FREE THE EARTH FROM DEVIL SMOKE

Failed intellectuals, arm-chair revolutionaries, frustrated utopians, tyrannical tycoons, spoilt spitritualists, profiteers, corrupt capitalists, lecherous leftists- all have ganged up against humanity in an unholy alliance.

whatever your views, whatever your religion, language, caste, color, creed, credo, nationality, profession, ideology, culture or any idiocyncracy --remember one thing that you will have to live, breathe, drink and eat on this planet EARTH. Therefore you have an obligation and equal right like anyone else to keep this planet livable and breathable. Cigarette smoking is one of the major causes that are making this planet unlivable. Rid yourself of this satanic evil if you are gripped by it and stand up against it. Join my blog and let our voices become one. Let there be synergy in our efforts.

Your non-smoking, non-drinking friend
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Wednesday, January 3, 2018

WHO FORCED THE CIGARETTE COMPANIES TO RUN THOSE ANTI-SMOKING ADS?

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Stanton Glantz, University of California, San Francisco
(THE CONVERSATION) You may have seen ads run by the big cigarette companies listing the dangers of smoking and that they manipulated cigarettes to make them more addictive.
The path to the advertisements the big cigarette companies are now running in newspapers, radio, and television began in New York’s Plaza Hotel in December, 1953.
That’s when the heads of America’s tobacco companies, their lawyers, and the Hill and Knowlton public relations company gathered to craft the tobacco industry’s response to growing public concern about the emerging evidence that smoking caused cancer. They decided that rather than accepting the fact that smoking caused disease, they would create an “independent” research organization, the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, to fund research to get to the bottom of the “smoking and health controversy.” They announced the creation of the TIRC in full page ads in newspapers and magazines all over the country assuring smokers and policymakers that the companies “accept an interest in people’s health as a basic responsibility, paramount to every other consideration in our business.”
The tobacco companies did no such thing.
I have spent decades studying and doing battle with the tobacco industry. There’s a backstory about why you are seeing these ads now.
Far from being “independent,” industry lawyers and executives controlled the TIRC (later renamed the Council for Tobacco Research) and other subsequent industry-wide organizations. These people used these organizations to funnel money to individuals and organizations that would contest the science linking smoking – and later secondhand smoke – with disease and death. Why? They needed support for the tobacco companies’ legal and political efforts to keep people smoking as much as possible and as long as possible so the companies could make as much money as possible.
And while contesting the evidence that smoking caused disease and that nicotine was the addictive drug in cigarettes, the cigarette companies secretly accepted these facts since the 1950s (cancer) and 1960s (addiction). Indeed, while denying that nicotine was addictive, the companies used their sophisticated understanding of nicotine as an addictive drug to design more addictive cigarettes.
These activities, marketing that tricked smokers into thinking that “light” and “mild” cigarettes are safer (they aren’t), as well as marketing to kids led many state attorneys general to sue the tobacco companies for fraud under state laws in the early 1990s. These lawsuits culminated in the companies agreeing to some limits on marketing (which is why there are no more tobacco billboards and only very limited sports sponsorship) and the multi-billion dollar Master Settlement Agreement with the states in 1998.
Based on this groundwork, in September 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the big tobacco companies and their scientific and trade organizations for defrauding the public to keep them smoking.
The Department of Justice accused the defendants of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) because they created an “enterprise” that crossed state lines that engaged in illegal activity.
RICO is the same law used to prosecute organized crime networks.
After many twists and turns, in August 2006, Federal Judge Gladys Kessler found that the companies’ coordinated efforts violated RICO. She ordered them to end the conspiracy and not recreate it.
She prohibited them from contesting the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke or denying that nicotine was addictive. She broke up their coordinated efforts, including the Council for Tobacco Research and similar organizations and prohibited the companies from working together to create new organizations.
She also ordered the companies to continue to make millions of pages of previously secret internal documents public. These documents, which will continue to be produced until 2021, have formed the basis for over 1,000 publications and reports that have changed the landscape of tobacco control policymaking.
And, after the industry’s appeals of the overall verdict were rebuffed, in 2012 the judge ordered the companies to publish “corrective statements” setting the record straight about the industry’s past behavior and the truth about tobacco.
And yet, the industry continued to fight the corrective statements in court for five more years, particularly Judge Kessler’s order that the statements be preceded with “A Federal Court has ruled that Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking, and has ordered those companies to make this statement. Here is the truth.”
In the end, the industry succeeded in avoiding the statements that they “deceived” the public about the “truth.” The statements that were first published beginning on Nov. 26, 2017, are prefaced by the less damning (and less informative) “A Federal Court has ordered Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA to make this statement.”
People ask, after all this time, are these bland statements still relevant. After all, they doesn’t everyone know smoking is bad?
The reality is that, while most people have a vague appreciation that smoking is “bad,” they do not appreciate just how bad it is. In addition, the corrective statements address a wide range of issues, such as nicotine addiction and the fact that light and mild cigarettes are a fraud. These are issues that most people have likely never thought about.
Are these statements the end of the fight? No. Big tobacco is still doing everything it can to prey on its “customers” and protect its profits. The most recent entry into this field is Philip Morris International’s IQOS, a product that delivers nicotine by heating tobacco without burning it. Like “light” and “mild” Philip Morris International is promoting IQOS as safer than conventional cigarettes even though its own research shows that they are not detectably different in terms of 24 health measures.
And Philip Morris recently launched the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which, like the TIRC of 60 years ago, claims to care about health and be independent of Philip Morris.
Today we know better.
All the corrective statements that the tobacco companies have to make are available here.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/who-forced-the-cigarette-companies-to-run-those-anti-smoking-ads-89347.
Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. 


smoking-ads-89347.

CHINA'S TOBACCO COMPANIES PUSH TCM CIGARETTES

Just as China struggles to educate the public on the dangers of smoking and enforce smoking bans, tobacco companies are luring customers with cigarettes laced with traditional Chinese medicine.

A Sina Weibo user called attention to a trend in Chinese tobacco that involves leaning on TCM as a marketing tool with a post that went viral on Tuesday.

Photos by "ZhuiFengShao JianLiuQuan" show cigarettes labeled with added tangerine peel and loquat, which are used in TCM for digestive problems. 

Another contains Chinese caterpillar fungus, which is famous in Chinese medicine as, among other things, an expensive aphrodisiac.

China Tobacco Sichuan Industrial Co. is one of the companies selling the products, according to reports. 

The "herbs" are found in small liquid-gel beads in the filters, as in China's more common "fruit flavored" tobacco. 

Netizens had their usual fun. "I caught a cold, I hope this can cure my cough," wrote Judy_Kim.

China enforced a nationwide public smoking ban in 2014 to varying success.

Anti-smoking groups in China have railed against claims that TCM-laced cigarettes are in some way healthy in the early 2000s, media reported.

 Marketing tobacco with the health benefits of TCM also goes against regulations for tobacco control set by the World Health Organization, of which China is a member.

ANTI-SMOKING DRUG MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS

The cardiovascular events included heart attack, stroke, arrhythmias, unstable angina and peripheral vascular disease among others. Among those who had not previously experienced a cardiovascular event, the increased incidence was 12 per cent.

A drug commonly prescribed for helping people quit smoking may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular event, according to new research.
While varenicline has been known to triple the chances of a person quitting smoking, patients who were prescribed the drug were 34 per cent more likely to have an emergency department visit or hospitalisation for a cardiovascular event while taking the drug.
The cardiovascular events included heart attack, stroke, arrhythmias, unstable angina and peripheral vascular disease among others. Among those who had not previously experienced a cardiovascular event, the increased incidence was 12 per cent.
In addition, varenicline also raised the risk of neuropsychiatric events including depression, anxiety, psychosis, hallucinations, insomnia and self-harm, the findings showed.
“Quitting smoking greatly reduces a person’s chances of developing heart disease and cancer and has many other health benefits,” said lead author Andrea S. Gershon, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.
“Our findings should not be used to suggest people not take varenicline. It should be used to help people make an informed decision about whether they should take varenicline based on accurate information about its risks as well as its benefits,” Gershon added.
Moreover, physicians should also monitor patients taking varenicline more closely to catch adverse events early if they do occur, the study suggested.
For the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team analysed the medical records of 56,851 new users of varenicline between September 2011 and February 2015 living in Ontario.

Link: http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/anti-smoking-drug-may-cause-problems-4991859/



 

 

POSTER



Design Insight: The most shocking anti-smoking posters ever made!

How are you coping now that we’re just over half-way through Stoptober, this month’s NHS backed challenge to quit smoking? Hang on in there and don’t give into the temptation of tobacco or your need for nicotine, because medical research shows that people who initially stop smoking for 28 days are a massive 5 times more likely to stay smoke free in the long-term. It’s a terrifying statistic that smoking accounts for over 100,000 deaths in the UK alone – and half of all long-term smokers will die prematurely from a smoking disease.
Does extreme or disturbing advertising also help people to stop smoking? Here’s our pick of the 5 most shocking anti-smoking posters of all time:

5. “Hooked”

Image source: The Inspiration Room
This controversial NHS campaign from 2007 – showing images of smokers literally ‘hooked’ on fish hooks by their addiction to smoking – featured on TV, billboards, newspapers, magazines, online adverts and elsewhere. While the poster adverts stayed with the raw imagery, the TV ads also showed a positive side, with the smokers eventually able to unhook themselves from their addictive habit. It was one of the most famous advertising campaigns during the entire year, attracting a whopping 90% awareness among smokers and the highest ever volume of response from any anti-smoking campaign previously run by the Department of Health. That probably helps explain why the Advertising Standards Authority also received 774 complaints about its distressing and offensive content. The ASA upheld part of the complaint and banned the posters near schools as they were deemed unsuitable for viewing by young children. Nevertheless, the NHS had the last laugh. As well as the campaign’s phenomenal success amongst its target audience, “Hooked” went on to win Marketing Week’s Best Campaign of the Year award in 2008.
Read more:
Hooked smoking ads ‘broke rules’

4. “Fumer, C’est Etre L’Esclave Du Tabac”

Image source: Digital Journal
Roughly translated as “smoking is to be the slave of tobacco”, these provocative anti-smoking posters – with the obvious sexual connotation of a teenage boy and girl performing oral sex on an older man – caused quite an uproar in 2010. Shown in bars, clubs and newspapers across France, the ads were produced on behalf of Les Droits des Non-Fumeurs (The Rights of Non-Smokers) campaign group. The DNF campaign’s president, Gérard Audureau, was quoted in The Independent newspaper as saying that young people think that they are immortal, and the fear of sexual exploitation worries them far more than illness. At the time, other French campaigners such as feminist pressure group Chiennes de Garde (Guard Bitches) vehemently disagreed with the use of images implying underage sex, even though the adverts were on behalf of a good cause like anti-smoking. While these are striking poster artwork, created by the French BDDP et Fils ad agency, it’s difficult for most of us to make the jump between oral sex and smoking.
Read more:
French anti-smoking poster links habit to performing oral sex

3. “Fight Back”

Image source: Osocio
Aimed at men who smoke, the Fight Back campaign was launched by NHS Birmingham East and North in 2009. It featured hard hitting images of bloodied, beaten up men with taglines like “Smoking. GBH to your Insides” and “Cigarettes attack you. But in ways you don’t always see”. Posters and leaflets were seen and distributed at shopping centres, match days at Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs, and more than 900 other local venues. These were backed up by a short video, made by celebrity photographer Rankin and co-director Chris Cottam, which was posted on YouTube. “People have been seeing stop smoking ads all their lives and everyone knows it’s bad for them. It’s old news. Unless we give people a new perspective on it, they’re not going to take any notice,” explains Joanna Mawtus, creative director of Dr Foster, the company behind the ads. “We think this idea does that. It’s quite shocking, but then so is the damage smoking causes.” As a result of this award-winning campaign, the rate of people quitting smoking in the city increased by an incredible 67%.
Read more:
Birmingham NHS Trust launches Rankin anti-smoking viral ad

2. “Brown”

Image source: Wallpaper4free
The simply titled “Brown” was part of 2008’s anti-smoking campaign by CONAC (Chilean Corporation Against Cancer) that showed images of children in distress, in an attempt to warn people about the dangers of passive smoking. Its tagline reads: “Smoking isn’t just suicide. It’s murder.” The advertising agency Draft FCB took no prisoners with these ads, the imagery is brutal. Although some viewers have observed that the child looks like he is throwing a tantrum, not suffocating from smoke. What do you think?
Read more:
Anti-tobacco campaign re-booted – focuses on ailing infants

1. “Mouth Cancer”

Image source: World Lung Foundation
As the most extreme and disturbing photograph in our gruesome selection of anti-smoking shockers, we’ve deliberately reduced the size of this ‘Smoking Causes Mouth and Throat Cancer’ ad for you. The Australian government started placing graphic health warnings like this one, along with a Quitline telephone number, on the cigarette packs themselves in 2006. This upsetting photo made many smokers, and non-smokers, think about the possibility of getting mouth and throat cancer. It’s easy to see why it worked. Carrying on smoking and your mouth could end up looking like this, is a compelling argument to immediately quit the demon death sticks. Australia’s Graphic Health Warnings campaign also included TV, billboards and Internet ads. An evaluation of the campaign’s effectiveness was undertaken in 2008 and the “gross” mouth cancer image was of particular concern to young people, aged 15 to 24 years, in the follow-up study. If that girl in the Katy Perry song sported a nasty set of nashers like this, we’re not sure if the singer would have liked that girl-on-girl kiss quite so much!
Read more:
Health Warnings Campaign (2006)

Expert Design Opinion

“A memorable anti-smoking poster gets the message across without needing any copy, just a striking image to say it all. The ones in our Top 5 all have the shock value and they grab your attention straight away by using your own imagination. It’s clever advertising, simple and to the point,” says Julie Simpkins, one of the professional graphic designers at Solopress.com’s in-house design studio. “One I’m not so keen on, however, is the ‘Smoking Batters You Inside’ poster. The image to me doesn’t immediately show the point of the advert, copy is needed to explain the reason for the battered face. The image doesn’t seem to be as relevant.”

Want to quit smoking?

It’s not too late. Stub out that ciggie and stop smoking now. The Stoptober 2012 website at www.smokefree.nhs.uk/stoptober/ has all the resources to help you quit smoking, including expert advice, daily motivational text messages, a smartphone app and support from other ex-smokers.
Stoptober’s TV advert on YouTube:
Passionate about posters? You may also be interested in these Solopress.com blog articles:
Top 10 worst movie posters ever printed
Top 10 horror movie posters of all time
Tips on how to design your own posters
Solopress.com print and design a range of gloss and recycled posters. Our free sample pack is available to order online or by calling us on 01702 460047.

Have Your Say

What’s your most memorable – or most hated – anti-smoking poster or TV advert of all time? Could YOU design a more effective anti-smoking poster? Please scroll down this page to the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below and post your comments (you can also comment via the Facebook box)…

Anti-Smoking Foundation Faces Criticism

A new organization called the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World is being criticized by health and anti-smoking groups.
They accuse the foundation of acting secretly to assist tobacco companies, a charge the foundation’s president denied.
Derek Yach is the founder and head of the non-profit foundation. He was one of the planners of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.
Yach said the Convention has been largely successful in preventing people from smoking and “in slowing the increase in kids through higher taxes, marketing and so on.”
But, he told VOA, the Convention does not focus on trying to get the billion current smokers in the world to quit the habit.

Yach said more than seven million people globally die earlier than necessary each year from tobacco. He said his foundation’s mission was to get these smokers away from their addiction by using new harm reduction tools such as e-cigarettes and vaping.
“If these products have an impact,” he said, “we need to have independent research to show that they should be given more support.
“So, our work will not be to simply push them out, but to do high quality research to look at the negative and positive sides.”
The foundation accepted a $1 billion grant from the large tobacco company Philip Morris. The money is to be paid in $80 million yearly payments over the next 12 years.
Philip Morris is also a producer of e-cigarettes and is pushing hard into the vaping market.

FILE - A patron exhales vapor from an e-cigarette at the Henley Vaporium in New York
Vince Willmore is a Vice-President of Communications at the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. With so much money involved, he questioned whether the alliance between the foundation and Philip Morris has credibility.
Willmore accused the foundation of trying to “undermine real efforts to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco use around the world.” He added the foundation was really trying to help Philip Morris sell more products.
“It is hard to take Philip Morris seriously that they want a smoke-free world when they are marketing cigarettes as aggressively as ever and they are fighting real solutions to reduce smoking.”
If Philip Morris wanted to reduce smoking, he said, it would push for higher taxes, smoke-free policies, and strong warnings on cigarette packages. These are actions that really work, he added.
Yach told VOA he had not taken the side of big tobacco.
He said that some people “could never understand that profitability and public health can actually work together.”
He said his relationship with Philip Morris was not based on trust.
“No. What they want to do is have a product that is less risky and that makes them profits. That is the beginning and end of it,” he said.

Yach knows that many of his former colleagues at the World Health Organization (WHO) disagree with his decision to work with Philip Morris. He said he also wants to rid the world of tobacco products, but “with one billion lives hanging in the balance, we urgently must do more to cut the adult smoking rate,” he said.
WHO would not comment for this article. However, the global health organization issued the following statement:
“The tobacco industry and its front groups have misled the public about risks associated with other tobacco products. This includes promoting so-called light and mild tobacco products as an alternative to quitting, while being fully aware that those products were not less harmful to health.”
WHO noted the many “conflicts of interest” involved in the foundation and the tobacco company.
It stated that “WHO will not partner with the foundation. Governments should not partner with the foundation and the public health community should follow this lead.”
Derek Yach said that he set up measures, including a legal firewall, to protect the foundation from the influence of the tobacco company.
He added his foundation would lose its non-profit status if they let Philip Morris influence them.
Despite his many protestations, Yach admitted that he has some difficulty in dealing with his tobacco business partner.
“When I go into meetings with Philip Morris, I feel I have to hold my nose and that is something I suspect will continue for a long time,” he said.
I'm Susan Shand.

Courtesy: Lisa Schlein reported this story for VOA. Susan Shand adapted the story for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.