Smokers Not Very Receptive To Shocking Images

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 13 Jul 2011 - 0:00 PDT

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A team of researchers led by the University of Bonn found clear changes in how emotions are processed in smokers. After an abstinence period of 12 hours, the brain's fear center was mostly out of commission in addicts. The researchers assume that a campaign using images of smokers' lungs as deterrents on cigarette packs as both the US and EU are currently planning will hardly have an effect on this group.

The study, which was supported by the German Research Foundation, brought together scientists from the Universities of Bonn and Köln, as well as from the Charité in Berlin. 28 younger persons who had been smoking for quite a number of years and an equal number of non-smokers participated in this study. Each of the subjects was shown photos of happy, fearful and neutral faces while their brain activity was recorded. The researchers were particularly interested in the amygdala a structure the shape and size of an almond. "It is the brain's fear center," said Privatdozent Dr. Dr. med. René Hurlemann, Oberarzt at the Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie of the Universitätsklinikum Bonn.

The amygdala was always active when the participants were shown fearful faces. "Initially, there were no differences visible between smokers and non-smokers," reported Dr. Ozgür Onur, the study's principal author and neurologist who used to work at the Universitätsklinikum Bonn and is now employed by the Universitätsklinikum Köln. "So, the processing of emotions in the brain worked in a similar manner in both groups." This was always the case when the addicted participants were allowed to smoke sufficiently. The study's subjects, who ranged in age up to their late twenties, consumed an average of 17 cigarettes a day, and had been doing so for nine years.

Lower amygdala activity after abstinence

However, when the smokers came off a 12-hour abstinence period, the picture changed. "After only a few hours of abstinence, the activity of the fear center was far lower, as compared to the earlier state," said Onur. "They simply were indifferent to images of fearful people."

This lack of fear is problematic. "The amygdala is prevented from performing its natural function," explained Hurlemann. "Fear is an archaic instinct that protects us from doing things that are dangerous." Smokers who have recently been abstinent do not show this natural response pattern they are not afraid of the consequences of smoking. "It seems that they are mentally caught up in their addiction, resulting in a lowered receptivity for fear-inducing stimuli," said Onur. "It seems that smokers need nicotine in order to maintain the normal function of their amygdala."

Hurlemann doubts that the shocking images of smokers' lungs and tumors on cigarette packs, which are in the works in the US and also under consideration in the EU, will have much effect on the majority of addicts. "In those who stop smoking, the activity of the fear center has been lowered so much that they are not very receptive to the scary photos," said Hurlemann.

Half of all smokers die early

"There are 1.2 billion smokers worldwide," said Hurlemann. "Statistically it can be assumed that about half of them will die early from consequences related to smoking." That is why it was important to ask how these people could be helped, he added. "Maybe we should invest more in therapy measures for smokers and into research to find the optimum smoking cessation methods for different types of patients?"

In non-smokers, however, the amygdala is active, which is why in his opinion, shocking images will be effective for them. "Those who do not smoke yet can probably be kept from smoking by such scare tactics," Dr. Ozgür Onur concurred.

Smoking Will Kill 1 Billion People

By TIFFANY SHARPLES Thursday, Feb. 07, 2008

DPA / Landov

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One billion people will die from tobacco-related causes by the end of the century if current consumption trends continue, according to a global report released Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

At a press conference held in midtown Manhattan, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose charitable organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, contributed $2 million to conduct the study, joined top WHO officials to present the findings. Among the litany of sobering statistics: 5.4 million people die each year — one every six seconds — from lung cancer, heart disease or other illness directly linked to tobacco use. Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and the yearly death toll could pass 8 million as soon as 2030 — 80% of those deaths will be in the developing world, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly. "We're on a collision course," said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

If the unveiling of the report felt more like an assault, it was meant to. Built into the report's six primary policy goals was a directive to countries to warn people about the many dangers of tobacco. Another of the study's main objectives was to get countries to assess their tobacco consumption. "If you can't measure a problem, you obviously can't manage it," said Mayor Bloomberg, who banned smoking in New York City's restaurants and bars in 2003.

The 369-page WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008, bound like a high school yearbook and bundled with a "cigarette pack" of colored markers, called on governments to adhere to six tobacco control policies it calls MPOWER: monitor tobacco use; protect people from secondhand smoke; offer help to people who want to quit; warn about the risks of smoking; enforce bans on cigarette advertising; and raise tobacco taxes. The report also breaks down tobacco consumption and prevention efforts country by country. To date, it is the most comprehensive study of its kind at a global level, said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan.

The collected data should equip countries around the world to begin implementing anti-tobacco policies, Chan says, including smoking bans, aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns and massive tobacco tax hikes. According to the report, nearly two thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries — China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Russia, and Turkey. China alone accounts for nearly 30% of all smokers worldwide. Currently, only 5% of the world's population lives in countries — predominately in Western Europe — that have any antismoking policies in place. "These are straightforward and common sense measures within the reach of every country, regardless of income level," said Chan.

According to the study, the most effective tactic globally has been simply to raise prices. "Increasing taxes is the best way to decrease consumption," Bettcher said, pointing to the direct relationship between a rise in excise tax rates and a fall in cigarette purchases in South Africa between 1990 and 2006. Making tobacco prohibitively expensive, said Bettcher, will decrease consumption, especially among those who can least afford to smoke. Lower income people smoke significantly more than the wealthy, and spend a much higher proportion of their income on tobacco — 20% of the most impoverished households in Mexico spend as much as 11% of their household income on tobacco — mostly due to the tobacco industry's objective to get people addicted to nicotine, according to the study.

Another vulnerable group: women. Though women still smoke at just one quarter the rate of men, tobacco advertisers are increasingly targeting this largely untapped market. Though parts of Europe have enacted some of the most aggressive anti-tobacco policies in the world, in recent decades the rates of smoking between men and women have begun evening out — even as rates decrease among European men, they are increasing among women. Among adolescents in European Union member nations, girls may now be even more likely to smoke than boys. Globally, Chan said, "the rise of tobacco use among girls and young women is among the most ominous trends."

As with virtually all public-health problems, a major hurdle to reducing smoking, the study said, is lack of public education. People are not fully aware of the hazards of smoking, and it's a weakness that the tobacco industry is quick to exploit, Bettcher said. A recent Chinese study found that "only 25% of the Chinese population knew tobacco was bad for their health," he explained. Warnings should be bolder and scarier, said Bloomberg. Other countries put skull and crossbones symbols or photographs of blackened lungs on their cigarette packs, he said, and the U.S should follow suit: "The U.S. government isn't doing enough."

Asked whether he would back a federal ban on smoking in the workplace or public spaces, Bloomberg said he would, but added, "I don't think the federal government should prohibit the manufacture or sale of cigarettes," but that combatting tobacco should mean diminishing the demand.

Once a smoker himself, Bloomberg said he was able to quit only when he truly understood the consequences. "As I became more mature and started thinking, 'Do I want to live or not?' it was an easy decision." For those who want to smoke, however, he feels it should be their right, so long as they aren't harming others. "I happen to agree with those who think you have a right to kill yourself," he said.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711154,00.html#ixzz1SZa9LAhv

New graphic warning labels for cigarettes

New graphic warning labels for cigarettes

TYLER (KYTX) - Recently the FDA unveiled new graphic warning labels for cigarettes.


They're not even on the packs yet, but people are already responding.
Calls started pouring into national smoking cessation hotlines.
More than doubling in numbers just days after people saw those images.
But many smokers here in East Texas say it won't affect whether or not they light up.
Rusty Walker has smoked for 43 years, and knows all the dangers.

"All the information is here, just a matter of making the choice to stop," says Walker.
So he decided to buy an electronic cigarette at Tobacco Junction in Tyler.
And he doesn't feel disturbing images on the pack could make any difference for anyone else.

"It's like seeing a billboard everyday, after a while, doesn't notice it," says Walker.
Just after the images debuted quit line calls nationwide nearly doubled.
whether it be a cessation class, whether it be a nicotine replacement, whether it be motivation to quit, people are looking for that and this is a good tool, great way to get motivation they need," says Lorri Essary with the East Texas Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. She says 75% of smokers are looking for a way to snuff the habit.

"Takes out the marketing appeal," says Essary  before you open the pack and light up, you'll see the graphic images right on the front. Cancerous tumors, rotten teeth and gums, where you can't miss it.
"When I grab a pack my hand wraps around it and can't see anything except the tip of the cigarette," says Bill Harley, smoker for 40 years.

"Only so many ways to warn people to not do it. Can read or look at it, it's the same," says Savannah Sterling, a cashier at Tobacco Junction. Some will look beyond those warnings and images and keep going, but others hope to put the habit in their past."Wish me luck," says Walker. Speaking with organizations here in East Texas, they think the images will have an impact on the number of calls they receive.
They're going to have to wait a year to see.

Also worth noting...

Advantage E-cigarette is currently offering a free sample e-cigarette. Go to http://www.advantageecigs.com/free/ there is a short video explaining e-cigarettes and free sample offer.

Electronic Cigarettes: how do they work and are they safe?

Electronic Cigarettes: how do they work and are they safe?
June 30, 2011|By Jean Jadhon | WDBJ-TV Anchor/Reporter
John Sawyer's been smoking since he was in the Navy.  "Cigarettes were ten cents a pack. Everybody smoked," Sawyer said.

Sawyer used to smoke 2 packs a day. Now he's cut that in half, because he now smokes electronic cigarettes as well.

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Sawyer took a puff to demonstrate how they work. "The more you pull on it the more you're going to take it in," Sawyer said. As he puffs, a light at the end of the e-cigarette lights up.

The electronic cigarette delivers nicotine into the lungs and only releases water vapor. So why did Sawyer begin buying them?  "Why?, because you're welcome everywhere with one of these, where you're not welcome anywhere with a cigarette," Sawyer said.

  Now it seems electronic cigarettes are sold everywhere form the mall to local convenience stores.

Mike Ferguson started buying them five months ago. "And so I started with the mild. I  think it's like 6 percent nicotine," Ferguson explained, but he had an unexpected result after starting on e-cigarettes.

He lowered the nicotine level to zero and now merely puffs on e-cigarettes because it's part of his routine. "It helped me to quit even though I didn't want to quit," Ferguson said. "I  think it's just the mouth-to-hand coordination. I need something."

Now Ferguson can puff almost anywhere, even the mall and local restaurants.

The electronic cigarette basically has two parts, the filter which contains the nicotine and the battery that powers it. Basically all you do is put it together it's two pieces, said John Neuse, an e-cigarette vendor for the company, Frii, that has kiosks at Valley View Mall in Roanoke and malls in Lynchburg, Danville and Blacksburg.

"It's pretty close to an actual cigarette. It's a little different but you can definitely feel the nicotine hitting your lungs," said Neuse.

The nicotine filters come in different flavors and deliver different strengths of nicotine.

 Neuse told News 7 the e-cigarettes are safer than real cigarettes. "There's no chemicals to it. It's completely safe for you. You don't have all the carcinogens, the tar," Neuse said.

We asked Carilion Clinic lung specialist Dr. Moises Cossio if e-cigarettes are safer than lighting up.  "No question in my mind that whatever a person does as far as nicotine replacement, it's better than smoking actual cigarettes," Dr.  Cossio said.

John Sawyer says he can breath better because e-cigarettes have helped him cut back on the real thing. "It's as close as you can get without having the fire of a real cigarette," Sawyer said.



Electronic Cigarette Facts

They're such a new trend Dr. Cossio says there really haven't been any scientific studies done in the U-S on them like there have been on the nicotine patch or gums to show how much nicotine is released into the body.

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to regulate them.

While e-cigarettes are allowed in public places in Virginia, several other states have included e-cigs in public smoking bans.

There are start up costs for e-cigarettes. You have to buy the device and the battery charger, but the actual filters are cheaper than real cigarettes.

Prices and quality may vary between e-cigarettes sold at mall kiosks and e-cigarettes sold at convenience stores.