eLetters

519 e-Letters

  • How best to quickly reduce the prevalence of Australian Indigenous smoking
    David P Thomas

    We agree with the authors of this letter that closing the gap between the smoking prevalence in Indigenous and other Australians is possible, but we do not agree how this is most likely to be achieved.

    Many health clinics in remote Indigenous communities in Australia are better at providing brief advice than is implied by the authors. An audit of records in 56 health clinics found that 43% of diabetics and 25% th...

    Show More
  • Community perspective on reducing Australian Indigenous Smoking
    Alan R Clough

    In our study in remote Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land we have now interviewed 305 smokers. Of these, 181 had quit intentions and 37 were trying to quit at the time of interview. The effectiveness of more intensive support compared with brief advice has not been evaluated in these populations. However, the need for more intensive support is highlighted in smokers’ own words, for example:

    “I’m trying to...

    Show More
  • Re: Response to Ramstrom
    Lars M Ramstrom

    The authors’ response to my comments fails to disqualify my criticism. A large part of their response consists of a misinterpretation of some of my points. This appears to be due to confusion about terminology. Unfortunately, terminology practices are not as perfectly unequivocal as would be desirable. If the authors had been well enough familiar with the international scientific literature in this field, they should ha...

    Show More
  • Compare ST Switchers to Continuing Smokers
    Elaine D Keller

    In "Tobacco-related disease mortality among men who switched from cigarettes to spit tobacco" Tob Control 2007; 16: 22-28, Henley, et al compared mortality rates for smokers who switched to spit tobacco to the rates for those who quit all forms of tobacco. This is useful information. However, the fact that the number of smokers in the US has remained relatively unchanged for the past 20 years tells us that there are t...

    Show More
  • TOBACCO COMPANY FUNDED RESEARCH: A REASONED APPROACH
    Jed E. Rose

    Innovative opportunities and strategies should be considered for reducing the harm of tobacco in the 21st century. Since the mid 20th century, governmental approaches have evolved from a laissez-faire attitude to active NIH funding for tobacco research, aggressive promotion of nonsmoking environments and, now, congressionally mandated regulation of the tobacco industry. The tobacco industry itself has also evolved fro...

    Show More
  • Reply to Dr. Rose
    Elizabeth A. Smith

    Dr. Rose responds that the offer of confidentiality was made in accordance with standard institutional review board procedure for human subjects research. However, the email to which the editorial refers offered me $1000 to act as an “expert consultant,” not as a research subject. If its intention was to recruit me as a research subject, the email was even less transparent than I gave it credit for.

  • "I should not hang around with classmates who smoke!"
    Reiner Hanewinkel

    We read the recent paper on the effects of the school-based smoking prevention program "Mission TNT.06" in Canada with interest [1]. The authors address an often neglected but nonetheless very important subject: The question of potential negative side effects of interventions that try to denormalize smoking in the classroom. To our knowledge, it is the first study outside Europe evaluating a school-based smoking prevention...

    Show More
  • The Single Most Preventable Cause of Disease, Disability, and Death
    Suzanne M. Marks

    According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/osh.htm). Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking. And as aptly demonstrated by Lee...

    Show More
  • Tobacco-Free Hospital Campuses in Europe
    Esteve Fernandez

    We have read with interest the paper by Williams et al.(1) assessing the prevalence of smoke-free hospital campuses' policies in the United States. In addition to the data and wise comments in the paper, we want to share some reflections from Europe. There is general consensus that health organizations should be an example in developing and implementing tobacco control policies(2,3). Many hospitals have become tobacco free...

    Show More

Pages