Tobacco control
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High smoking rates among Pacific people living within New Zealand (26.9%) are a significant and poorly understood problem. A proposed approach to tobacco control is to enhance restrictions on or ban duty-free sales, a pertinent notion for Pacific people given their frequent travel between New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. This study examines the purchase and distribution of duty-free tobacco by Pacific people, whether it is being used as a strategy to circumvent the tobacco excise tax increases and how duty-free cigarette sales are perceived within the Pacific community. ⋯ The findings suggest a ban on duty-free sales could be an important measure to help achieve the smokefree 2025 goal among Pacific communities in New Zealand. This measure would eliminate duty-free tobacco as a cheap form of supply, and efforts to denormalise the practice of gifting duty-free tobacco among Pacific people may also be helpful in reducing high prevalence rates within these communities.
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Tobacco endgame policies are increasingly advocated to end tobacco use. This study investigated public support for a total ban on tobacco sales, use and possession in Hong Kong. ⋯ A total ban on tobacco sales was supported by most respondents. Ex-smokers and current smokers also voiced substantial support, although less than never smokers. A total ban on tobacco sales before 2022 should be the goal as it is supported by most of the respondents. Interim tobacco control measures, such as tax increases, expansion of smoking cessation services and plain packaging should be implemented to help current smokers quit and reduce smoking initiation before implementation of the ban.
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There has been a rapid increase in the use of waterpipe tobacco and non-tobacco based shisha in many countries. Understanding the impact and effects of second-hand smoke (SHS) from cigarette was a crucial factor in reducing cigarette use, leading to clean indoor air laws and smoking bans. This article reviews what is known about the effects of SHS exposure from waterpipes. ⋯ The negative health consequences of second-hand waterpipe exposure have major implications for clean indoor air laws and for occupational safety. There exists an urgent need for public health campaigns about the effects on children and household members from smoking waterpipe at home, and for further development and implementation of regulations to protect the health of the public from this rapidly emerging threat.
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Review
Waterpipe tobacco smoking: what is the evidence that it supports nicotine/tobacco dependence?
Waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) involves passing tobacco smoke through water prior to inhalation, and has spread worldwide. This spread becomes a public health concern if it is associated with tobacco-caused disease and if WTS supports tobacco/nicotine dependence. A growing literature demonstrates that WTS is associated with disability, disease and death. This narrative review examines if WTS supports nicotine/tobacco dependence, and is intended to help guide tobacco control efforts worldwide. ⋯ WTS supports nicotine/tobacco dependence because it is associated with nicotine delivery, and because some smokers experience withdrawal when they abstain from waterpipe, alter their behaviour in order to access a waterpipe and have difficulty quitting, even when motivated to do so. There is a strong need to support research investigating measurement of WTS-induced tobacco dependence, to inform the public of the risks of WTS, which include dependence, disability, disease and death, and to include WTS in the same public health policies that address tobacco cigarettes.
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Comparative Study
A comparative study of systemic carcinogen exposure in waterpipe smokers, cigarette smokers and non-smokers.
In the past decade, waterpipe smoking-also known as hookah, shisha, narghileh-has increased among youth. The scarcity of rigorous studies linking waterpipe smoking to smoking-related diseases has hindered policy and regulatory efforts to confront the waterpipe epidemic. This study compares systemic carcinogen exposure between independent groups of exclusive waterpipe smokers, cigarette smokers and non-smokers. ⋯ These results provide the clearest indication to date about systemic exposure to harmful carcinogens associated with long-term waterpipe smoking. Such evidence can support policy and regulatory efforts designed to confront the emerging global waterpipe epidemic, as well as drive interventions aimed at increasing the public awareness about the cancer risk associated with waterpipe smoking.