Some Illinois residents concerned proposed ban on smoking inside vehicles

A new type of proposed smoking ban in Illinois pits public health against government regulation.
Legislation proposed by State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) would make smoking in a car illegal if anyone under 18 years old was also inside.
Public opinion of the bill appears to be split.
“It’s definitely going too far,” said Jerry Sellers of Fairview Heights. “Pretty soon, you know, you’re not going to be able to do anything in your car but drive,” he adds.
The bill is already supported by the American Lung Association.
“It’s dangerous to smoke around your kids in the first place,” said Melanie Reed of Belleville. “They don’t have a choice about it, so yeah, make it illegal.”
If the bill reaches the Illinois House of Representatives, Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) said he hasn’t decided how he’d vote.
“I’m a strong believer that we’re being more and more overregulated in America,” says Rep. Meier.  “I’d hate to make another law which is just another regulation, but at the same time, I do worry about the health of the children in the car,” Meier said.
The bill said officers would not be allowed to stop a vehicle solely for the proposed offense. The fine would be a maximum of $100.
Illinoisans can weigh in on this latest proposed smoking ban at the state capitol.  A public forum is being held Tuesday afternoon in Springfield.

Findings of Pfizer's latest study on smoking

The drug maker said the study is the first to test varenicline, or its Chantix and Champix smoking-cessation products, on patients who were unable or unwilling to abruptly quit smoking within a month. The smokers in the study were treated by gradually reducing smoking over 12 weeks followed by a 12-week abstinence period.
"Setting a fixed quit date can be daunting to smokers, which is why reducing the number of cigarettes smoked is a commonly used approach to quitting," said Steven J. Romano, head of Pfizer's Medicines Development Group. "This study was designed with this quitting approach in mind."
The study found patients treated with Chantix or Champix were more likely to continue abstinence in the final weeks of the study than those without. The safety of the product was consistent with findings in previous studies.
The findings of Pfizer's latest study will be submitted for publication.
Chantix/Champix was approved by the FDA in May 2006 for people 18 and older.
Pfizer has posted repeated revenue drops in recent quarters as it continues to feel sales pressure from generic competition on its top-selling drugs. The company slowed its research-and-development cuts last quarter as the company enters late-stage clinical trials on several experimental drugs.

Indoor tanning more cancerous than smoking

A new study has linked more cases of cancer to indoor tanning exposure than smoking.
According to an analysis of past research, more than a third of adults in Western countries have been exposed to indoor tanning at some point.
Based on those exposures, the study authors calculate the number of skin cancers that can be blamed on indoor tanning each year exceeds the number of lung cancers attributed to smoking for the countries studied, Fox News reported.
Study's senior author and a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco Dr. Eleni Linos said that they already knew that indoor tanning is linked to skin cancer, but they wanted to find out how common was its exposure in the United States and internationally. Winston Blue
The World Health Organization (WHO), the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Dermatology have come out against indoor tanning in recent years.
In 2009, WHO labeled tanning devices as high-level carcinogens, which puts tanning on par with tobacco use as a public health threat.
In 2007, a working group affiliated with WHO found that people who used tanning beds before their 30th birthday were 75 percent more likely to develop melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer.