Pipe and cigar smokers may say they don’t inhale, but a new study suggests otherwise. The study, based on breathing tests in people ages 48 to 90, found that the pipe and cigar smokers had more than double the risk for abnormal lung function that contributes to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a leading cause of death — even if they abstained from cigarettes. Those who also smoked cigarettes were at more than triple the risk. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/health/research/16haza.html?ref=health

TRENTON — The New Jersey Commission on Bullying in Schools on Tuesday released a 66-page report offering suggestions on how to combat bullying in schools. According to the report, approximately 160,000 children do not attend school daily out of a fear of being bullied by their peers. T combat the problem, the report contained 22 recommendations, including a call for the state to revisit and strengthen provisions of the existing anti-bullying law; the recommendation that a "School climate team" be assembled in each district to provide anti-bullying and tolerance-related professional development for teachers; and for the creation of three "Technical Assistance Centers," or TACs throughout the state, for the purpose of providing anti-bullying training and resources to school communities.

Read the full story at: Bullying

Tobacco use kills at least 5 million people every year, a figure that could rise if countries don't take stronger measures to combat smoking, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. In a new report on tobacco use and control, the U.N. agency said nearly 95% of the global population is unprotected by laws banning smoking. WHO said secondhand smoking kills about 600,000 people every year.

Read the full article at Smoking kills 5 million every year

Asthmatic smokers who quit the habit can reverse lung damage that exacerbates their breathing difficulties, regardless of how long and how often they smoked in the past, a Dutch study found.The lungs of asthmatics who stopped smoking were in similar condition to those of asthmatics who never smoked, based on a several measurements of lung health, including goblet cell numbers and mucus-positive epithelium, epithelial thickness, epithelial proliferation rate, and mast cell numbers, according to a report.

Read the article at Asthmatic Smokers' Lungs Recover when They Quit

Heavy drinking and prostate cancer. Men who are middle aged and older and who have four or more drinks a day, pretty much every day, may be raising their risk of prostate cancer. Heavy drinking increases the risk of high-grade cancer. And these are the cancers that are fast-going and more likely to metastasize and cause death. Alan Kristal of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center saw this when looking at data on prostate biopsy results and drinking patterns. Regular heavy drinkers were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with high-grade cancer, but drinking less did not raise the risk. And moderate drinking – no more than two a day – is associated with better heart health. So Kristal says it’s another argument for moderation. The study in the journal Cancer was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Women who engage in a binge drinking episode early in pregnancy are more than twice as likely as non-drinkers to give birth to a child with cleft lip or cleft palate.

Secondhand smoke not only can irritate your lungs, it also apparently can blacken your mood as well, a large study reported this week. Non-smokers exposed to cigarette smoke at home or work are more than twice as likely as those not exposed to have major depression, according to a report at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Chicago. It's believed to be the first U.S. study tying secondhand smoke to depression; another in Japan came up with a similar conclusion.

Liquor Ads Return to Prime Time

Economic considerations are driving TV networks to broaden their acceptance of advertising for alcohol products.

The American Lung Association has released its annual State of Tobacco Control report grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia, on their policies to reduce tobacco addiction, diseases and death.
Click here to see New Jersey's report card.

A New Cigarette Hazard: ‘Third-Hand Smoke’

Think it's just "bad kids" who do drugs? Think again, says a new study in Psychological Science. According to the research, which looked at patterns of drug use in young people, about half of study participants who used alcohol or marijuana before the age of fifteen came from homes where abuse, criminal activities, or substance abuse occurred. The other half of young substance users came from more stable backgrounds -- but both groups suffered similarly negative consequences well into their thirties, including academic failure, early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and criminal behavior.
Read the full article at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ 2008-10/du-eet101608.php

For the first time, an influential government panel is recommending a vaccination specifically for smokers. The panel decided Wednesday that adult smokers under 65 should get pneumococcal vaccine. The shot -- already recommended for anyone 65 or older -- protects against bacteria that cause pneumonia, meningitis and other illnesses.

About 2.4 million tobacco-related cancers were diagnosed in the U.S. from 1999 to 2004, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lung and bronchial cancer accounted for almost half of those diagnoses. “Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States and the most prominent cause of cancer,” said Matthew McKenna, M.D., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “The tobacco-use epidemic causes a third of the cancers in America. If proven strategies were fully implemented to decrease tobacco use, much of the suffering and death that cancer inflicts on families and communities could be prevented.” The estimates are based on data from the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and Results Program.
Surveillance for Cancers Associated with Tobacco Use — United States, 1999–2004

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. The legislation aims to protect the health of Americans, particularly children, by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. See press release at: TobaccoFree Kids

Critical Thinking about Advertising Helps Teens Avoid Alcohol Use

Studies have shown that peer pressure and alcohol advertising can make teens more likely to drink -- but a new study finds that teens who can understand alcohol ads' tactics and resist peer pressure are less likely to drink. "Our study found [teens'] ability to be critically aware of advertising as well as their ability to resist peer pressure... key skills for avoiding alcohol," says Dr. Jennifer A. Epstein, lead author and assistant professor of public health in the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Read the full article at: Learning How to Say "No" to Alcohol Advertising and Peer Pressure Works

Want to help people quit smoking? A new study from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, suggests getting to smokers when they're younger may produce the best results. "Most previous studies focused on smokers aged 35 and older who have smoked for 20 years or more," said John P. Pierce, Ph.D., director of UC San Diego's Cancer Prevention and Control Program. "That has led to an overemphasis on drug treatments to help cessation, whereas this study emphasized the importance of implementing a smoke free home if a smoker wants to quit successfully." The study appears in the January 2, 2008, edition of the American Journal of Public Health.

Read the full article at: http://cancer.ucsd.edu/AboutUs/News/ stories/Pierce_YoungSmoke.asp

Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, today published the 2007 Street Gang Survey. The document marks the third gang survey conducted by the New Jersey State Police in the past six years. With each version, the questionnaire and survey administration methods have evolved and improved, but the original purpose of the NJSP Street Gang Survey has remained unchanged: to furnish policy makers and the general public with a better understanding of the environment in which today's gangs operate. The 2007 Street Gang Survey document is available @ NJ Gang Survey

Results are available for the 2007 survey of student self reported health behaviors.