National

State-specific prevalence and trends in adult cigarette smoking – United States, 1998-2007
According to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), in 2007, cigarette smoking prevalence among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories ranged from 8.7% to 31.1%. States varied substantially in both levels of smoking and trends in smoking during the past 10 years, and these variations can be attributed to factors such as differences in population demographics, differing levels of tobacco control programs and policies, and variations in tobacco industry marketing and promotion. From 1998-2007, the smoking prevalence among adults decreased in 44 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. However, the present rate of decline will very likely be too slow in almost all states to achieve the Healthy People objective by 2010 unless comprehensive, evidence-based tobacco control programs are fully implemented in all states. Click here to read the full MMWR report.

Smokeless tobacco use, initiation, and relationship to cigarette smoking: 2002 to 2007
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently released a report on national trends, prevalence, and patterns of smokeless tobacco use from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The data show that smokeless tobacco use is on the rise, and that smokeless tobacco use does not promote smoking cessation. Ninety percent of smokers who started using chewing tobacco as a smoking cessation aid still smoked on a daily basis six months later. From 2002 to 2007, the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use among boys aged 12-17 increased 30%. Over half of adolescent smokeless tobacco users, and two-thirds of 18-25 year old users, were also current cigarette smokers. Additionally, certain populations were more likely to use smokeless tobacco including American Indians, Alaska Natives, those living in rural areas, and those living in the South and the Midwest. Click here to read more. Click here to access the full smokeless tobacco report.

New analysis: Light and intermittent smokers overlooked in traditional tobacco research
Light or intermittent smokers smoke less than 10-15 cigarettes per day, and comprise one fifth of smokers in the United States. Because the majority of tobacco research focuses on moderate to heavy smokers, a recent issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research remedies this gap in research by focusing on light and intermittent smoking. Research is featured on a variety of target populations that are more likely to be light smokers, including young adults and racial and ethnic minorities. Studies also examine smoking patterns and the role of addiction in light smokers’ behavior. Click here to read a news release that summarizes some key findings. Click here to view the full listing of articles in the journal’s table of contents.

California tobacco control update 2009: 20 years of tobacco control in California
Fifth in a series of updates, this 2009 review of the Califormia Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) details the strategies, challenges, and successes of CTCP. It revisits California's tobacco control environment as the program nears its 20th anniversary and addresses the need for strategies to reduce adult and youth smoking prevalence. The report also describes California's social norm change strategies (reducing secondhand smoke, countering pro-tobacco influences, reducing availability of tobacco, providing cessation services) and presents updated trends for long-term outcomes as an indication of California's current tobacco control success. Click here to download the full report.

International

New edition of the Tobacco Atlas catalogues catastrophic toll of tobacco worldwide
The World Lung Foundation and the American Cancer Society have published the third edition of The Tobacco Atlas, a comprehensive and interactive resource that plainly displays the consequences of tobacco use on global health and economics. The report estimates that tobacco use consumes $500 billion of the world economy annually as a result of lost productivity, premature deaths, misused resources, and weak tobacco taxation. The Tobacco Atlas exposes the recent trend by the tobacco industry to shift marketing and sales efforts to low and middle income countries that do not have harsh restrictions or monitoring of tobacco products and companies. Click here to read more. Click here to access The Tobacco Atlas website, which allows users to interact with the data to create custom maps, charts, and graphs.

Survey on tobacco analytical report (Europe)
This report, conducted for the European Commission by the Gallup Organization, contains data on the prevalence of tobacco use, public opinions about tobacco, and the status of tobacco control policies in the European Union and Norway. The report is based on a 2008 telephone survey of 26,500 randomly selected adults. Overall, 26% of adults over age 15 were current smokers, but the percentage of smokers varied considerably among the countries surveyed. Greece had the highest smoking prevalence at 42%. Wide variations in exposure to secondhand smoke in homes and workplaces were also reported. The majority of respondents, 84%, supported smoke-free policies in workplaces, while two-thirds supported smoke-free bars, pubs, and clubs. Click here to download the full report.

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