Wausau-area business and tavern owners aren’t fond of the proposed statewide smoking ban, but say it at least will level the playing field. “If it’s going to happen, it’s got to happen on a statewide level,” said Dean Day, owner of Day’s Bowl-A-Dome in Wausau. “These local bans can and have devastated small owners. Having a statewide ban is the only way to go.” Lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a measu ... Jump to full article >>

RALEIGH — North Carolina took a step closer to a ban on smoking when the state Senate voted Thursday to make it illegal to light up in restaurants and bars. If the bill becomes law, the nation’s No. 1 tobacco producer will have a significant restriction on a product which drove its economy for generations. This version of the ban is less strict than one passed by the state House of Representatives, which in turn was less strict tha ... Jump to full article >>

AUGUSTA (AP) – A bill modeled after a Portland ordinance that limits smoking on restaurant decks and patios is facing its final vote in the Maine Senate. The House on Thursday voted 88-50 to give final approval to the bill, which would prohibit smoking in outdoor eating areas of restaurants. The measure doesn’t include a time restriction as the original bill did. It also requires restaurants to tell customers about the prohibition on ... Jump to full article >>

David Goerlitz, the face of Winston cigarette advertisements for six years, is going through his second bout of disillusionment with the tobacco sector. The first came in November 1988 — after Goerlitz served as the “Winston Man” for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from 1981 to 1987. That’s when he spoke out against the industry and what he considered as manufacturers’ practice of targeting youth worldwide with their prod ... Jump to full article >>

Despite not smoking for very long, many U.S. adolescents who smoke and try to quit are unsuccessful, federal health officials said. The Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that interventions that prevent initiation and increase quitting should be fully implemented to lower the prevalence of smoking among youth. Sixty-one percent of students who ever smoked cigarettes daily tried to quit sm ... Jump to full article >>

The Department of Health and Human Service’s (DHHS) 1982 report to Congress on the health consequences of smoking presents a comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between cigarette smoking and cancer. It identifies cigarette smoking as the major single cause of cancer mortality in the United States (1). Since 1937 cancer has been the second most frequent cause of death in the United States and will account for an estimated 430,000 d ... Jump to full article >>

As population ages, even small changes affect incidence, study finds Numerous lifestyle factors affect older adults’ risk of diabetes, a new study finds. U.S. researchers analyzed the link between lifestyle and incidence of diabetes over 10 years in 4,883 men and women aged 65 and older. The lifestyle factors examined included physical activity, dietary habits, tobacco and alcohol use, and amount of body fat. The study authors found that e ... Jump to full article >>

Those puffs affect more than your lungs (HealthDay News) — Damage to the lungs is one of the first things people think about when it comes to the health detriments of smoking. But smoking can affect much of your body, right down to your bones and muscles. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says smoking can have the following effects on the musculoskeletal system: * Increases risk of osteoporosis. * Reduces bone density. ... Jump to full article >>

Young women who smoke – as well as those who are routinely exposed to second-hand smoke – face a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life, according to a new study. “Individual women have, on average, a one-in-seven chance of developing breast cancer. If they smoke, they will increase that risk to one-in-four or one-in-five,” Anthony Miller, associate director of the Dalla Lana School of Public ... Jump to full article >>

During the past several years, significant progress has been made in identifying susceptibility genes for nicotine dependence through genetic linkage and association analyses. Although a large number of genes have been associated with tobacco smoking, only a very limited number of genetic variants are considered to be causative. How to find these functional variants and then characterize them remains challenging in the field of human genetics. I ... Jump to full article >>