Strollerderby : cigarettes

Are R-Rated Movies the New Gateway Drug?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:08:00 GMT

A new study has found that kids who watch R-rated movies are more likely to smoke cigarettes. But before you rush home and burn your copies of Rain Man and Jerry Maguire, let’s take a closer look at the findings.

Researchers with the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) found that sixth graders who are allowed to watch R-rated movies are significantly more likely to believe they could get their hands on a cigarette if they wanted to. Because previous research has shown that kids who believe cigarettes are readily available are more likely to smoke, researchers are arguing that there is a direct link between R-rated movies and nicotine habits.

They can’t explain the reason for the link, but are speculating that R-rated movies may be more likely to glorify smoking, or that kids who watch films that “require an accompanying parent or guardian” are less likely to be supervised by a parent or guardian. Huh?

Oddly, there is no indication in the study that kids are watching these profane, sexually explicit movies without their parents. When I was in sixth grade, it would have been much easier for me to get a cigarette (all the older kids had them) than to watch, say, Pretty Woman, without my parent’s consent. They did, by the way, consent. And I did, truth be told, occasionally smoke clove cigarettes during my freshman year of college. Aha! These researchers may be on to something after all….

Photo: Wikipedia

Cigarettes Are Even Worse for Kids Than We Thought

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:30:00 GMT

And yet again experts have found that smoking cigarettes is bad for you and everyone around you. Researchers have identified a little known nicotine threat they're calling third-hand smoke: the toxins left behind in a smoker's hair, clothes, and environment long after they've put out their cigarette.

It's particularly important that smokers with kids know about this new threat, since common wisdom has long held that parents can smoke outside or in the car if their kids aren't around. It turns out that the carcinogenic residue left behind by cigarettes can be ingested by babies and children who have never been exposed to second-hand smoke.

Here are just a few of the toxins found in third-hand smoke: carbon monoxide, lead, and arsenic. Probably not stuff you'd like your kids to be ingesting.

Photo: ABC News

Third Hand Smoke Can Harm Your Kids

Santa Claus says: Smoke More

Brett Singer — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:45:00 GMT

Well, that's what he used to say. Check out some of these vintage cigarette ads that were recently profiled in the New York Times.

Of the numerous cancer stick advertisements that now look completely ridiculous, my favorite are these two.

First, the baby:

Yes, I wish my kids would tell me to smoke more.

And of course, there's Santa Claus:

Clearly Santa's throat was scratchy from spending all that time in chimneys. Not the Pall Malls.

Source/images: NYTimes

iPhone app for nursing, diapers, wedding day

YOU say: I got fooled (update to "They USED to say: give babies cola")

Mom finds hairy Goldilocks in 2 year old's bed

More stuff my 3 year old broke

Enormous baby sculpture

Stuff my 3 year old broke

Pregnant Soap Star Forced to Smoke

Jen Chaney — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:27:00 GMT

I think we can all agree that smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is not a good idea. But apparently the people behind the long-running British soap opera "Coronation Street," haven't gotten the memo.

Alison King, who stars as Carla on "Street," is being asked to smoke as part of a new storyline that has been developed for her character. The actress and her boyfriend are expecting their first child, and evidently Alison gave up her smoking habit as soon as she discovered she was expecting. Supposedly the producers of the show have agreed to let her smoke herbal cigarettes during her scenes as a substitute for the usual nicotine ones. But a doctor with the British Lung Federation says even herbal cigarettes are potentially harmful because they also contain tar.

Really, can't the show still pursue the same plotline, in which Carla deals with some major stress, without forcing this woman to puff away? I mean, I am not a soap opera writer, but it seems like there are lots of ways to convey emotional fragility without necessarily bringing cigs into the picture.

If King agrees to go the herbal route and, God forbid, something goes wrong with her pregnancy or her child's health, she'd have a heck of a lawsuit on her hands. Assuming she's truly concerned about being tempted to turn to the nicotine sticks again, she might want to point that out to her bosses. If UK TV producers are anything like the ones in America, the prospect of a major suit may magically result in some changes to the script.

Smoking DOES NOT Help Girls Lose Weight

Amy S.F. Lutz — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:34:00 GMT

We all know smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. It's an expensive, dirty habit that's no longer tolerated in most public spaces. So why our our daughters still so tempted by what could easily evolve into a dangerous, life-long addiction? Well, they think smoking will make them skinny. But they're wrong. And the news is even worse for boys.

A new study sponsored by the Canadian Cancer Society followed over 1200 Montreal teenagers for five years. Although the girls in the study often started smoking because they thought it would help them lose weight, researchers found that the girls who smoked weren't any more successful at keeping their weight down than the non-smoking subjects.

The study did show an impact on boys' size, however - smoking stunted their growth. Boys who smoked ten cigarettes a day from age 12 to 17 were an average of 2.5 cm shorter than their non-smoking peers, and had a lower body mass index.

So, tell your kids!!! Given that my first-grader has already rejected empire waist dresses because she thinks they make her look fat, I've come to believe that girls will do anything if they think it will make them skinny. Maybe, given the conclusions reached by this study, some of them will now pursue less harmful ways of controlling their weight, like laxatives or speed.

Dad's Monkey is Mom's Monkey, Too

Adrienne Martini — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:00:00 GMT

In theory, kicking your substance of choice -- whether that is booze, smokes or something more illegal -- should be a piece of cake. Just stop doing it, right? The reality of quitting is a completely different beastie. But cleaning up is even more important when there is a small person in the works.

Moms have a biological reason to stop smoking/drinking/etc when the bun is in the oven and are often able to use that as a tool to quit. Dads, however, seem to get a free pass. A new study out of the University of Washington indicates that dad's habits have a huge impact on mom's behavior, too.

Researchers studied a group of young (21-24 year old) parents. Almost all of those new moms who quit while pregnant were back at the bar and/or bong two years later. Dads didn't appear to cut back their use at all, which created a household environment that made it nearly impossible for mom to stay sober.

Perhaps it may be time, as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board suggests, to stop giving dads a free pass. Or, at least, to realize that they contribute something other than sperm to a growing child.

Wha? Smoking NOT Bad During Pregnancy?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:02:00 GMT

I've often complained about how pregnant women are given all kinds of conflicting information and told not to do all kinds of things, even when the evidence against such things is dubious. There seems to be an all-or-nothing approach to pregnancy dangers, which makes it hard for pregnant women to engage in any activity without feeling guilty or anxious (I suppose it's practice for new motherhood.) However, even I was pretty floored by a new study by the London School of Economics that says smoking during the first four months of pregnancy does almost no harm to the baby unless it is combined with other factors, and even after the first trimester the impact on birthweight is negligible. Um, excuse me?

The study looked at birthweight, and the researchers basically said the greatest risks are to women of low socio-economic status, who combine smoking with poor diet and alcohol. They add that for middle-class women who smoke during the first four months of pregnancy, there is little risk to the fetus, and even after there is a very small effect on birthweight. Low birthweight is linked with developmental problems and mortality. One immediate criticism of the study is that smoking is also tied to other problems like miscarriage, SIDS, and respiratory problems, and the study didn't address this.

Of all the things in the world, few are tied so clearly to serious health problems as smoking, so I'm totally skeptical of this one. And before anyone launches into an account of how their mother smoked like a chimney during pregnancy and they are just fine, I should add that almost no study offers a guarantee of destructive health effects, but that doesn't mean risks don't exist for a large percentage of the population.

Paying Kids Not To Smoke, Eh?

makeitadouble — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:00:00 GMT

It was my freshman year in college when I finally tried my first cigarette and got to feel that euphoric rush of nicotine to my brain that made me lightheaded and the choking cloud of smoke that filled my lungs and caused me to hack and gasp for air for around 10 minutes. In high school I had my opportunities to light up (see: actually talking to high school crush Kristi Ralyea in the mall parking lot after her shift at Wilson’s Suede and Leather) but being a cross country and track team nerd I figured interval training with a Marlboro dangling from the corner of my mouth just wasn’t a good look.

For me being anchor leg our school’s 4x800 meter relay team was enough to discourage me from smoking, but some kids need more incentive than that and leave it up to our neighbors to the north to come up with an incentive that any teenager can relate to: Cold. Hard. Cash.

In conjunction with their National Non-Smoking Week, Canada has launched a new program called R.E.W.A.R.D.S. which stands for “Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn't Smoke”. (There really needs to be North American legislation limiting the maximum number of letters in an acronym) The incentive is five thousand dollars at the end of 12th Grade and to keep them honest, a contract must be signed and four sponsors found to put up the money.

No word on whether the smoke-free teens have the option of getting their money in a lump sum or having it paid out incrementally over time, but why hasn’t someone thought of this before? Paying kids thousands of dollars to do what they’re supposed to be doing anyway sends just the message they’ll need to be successful in life. I hope this is just the first of many behavior based morals for money programs that pay children to act responsibly and do the right thing. I'm proposing the following acronyms:

R.E.W.A.R.D.D. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn't Drink
R.E.W.A.R.D.D.D. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn't Do Drugs.
R.E.W.A.R.C.T.R. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Cleans Their Room
R.E.W.A.R.F.T.H -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Finishes Their Homework
R.E.W.A.R.D.T.B.T.P.B.N.T.T.D.T.A.G. -- Rewarding Everyone Who Acts Responsibly and Doesn’t Talk Back to Their Parents Because the Next Time They Do They Are Grounded.

I’m so inspired right now I think I’m going to start my own anti-smoking campaign right here in the United States called N.O.C.A.N.C.E.R. which stands for “Nicotine addiction, Orange fingertips, Carbon monoxide, Atherosclerosis and asthma, Neuralgia, Coronary heart disease, Emphysema, Risk of lung cancer”. I just haven’t figured out yet what the reward is going to be.

Kids (Still) Get Their Smokes From Convenience Stores

Karen Murphy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:56:00 GMT

It comes as no surprise to me that a tenth of cigarette sales at gas station convenience stores are to minors under the age of 18. After all, where else are they going to get them from?

Seriously, I guess it's pretty easy for kids to avail themselves of cigarettes these days. It was for the kids I knew, too, that and alcohol. Someone always knew a way, and at the time I never thought to question it.

But as my older son heads toward teenhood I have to wonder: what are we doing to keep our kids from smoking? Once they do, it's often hard to stop. I know someone in his 50's who's been smoking for over FORTY YEARS. [cough] I don't want this for my kids, you know? Beyond educating in the home and setting an example and all yada yada yada, what is there to do? There are already laws and all in place, and I'm not so enamored with the idea of creating more. Can we stop making tobacco so attractive to people, maybe? And start exposing it for the drug that it is? I think that's a huge first step.

(By the way, if you smoke and you want to quit, here's a place to start. And I wish you luck and strength; it's not easy.

Smoker Dads May Have Damaged Sperm

Karen Murphy — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:25:00 GMT

Potentially creating a mutant with every puff: chain-smoking mice were studied and found to be creating mutated DNA in their sperm. Yikes. Of course, when I think about mouse DNA, I always make the automatic leap to people DNA (or not), but perhaps these people who run studies know what they're talking about.

And it sounds pretty serious: "If inherited, these mutations persist as irreversible changes in the genetic composition of offspring." Of course, moms have been blamed for years about things like this, so it's only fair that dads take their share, but this is awfully guilt-inducing, don't you think?

At any rate, if you're a smoker and want to be a daddy, you might want to think about your choices. It won't be long anyway before your kid wants a pack of Barbie Camels; why hasten things by providing a role model?

Kids and Cigarettes: A Match Made in Heaven

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Tue, 29 May 2007 12:29:00 GMT

When we were very young and very stupid, and when we couldn't pilfer smokes from older brothers or fathers, my friends and I would find discarded cigarettes outside of stores and strip clubs and hepatitis clinics, give them a good brush on the jeans and light them up.

I think we were role models for the cigarette industry -- the perfect dupes so enthralled by the coolness of smoking that we risked contracting scary hobo germs to do it.

Just one. That's all the industry is banking on. That just one of us would get hooked. The Seattle PI's daddy blog -- "Working Dad" -- links to a scary stat showing that 4,000 kids smoke their first cigarette each day -- and 1 in 4 of them gets hooked.

Thank god Joe Camel is dead, right? Kids no longer have anything to fear.

Think again.

The anti-smoking group The Truth has a new commercial showing the impact mascots can have on kids. And Camel has again come under fire for its No. 9 brand -- marketed in hot pink toward girls. "Barbie Camel," it's being called.

I have no idea what I'm going to tell my daughter when she tries her first cigarette -- and she will at some point or another, I don't think any amount of parenting can stop that. I just hope she won't become the just one.

Texas Foster Parents Not Allowed to Smoke Cigarettes in Front of Kids (Briskets and Ribs Okay)

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:02:00 GMT

Texas is joining Vermont, Washington, and Maine in passing a new law stating that foster parents are not allowed to smoke in their homes or cars while children are present. The law takes effect on January 1, the same day that a buck-a-pack tax hike goes into effect. Personally, I could give a rip about smokers feeling like their civil rights are being violated, I'm all for laws that keep second-hand smoke away from our country's most vulnerable children.

Critics say that the state shouldn't "tighten foster parent eligibility when an increasing number of children need help." They say the law will discourage people from becoming foster parents. I say foster parents can go outside to light up. Many smokers with children smoke outside or away from their kids out of consideration for their health.

This surely won't be the last restriction Texas places on its foster parent community. After all, this is the state that wants its foster parents to be heterosexual despite the fact there are about 43,000 gay and lesbian couples who are willing to foster children. They can't all be smokers.