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Barbara Bush’s case highlights that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — a disease linked to long-term smoking and traditionally considered a men’s disease — is now more prevalent among women.
Research out Monday offers evidence that advertising for e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products, which aren’t subject to the same restrictions that apply to the marketing traditional cigarettes, is stoking use among adolescents and young-adult smokers.
The teenage smoking sensation appearing on high school campuses across the country is an easy-to-hide, high-nicotine device called the Juul. Educators and health care advocates fear that vulnerable young people may become addicted.
In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times discuss the apparent demise of bipartisan legislation aimed at shoring up parts of the Affordable Care Act. They also discuss aggressive new efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists offer their favorite health policy stories of the week.
Scientists are finding that, just as with secondhand smoke from tobacco, inhaling secondhand smoke from marijuana can make it harder for arteries to expand to allow a healthy flow of blood.
In a historic move, the Food and Drug Administration stated its intent Thursday to require tobacco companies to cut nicotine levels in their products to make them less addictive. Stripping cigarettes of addictive power could lead an estimated 5 million adults to quit smoking within a year of the plan.
A new study shows that, in California, moving the minimum age from 18 to 21 significantly reduced purchase by those under 18. That could be because teenagers had less access to tobacco through slightly older friends.
A proposed ordinance would block access to menthol cigarettes, as well as e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco with flavors such as chocolate, cherry or popcorn. Studies show such products are overwhelmingly favored by teenagers and some minorities.
The chemical residue from cigarette smoke that can cling to walls, clothes and skin may present a danger to children.
R.J. Reynolds has put $12 million into an effort to raise tobacco taxes in Missouri. But the proposed 60-cents per pack tax, still among the lowest in the nation, is not likely to make many smokers quit.
When New York increased its cigarette tax, smoking rates declined. California's proposed increase of $2 a pack may, too, say researchers. The higher the tax, the more likely people are to quit.
The state tax would boost the Medi-Cal budget by millions, but it’s unclear how the money will be distributed. And that’s by design.
But reaching Spanish speakers might take some extra effort.
The FDA expands its purview over all tobacco products -- including e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco -- but the new regulatory process could permit many products sold in the U.S. to remain so for up to three years.
Even though Medicaid enrollees are more likely to be smokers than the general public, a study published Tuesday in Health Affairs examined state data from 2010 to 2013 and found wide differences in funding of cessation efforts.
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