Does your teenage or college-age daughter read fashion magazines such as Glamour or Vogue? Does she smoke? If the answer to both of those questions is yes, she may have been influenced by a series of advertisements for Camel cigarettes that appeared in those and other magazines in 2007, a new study suggests. The four largest tobacco companies in the United States—including R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camels—are prohibited from “directly or ... Jump to full article >>

A new study has found that teenagers who are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke are more likely to have changes to their blood vessels that could lead to heart disease later in life. Researcher Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland says her study on teenagers extends previous research, which found cardiovascular damage in grown-ups who breathed in other peoples’ smoke. “We know previously that in adults there is th ... Jump to full article >>

Secondhand smoke harms the cardiovascular health of children, especially toddlers and obese youngsters, U.S. researchers say. Their study of 52 toddlers (aged 2 to 5) and 107 adolescents (aged 9 to 18) found an association between the amount of secondhand smoke exposure and a marker of vascular injury in toddlers. This link was two times greater in obese toddlers, the study authors noted. Toddlers exposed to secondhand smoke showed a 30 percent ... Jump to full article >>

A group of bar owners is asking for an exemption from the state’s three-year-old workplace smoking ban. They want state lawmakers to allow bars to pay an annual fee starting at $1,000 to allow smoking in their establishments. Only stand-alone bars — not restaurants — would be able to apply for the exemption. Proposals to create exemptions from the state’s workplace smoking ban have been introduced in each of the past thre ... Jump to full article >>

So this is what a decade of international conspiracy with European underworld kingpins gets you? An empty bank account, a blue-collar ranch house in Cutler Bay with two unpaid mortgages, and a date with a federal judge. For Roman Vidal, a 58-year-old with a thick mane of gray hair and a white mustache, that about sums it up. To that meager list, Vidal also can add 24 months in federal prison, three years’ probation, and a $1.5 million fine ... Jump to full article >>

Given the sad economy, increasing South Carolina’s cigarette tax offers lawmakers the best opportunity to get their hands on a pot of new money next fiscal year. The Legislature should hike the measly 7-cent tax — the nation’s lowest — and use it to support health care for needy South Carolinians. Already, new cigarette tax proposals are emerging. State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex, a Democratic gubernatorial candi ... Jump to full article >>

A new study offers yet more proof that smoking is a major risk factor for death from heart disease and cancer. Researchers followed 12,152 American and European male and female smokers, formers smokers and nonsmokers for three years. During that time, current smokers were 4.16 times more likely to die of cancer, 2.26 times more likely to die of heart disease and 2.58 times more likely to die from any cause than were former or nonsmokers. Current ... Jump to full article >>

Second-hand smoke is often referred to as an allergen because it causes reactions usually associated with allergies. Many people complain of being allergic to cigarette smoke because it irritates their eyes, nose, or throat, but this is usually not a true allergy, because the immune system is not involved. These symptoms are more likely a case of over-sensitivity to smoke. Although tobacco smoke itself has not been proven to cause allergic react ... Jump to full article >>

The next time you are enjoying a smoke near your office building, don’t be surprised if someone around you starts coughing noisily and, perhaps, deliberately too. A group of NGOs have started a new campaign — ‘Khaasi Sunao, Sutta Bhujhao’ (Cough aloud, stub out cigarette) — to encourage non-smokers to get proactive about their right to breathe clean air. “We want non-smokers to register their protest by coughing aloud and also educat ... Jump to full article >>

Minority teen boys smoke more when they suffer discrimination, but that’s not the case for minority teen girls, a U.S. study finds. Perceived discrimination had no effect on smoking rates among minority girls aged 12 to 15 and was associated with lower rates of smoking among minority teen girls aged 16 to 19. “Our findings in girls, especially in the older girls, really surprised us,” study first author Dr. Sarah Wiehe, an assistant profes ... Jump to full article >>