BESOCHEMPS blog

Cigarettes ‘still being tested on lab animals’

2010-03-11T11:50:00Z

~I would not be AT ALL surprised to hear that Tobacco companies are violating the law and continuing to conduct tests on animals! An acquaintance of mine used to oversee the primate lab for a major US Tobacco company. He told me some pretty hair-raising stories. Today (Thank God!) he has repented and speaks out against the horrible things the tobacco industry does.

Animal testing is still carried out by major cigarette companies, it has been alleged.

Cigarettes 'still tested on lab animals'

Mice and rats were forced to breathe smoke to examine the safety of new ingredients, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection claimed.

The studies were held by Marlboro-maker Philip Morris and Camel manufacturer RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, the group said.

‘It is outrageous that, in this day and age, tobacco companies continue to subject animals to these horrific tests when we all know how harmful smoking is to our health,’ said BUAV boss Michelle Thew. ‘Smoking is a lifestyle choice and it’s unacceptable animals should suffer and die for companies to modify their products.’

Tests on animals involving tobacco have been banned in Britain since 1997 but the organisation said studies continued in Europe and the US.

Philip Morris research groups from the US, Belgium and Germany had recently held experiments in which rats were forced to inhale smoke for six hours a day for 90 days, the BUAV said. In a US study by RJ Reynolds, more than 1,000 mice and rats were used, it was alleged. The information was obtained, the BUAV said, from papers published in science journals. A Philip Morris spokesman said the company’s rare use of animal tests was focused on developing lower-risk tobacco products or making sure major modifications did not add to the toxicity of its cigarettes.

‘This research was not to confirm the quality of the cigarette or to see if it was safe,’ he added. ‘There is no such thing as a safe cigarette.’

No one from RJ Reynolds was available for comment.

States With The Most Smokers

2010-03-07T01:02:00Z

Drug companies that sell anti-smoking drugs would have you believe that tobacco use is a simple matter of biochemistry. But smoking rates have a lot to do with social and cultural attitudes, socioeconomic status and state laws, a quick glance at state statistics reveals.

Nationally, 20.6% of adults are smokers--including 23% of men and 18% of women. Cigarette smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke cause 443,000 deaths annually, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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But the likelihood of lighting up can skyrocket or plunge depending on where you live. In Utah, where smoking goes against social and religious norms, the rate is just 9%. In health conscious California it’s a mere 14%. But in the tobacco country of West Virginia, however, 27% of adults smoke. And in Indiana the rate is nearly as high, at 26%.

In Pictures: States With Low Smoking Rates

Many of the states with higher smoking rates have low median household incomes, lots of Medicaid recipients and relatively few college graduates. A mere 6% of adults with postgraduate degrees smoke, vs. a full 26% of people who only have a high school education. States with high smoking rates tend to share a few other things in common besides demographics, says Terry Pechacek, associate director of science in the office on smoking and health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They tend to have fewer taxes and thus lower prices for tobacco products. They invest less money in prevention, and they have fewer restrictions on smoking in public places.

West Virginia, for instance, taxes each pack of 20 cigarettes at 55 cents while California, (which has the second-lowest percentage of smokers in the country) slaps on an additional 87 cents. (The average is $1.20). Meanwhile, West Virginia spends only $7 million on prevention and cessation programs, even though the CDC recommends a budget of $28 million. It has no statewide laws limiting smoking in public places (several local ordinances forbid it at workplaces, restaurants and bars).

West Virginia's anti-smoking public health efforts rate so low that the American Lung Association gave it an F this January in its annual assessment of state efforts. (Twelve other states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Mississippi, also got an F).

Bruce Adkins, director of tobacco prevention for West Virginia's Bureau for Public Health, says the state funds a toll-free line that provides those who want to quit with counseling and nicotine replacement aids. "Our smokers are hardcore, long-term, very addicted pack-a-day smokers," says Adkins. "Quite frankly, they don't want to quit."

A new federal tax of 62 cents went into effect last April, and that may gradually help push down smoking rates, says Thomas Carr, manager of national policy for the American Lung Association. He also says that state budgets have been eviscerated by the recession, leading to substantial cutbacks in tobacco prevention and cessation programs across the country. Ten states and the District of Columbia have slashed their spending by 25% or more. Funding gaps could erase or minimize any gains by the recent nationwide tax increase.

The long-term solution, says Pechacek, is to "make these products less affordable, less accessible and less socially condoned." Easier said than done. After years of slow but steady downward progress, the national smoking rate has stalled at around 20%. Smoking rates declined for women and men at about the same pace in the past decade. Pechacek blames the standstill partly on the tobacco industry's efforts to soften the blow of cigarette tax hikes by offering coupons and discounts. In 2006 the five largest cigarette companies spent $9.2 billion on discounts.

The 5 States with the Highest Smoking Rates

1. West Virginia

2. Indiana

3. Kentucky*

3. Missouri*

3. Oklahoma*

* tied for third

Go to Forbes.com to see if your state ranks in the top 10

Find More on MSN Health & Fitness:

Head start on lung cancer

2010-03-06T19:44:00Z

Head start on lung cancer

Berkshire Eagle Staff

Updated: 03/06/2010 08:05:48 AM EST

Saturday March 6, 2010 PITTSFIELD -- Berkshire Medical Center is taking its battle against the world's deadliest cancer to the next level with the opening of its new Lung Nodule Clinic.

By teaming up pulmonologists, oncologists, radiologists, and thoracic surgeons, the clinic's goals are to keep patients from receiving unnecessarily invasive treatments for the cancerous nodes, as well as to treat other problems such as foreign objects accidentally swallowed into the lungs.

"The ability to find lung cancers at such an early stage would make a huge difference," said oncologist Dr. Spyros Triantos. "Lung cancer is a very difficult cancer to treat, and the ability to diagnose it at a very early stage makes an extreme difference in terms of its curability."

More than 160,000 people a year die of lung cancer, more than any other kind of cancer -- including breast, colon or pancreatic. If it is found early enough, said pulmonologist Dr. Boris Murillo, the survival rate for 10 more years can hit 90 percent; yet if it is only caught during its more symptomatic advanced stages, the survival rate only reaches 15 percent, for an additional five years.

"So clearly, it make sense to diagnose these lung cancers as early as you can," Murillo said.

The strongest weapon in the clinic's arsenal is its new electromagnetic bronchial navigation machine, which creates images of the patient's lungs in three dimensions, allowing physicians to traverse root-like vessels with a catheter to take samples of the nodule.

"We couldn't do it before -- we could use an X-ray machine, but that would only give us the image in two parts, not depth," Murillo said, which could cause physicians to direct their bronchioscopes either above or below the nodule. "It's like a real-time GPS of the lungs -- it takes me right to the target."

Once the nodule is sampled, the pulmonologist, oncologist and radiologist will confer with one another to discuss the best form of treatment.

The pulmonologist can work short term to remove tumors from airways and vessels using tactics ranging from spatula scalpels to wire loops to burning the tumor with electricity via argon plasma.

In order to truly kill deep tumors, oncologists and radiologists can use tactics ranging from chemotherapy to special procedures such as "gamma knives," which directs several beams of high-intensity radiation to a specific point.

"It's important to have everyone reviewing those cases in order to guide the diagnostic process," Triantos said.

saying that the clinic's procedure keeps doctors from leaning toward one preferred method of treatment over any others. "If you have a group of subspecialists, it will allow for a better discussion for what modality is best."

Man pushes woman on train track when she asks him to stop smoking

2010-03-05T21:28:00Z

~WOW! Rail rage! -Just when you think you've heard it all!
I wonder what his defense was!? "I was having a Marlboro moment?"

Man jailed for pushing woman on train track after she asked him to stop smoking

Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent
03.03.10 Iraq war was right decision - Brown..... Kidnap was no inside job - family..... Plane bomb plotter's wife acquitted..... Anger as Dutch MP shows Islam film..... Awol soldier jailed for nine months..... £62m cannabis gang facing prison..... Paramedic jailed over patient death..... Girl's death sparks murder probe..... Moors Murders victim remembered..... Be patient with Evans, says Wogan.....

Hurt: Linda Buchanan was shoved close to a live line by Ionel Rapisca

A man was jailed for four years this afternoon for pushing a woman on to rail tracks in the morning rush-hour in a row over smoking.

Jailing Ionel Rapisca, Judge Charles Macdonald QC told him: "This was a very grave crime. You could easily have killed this victim.

"As it is, her career is over and she has an enduring psychiatric illness."

The judge rejected Rapisca's claim that he was acting in self-defence and that the fall was an accident and cast doubt on suggestions he was now remorseful.

Victim Linda Buchanan was not in court but issued a statement saying she was "delighted" with the result and glad to gain closure.

She said: "My intention was only ever to politely explain to Mr Rapisca that it is against the law to smoke at this station and I remain incredibly shocked how this resulted in such an unprovoked attack of violence."

Miss Buchanan, 59, had criticised Ionel Rapisca, 33, for blowing smoke at her and said: "I don't like the smell of cancer." The following day he shoved her off the platform as the Mayfair senior management consultant waited for the 7.12am train at Farningham Road station in Kent in 2008. Rapisca made an obscene noise and pushed Miss Buchanan on to the track near a line carrying 750 volts.

Miss Buchanan suffered a fractured wrist, severe bruising and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the fall. She told the court that Rapisca, a Romanian, stood over her on the platform and she feared he was about to "finish me off". But he dragged her back on to the platform, while his brother-in-law retrieved her mobile phone, and both men fled.

Today a jury at Maidstone crown court cleared Rapisca, a carpenter of Dartford, of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but convicted him of grievous bodily harm. He was jailed for four years.

Speaking of the day before the attack, Miss Buchanan had told the jury: "I very politely said, 'Sorry, do you know it's no smoking at this station?' He started laughing and blew smoke at me again. I've never liked the smell of smoke because it reminded me of my dad who died of lung cancer."

Snuff just as addictive as cigarettes

2010-03-01T01:49:00Z

~Just further proof that smokeless tobacco is not harmless tobacco!

Snuff just as addictive as cigarettes
Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:28pm ESTNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who use smokeless tobacco, or "snuff," are just as hooked on nicotine as cigarette smokers, if not more so, new research from Sweden shows.

And those who smoke and use snuff may be especially nicotine-dependent, Dr. Ann Post of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and her colleagues found.
The researchers looked at more than 800 teen boys and girls who used tobacco, including 466 who only smoked cigarettes, 209 who only used snus (the traditional Swedish type of snuff), and 144 who used both. Eighty-seven percent of the entire group reported having symptoms of nicotine dependence. The average age of the study participants was around 18.
Post and her team looked at nine different symptoms of nicotine dependence, including using tobacco within a half-hour of waking up in the morning; using tobacco despite being sick; and trying to quit and failing. They also asked the study participants whether they'd experienced any of 12 different withdrawal symptoms when they stopped using tobacco, such as craving, restlessness, and difficulty concentrating.
All but two of the nicotine dependence symptoms were more frequent among exclusive snus users than among smokers, the researchers found, while every symptom was more common among the dual users than the exclusive smokers. For example, around 70 percent of the exclusive smokers said they felt addicted to tobacco, compared to nearly 80 percent of the snus-only users and about 90 percent of the dual users.
The risk of withdrawal symptoms for exclusive snus users and exclusive smokers was fairly similar, but the snus plus tobacco users were two to five times as likely to experience these symptoms as exclusive smokers.
Eighty percent of both snus users and dual users said they had used tobacco on the day of the survey, the researchers note, compared to 56 percent of the smokers, "probably indicating a more advanced stage of progression toward regular use."
They also found that the snus-only users reported fewer quit attempts than the smokers.
"The findings in this study," the researchers say, "support the conclusion that smokeless tobacco in adolescence has a potential to induce nicotine dependence which is at least as high as for cigarette smoking."
SOURCE: Addiction, online February 9, 2010

Obama in excellent health, doctor says, but he should quit smoking

2010-02-28T23:06:00Z

~FTR (For the record) BESOCHEMPS would be delighted to provide high quality confidential tobacco cessation services for the President.

Obama in excellent health, doctor says, but he should quit smoking

The president undergoes his first physical exam since entering office. He's declared 'fit for duty,' but there is some concern about his elevated cholesterol levels.

By Janet Hook

February 28, 2010 | 2:49 p.m.

Reporting from Washington - President Obama is fit as a fiddle, but he should lower his cholesterol and kick his smoking habit.

That was the opinion of White House physician Jeffrey Kuhlman on Sunday after Obama's first routine physical examination since becoming president.

The 90-minute exam, conducted at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, found that the 48-year-old Obama was in "excellent health" and "fit for duty."

The doctor said Obama did not need to return for another routine exam until August 2011, after he turns 50.

Although Obama has cut back on cigarettes, he has not quit and the doctor recommended that he "continue smoking cessation efforts," including nicotine gum.

And although Obama generally eats well, the doctor said his cholesterol had risen significantly since his last exam in July 2008. His LDL, or bad cholesterol, was up from 96 to 138, with 130 considered borderline high. His HDL, or good cholesterol, had dropped to 62 from 68. And his total cholesterol had risen to 209 -- also borderline high. It had been 173 in his last exam.

At 6-feet-1, Obama weighs 180 pounds. His pulse is 56 and his blood pressure is 105 over 62 -- both very good. He has 20/20 vision in both eyes. A virtual colonoscopy found him free of colon cancer.

Obama exercises regularly, and his sports passions are playing basketball and golf. But the doctor's report said he had chronic tendinitis in his left leg, for which he takes a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory. The doctor recommended that he modify his exercise regime to strengthen the leg.

janet.hook@latimes.com

Google Launches Chile Earthquake Person Finder

2010-02-27T23:19:00Z

~GET THE WORD OUT! PLEASE RT this!!!

Google Launches Chile Earthquake Person Finder

Google today launched a person finder to quickly connect those looking for missing people in Chile and those who have information.

The simple interface lets you choose between two options — “I’m looking for someone” and “I have information about someone,” then either query the database or enter new information. At the time of writing, the Person Finder app has over 10,000 records.

The Person Finder is the same app used following the Haiti earthquake. We hope to see other tech companies stepping up to provide tools to assist people in Chile.

Tags: chile, chile earthquake, Earthquake, Google

http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com/
~GET THE WORD OUT! PLEASE RT this!!!

Tobacco Lozenges Seek FDA Stamp

2010-02-27T16:33:00Z

~Oh boy! Now we can have candy with REAL tobacco (and real nitrosamines) in it! ~Jeebus!

TobaccoLozenges Seek FDA Stamp

WSJ:Star Scientific Asks Agency to Certify New Smokeless Product as a 'Modified Risk'

by David Kesmodel

Star Scientific Inc. said it filed the first application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to have a tobacco product certified as being less harmful than traditional forms of tobacco.

Star requested Friday that Ariva-BDL, a dissolvable tobacco lozenge with wintergreen flavoring, be approved as a "modified risk" product under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The landmark law, enacted last year, gave the FDA broad authority to regulate the industry.

The filing by Star, a small publicly traded company based in Glen Allen, Va., is expected to be one of many such applications that will be filed by tobacco purveyors in the coming years. How the FDA views Star's request could have wider implications for industry giants such as Reynolds American Inc., which also hope to be able to communicate to consumers that certain smokeless-tobacco products pose significantly lower health risks than conventional cigarettes.

The federal tobacco law sets a high bar to make such claims. Not only must a company demonstrate with scientific support that a product will reduce tobacco-related harm for individual users, but also benefit the overall health of the U.S.population.

Star,formed more than a decade ago, has been an industry pioneer in creating low-carcinogen tobacco tablets that are designed to appeal to smokers who find themselves in situations where they can't or don't want to smoke. But its products, sold under the Ariva and Stonewall brands in some drug and convenience stores, have gained little traction in the marketplace.

Retail sales of smokeless tobacco in the U.S. total about $4 billion a year,mostly coming from moist snuff. Tobacco tablets such as Ariva represent a much smaller sub-category of the smokeless segment.

Ariva-BDL,which isn't currently available in stores, is an improved version of Star's existing products, lowering levels of toxins known as nitrosamines.

Star, in a news release expected to be made public Monday, said it believes the new product, if approved by the FDA, will be attractive to other companies, which could license it and help it become widely available to smokers.

Star believes adult smokers "pay a price—in terms of chronic disease and death—that demands the best efforts that can be brought to bear to offer alternatives to inhaling toxic cigarette smoke into the lungs every day,"a Star spokeswoman said.

It isn't clear when the FDA might rule on Star's application. The FDA has said it intends to take up to 360 days to decide on requests to certify products as"modified risk," but that this timetable is preliminary and could change.

Reynolds,based in Winston-Salem, N.C., has been test-marketing for about a year its own various dissolvable tobacco products, including lozenges known as Camel Orbs.

How the FDA treats Star's application for Ariva-BDL may indicate how the agency will regulate smokeless-tobacco products, which studies have shown are significantly safer than cigarettes.There's a schism among public-health officials about whether smokers should be encouraged to move to smokeless-tobacco products.Some argue such policies could save lives, while others say they could prompt nonusers to try tobacco and become addicted to nicotine.

The FDA,concerned that dissolvable products may appeal to children and adolescents,recently asked Reynolds and Star Scientific to provide their research on how such products are perceived by people ages 25 and under.

Representatives of both companies said Sunday that their products are made for, and marketed to, adult tobacco users. The products appear in the tobacco sections of retailers. Both companies are working on responses to the agency.

Star suffered a blow last June when a jury ruled against the company in a federal lawsuit accusing R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. of infringing on Star patents covering a carcinogen-lowering process for curing tobacco. The company had sought several hundred million dollars from RJR, a unit of Reynolds American Inc., the maker of Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes. Star is appealing the decision.

Star's stock price fell sharply after it lost the jury verdict. The company's shares closed at 92 cents on the Nasdaq on Friday, and its market capitalization is about $99 million.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B2

Anti-smoking advert with sexual innuendo shocks French

2010-02-24T20:43:00Z

~Well frankly I think SOME people need to be shocked before they'll change their behavior!
I'd love to hear your comments about these photos. ~thanks!

From Telegraph.co.uk

Anti-smoking advert with sexual innuendo shocks French

An anti-smoking advertisement showing teenagers in a pose suggesting fellatio with a cigarette has caused an uproar in France, with critics arguing it is offensive and suggests a false analogy between oral sex and smoking.

Published: 6:00AM GMT 24 Feb 2010

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The adverts, presented earlier this week, show an older man in a suit pushing down on the head of a teenager with a cigarette in her mouth, in a position that suggests oral sex. Another version of the advert shows a teenage boy in a similar position. The accompanying slogan reads: "Smoking means being a slave to tobacco".

"The campaign trivialises sexual abuse - worse, it implies guilt on the part of the abused," read one angry comment on the website of "Droits des Non-Fumeurs" ("Non-smokers' Rights), the organisation behind the campaign.

Droits des Non-Fumeurs said the posters showed neither rape nor abuse, but were meant to shock.

The adverts, which will be published in newspapers and bars, are designed to target young people in France, who are beginning to smoke in increasing numbers despite a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.

"The campaign targets young people who see cigarettes as symbols of emancipation, of freedom, when it really causes dependency and submission," Droits des Non-Fumeurs said in an online discussion.

Tobacco is the number one cause of avoidable deaths as well as of cancer in France, according to the health ministry. Half of French students over 14 have tried smoking at some point.

While Droits des Non-Fumeurs argues that young smokers tend to ignore adverts focusing on health, other activists were doubtful about the effectiveness of the provocative posters.

"As far as I know, practising fellatio doesn't cause cancer," Antoinette Fouque, an activist with the Movement for Women's Liberation, said in Le Parisien newspaper on Tuesday.

Obama administration files appeal in tobacco case

2010-02-19T22:02:00Z

~Hmmmm.... I wonder if this means Obama's going to finally quit smoking....

From Reuters
Obama administration files appeal in tobacco case

Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:28pm EST

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Obama administrationasked the Supreme Court on Friday to consider allowing thefederal government to force tobacco companies to fund smokingcessation and public education programs, which could cost theindustry billions of dollars.

The administration's filed the appeal after a federal judgeand an appeals court rejected the government's attempt toimpose such remedies on the industry as redress for violationsunder U.S. racketeering laws.

Altria Co's (MO.N) Philip Morris USA unit, the nation'sbiggest cigarette company, itself asked the high court onFriday to overturn part of the decision on the grounds that theracketeering statute was improperly invoked and that theappeals court was overly deferential to the trial court. (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini, editing byGerald E McCormick)

Marlboro tries to obey new marketing restictions

2010-02-19T16:57:00Z

Coded to Obey Law, Lights Become Marlboro Gold

By DUFF WILSON

Published: February 18, 2010

When it comes to new rules for marketing so-called light cigarettes, tobacco companies plan to honor the letter of the law — but to shade the truth, critics say.

William P. O'Donnell/The New York Times

The new Marlboro Gold looks much like old Marlboro Lights.

The “light” and filter Pall Malls will be repackaged but recognizable.

Come June, under the new federal tobacco law, cigarette companies will no longer be allowed to use words like “light” or “mild” on packages to imply that some cigarettes are safer than others.

But in a move that critics say simply skirts the new rules, tobacco companies plan to use packaging to make those same distinctions: light colors for light cigarettes.

So Marlboro Lights, the nation’s best-selling brand, from Philip Morris, will be renamed Marlboro Gold, according to a flier the company recently sent to distributors. Likewise, Marlboro Ultra Lights will change into Marlboro Silver.

And anticipating the new rules, R.J. Reynolds has already changed Salem Ultra Lights, which are sold in a silver box, to Silver Box.

“They’re circumventing the law,” said Gregory N. Connolly, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. “They’re using color coding to perpetuate one of the biggest public health myths into the next century.”

The National Cancer Institute says there are no health benefits from light cigarettes and that they may be more dangerous because some people inhale them more deeply than regular cigarettes.

The Food and Drug Administration has begun a federal review of the color-coding approach, a step that could conceivably lead to further actions against products designated as light.

The law taking effect this summer does not bar companies from making light cigarettes, only from using words like “light” in marketing. The industry says that it is complying and that it should be free to use colors on its packages to market different product lines to adult consumers.

“Colors are really used to identify and differentiate different brand packs,” David M. Sylvia, a spokesman for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, said Thursday. “We do not use colors to communicate whether one product is less harmful or more harmful than another.”

In a letter to the F.D.A. on Thursday, James E. Dillard III, a senior vice president of Altria, said banning certain colors would be unconstitutional under commercial speech and property protections.

The tobacco regulation passed last year gave the F.D.A. sweeping new regulatory authority over tobacco. One new requirement is that companies must prove to the F.D.A. that a product is safer than conventional cigarettes before it can be marketed as such.

While Congress specifically banned some terms, including “low” and “mild” — present on about half the packages of cigarettes sold in the United States — it also gave the F.D.A. authority to act against “similar descriptors” that could mislead consumers to think certain products were less risky.

Last month, the agency published a notice that it could take action against colors like silver or pastels, as well as additional words like “silver,” “smooth” and “natural,” which some companies are still planning to use on cigarette packages. The notice sought public and industry comments, which are due Friday.

Kathleen Quinn, a spokeswoman for the new F.D.A. Center for Tobacco Products, said Thursday that the agency would “thoroughly review” the use of color on cigarette packages by June 22, the effective date of the wording ban and the first anniversary of the law’s passage.

As it happens, Friday is also the deadline for petitions to be filed with the Supreme Court asking it to hear appeals from the 2006 conviction of tobacco makers for racketeering in making fraudulent claims about light cigarettes. According to Professor Connolly of Harvard, the tobacco industry has known for at least a decade from World Health Organization actions that words like “light” would eventually have to come off the boxes, giving it time to prepare the other visual cues on packaging.

He shared with The New York Times a set of marketing materials about the new color system that he said had been given to him by people working in the tobacco industry.

The color coding, Professor Connolly said, is red and dark green for regular and menthol; blue, gold and light green for light cigarettes; and silver and orange for ultra lights.

“The myth of safer cigarettes is perpetuated,” Professor Connolly said. “Light cigarettes unleashed a monster.”

But rather than fight over shading and coloring on the packages, he urged the F.D.A., using its new authority, to regulate filters and ingredients in those cigarettes to make them taste harsher.

Light cigarettes have a different taste because they are filtered differently and may contain additives, Professor Connolly said. Studies have shown that people who smoke light cigarettes satisfy their nicotine cravings by inhaling the smoke more deeply, smoking more cigarettes and taking more puffs on each cigarette.

Altria said it had used terms like “light” as well as packaging colors to connote different tastes, not safety. But study after study — including ones by the industry disclosed in tobacco lawsuits — has shown consumers believe the terms and colors connote a safer product.

Moreover, adults believe cigarette packs with the terms “smooth,” “silver” or “gold” are also easier to quit than other ones, and teenagers said they were more likely to try them, according to a survey and study published in September in the European Journal of Public Health.

The survey authors, led by David Hammond, a health studies professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, called for plain, uncolored packaging.

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington advocacy group, said cigarette companies had responded to bans of terms like “light” and “low tar” in at least 78 countries by color-coding their packaging to convey the same ideas.

“If the F.D.A. concludes that either new wording or color coding is misleading consumers,” he said, “then the F.D.A. has authority to take corrective action.” Next Article in Business (10 of 48) »A version of this article appeared in print on February 19, 2010, on page B1 of the New York edition.

Smoker's Cough

2010-02-17T20:06:00Z

Smoking stops the lungs' ability to self clean

By DAN GOLD • For the Tribune• February 16, 2010

Week after week they drift into doctors' offices across the nation. Most have one thing in common besides being smokers — a loose, deep cough.

Smoking has long-term health consequences, from increased risk for heart attack and stroke, to lung cancer, emphysema or both.

Dwell, if you will, on the chronic smoker's cough. Why do smokers develop this and what does it mean?

The answer lies within their breathing passages and results because of the lungs' inability to clean themselves. Let us consider normal lungs.

Most of us have walked a city street and taken note of a blind alley. These are usually service drives between buildings that are dead ends. There is only one entrance and the same exit. Typically trash, dirt and refuse have blown into the alley, becoming trapped. The wind eddies,and currents may stir it from time to time, but the dirt and trash never seem to blow back out.

Our lungs are like a blind alley — one way in and the same way back out. Fortunately, healthy lungs can clean themselves.

The lungs are penetrated by bronchial passages, which branch into smaller and smaller bronchioles, eventually ending in the alveoli or air sacs.This is where the work of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange takes place. Each inhalation carries with it pollen, dust, germs, spores,viruses, smoke particles and all manner of contaminants. Lungs,however, have a defense — mucociliary clearance.

Many types of cells line the air passages of the lungs, but we will talk about three of them: columnar cells (shaped like a column), goblet cells (shaped like a goblet), and squamous cells (squamous means flat).

The columnar cells have actively beating hair, or cilia, protruding from the top. The goblet cells produce respiratory mucus, which rides on top of the hair cells. These cilia beat in unison and toward the throat.The result is a river of mucous that is always moving from the deepest parts of the lungs toward the back of the throat. As air travels into the depths of the lungs, particulate matter falls into the mucous and becomes trapped.

The deeper the air travels the cleaner it becomes. Meanwhile, germs that normally would be destined to cause next week's pneumonia stick to the mucous stream. By this marvelous process of mucociliary clearance, they are transported up and out,eventually rising to the back of the throat where a tickle causes us to clear our throat or cough. The mucous and germs are either expelled or swallowed and eliminated. This system is very efficient, except in the smoker.

The tars and nicotine work to paralyze the movement of cilia. Though mucus production continues, perhaps increasing because of irritation and inflammation, it has difficulty rising to the back of the throat. It takes repeated deep and forceful coughs to clear the mucus because it is not riding the wave action of the hair cells.

Making things worse is the eventual replacement of hair cells with squamous cells, much like the toughening of tender skin on our hands if we subject them to rough, abrasive labor causing callouses. This process is called squamous metaplasia, which can be reversed somewhat if people quit smoking.

Thelungs begin to recover overnight as sleeping smokers abstain from tobacco use. Their hair cell activity awakens and begins to vigorously move mucous out of the lungs and toward the throat. Come morning the smoker awakens with a harsh productive cough. Driven, however, by the need to dose with nicotine, the day's first cigarette is smoked, and with it, mucociliary clearance again stops.

The result of this continuing suppression of lung cleansing is the development of never-ending inflammation and irritation of the bronchial passages and chronic bronchitis. Only by becoming nonsmokers,can they stop this and other destructive processes.

It has been my experience that most all smokers wish to be free of the injuries and expense of smoking. Today, their is good news. Physicians have available many different approaches to help patients achieve this goal. Now, more than ever, your doctor can help.

Dan Gold is a board-certified family physician who treats U.S. military veterans in Great Falls. E-mail him at thehealerscorner@mac.com.

Crack Nicotine - Every smoker needs to know this!

2010-02-14T23:44:00Z

~Nicotine levels can vary widely from brand to brand. A reader and member of one of my treatment groups asked about the topic of "crack nicotine" recently. Surprisingly one of the tobacco industry's highest nicotine yields is found in a brand that is masquerading as 'natural.' The tobacco business is a highly scientific one. Read on to learn about crack nicotine...

'Crack' nicotine in cigarettes varies widely

15:24 28 July 2003 by Gaia Vince

Some cigarettes have a "kick" containing 35 times more "freebase" nicotine -the most addictive form - than others, researchers have found. The findings could help rate the addictiveness of different brands, they say.

"Free-base"nicotine is a particularly potent form of the naturally-occurring tobacco drug because it is in an extremely volatile, uncombined form.This means it can be much more rapidly absorbed by the lungs and brain than nicotine derivatives such as nornicotine or its salts.

The new study is the first into the amount of "free-base" nicotine contained in common brands of cigarettes and found wide-ranging differences. The researchers at Oregon Health and Science University used a laboratory smoking device and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to collect and analyse smoke from 11 brands of cigarettes.The study measured the first three puffs of smoke from each cigarette.

"Measurements ranged from about one per cent free-base nicotine in the first few puffs to 36 per cent for a specialty US brand*," says lead researcher James Pankow. "One type of Marlboro, the leading US brand of king-sized filter cigarettes, contained about 10 per cent free-base nicotine."

**~This "specialty US brand,"* ironically, makes a concerted effort to appear as more natural than other brands. While a "specialty brand," they are a wholly owned subsidiary of a very well-known brand. I'll talk more about their shenanigans in an upcoming blog article! Now... back to crack...

Crack cocaine

Previous research has shown that a drug's addictiveness is influenced by thespeed at which it is delivered to the brain and absorbed into and from the blood stream.

"The study shows that the modern cigarette does to nicotine what crack does to cocaine," says addiction expert Jack Henningfield, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The notorious addictiveness of smoking crack results from the vapourised cocaine reaching the brain almost immediately.

Ian Jones, a nicotine expert at Bath University, UK, adds: "Free-base nicotine is the most damaging form because it is the optimal configuration for binding to the nicotine receptors in the brain, heart and rest of the body. If the binding efficiency is increased, it means the concentration of nicotine at the receptors is higher and so it is very addictive."

"The first few puffs are the most important in terms of addiction, because nicotine reaches the brain within seconds," Jones told New Scientist

Ammonia and urea

The amount of freebase nicotine in cigarette smoke increases as the alkalinity, or pH, increases. This factor can be influenced by the use of certain additives.

"It is likely that ingredients such as ammonia and urea account for this addiction-enhancing effect. But you can also adjust the chemistry ofthe smoke by adjusting the blend. Some types of tobacco give a more basic blend," Pankow told New Scientist.

"There was tremendous amount of documentation revealed during litigation in the US of manipulation of the freebase levels and the FDA certainly believed there was manipulation of cigarette chemistry," he adds.

"What is clear is that the modern cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine delivery device and it's not just a matter of tobacco rolled-up in apiece of paper," Pankow says. "Even the so-called 'additive-free' cigarettes are highly engineered."

Journal reference: Journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology (DOI: DOI: 10.1021/tx0340596)

Tobacco industry sinks to a new low:

2010-02-10T14:47:00Z

~When the tobacco industry is losing 3,000 U.S. customers every day (1800 quitters + 1200 deaths) They can obviously get very "creative." Their latest effort seems to be blurring the line between candy & tobacco in a devious way. I'd love to hear your comments!

Description

The dissolvable products -- a pellet (Camel Orbs), a twisted stick the size of a toothpick (Camel Sticks), and a film strip for the tongue (Camel Strips), are made from finely ground flavored tobacco. The products melt in the mouth within three to 30 minutes. RJR said the Strips melt fastest, the toothpick-like Sticks dissolve in about 10 minutes, and the pellet-size Orbs last the longest.

The nicotine delivery of the products is said to be high: whereas a cigarette smoker typically takes in about 1 milligram of nicotine, the Camel Dissolvables are said to deliver about 0.6 to 3.1 mg of nicotine each.

Study: 'Electronic cigarettes' don't deliver

2010-02-10T13:39:00Z

~If E-cigs ARE delivering carcinogens(including nitrosamines) and ARE NOT delivering enough nicotine to haveany therapeutic value, then I have a couple questions:
1.) Why are they being sold without health risk warning labels?
2.) Why are they being touted as a smoking cessation aid?

Maybe sucking soot into our lungs is just a BAD IDEA?!!?

Study: 'Electronic cigarettes' don't deliver

By Paul Courson, CNN

February 9, 2010 12:46 p.m. EST

Nurse Barbara Kilgalen demonstrates an e-cigarette during research at Virginia Commonwealth University.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Nicotine delivery system same "as puffing on an unlit cigarette," researcher says
Virginia Commonwealth University studies "no-smoke tobacco" devices
FDA has halted imports of the devices as it studies their effect on health

RELATED TOPICS

Washington (CNN) -- "Electronic cigarettes" that vaporize nicotine juice to inhale instead of smoke from burning tobacco do not deliver as promised, according to research at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"They are as effective at nicotine delivery as puffing on an unlit cigarette," said Dr. Thomas Eissenberg, at the school's Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies.

His study, funded by the federal National Cancer Institute, is the first by U.S. doctors to check the function of so-called "no-smoke tobacco" devices, which are unregulated in the United States for sale or use.

The units are shaped like a cigarette and contain a battery that heats a filament to vaporize liquid nicotine in a refillable cartridge. Smokers buy the devices to get around no-smoking restrictions and to attempt to quit conventional cigarettes.

Some users nickname what they're doing as "vaping" instead of smoking, to reflect the vapor produced by the heating element. The devices are marketed as an alternative to smoking, but retailers avoid making claims about health or safety.

Fans have established a Web site, www.e-cigarette-forum.com. Founder Oliver Kershaw said the site "is the largest e-smokers community online with some 26,000 members, most of whom are in the U.S."

Jimi Jackson, a former tobacco smoker in Richmond, Virginia, who sells electronic cigarettes, is convinced there are immediate health advantages in avoiding the known cancer-causing substances in the smoke of a burning cigarette.

"I smoked 37 years, and when I found them, I was, like, 'Thank, you Jesus,' " Jackson said with a laugh, as a reporter visited his shop, No Smoke Virginia, coincidentally just a few blocks from where the research was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth.

In March, the Food and Drug Administration imposed a ban on continued imports of the devices, pending regulatory review for any health risks.

The latest clinical evidence suggests users are not getting the addictive substance they get from smoking tobacco. "These e-cigs do not deliver nicotine," Eissenberg said of the findings he expects to publish in an upcoming issue Tobacco Control, a product of the British Medical Journal Group.

This past summer, Eissenberg recruited smokers without prior experience using e-cigarettes to volunteer to use two popular brands of the devices for a set period. The 16 subjects were regularly measured in a clinical setting for the presence of nicotine in their bodies, their reported craving for conventional cigarettes, and certain physiological effects such as a change in heart rate.

"Ten puffs from either of these electronic cigarettes with a 16 mg nicotine cartridge delivered little to no nicotine," the study found.

But the units may deliver hazardous chemicals, according to preliminary checks by federal regulators. In a notice to importers, the FDA blocked continued shipments after finding diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans.

The government's statement noted there are no health warnings on the products, and that "the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines."

The notice of the import ban says "the product appears to be a combination drug-device," that "requires pre-approval, registration and listing with the FDA" in order to be marketed in the United States.

A company challenging the import ban claims in federal court documents to have sold 600,000 of the devices in a year's time through a network of 120 distributors in the United States.

"We are on the verge of going out of business, which is why we are suing the FDA in U.S. District Court," said Washington, attorney Kip Schwartz, representing a company called "Smoking Everywhere," a U.S. wholesaler that was importing the devices from China.

The lawsuit questions the FDA's authority to block shipments of a non-tobacco product, and says the agency has violated its statutory process for product review. Liquid nicotine is available on the open market through pharmaceutical houses and vendors who sell e-cigarettes.

A judge January 14 ruled the FDA does not have such authority, but the agency has taken the matter to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which has yet to decide the case. The appeals panel issued a stay against the judge's ruling until it can rule on the agency's appeal.

Meanwhile, based on the judge's ruling, lawyers for the importers have filed a request to compel the FDA to lift its import ban, saying the agency is not likely to win its appeal.

The filing says "although e-cigarettes have been sold since 2007, FDA has not identified a single instance, either in this Court or below, of an adverse health effect from e-cigarettes."

President Obama, who has described himself as an occasional smoker, has been offered one of the devices by Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns. The Republican lawmaker's office said the president did not respond.

An administration spokesman last year said the White House was not aware of the offer.

In a copy of a letter to the chief executive dated March 26, Stearns wrote, "I have recently given out e-cigarettes to a few members of Congress and they have become quite a hit."

Sales of the devices continue at shopping mall kiosks and small storefront retailers, apparently drawing from stock imported before the FDA began to block shipments from overseas suppliers.

Vitasmoke - Philip Morris Smoking Novelty

2010-02-08T16:42:00Z

~Holy smokes, folks! Just when I begin to think I've seen it all... The tobacco industry digs deep into it's bag of tricks and opens my eyes again! If I didn't read it with my own eyes I'd think I was reading a parody or spoof of some sort. But these guys seriously expect that people will pay money to inhale their vitamins from a cigarette!

PLEASE NOTE: I am in NO way endorsing or recommending this product!

Vitasmoke - Philip Morris Smoking Novelty

February 8th, 2010 13:00

One of the largest tobacco enterprises in the world, Philip Morris, whose smoking brands long time ago won the international tobacco market and still have stunning success, launched a fantastic, inimitable smoking product, that tobacco industry ever seen. The name of this masterpiece is Vitasmoke.

The analogue of such type of cigarette you won’t find as nowadays it is the only one of its kind. Vitasmoke possesses one distinctive feature that distinguishes it from the other smoking items, even from those ones produced by its manufacturer.

You will ask what makes this type so special. The answer is simple. In contrast to illustrative tobacco trademarks, Vitasmoke cigarette contains in itself 7 vitamins that are necessary to smoker’s health such as: Vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, C, D, and E. The non-smoker organism cannot function properly without these vitamins. So what about smoker, whose organism requires more vitamins? Philip Morris decided to take care of his devotees and create this smoking art.

“We don’t want to have people thinking we don’t care about the people who buy our products. We want everyone to think of Philip Morris as the company that takes care of its customers,”- declared the representative of this tobacco corporation.

The usage of Vitasmoke will become a true pleasure for genuine smoker. Beside its vitamin content, it enjoys the other unbeaten smoking qualities. A pack of Vitasmoke tobacco product per day will give you an opportunity to feel luscious tobacco, fastidious and polished taste, and charming aroma.

Nevertheless, there are the opponents who have their own view of this smoking article. One of such opponents is a surgeon General of the United Stated of America, Dr. Charles Viddeboombas that claimed that Vitasmoke is an aversion.

“These will encourage people to smoke even more than ever! They might have a few positive components, but this cigarette has the negative ones! They’re full of tar, carbon monoxide, nicotine, acetone; all the deadly chemicals in cigarette smoke are in these. They just managed to add something they can call ‘good for you’ to say, on the pack, that these cigarettes are healthy! It’s outrageous!” - declares Dr. Viddeboombas.

“We are looking into adding vitamins to all our cigarette brands,” says Phillip Morris chairman, “Smokin” Joe Franklin. “People smoke our products and we hope they will continue to choose our brands, and we want to try to help our customers out. Adding a few extra vitamins to their daily lives can’t be harmful for their health”.

So, choosing Vitasmoke, you will have a great opportunity to taste a genuine vitamin cigarette that undoubtedly will impress you.

Immediate Benefits to Stopping Smoking After Heart Attack
New Israeli Study
By 5TJT Staff
Published on Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Smoking affects your cardiac health both before and after a major event like a heart attack. But how much? And does cutting back instead of quitting have a positive effect as well?

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, Israel may have recently requested that his whole city make smoking illegal, but the evidence for immediate effects of quitting has not existed in the Jewish State - until now.

There are definitive answers in a new study from Tel Aviv University, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.

The research found that quitting smoking after a heart attack has about the same positive effect as other major interventions such as lipid-lowering agents like statins or more invasive procedures. Study results were reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“It’s really the most broad and eye-opening study of its kind,” says Dr. Yariv Gerber of TAU’s Sackler School of Medicine. “Smoking really decreases your life expectancy after a heart attack. Those who have never smoked have a 43% lower risk of succumbing after a heart attack, compared to the persistent smoker.”

But even those with a history of smoking can see their risk sharply decline once they give up the habit. “We found that people who quit smoking after their first heart attack had a 37% lower risk of dying from another, compared to those who continued to smoke,” Dr. Gerber says.

Largest study of its kind

In the study, the researchers looked at data collected by TAU senior cardiologist Prof. Yaacov Drory. The data covered more than 1,500 patients, 65 years old or less, who were discharged from hospitals in 1992 and 1993 in central Israel, all after their first acute myocardial infarction. At the time of their first heart attack, 27% of the men in the study had never smoked, some 20% reported being former smokers, while more than half admitted to being current smokers.

After leaving the hospital, the smokers attempted to quit. Among this group, 35% were able to abstain over the next decade or so. Analyzing data spanning more than 13 years, the researchers concluded that the greatest risk of death occurred in those people who continued to smoke, even when socioeconomic measures (education, employment and income), cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, obesity and exercise) and medical treatment were taken into consideration.

Those who quit smoking before the first heart attack had a 50% lower mortality rate, while those who quit after their heart attack lowered that rate by a whopping 37% compared with those who continued to smoke.

“Information to live with Ż literally”

In their study, researchers also quantified the effects of a reduction, as opposed to complete cessation, in smoking. By cutting their habit by only five cigarettes a day, a smoker might see the likelihood of dying within the next 13 years decrease by 18%. The researchers caution, however, that continuing to smoke still carries the risks of cancer and lung disease, and doctors should urge that their patients quit entirely.

“The burden of heart disease on our healthcare system is enormous. The overall impact of smoking on heart attacks and cardiac mortality is therefore much more significant than its impact on lung cancer,” says Dr. Gerber. “The effect of smoking on heart health is actually a much bigger public health threat, and most people are not aware of this.

“The novel aspect in our study is that it is the first to show the benefit of a reduction in smoking,” adds Dr. Gerber. “This is information that some smokers could live with Ż literally. We would like people to consider cutting down as an initial step before complete cessation, especially those who find it impossible to quit right away.”

FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids

2010-02-05T23:38:00Z

FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

The Associated Press
Thursday, February 4, 2010; 5:30 PM

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Food and Drug Administration is saying in letters to two tobacco companies that flavored, dissolvable tobacco products - that the agency compares with candy and says contain a lot of nicotine - could be particularly appealing to kids and young adults.

The FDA's Center for Tobacco Products wrote to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker of Camel cigarettes, and the smaller Star Scientific Inc. on Monday voicing concern over smokeless products that are consumed like breath mints but made from finely milled tobacco.

"CTP is concerned that children and adolescents may find dissolvable tobacco products particularly appealing, given the brightly colored packaging, candy-like appearance and easily concealable size of many of these products," Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products, told the companies.

Deyton said regulators are worried the products' nicotine content andrapid dissolution could cause nicotine dependence and addiction and beespecially dangerous to children and young adults.

He asked the two best known makers of dissolvable tobacco productsto provide their research and marketing information on how people underage 26 perceive and use the products.

Exercising new power to regulate tobacco that the FDA was granted inJune, Deyton also requested research on misuse of the products,including potential accidental nicotine poisoning.

Regulators also want a summary of user demographics, including at what age "tobacco-naive consumers" start using the products.

The products are available in few markets and account for a small share of the tobacco industry.

Star Scientific, based in Petersburg, Va., markets its Ariva andStonewall tablets in wintergreen, coffee and tobacco flavors. The firstversions appeared about nine years ago.

R.J. Reynolds, which is owned by Reynolds AmericanInc. in Winston-Salem, N.C., is test-marketing dissolvable tablets,strips and a toothpick shape under the names Camel Orbs, Camel Stripsand Camel Sticks in mint and other flavors.

The Orbs last about 15 minutes, the strips dissolve in five minutesor less and the sticks, which are slightly bigger than toothpicks, last15 to 20 minutes.

The FDA is seeking the information as its Tobacco ProductsScientific Advisory Committee prepares to study the issue later thisyear.

Reynolds spokesman David Howard said that company is reviewing theFDA's request and plans to help regulators evaluate the products.

"Our products are made for, and marketed to, adult tobaccoconsumers," Howard said. He said dissolvable items are sold on the sameshelves as other tobacco products and carry the same warnings and agerestrictions.

Star Scientific, which has been involved in a patent dispute oversome of the technology behind its dissolvable products, disagrees withthe FDA's characterization of them and looks forward to speaking withregulators, spokeswoman Sara Troy Machir said.

"The challenge that we have faced in attempting to meet the needs ofadult smokers ... is to develop a product that is palatable to thecustomer while at the same time not making it attractive to thenon-tobacco user," she said

Machir said flavors are added to the products to make them taste less harsh.

Tobacco companies are focusing on cigarette alternatives - such ascigars, snuff and chewing tobacco, as well as other forms of nicotinereplacement - for future sales growth as demand for cigarettes continueto decline.

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Obama in excellent health, doctor says, but he should quit smoking

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Google Launches Chile Earthquake Person Finder

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Tobacco Lozenges Seek FDA Stamp

~Oh boy! Now we can have candy with REAL tobacco (and real nitrosamines) in it! ~Jeebus!

TobaccoLozenges Seek FDA Stamp

WSJ:Star Scientific Asks Agency to Certify New Smokeless Product as a 'Modified Risk'

Anti-smoking advert with sexual innuendo shocks French

From Telegraph.co.uk

An anti-smoking advertisement showing teenagers in a pose suggesting fellatio with a cigarette has caused an uproar in France, with critics arguing it is offensive and suggests a false analogy between oral sex and smoking.

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Crack Nicotine - Every smoker needs to know this!

*~This "specialty US brand," ironically, makes a concerted effort to appear as more natural than other brands. While a "specialty brand," they are a wholly owned subsidiary of a very well-known brand. I'll talk more about their shenanigans in an upcoming blog article! Now... back to crack...

Crack cocaine

Ammonia and urea

Tobacco industry sinks to a new low:

Description

Study: 'Electronic cigarettes' don't deliver

~If E-cigs ARE delivering carcinogens(including nitrosamines) and ARE NOT delivering enough nicotine to haveany therapeutic value, then I have a couple questions:

Study: 'Electronic cigarettes' don't deliver

Vitasmoke - Philip Morris Smoking Novelty

Vitasmoke - Philip Morris Smoking Novelty

FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids

FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids

**~This "specialty US brand,"* ironically, makes a concerted effort to appear as more natural than other brands. While a "specialty brand," they are a wholly owned subsidiary of a very well-known brand. I'll talk more about their shenanigans in an upcoming blog article! Now... back to crack...