Washington, D.C., 5 June 2013 (PAHO/WHO) – Tobacco consumption increases the risk of death of people who have high blood pressure. Within the framework of World No Tobacco Day, held every 31 May, the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) urges total bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship in the Americas to help reduce tobacco consumption, and calls for further efforts toward blood pressure control.

In the Americas, 30% of the population over the age of 18 suffers from hypertension, and 21% of those over the age of 15 are smokers. Combined, these two risk factors increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for 30% of all deaths in the Americas.

“Many of the risks of hypertension can be reduced by controlling blood pressure. If smoking cessation is also pursued, the risk of cardiovascular disease can be reduced even further”, noted Adriana Blanco, PAHO/WHO’s regional tobacco control advisor.

Smoking is responsible for 16% of all deaths of people over the age of 30 in the Americas, which corresponds to 1 million deaths each year. Alongside Europe, the region has the highest percentage of deaths attributable to tobacco—12% above the global average.

“It is essential that countries implement all measures contained in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This year, we are stressing one such measure in particular: a total ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, which is one of the most effective ways to reduce consumption of tobacco,” said Blanco. To date, only five countries in the Americas have implemented such measures: Panama (2008), Colombia (2009), Brazil (2011, but regulations are pending), Chile (2013), and Suriname (in June 2013). Others have broad restrictions, and the rest have minimal or no restrictions at all.

High blood pressure, in turn, increases the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and chronic kidney failure. In the Americas, cardiovascular diseases cause 1.9 million deaths each year and are the leading cause of death in the majority of the countries of the region.

“Tobacco and hypertension make for a lethal combination. Tobacco cessation contributes to a significant reduction in the number of deaths from heart attack and stroke”, said Pedro Ordúñez, PAHO/WHO advisor on noncommunicable diseases.

“People who are diagnosed with hypertension can be treated and controlled long-term, which significantly improves the likelihood of a long, healthy, and productive life”, added Ordúñez. “Everyone has a role to play in helping prevent and control this disease. Measures that help reduce tobacco consumption are also measures that help reduce and control high pressure”, he stressed.

In addition to avoiding tobacco consumption, hypertension can also be prevented by eating less salt (particularly in processed foods), following a balanced and healthy diet, engaging in physical activity regularly, and avoiding harmful alcohol consumption.

This year’s World Health Day—which is held every 7 April—was dedicated to the risks of hypertension. PAHO/WHO issued a call for people to know their blood pressure numbers and adopt measures to prevent and control hypertension.

LINKS:

• ·         World No Tobacco Day 2013 (PAHO)
• ·         World Health Day—Hypertension (PAHO) 
• ·         http://www.paho.org
• ·         http:/www.facebook.com/PAHOWHO
• ·         http:/www.youtube.com/pahopin
• ·         http://twitter.com/pahoeoc
• ·         http://twitter.com/pahowho
• ·         http://twitter.com/opsoms

Tobacco is a Deadly Product

-         Tobacco kills up to half of its users.

-         Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year, of whom more than 5 million are from direct tobacco use and more than 600 000 are nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030.

-         Tobacco caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century. If current trends continue, it may cause about one billion deaths in the 21st century.

-         There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke.

-         In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.

The World Lacks Protection from Tobacco

-         Under 11% of the world’s population are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.

-         National comprehensive health-care services supporting cessation are available in only 19 countries, representing 14% of the world’s population.

-         Just 19 countries, representing 15% of the world’s population, meet the best practice for pictorial warnings, which includes the warnings in the local language and cover an average of at least half of the front and back of cigarette packs. No low-income country meets this best-practice level. Forty-two countries, representing 42% of the world’s population, mandate pictorial warnings.

-         Only 19 countries, representing 6% of the world’s population, have reached the highest level of achievement in banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

-         Around 38% of countries have minimal or no restrictions at all on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

-         Only 27 countries, representing less than 8% of the world’s population, have tobacco tax rates greater than 75% of the retail price.

-         Tobacco tax revenues are on average 154 times higher than spending on tobacco control, based on available data.

The Tobacco Epidemic is Widespread

-         Nearly 80% of the world’s one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.

-         Consumption of tobacco products is increasing globally, though it is decreasing in some high-income and upper middle-income countries.

THERE IS A SOLUTION!

Implement the WHO Framework Convention Alliance: 

MORE INFORMATION:

- Why ban tobacco advertisements?

- Best Practices for Banning Tobacco Marketing

The researchers, led by Stanton Glantz from the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, reached these conclusions by analysing previously secret documents from the tobacco industry and the Institute of Medicine related to the Institute’s landmark 2001 report, Clearing the smoke — a report that set the tone for the development and regulation of tobacco products in the US, particularly those claiming to be less dangerous.

The authors found that tobacco companies developed and implemented strategies with consulting and legal firms to access the IOM proceedings (that led to the FDA-commissioned Institute of Medicine report on tobacco products) and that the companies used this access to deliver specific, carefully formulated messages designed to serve their business interests.

Although the authors found no evidence that the efforts of tobacco companies exerted direct influence on the IOM committee, the analysis shows that tobacco companies were pleased with the final report, particularly its recommendation that tobacco products can be marketed with exposure or risk reduction claims provided the products substantially reduce exposure and provided the behavioral and health consequences of these products are determined in post-marketing surveillance and epidemiological studies (“tiered testing”). Recommendations within the report have policy implications that were continuing to reverberate in 2012.

The authors say: “There was a lack of clear policy on tobacco industry engagement by the [Institute of Medicine] which, combined with the general presumption of honesty upon which all scientific discourse is based, created an opportunity for the tobacco companies to advocate positions that supported their interests.”

They continue: “The presence of tobacco industry representatives on the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, combined with the FDA’s official consideration of the tobacco industry as a “stakeholder,” increase the likelihood that the tobacco companies will continue to successfully manipulate the scientific discourse around tobacco product regulation, to the companies’ benefit and to the detriment of public health.”

The authors conclude: “To prevent such an outcome, the FDA and counterpart organizations in other countries need to remain cognizant of the guidelines for implementing FCTC Article 5.3* and that they are dealing with companies with a history of more than 50 years of intentionally misleading the public and who were found by two federal courts to have participated in ”a pattern of racketeering activity” in violation of the RICO Act** when assessing the role of the tobacco companies and the information they present as part of the regulatory process.”

In an accompanying Perspective, Thomas Novotny (uninvolved in the study) from the University California, San Diego says: “[The tobacco industry] should never be treated as a stakeholder because it is unlikely that the industry will ever be part of the solution to the public health challenge of tobacco use.”

Novotny continues: “The profits from selling cigarettes and alternative tobacco products are simply too great for the tobacco industry to simply fade into history. Thus, the public health community needs to do what it does best: to rally popular support for strong, science-based approaches to prevention of tobacco use, to expose the truths about the harms of tobacco use to current users, and to support government agencies in carrying out their legislatively mandated duties to protect public health.”

Notes:

*The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. Article 5.3 relates to the protection of public health policies with respect from tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

**Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act is a US federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.

Funding: This work was supported by National Cancer Institute grant CA-087472. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

See Original Here

Smoking bans dramatically reduce the number of people hospitalised for heart attacks, stroke and respiratory diseases such as asthma and emphysema, new research has shown.

In the largest analysis of smoke-free legislation to date, American researchers found the more stringent the laws, including those for workplaces, restaurants and bars, resulted in the highest health benefits. 

The research, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, analysed 45 studies covering the US and other countries such as New Zealand and Germany.

It found heart attack hospitalisations declined by an average of 15 per cent after communities passed laws banning smoking in areas such as restaurants, bars and workplaces.

Admissions for strokes declined by 16 per cent, while hospitalisations for respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were rapidly followed by a 24 per cent decrease in hospitalisation.

Exposure to cigarette smoke induces rapid changes in blood chemistry, making it much more prone to clotting. 

In someone who has narrowed or damaged coronary arteries, smoke exposure can tip the balance and cause a heart attack.

The findings are consistent with other studies that have found smoking bans are linked with a decline in cardiac problems.

Department of Health figures found the number of heart attacks in England plummeted by 10 per cent in the year after the ban was imposed in July 2007.

A similar drop was also recorded in Scotland where another study discovered a 14 per cent decrease in the year after the ban was introduced there.

Around 114,000 people die every year from smoking-related diseases.

But while many link smoking to lung cancer, the connection between it and heart attacks is less well known. About 275,000 people suffer heart attacks in Britain each year, with 146,000 of those dying.

Commenting on the research, Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: ‘The risks of passive smoking on our health are well known and this is the reason smoking legislation was introduced throughout the UK in 2007. 

‘Restrictions on smoking in public can help smokers to cut down or quit as well as reducing our exposure to second hand smoke. 

‘This study provides encouraging data about the benefits of a smoke-free environment on our heart health and shows that the right decision was made five years ago. 

‘If we want this downward trend to continue, policy makers should introduce further measures to reduce the appeal of smoking, such as plain, standardised packaging for tobacco.’

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