(Press-News.org) When governments use comprehensive, well-funded tobacco control programs to reduce adult smoking, they also reduce smoking among adolescents. This bonus effect is an important factor to consider as policymakers face pressure to reduce spending on anti-smoking programs.
The most effective elements of a tobacco control program include taxes on tobacco, well-funded adult-focused tobacco control programs, well-funded anti-smoking mass media campaigns, and strong indoor smoking restrictions.
Comprehensive programs like this generally take a long time to implement and are not cheap to run.
But a study published today in the journal Addiction shows that in Australia these adult-focused programs have produced an additional benefit: they have also reduced smoking among adolescents. And the better funded those programs are, the more effective they are at cutting smoking among both adults and adolescents.
There are three reasons why policies designed to reduce adult smoking can also reduce kids' smoking. First, as adult smoking decreases, young people have a lower tendency to see smoking as an adult activity. Second, many adult smokers are parents: when parents quit, it reduces the likelihood that their kids will start smoking. And third, many anti-smoking programs and policies directly influence adolescents themselves. For example, there is strong evidence that media ads that emphasise the serious health consequences of smoking in an emotional way resonate strongly with young people.
To be effective, though, a comprehensive tobacco control program must be sustained and contain strong, consistently enforced, and well-funded anti-smoking policies. Says Professor Melanie Wakefield, co-author of the study and Director of the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer at the Cancer Council Victoria, "The only way to get this double benefit is to create a rigorous anti-smoking program in the first place. If governments are determined to reduce smoking in this generation and the one to follow, they must choose effective policies and finance them properly. There's no other way around it."
### END
Anti-smoking policies for adults also reduce kids' smoking
2011-06-21
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Wild Zipine Safari to Open June 27
2011-06-21
The Wilds and Hocking Hills Canopy Tours today announced their partnership, creating a totally new and thrilling zipline adventure: "Wild Zipline Safari." Wild Zipline Safari opens June 27. Reservations and complete visitor information available at www.thewilds.org or www.zipthewilds.com, or by calling 740.638.5030 ext. 2947.
This tour takes visitors on a unique 2.5-hour aerial tour of The Wilds, led by two professionally trained guides and features 10 breathtaking ziplines and a rappel built on a series of observation platforms. This professionally guided ...
Parents prefer media content ratings system to age-based ratings in new national study
2011-06-21
AMES, Iowa -- Although parents appreciate having media ratings systems to help protect their kids from questionable content in movies, video games and television, the current age-based system doesn't meet their needs, according to a new study led by Iowa State University's Douglas Gentile. The study found that parents would prefer media ratings that focus on detailed content information.
A national sample of 2,392 parents were surveyed by independent research firms -- Harris Polls and Research Now -- in the study "Parents' Evaluation of Media Ratings a Decade After Television ...
Care Management Journal Profiles UroMed Catheter Supplies Founder Bert Burns & Spinal Cord Injury
2011-06-21
The July 2011 issue of Care Management, the bimonthly journal of the Academy of Certified Case Managers, features an article that profiles UroMed founder Bert Burns and his recovery after a car accident caused him to become a quadriplegic. The article, "Managing the Care Complexity of Spinal Cord Injury," is approved for 4 hours of CEUs by the Commission for Case Manager Certification and the Certification of Disability Management Specialists Commission.
Read the article at: http://www.uromed.com/Clinicians/ContinuingEducation
"We are humbled that the ...
Probing the secrets of the ryegrasses
2011-06-21
Chemists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich led by Professor Dirk Trauner have developed a concise and efficient method for the synthesis of the alkaloid loline and related compounds. Loline alkaloids are a biologically interesting group of natural products, which have unusual physicochemical and pharmacological characteristics, but are as of yet poorly understood. They are produced by fungal symbionts that infect weeds and forage grasses, and act as deterrents of insects and other herbivores. Some of the agents synthesized by endophytic fungi are toxic to grazing ...
Improving LED lighting
2011-06-21
CORAL GABLES, FL (June 20, 2011) — University of Miami professor at the College of Engineering, Jizhou Song, has helped design an light-emitting diode (LED) light that uses an array of LEDs 100 times smaller than conventional LEDs. The new device has flexibility, maintains lower temperature and has an increased life-span over existing LEDs. The findings are published online by the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
Incandescent bulbs are not very efficient, most of the power they use is converted into heat and only a small fraction of the power gets converted ...
Learning from mom boosts low-income kids' school readiness
2011-06-21
Previous research says on average, children living in poverty are less well prepared to start school than children from middle-income homes. Now, new research says home learning experiences may help low-income children's school readiness.
"Our findings indicate that enriched learning experiences as early as the first year of life are important to children's vocabulary growth, which in turn provides a foundation for children's later school success," said Eileen T. Rodriguez, survey researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Rodriguez, the study's lead author, conducted ...
Stopping foreclosure delay will bring housing improvement, Kansas State study says
2011-06-21
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- As housing prices in the United States continue to drop, a Kansas State University professor says the best way to help the market is to stop delaying foreclosures.
While negotiations continue between state attorneys general and banks over a settlement that looks at foreclosure practices, some of the settlement proposals may backfire and do more harm than good, according to two recent studies co-authored by Kansas State finance professor Eric Higgins.
Higgins co-authored the studies with Charles Calomiris, a professor at Columbia Business School, and ...
Inducing labor is not associated with higher rates of cesarean sections
2011-06-21
A new study published in the international Nordic journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica (AOGS) reveals that inducing labor in the weeks around term, or from week 39 to week 41, is not connected with higher rates of cesarean section compared with waiting for a later spontaneous or induced labor. There has been much debate about this in recent years with a concern that induction as opposed to expectant management might lead to a higher risk for the woman to end up with emergency cesarean section, rather than to deliver normally.
Ole Bredahl Rasmussen, MD, ...
Hollywood Beach Becomes a True South Florida Wedding Destination
2011-06-21
Situated apart from the busy strip of tourist areas near Fort Lauderdale, you will find an emerging destination that is ideal for South Florida Weddings or any event where your wish is to be on the beach.
Hollywood, Florida has really been buzzing across the land as the hottest spot when looking for a hometown, beachtown experience. Brides and grooms rant and rave throughout the world wide web via blogs and social sites that Hollywood has all the ingredients as that perfect experience for a Florida Wedding.
Wedding venues become harder and harder to choose from, since ...
Device could improve harvest of stem cells from umbilical cord blood
2011-06-21
Johns Hopkins graduate students have invented a system to significantly boost the number of stem cells collected from a newborn's umbilical cord and placenta, so that many more patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders can be treated with these valuable cells.
The prototype is still in the testing stage, but initial results are promising. The student inventors have obtained a provisional patent covering the technology and have formed a company, TheraCord LLC, to further develop the technology, which may someday be used widely in hospital maternity units. ...