What Is Thirdhand Smoke? How Can You Protect Against It?



Many know of the harms and health risks of smoking and secondhand smoke.   However, you may not have heard of thirdhand smoke, which is the chemical pollutants that linger and settle indoors after tobacco is smoked.   “The chemicals in thirdhand smoke include nicotine as well as cancer-causing substances such as formaldehyde, naphthalene and others,” according to the Mayo Clinic.  Policy gaps are failing to protect the public from thirdhand smoke, according to a recent study.  The study suggests that policies safeguard against thirdhand smoke even as they protect against secondhand smoke exposure by prohibiting indoor smoking in public places.  “While these measures have been instrumental in protecting public health, saving lives, and reducing health care ...

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The State of Cigarette Smoking and E-Cigarette Use in Latinos



Only 7.7% of Latino adults in 2021 smoked cigarettes, which is lower than the national prevalence of 11.5%, the Truth Initiative reports.  But the news isn’t all good.  While Latino adults have a lower usage rate of all tobacco products than adults overall, smoking prevalence differs widely within Latino subgroups and by gender.  Let’s explore Latino tobacco use and why it matters for health.  Cigarette Smoking Patterns in Latino Adults    Latinos in the U.S. that identify as Puerto Rican reported the highest current smoking prevalence at 17%. The lowest rates are among Latinos with Central or South American origin (6%), the Truth Initiative reports.  Latina women have a lower smoking rates (6%) than Latino men (12%).    In 2022, 7.8% of young Latino adults ...

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Teens and Kids Kick Tobacco Butts



March 16 is National Kick Butts Day—a day for kids and teens to take a stand against smoking. According to national data, 95% of smokers began smoking before turning 21 and more than 11% of Latino adults are current smokers. How can you raise awareness? Join the movement today by sharing your story on social media using #IKickButts and check out the live gallery of leaders kicking ...

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“Cold Turkey” Best Way to Quit Smoking, Study Finds



If you want to quit smoking, it is better to quit all at once, NBC Health reports. A study by Oxford University “randomly assigned almost 700 adult smokers to either an abrupt quitting or gradual reduction group. Each person set a 'quit day' of two weeks after they entered the study, and saw a research nurse once a week until then.” After 4 weeks of tracking 700 adults, researchers found that 40% of the gradual group were not smoking compared to 49% of the abrupt quit group. "However, with smoking, the norm is to advise people to stop all at once and our study found evidence to support that," Nicola Lindson-Hawley, lead study author told Reuters Health by email. "What we found was that more people managed to quit when they stopped smoking all in one go than when they gradually ...

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Renowned Pulmonologist Advocates for Raising the Smoking Age to 21



Raising the smoking age to 21 could curb access to tobacco products at an early age, which could lead reductions in smoking prevalence, said Dr. Daniel Ouellette, a Henry Ford Hospital pulmonologist. “Most of my patients are diagnosed with emphysema or lung cancer at a relatively young age from smoking, despite the media attention given to the health risks of smoking, and despite them knowing about those risks,” Oulette said. Smoking causes 1 in 5 deaths in the United States and is linked to cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to the CDC Oulette warns that based on current smoking rates 5.6 million Americans under 18 will die during their lifetime due to smoking and tobacco products. At IHPR, the team ...

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Turn Your Phone into a Personal Coach to Help You Quit Smoking!


female not smoking

Smoking is a tough opponent to beat. Quitxt is a new free service that turns your mobile phone into a personal coach to help you quit smoking, using interactive and entertaining text messages, online support, hip-hop music, and videos designed for South Texas young adults by researchers at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The service’s text messages help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, finding things to do instead of smoking, handling stress, using nicotine replacement if needed, and more. To join, text “iquit” to 57682. “Text-message applications have scientifically proven to roughly double one’s odds of quitting smoking, so we developed Quitxt specifically for young adult Latinos to capitalize on their heavy usage of texting to help them ...

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New Spanish-Language Anti-Smoking Website



About 5 million U.S. Latinos smoke, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among Latino men and second-leading cause among Latina women, according to federal data. To address this important public health issue, the National Cancer Institute developed http://espanol.smokefree.gov/, a website created specifically for Spanish speakers who want to quit smoking or know someone who does. Resources include interactive checklists and quizzes, advice on how to help a loved one quit, and real-time support and ...

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New Quit-Smoking Hotline in Spanish



The New Mexico Department of Health has launched a new Spanish-language help line, 1-855-DEJELO-YA, to help New Mexicans to quit smoking. The service, called DejeloYa, is free to all participants and includes coaching to quit; a personalized quit plan; free nicotine patches, lozenges, or gum; and optional text messaging support. A Spanish-language website augments the phone ...

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Latinos, Looking for Help to Quit Smoking? Try This Study



A new study is testing whether an automated self-help "Stop Smoking" website—available in both English and Spanish with various resources and tools to track quit progress—can help smokers quit at higher rates than trying to quit on their own. Visit the website in English or Spanish to enroll in this no-cost study. The study, led by Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute, is a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Upon enrollment, researchers will randomly assign participants to one of two methods to quit: Immediate no-cost access to the UCSF "Stop Smoking" ...

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