Anti-smoking measures have saved roughly 8 million US lives since a landmark 1964 report linking smoking and disease, a study estimates, yet the nation’s top disease detective says dozens of other countries do a better job on several efforts to cut tobacco use.
The study and comments were published online on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This week’s issue commemorates the 50th anniversary of the US surgeon general report credited with raising alarms about the dangers of smoking.
In one study, researchers used national health surveys and death rates to calculate how many deaths might have occurred since 1964 if Americans’ smoking habits and related deaths had continued at a pace in place before the report.
More than 42 percent of US adults smoked in years preceding the report; that rate has dropped to about 18 percent.
The researchers say their calculation — 8 million deaths— equals lives saved thanks to anti-smoking efforts.
Their report also says tobacco controls have contributed substantially to increases in US life expectancy. For example, life expectancy for 40-year-olds has increased by more than five years since 1964; tobacco control accounts for about 30 percent of that gain, the report says.
The conclusions are just estimates, not hard evidence, but lead author Theodore Holford, a biostatistics professor at Yale University’s School of Public Health, said the numbers “are pretty striking.”
Yet smoking remains a stubborn problem and heart disease, cancer, lung ailments and stroke — all often linked with smoking — are top four leading causes of death in the US.
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says about 443,000 Americans still die prematurely each year from smoking-related causes.
CDC director Thomas Frieden said in a JAMA commentary that the US lags behind many other countries in adopting measures proven to reduce tobacco use, including graphic health warning labels on cigarettes, high tobacco taxes and widespread bans on tobacco advertising.
He cited data showing 32 countries have done better at raising tobacco taxes, and at least 30 have adopted stronger cigarette warning labels.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
ANTI-SEMITISM: Some newsletters promote hateful ideas such as white supremacy and Holocaust denial, with one describing Adolf Hitler as ‘one of the greatest men of all time’ The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, a Guardian investigation has found. The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10 percent of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform. Among them are newsletters that openly promote racist ideology. One, called NatSocToday, which has 2,800 subscribers, charges US$80 for an annual subscription, although most of its posts are available
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
Venezuelan Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado yesterday said that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later yesterday that former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and was to be put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. Machado claimed that
RSS