounds.

During a meeting on Monday, city council members voted unanimously to adopt a smoke-free policy for all recreational areas in Niagara Falls.

Signs will soon be posted at all area parks and playgrounds to alert residents and visitors. Compliance with the new measure will be “voluntary” as the policy does not call for any fines or other forms of punishment for offenders.

City officials hope the smoke-free designation alone will draw awareness among adults about the health risks associated with smoking, especially among children and young adults.

“This is really an opportunity for us here at the city to try to make our city healthier and safer for kids,” said Councilman Charles Walker, who pushed for the development and approval of the policy.

Before Monday’s vote, lawmakers heard from representatives from two large anti-smoking organizations who said the policy makes sense for Niagara Falls.

Deborah Pettibone, a representative from the Erie Niagara Tobacco Free Coalition, a group that works to reduce the risk of tobacco-related diseases by advocating for measures aimed at reducing exposure to secondhand smoke, said there are many reasons why tobacco-free parks make sense for Niagara Falls and other communities. Pettibone said the measure will not only promote a healthier community by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke among park goers, but will also promote cleaner recreational areas by eliminating cigarette butts often left behind by smokers.

Pettibone said passing the measure would put Niagara Falls in league with a growing number of communities in Western New York that have adopted similar policies in recent years. To date, she said, 15 communities in Niagara and Erie counties have made such moves and more than 300 municipalities statewide have done so as well. Pettibone said her organization has agreed to donate signs valued at $1,500 apiece that will inform park visitors of the new no-smoking rules.

Tobacco linked to early menopause

Several studies have showen that smokers are at increased risk of developing cancer, heart disease, and lung disease and of dying prematurely while the deadly habit triggers many specific problems in women.

Menopause is a natural condition occurring in women as they age in which their ovaries stop producing eggs and they can no longer get pregnant.

Menopausal symptoms naturally begin between the ages of 46 and 51 but a new analysis carried by researchers of the University of Hong Kong suggests that smokers hit menopause between 43 and 50, Reuters reported.

Researchers reviewed some previous studies conducted on about 6,000 women in the US, Poland, Turkey and Iran.

The team also analyzed five other studies that used a cut-off age of 50 or 51 to categorize studied women into "early" and "late" menopause.

Out of more than 43,000 participants, women who smoked were 43 percent more likely to have early menopause, says the report published in the journal Menopause .

“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,” said lead author Volodymyr Dvornyk.

“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 added.

Early menopause has also been associated with a slightly higher risk of earlier death, he said.

Previous findings suggested that smoking could affect the production or break up of the female hormone estrogen, which has a curtail part in delaying menopause. Some other studies, however, say certain components of cigarette smoke might kill eggs.
Dvornyk's team did not study participants' smoking habits and their other lifestyle factors which may provide more understanding about the connection between smoking and menopause.

Further researches may not only investigate the mechanism through which tobacco related substances may affect women's menopause age but also their fertility.

Full smoking ban vote likely to see delay

After a town hall meeting on Monday, students might not have to take their cigarettes off campus—at least for another month.

About 40 people attended a University Senate town hall on Monday afternoon to discuss the current 20-foot campus smoking ban and a potential full-campus ban. But the meeting was marked by a sense of gridlock, with supporters and opponents of a full ban sticking to their positions and senators still deliberating on when and if another vote would take place.

The senate had been expected to vote on a full smoking ban, as proposed by Business School senator Mark Cohen, at its plenary this Friday. But Cohen’s proposal changed between September 23, when he introduced it at the last USenate plenary, and the hearing on Monday. The original proposal called for a smoking ban on the Morningside Heights campus, and the new version calls to ban smoking throughout Columbia University.

Alex Frouman, CC ’12, University senator and co-chair of the student affairs committee, told Spectator after the hearing that because of the change in the proposal, it’s “no longer clear” that the senate will vote on the resolution at its plenary this Friday.

“With the senate, anything can happen,” Frouman said. “It’s procedurally possible … but there seems to no longer be the will to push it through on Friday.”

Frouman added that the current ban is reasonable and was implemented with plans to reevaluate the policy after two years, not nine months.

“The senate needs to build the trust of the community by keeping its word when passing a policy and sticking to the timeline,” he said.

After the town hall, University senator Kenny Durell, CC ’12, said that the senate would likely wait until November to vote.

“I think the real issue with the entire process is that the process hasn’t been seen to fruition,” Durell said.

Aki Terasaki, CC ’12 and president of Columbia College Student Council, agreed. On Sunday night, CCSC nearly unanimously passed a resolution stating that “proper signage has just been implemented, and as a result, the policy hasn’t been in place long enough to review the effects.”

Terasaki said that changing the policy would “provoke confusion in the student body,” and that CCSC will support the current policy for two years.

Senator and Business School professor Mark Cohen, the chief proponent of the full-campus ban, objected to Terasaki’s emphasis on student opinion.

“The University community doesn’t revolve around students as the sun, the moon, and the stars,” he said. “You don’t have the only voice in the room.”

The move to postpone a vote on a University-wide ban will likely be greeted with approval by Columbia’s smokers, several of whom came to the meeting to defend themselves—including Aram Avanessians, SEAS ’15, who gave a passionate speech in defense of his right to smoke.

“To fully rid the campus of smoking is to tell a smoker that they are not fully accepted as a proud member of this society,” he said. “Columbia has diagnosed my habit as a flaw in my human being.”

John Morris, a smoker and graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in history, further described the proposal as “absurd” and “paternalistic,” calling it a product of the Columbia student body’s “self-righteous attitude towards whatever they deem to be unhealthy and culturally unacceptable.”

But few Columbia medical professionals said it was time for Columbia to follow the example of more than 350 other universities and ban smoking.

Sam Silverstein, chairman of Columbia’s department of physiology, was surprised that the senate was even debating the ban, since he said smoking was an urgent public health problem, not “an issue of liberty versus authority.”

“This is not a reasonable issue to be discussing in this way,” he said.

Police find marijuana at rural residence

A tip to Angola Police Department brought in a bounty of marijuana Monday.

K9 Officer Case Gilbert and his companion Yogi went to a rural residence in the 2900 block of C.R. 160S, southwest of Angola. As soon as he got to the residence, Gilbert said he could smell marijuana. “I took Yogi around and he agreed,” Gilbert said. Yogi alerted to the smell coming from inside the house and with that confirmation Gilbert obtained a search warrant.

The person who answered the door — 45-year-old Michael Robbins — was taken into custody on a warrant from Michigan and lodged in Steuben County Jail. Robbins will face additional charges, police said. A juvenile was also arrested in connection with the case.

“There’s another suspect that’s still at large,” said Angola Police Chief Stu Hamblen.

Angola Police and Steuben County Sheriff’s Department officers executed the warrant and found a large quantity of marijuana, cash, a rifle, paraphernalia and other controlled substances, said a news release.

The amount of marijuana has not yet been determined. If there was more than 10 pounds, the marijuana charge could be a Class C felony, which is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

Hamblen said the smell of marijuana was overpowering at the residence. The pot found included harvested stalks that were hanging to dry along with prepackaged bags.

“They had already harvested. We found where they had cut the stalks,” said Hamblen. In an area west of the residence, around a dozen stubs were found where the plant had been removed.

Inside the house, the contraband was in plain view, said Gilbert.

Regulation Confusion Over Medical Marijuana

Two Southern Oregon medical marijuana grows are raided by federal agents in a week's time, hauling away hundreds of plants. The raids are raising the issue of how the medical marijuana program is regulated.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program screens growers and patients to make sure they do not have a criminal background. Growers are allowed to grow six plants per patient, up to four patients. The OMMP registers growers, but does not have agents to see if growers are in compliance.

That responsibility falls to law enforcement, but police say without a complaint or suspicion, they don't know where to start looking. Local police can conduct consensual compliance checks if the landowner agrees, but usually can only do this if there is suspicion of illegal activity.

James Anderson, whose Gold Hill medical marijuana grow was raided by the DEA two weeks ago, says he has still not been charged with anything and has not been arrested. He says the grow was legal under state law, but says in six years of growing, no one ever knocked on his door to check.

In his copy of the federal search warrant, he was given aerial pictures of the grow site, which showed hundreds of plants. Anderson and medical marijuana advocates think federal agents target co-ops of 100 plants or more

Drug Enforcement Agents and the U.S. Attorney's office are still giving no information about the raids in Gold Hill and Central Point, only saying they were serving a federal search warrant.

Tobacco battle lines form

United Nations health chief Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, has come out fighting against tobacco giants, urging Asian governments not to be cowed by the industry but instead maintain life-saving efforts against smoking.
Big tobacco's efforts to subvert the World Health Organization's framework convention on tobacco control "are now out in the open and extremely aggressive," WHO director general Chan said.

The former Hong Kong health official was speaking at yesterday's opening of the 62nd regional committee meeting of WHO Western Pacific, which includes the SAR and the mainland.

Chan recounted how firms have filed lawsuits. One target, she noted, is Australia, the first nation to legislate for plain cigarette packets to hit marketing efforts.

Such dirty tactics "are deliberately designed to instil fear in other countries wishing to introduce similarly tough tobacco control measures," she said.

Delegates in Manila will today review progress in tackling non-communicable diseases after a UN General Assembly declaration last month. Chan helped push UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to put non-communicable diseases on the agenda for only the second time in its history - after HIV/aids.

She said tobacco is the common risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease - "which break the bank." That referred to a study published last month. It concluded that costs of treating cancer are "now unsustainable in even the richest nations," Chan

said.

Urging WHO members to unite in anti-smoking efforts and back ideas like Australia's on packaging, Chan added: "It is horrific to think that an industry known for its dirty tricks and dirty laundry could be allowed to trump what is clearly in the public's best interest."

Talking yesterday about Australia's move to force tobacco companies to use the same dull packets whatever the brand was the chief of its Department of Health and Ageing, Jane Halton.

"It is fair to say that we are being targeted by what can only be described as subversive and disgraceful tactics by the tobacco industry, including using every available vehicle and opportunity to try and intimidate and/or threaten us to withdraw the legislation," she said.

Hong Kong Director of Health Lam Ping-yan said the SAR will be "comrades and partners" with Australia and commended it for its determination to introduce plain packaging.

In Hong Kong, people aged 15 and above who have been daily smokers dropped to 11.1 percent - among the lowest in the region - and Lam said more money will go to expanding the network of quit-smoking clinics.

The WHO said in May that tobacco will kill six million people this year, including 600,000 non-smokers.

And by 2030 it could kill eight million people annually - more than the combined deaths from HIV, TB and malaria, Chan said yesterday.

Smoking-related TB could rise if worldwide smoking rates continue

If smoking rates stay at current levels, smoking could create 18 million extra cases of tuberculosis worldwide and 40 million excess deaths from the disease by 2050, a study finds.

Researchers produced mathematical models based on various smoking rate scenarios to estimate rates of tuberculosis disease and deaths in each World Health Organization region around the world. The baseline scenario used current smoking levels to come up with the 18 million and 40 million numbers; right now, almost 20% of people worldwide smoke tobacco, and that figure may rise in some poor countries, the study authors said.

Here's how bad it could get: In a "pessimistic" scenario, researchers projected numbers based on smoking prevalence growing at two times the current rate, until half of all people smoked. That would mean an added 34 million tuberculosis cases attributed to smoking and an excess 114 million deaths from smoking-related tuberculosis from 2010 to 2050.

And what if smoking frequency were cut by 1% each year from 2015 until it was gone? That would mean a drop of 13% in cumulative smoking-related TB cases and 27% in cumulative smoking-related deaths from TB by 2050, compared with the baseline numbers.

Studies have shown a link between smoking and a greater risk of contracting tuberculosis. Health experts believe that smoking might make the lungs less capable of fighting infections by altering cells that would normally be able to battle pathogens.

"The tobacco industry has spent decades working to convince developing countries as well as funding agencies that they should not 'waste' their time on tobacco control," said lead author Dr. Sanjay Basu of UC San Francisco in a news release, "but rather focus on infectious diseases like tuberculosis at the same time that the multinational tobacco companies were expanding aggressively in those very countries."

UIC researchers get $14.2M for tobacco studies

The National Cancer Institute has awarded $14.2 million in grants to the University of Illinois at Chicago for tobacco research.

The funding announced Monday goes to two research projects. In one, scientist Sherry Emery and her colleagues will measure how media messages - including on the Internet and in social media - affect smoking behavior and attitudes.

In another, Frank Chaloupka and his colleagues will look at the effect of taxes and price reductions on tobacco purchasing. They'll examine whether consumers will avoid paying taxes on tobacco by crossing county or state borders, or by buying tobacco online or by phone.

The two 5-year studies at UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy build on previous research conducted by the institute to better unde