Dr. Michael Caldwell For the Poughkeepsie Journal
I was sad to read about the recent passing of Morley Safer. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago when we shared a flight from New York to Washington D.C. The veteran CBS and “60 Minutes” senior reporter was easily recognizable with his beige trench coat as he stood in front of me on line for a taxi to downtown D.C.
I had not anticipated saying hello until Safer took out a cigarette and started smoking with the smoke blowing in my direction. I used the opportunity to introduce myself and to give him a business card for the New York State Smokers’ Quitline, 1-866-NYQUITS. I let him know that it was never too late to quit. He thanked me for the information and for the work I was doing to help improve his health. I don’t know if he ever took me up on my advice. He was 84 years old and would have likely had another 10 years of good productive life if he had avoided smoking.
Latest statistics
While we have made a lot of progress in our fight against tobacco and smoking over the past generation, we still have a long way to go. Tobacco use still remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S., killing more than 480,000 Americans prematurely each year. including 41,000 deaths from secondhand smoke. In 2014, an estimated 16.8 percent (40.0 million) U.S. adults were still regular smokers. This represents a dramatic 60 percent decrease in smoking rates since 1965 when 42.4 percent of adults were smokers. The U.S. Healthy People year 2020 goal is to get that rate down to 12 percent and we just might make it by then.
Secondhand smoke dangers
Secondhand smoke (SHS) is also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). When non-smokers are exposed to SHS it’s called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Non-smokers who breathe in SHS take in nicotine and toxic chemicals the same way smokers do. The more SHS you breathe, the higher the levels of these harmful chemicals in your body. There’s no safe level of exposure for secondhand smoke (SHS).
Secondhand smoke has more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 70 that can cause cancer. Secondhand smoke not only causes cancer, it is also harmful in many other ways. For instance, it affects the heart and blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke in non-smokers. Young children are most affected by SHS and least able to avoid it. They get sick more often with more lung infections and ear infections. In very young children, SHS also increases the risk for more serious problems, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
FDA now regulates electronic cigarettes
I was honored to have been invited by President Obama to attend the Rose Garden signing of the federal law that gave the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco in June 2009. That enabled the FDA to regulate cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco, but just last month, the FDA finalized a new rule – Deeming Tobacco Products To Be Subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act – which extends the FDA’s authority to include the regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems (such as e-cigarettes and vape pens), all cigars, hookah (waterpipe) tobacco, pipe tobacco and nicotine gels, among others.
This action is another advance in consumer protection – going forward, the FDA will be able to:
• Review new tobacco products not yet on the market
• Help prevent misleading claims by tobacco product manufacturers
• Evaluate the ingredients of tobacco products and how they are made
• Communicate the potential risks of tobacco products
This final rule goes into effect Aug. 8. The Dutchess County Health Department was the first jurisdiction in the country to document an illegal e-cigarette sale to a minor, http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CMSPrint/22535.htm, and we strongly advocated for the FDA to take this recent action: http://1.usa.gov/1PPg3xu
Raising the age to 21
Currently, the minimum legal age for tobacco use is 18 in most states, 19 in four states — Alaska, Alabama, New Jersey and Utah — and 21 in various municipalities across the country, from Needham, Massachusetts, to New York City. Hawaii, and just last month California, are now the only two states that prohibit the purchase of tobacco products to anyone under 21. “Raising the minimum age of sale to 21 could benefit the health of Americans in several ways,” said Brian King, an acting deputy director for CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. Here is the statement about the findings. “It could delay the age of first experimenting with tobacco, reducing the likelihood of transitioning to regular use and increasing the likelihood that those who do become regular users can quit.” The Institute of Medicine also issued a recent report that noted that raising the age for sale of tobacco across the United States could prevent substantial numbers of teenagers from becoming addicted smokers.
Never too late to quit
It’s never too late to stop smoking. Even quitting after your 60th birthday can help add years to your life. No matter your age, quitting smoking improves your health. If you quit smoking, you will live longer, breathe more easily and save money. You will improve your sense of taste and smell, stop smelling like smoke and set a healthy example for your children and grandchildren.
Let the New York State Smokers’ Quitline help you and your loved ones today at https://www.nysmokefree.com/
Dr. Michael Caldwell is the former Dutchess County Commissioner of Health. Send comments tohealthchief@yahoo.com Twitter: @healthchief
Resources
Department of Health & Human Services: http://betobaccofree.hhs.gov/
National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/tobacco
U.S. Surgeon General: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/priorities/tobacco/
NYS Smokers’ Quitline: https://www.nysmokefree.com/
Truth Initiative: http://truthinitiative.org/
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights: http://www.no-smoke.org/
Latest news on Tobacco in the U.S.: http://www.tobacco.org/
Celebrities who died prematurely from tobacco: http://archive.tobacco.org/Misc/losses.html
Latest smoking statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/
Tobacco Free Action Communities Ulster Dutchess & Sullivan (TFAC): http://tobaccofreeactioncommunities.org/
This article was originally published by the Poughkeepsie Journal on June 10, 2016. To read the original article, click here: https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/health/2016/06/10/health-smoking/85705646/
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