“These results could guide the development of studies on various tobacco components with animal models to help understand the relationship between smoking and Parkinson’s disease,” said study author Honglei Chen, MD, PhD, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. “Research to reveal the underlying chemicals and mechanisms is warranted; such studies may lead to a better understanding of the causes of Parkinson’s disease. However, given the many adverse consequences of smoking, no one would suggest smoking in order to prevent Parkinson’s disease.”

The study involved 305,468 AARP members age 50 to 71 who completed a survey on diet and lifestyle at the time and again about 10 years later. During that time, 1,662 of the people had developed Parkinson’s disease, or about one-half of one percent.

Current smokers were 44 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who had never smoked. People who had smoked in the past and quit were 22 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s than people who had never smoked.

People who smoked for 40 or more years were 46 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who never smoked. Those who smoked for 30 to 39 years were 35 percent less likely to have the disease than nonsmokers. In contrast, those who smoked for one to nine years were only eight percent less likely to get the disease.

The risk of developing Parkinson’s disease did not change based on how many cigarettes a person smoked per day.

Chen noted that studies have shown that smoking is not associated with a slower progression of the disease once Parkinson’s develops or a reduced risk of death, so he said there is no evidence to support the use of nicotine or other smoking-related chemicals in treating the disease.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Parkinson’s disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), dementia, West Nile virus, and ataxia.

While the American people are tired of the bickering in D.C., they want the reforms President Obama proposes. In fact, contrary to opponents’ claims, dozens of polls show that the great majority of people support the reforms that are actually in the reform bill.

We want good, affordable health insurance that works for all of us, not just the fortunate few. We want small businesses to get help making sure all of their employees have affordable health coverage. We want insurance companies to stop denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and cutting people off when they get sick. Our seniors need affordable medicine. We want our premium dollars spent on health care, not CEO salaries and profits. Most of us value all of these things, and all of these things are in the reform bill.

Granted, the reform legislation doesn’t go as far as some would like. But let’s not sacrifice the good at the altar of the perfect. Bringing quality, affordable health care to all is like climbing a mountain: we must secure every foothold along the way. That’s the way it works in any successful national campaign.

Reminiscent of efforts to take on Big Tobacco, the insurance and pharmaceutical corporations that profit most from our bloated, unregulated health care system have waged a relentless propaganda campaign to block us from climbing this mountain.

Many thought the David v. Goliath struggle pitting public health against Big Tobacco was over in 1963, when the Surgeon General published the first report citing the dangers of smoking. But in the face of an intense high-priced lobbying and PR onslaught by the tobacco industry, the tipping point took another 15 years before smoking rates began to steadily decline. And it wasn’t until 2005 that Washington state voters banned smoking in public places. Today, people are healthier because of that campaign and smoking rates are the lowest they’ve been in 70 years. We will not change health care overnight, but we must continue to move forward step by step. Change takes time.

While health reform opponents claim they want “better reform,” past attempts illustrate that those siding with the insurance companies really just want to stop reform. Their delay tactics are just that.

The fact is we can’t wait. Our health care system is failing. Over 46 million Americans have no heath care coverage today and that number will rise to as much as 57 million in the next six years. This means that if we do nothing, more people will end up getting their care in emergency rooms and having their illnesses discovered when it is too late to help.

It’s time to stop whining about government involvement in health care. The government is already the biggest health insurance company in our nation. One out of every three Americans, 100 million of us, are already insured through Medicaid, Medicare, military and federal worker plans. Even the conservative legislators that hate government regulation of health care are insured by a health plan regulated by our government.

We can’t afford to wait. Insurance rates are steadily climbing, with rates threatening to go up 35 to 39 percent in some plans in California. As we slowly get out of our recession, health care costs will continue to be a major source of financial ruin. The sad fact is that 78 percent of those declaring personal bankruptcies due to health problems had health insurance at the beginning of their illness. You can go bankrupt from an illness even if you have insurance, because many policies don’t cover enough expenses and often expire when you become ill and unemployed.

Like many of my patients, and millions of other Americans, I live with a chronic disease. This means health insurers can refuse to cover me or price their plans out of reach. President Obama has listened to people like me, my patients and our neighbors. In last week’s bipartisan summit he demonstrated, once again, how well he understands our concerns. While I am not totally pleased with the present bill, it is a major step in the right direction.

It has taken 18 years from the last time we tried to make our health care system work for all of us. If we delay now, it may be another 20 years before we get back to the table. In the meantime, middle class Americans will be gouged by ever increasing costs, more businesses will drop coverage for employees, and more people who experience major illnesses will die because they cannot afford care.

We’ve had enough of insurance companies’ denied claims, inflated profits and soaring premiums. Health care costs are crushing our families and businesses. We need reform now. No excuses. No more politics. We need good health care we can count on now.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100310/Genetic-variant-increases-risk-of-lung-cancer-for-light-and-heavy-smokers-say-researchers.aspx

Although it’s long been known that secondhand tobacco smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmokers, this alone did not entitle them to any special protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA], says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

But now those who can establish — either through genetic testing or a family history of cancer — that they have a special sensitivity to tobacco smoke because of this gene may be protected under the ADA, and therefore able to demand that employers make a “reasonable accommodation,” or that public entities and public accommodations make a “reasonable modification,” to protect them from exposure to even small amounts of tobacco smoke.

Since, according to the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke, the only “accommodation” or “modification” which will protect nonsmokers with this cancer gene is a total smoking ban. Moreover, in view of the huge number of total smoking bans both indoors and sometimes outdoors, it’s clear that total smoking bans are “reasonable,” argues law professor Banzhaf.

Banzhaf notes that he has been involved in several cases where persons who had a particular sensitivity to tobacco smoke were held to be “handicapped” or “disabled” persons, and therefore entitled to smoking bans in their workplaces or other areas. But the number of people entitled to this protection were small, since they have to show that they had a particular disease which made them especially sensitive to exposure to tobacco smoke, he says.

Now, however, the door may be opened much wider, because a much larger number of people have a history of cancer in their families. Based upon this new research, judges and regulators may be persuaded that they too are entitled to smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, and other places they frequent.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law at GWU,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
FELLOW, World Technology Network, and
Executive Director and Chief Counsel
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
America’s First Antismoking Organization
2013 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4310 // (703) 527-8418

http://ash.org/

Keep the focus on you — not on the smoker

Saying “I hate it when you smoke” is likely to provoke an equally negative response. But talking about how the person’s smoking affects you might just lead to a breakthrough, or at least a moment of connection. If you hate the way the house or car smells, say that. If you’re getting to the point that you avoid kissing your smoker unless he’s come straight from brushing his teeth, that’s an important point to make. State your feelings as simply as possible in a way that sounds personal rather than accusing.

Trap to avoid: Anger. It’s important to distinguish between the anger you might feel about a smoker’s habit and your own underlying worries that prompt those feelings. Maybe you heard the smoker in your life cough and felt a pang of worry before lashing out in frustration, for example. Try expressing that feeling of concern instead of the frustration, experts say, and you’ll get much better results.

Keep it positive.

In order to quit smoking, smokers must come to the realization that they want something else more than they want to smoke, experts say. Usually this takes the form of some very basic pros and cons; smokers have to want better health and freedom from addiction more than they want the temporary pleasure of smoking. When the smoker in your life expresses an interest in quitting — even if it’s just a passing comment — help him think about how his life would change for the better without cigarettes.

Encouraging positive images can be especially helpful. Smokers who quit successfully say they did it by articulating the rewards awaiting them in a nonsmoking life. “I ask smokers, `What is it you want — do you want to become thinner, healthier, happier?’ Then that’s what we focus on,” says Tim Shurr, who leads smoking cessation workshops in Gary, Indiana. “People don’t want to wear braces, but they want straight teeth.”

Trap to avoid: Fear. A big reason smokers fear quitting so much is that they’ve convinced themselves they “need” to smoke, and that without that crutch they won’t be able to cope with the pressures of life. “To smokers, the cigarette is their buddy; they absolutely believe that smoking a cigarette is going to make them feel better,” says Shurr. In his workshops, Shurr helps smokers think about how to meet their need for stress release in other ways. “We talk about other ways to manage stress and feel comforted. Most people don’t know there’s a better way. ”

Use family ties as a motivator

The most powerful motivating factor for many smokers is the simple realization that smoking is keeping them away from friends and family, experts say. Elizabeth Lombardo recounts the story of an older man who’d stubbornly smoked and refused to consider quitting all his life, until his granddaughter was diagnosed with asthma and couldn’t come to visit anymore. “He came in and told me, ‘I want so spend time with my granddaughter, and she can’t come stay with me because of my smoking.’ Suddenly he hated what he was doing and wanted to quit.”

Visual and other reminders can be especially helpful in this regard. Tack a photo of a beloved grandchild to the fridge, or put it on the mantel as a reminder of why the smoker in your life wants to quit. Even better, schedule a trip or family visit as a “carrot” to strengthen his or her resolve.

Trap to avoid: Guilt trips. All guilt does is make the other person feel bad, and feeling bad is the opposite of how you want your smoker to feel. In order to quit he has to feel empowered, not crummy about himself. Let family ties work as a positive motivator, but zip your lip when you’re tempted to chide.

Wait for the right moment

Readiness is the single most essential factor in smoking cessation, experts say. What tells you a smoker is ready to quit? He’s reached the point that he really doesn’t want to smoke anymore; he wants to be rid of this habit that’s affecting the quality of his life. The motivation has to be his alone; if a smoker announces he’s quitting because the doctor told him to or to make you happy, that’s not going to fly, because his motivation is to please someone else.

Trap to avoid: Forcing things. Even if you succeed in prodding a smoker to try quitting, it won’t last, experts say. “I tell people it’s like making kids clean their room before they go outside,” says Pam Mills. “Do they clean their room? Well, sort of — they throw the dirty clothes under the bed, stuff everything in the closet, and they’re mad and resentful about it the whole time. Does the room stay clean? Of course not.”

Enlist expert help

Many medical centers have stop-smoking programs and support groups, and these can be extremely helpful when the smoker in your life is ready to quit. Doctors can be powerful allies, talking to the smoker about the health risks of smoking and — once he quits — emphasizing how quickly his body is recovering. Hypnotherapists and counselors also have powerful techniques that can make quitting less tortuous. Support groups and counselors can have an important role in making a smoker feel less alone — and more accountable — in quitting.

Hypnosis isn’t a magic spell that cures smoking, but it is a powerful tool that can help strengthen the resolution to quit, curb cravings, and cement positive images and goals. Good hypnotists claim success rates as high as 90 percent, but they’re also choosy and only take patients who are truly ready to quit. Then they use hypnosis to help the smoker strengthen his resolution and stay focused on his goals. In addition, hypnotists can teach smokers self-hypnosis techniques to combat anxiety and stress, replacing smoking with a much more effective stress-relief tool.

Keep in mind, though, that smokers are often dismissive of seeking expert advice. “I’ll quit when I’m ready and I don’t need any help,” is a common response. Gently remind the smoker that hypnosis and counseling are simply tools that can make quitting easier or more effective. You might point out that quitting smoking cold turkey is like trying to do a job without tools — he wouldn’t do that, would he? There’s no reason to do this particular job in the hardest possible way.

Trap to avoid: Doing it yourself. It’s not unusual for a well-meaning family member or friend to try to set up an appointment for a smoker with a therapist or hypnotist specializing in smoking cessation. Don’t bother; most experts won’t even see a smoker unless he or she shows enough initiative to make the appointment.

Reward success

Quitting smoking is really, really hard work. So why shouldn’t smokers be rewarded for making the effort? Incorporate both small incremental rewards and big picture rewards into any stop-smoking plan. After a day without cigarettes, have a nice meal out or go see a movie.

One idea: Take all the money the smoker in your life is saving on cigarettes (you’ll be surprised how quickly it adds up) and put it in a jar or bank account to save for something special, like a trip.

Trap to avoid: Nagging. It’s always better to use positive reinforcement as much as you can. The problem with nagging, experts say, is that it doesn’t work. “The only thing that nagging does is make smokers feel bad about themselves,” says Pam Mills, an addiction counselor and hypnotherapist in Denver, Colorado. In the long run nagging can have the opposite effect, leading the smoker to shut you out. “”Nagging has the same effect on smokers that it has on kids: It makes them angry and belligerent, so even if someone was thinking about quitting, it pushes them in the other direction,” Mills says.

Don’t give up

When someone is trying to quit smoking, relapses are common. They don’t mean the smoker has lost the battle. Smoking is one of the most powerful addictions there is; some experts liken giving up tobacco to getting off heroin. Once you accept the power — both physiological and psychological — of the nicotine addiction, it’s easier to feel like you’re on the same side as your smoker: You’re both trying to beat this thing, and it’s going to take persistence.

“It takes the typical person seven times to quit smoking,” says therapist Elizabeth Lombardo. This is totally normal; what’s important is to keep the smoker from getting discouraged and giving up. “I tell smokers if they do relapse, it’s not a failure; it’s data,” says Lombardo. “They can learn from what happened.”

Analyzing the reasons for any relapses that happen can be especially helpful. “I tell smokers to ask themselves, ‘OK, I had a cigarette — why?’” says Lombardo. “What was happening that led up to that? What can I do differently next time that happens?” Taking this approach is empowering; the smoker feels like he can try again and not repeat the same mistake.

Trap to avoid: All-or-nothing thinking. Just like dieters who dip into the ice cream then give up and eat the whole tub, smokers tend to beat themselves up when they have a cigarette — then turn around and have five more. This is the result of what experts call “all-or-nothing thinking” — you feel like you had a cigarette, you blew it, so why bother trying to quit at all?

If you see the smoker in your life falling into this trap, point it out gently: “Just because you had a few cigarettes doesn’t mean all those days without one don’t count.” Keep the focus on quitting, and remind him that setbacks are normal.

Bloom was quoted as saying “What really jumps out at me is the DNA tests that the police are now talking about. Because there’s only two defenses to rape: ‘I didn’t have sex with her’ or ‘I did have sex with her, but it was consensual.’ This woman did everything right. She went to the police immediately. She went to the hospital immediately. Presumably, they took any physical evidence like DNA from her body that might be there. So, if there is DNA that links him to her, the question is, is he going to deny having any sexual contact with her or is he going to claim that it was consensual — in a night club.”

It seems The Steelers organization is treading gently and very carefully observing this situation. The comment from Steelers president Art Rooney II was less than supportive of Ben. Ben Roethlisbeger gave Rooney The Lombardi Trophy now it seems Rooney is give Ben The Heisman, and rightfully so.

“All of us in the Steelers family are concerned about the recent incident involving Ben Roethlisberger,” Rooney said. “We cannot comment on any of the specifics until law enforcement’s investigation is concluded.”

To make matters worse Michael McCarthy of USA Today reports that the folks who make “Big Ben Beef Jerky” could be getting ready to pull their endorsement of Roethlisbeger.

“It’s just very concerning,” PLB Sports president and CEO Ty Ballou told McCarthy. “”Ben is a single guy. He has every right to be out doing what he’s doing. But when you’re the quarterback of any team, especially the Steelers, you have to take extra measures. . . . Obviously, this is very concerning for all parties. This is the second time this has come out. . . .

“It’s troubling,” Ballou added. “You want the offseason to be quiet. You have to put yourself in a good positions. And Ben unfortunately hasn’t. You even go back to the motorcycle accident. Whatever happened down there [in Georgia], I hope this will truly be the last time something like this happens. Ben’s a good person. He does a lot for charity. But for his career, his fans and his family, you have to make good decisions.”

There is no comment yet from Nike or Dick’s Sporting Goods. Based on the Tiger Woods debacle we know that endorsements can disappear very quickly. Keeping in mind Tiger had consensual sex.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati say that for family members who carry this genetic variant, the risk of lung cancer is similar for both light and heavy smokers, adding that even non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke and have a family history of lung cancer should be monitored for early detection.

The study was conducted by the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium (GELCC),

“The study shows a strong gene-environment interaction between a region of chromosome 6q and smoking. People with this susceptibility locus can develop lung cancer even with a very little bit of smoking,” said Marshall Anderson, a professor in UC’s cancer and cell biology department, is principal investigator of the GELCC

To study the chromosome region’s effect on lung cancer risk, the researchers identified a haplotype (a portion of a chromosome containing genes that tend to be inherited together) that was associated with lung cancer.

Collecting data from several recruitment sites including UC, they then divided smoking exposures into never smokers, light smokers (fewer than 20 pack years, with a pack year being the equivalent of a pack a day for 20 years), moderate smokers (20-40 pack years) and heavy smokers (40 or more pack years).

For family members without this genetic lung cancer risk, the risk of developing the disease tracked closely with the level of smoking-in other words, heavy smokers had a significantly greater risk of developing lung cancer than moderate smokers, who had a significantly greater risk than light smokers.

But in family members with the genetic risk haplotype, even light smoking resulted in a greatly increased risk for developing lung cancer. From there, increasing smoking behaviours in this group of family members carried only weakly increasing risk for developing lung cancer.

Susan Pinney, a co-author of the study, said: “If you carried the inherited risk and then you smoked, it didn’t matter if you were a light smoker or a heavy smoker-you were significantly more likely to develop lung cancer.”

The study has been published online March 9, 2010, ahead of print by Cancer Research.

Mr Banerjee said he is even treating a 19-year-old for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which can cause sufferers to slowly suffocate. “Year on year we are seeing increasing numbers of patients with severe chest diseases due to smoking in which the lungs are damaged, such as COPD,” he said.

“This is not just death, but a slow suffocation in which patients progressively lose the ability to work, go out, or even walk around the shops because they are out of breath. Eventually they become chair or bed-bound, dependent on oxygen to keep them going.”

Mr Banerjee went on: “It is an old myth that COPD is a disease of old men. Depressingly, large numbers of young people smoke, and they often believe that the warnings do not apply to them.

“We are seeing increasing numbers of young people whose lungs have been destroyed by smoking, who suffer the same breathlessness and restriction and whose lives are blighted by their ‘enjoyment’. Our youngest patient with this disease is 19 years old.”

The doctor said that even though the terrible effects of cigarettes have been known for many years, smoking is still accepted in society.

“Cigarettes damage those who smoke, and everyone around them. That it has been around for 500 years is no excuse. That it is enjoyable is no excuse. The destruction of lives and health that it causes is plain for everyone to see. It is time to work towards a complete ban on smoking. Smoking remains a major health issue.”

COPD is principally caused by smoking and involves damage to the tiny air sacs, or alveoli, in the lungs through which oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream. This leaves sufferers in the later stages fighting for breath as the sacs lose their elasticity and do not work properly.

The 19-year-old COPD patient is female and has been smoking since the age of 10, according to a spokesman for the hospital.

For family members who carry this genetic variant, the risk of lung cancer is similar for both light and heavy smokers, the researchers say, adding that even non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke and have a family history of lung cancer should be monitored for early detection.

The study, conducted by the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium (GELCC), is being published online March 9, 2010, ahead of print by Cancer Research, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research. Print date is March 15.

Marshall Anderson, PhD, a professor in UC’s cancer and cell biology department, is principal investigator of the GELCC, whose UC portion is known as the Family Lung Cancer Study. Susan Pinney, PhD, an associate professor in the department of environmental health, is a co-investigator. The study’s first author is Christopher Amos, PhD, a professor and epidemiologist at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“The study shows a strong gene-environment interaction between a region of chromosome 6q and smoking,” UC’s Anderson says. “People with this susceptibility locus can develop lung cancer even with a very little bit of smoking.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 200,000 cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. More people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer, the CDC says.

To study the chromosome region’s effect on lung cancer risk, the researchers identified a haplotype (a portion of a chromosome containing genes that tend to be inherited together) that was associated with lung cancer. Collecting data from several recruitment sites including UC, they then divided smoking exposures into never smokers, light smokers (fewer than 20 pack years, with a pack year being the equivalent of a pack a day for 20 years), moderate smokers (20-40 pack years) and heavy smokers (40 or more pack years).

For family members without this genetic lung cancer risk, the risk of developing the disease tracked closely with the level of smoking—in other words, heavy smokers had a significantly greater risk of developing lung cancer than moderate smokers, who had a significantly greater risk than light smokers. But in family members with the genetic risk haplotype, even light smoking resulted in a greatly increased risk for developing lung cancer. From there, increasing smoking behaviors in this group of family members carried only weakly increasing risk for developing lung cancer.

“If you carried the inherited risk and then you smoked, it didn’t matter if you were a light smoker or a heavy smoker—you were significantly more likely to develop lung cancer,” Pinney says.

Adds Anderson: “If you have a family history of lung cancer, you probably should not even be around cigarette smokers.”

The research was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute of the Institutes of Health (NIH) and intramural programs of the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute.

While the risks of cancer and heart disease are generally well-known, smoking has many other effects on the body.

The act of lighting a cigarette and taking a puff is simple enough, but it triggers complex physical changes within the body. And Dr. Ana Navas-Acien says those changes begin within seconds of inhaling.

“The respiratory airway is very effective in absorbing tobacco and all the tobacco components. Tobacco has thousands of components, including many toxicants and many carcinogens. And so these components go immediately to the blood stream, to the respiratory tract,” she says.

Carcinogens are substances that can lead to the development of cancer, a well-known risk of smoking. But Navas-Acien, professor of preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins University, says cancer can be a long-term consequence of tobacco smoking. There are much quicker unhealthy effects, such as nicotine addiction.

“The most addictive component in tobacco is nicotine. And so nicotine reaches the brain in less than a second. So it’s like a peak of nicotine and that immediate response to nicotine is where the addictive power of tobacco is,” she says.

The brain actually has receptors for nicotine – structures that receive and bind to specific substances.

“So, it’s going to target these receptors that are in the brain cells. And actually the number of receptors is very small in people who do not smoke. But in people who start smoking, the number of receptors for tobacco increases. And the younger people start smoking the higher the number of receptors. That means the more addictive you are going to be,” the doctor says.

Heart, veins, arteries

While the body craves nicotine once addiction sets in, damage is being done to the cardiovascular system.

“The cardiovascular disease effects can be quite short term. There can be changes in the platelets that are very important particles in the blood that form clots. For example if we have a wound then we need these platelets to aggregate so that there is a clot and we don’t bleed. However, if we don’t have a wound and if we smoke then the platelets aggregate – that’s going to potentially contribute to the forming of (a) thrombosis and heart attacks, says Navas-Acien.

A blood clot in the wrong place can stop the flow of blood to the heart, triggering a heart attack.

Cigarette smoke also reduces lung function, even if inhaled as second-hand smoke.

“We have some very good evidence from workers in bars in Scotland. And their lung function was measured when smoking was allowed in the restaurants. And then Scotland passed a smoke-free legislation, so it was not possible to smoke in restaurants any longer and in bars any longer. When their lung function was measured a year later their lung function had improved quite substantially,” she says.

The Johns Hopkins doctor conducted a similar study in Accra, Ghana, measuring the effect of smoking in public places. People who worked in those environments, whether smokers or not, had higher levels of cigarette chemicals in their bodies. Another study was done in Nigeria, but those results are pending.

Looking older

The physical changes taking place inside the body can’t readily be seen without the aid of medical equipment. But there are telltale signs on the outside.

She says, “The skin is going to age more rapidly. For instance, if we take some twins, one who smokes and the other one doesn’t, and they do everything exactly the same, the skin of the person who smokes is going to have more wrinkles and is going to look much older. Maybe like even 10 years older.”

Then there are the yellow teeth and fingernails and discolored gums. Navas-Acien says smoking is also very bad for dental health.

She admits quitting is not easy, whether it’s done by sheer willpower or with the help of medication. It may take numerous attempts to break the nicotine addiction, but the Johns Hopkins professor says it’s worth it.

The comments have angered anti-drug campaigners.

Williams, 36, who has fought a battle against drink, drugs and depression, said cannabis was a “lovely drug” but it did not “mix well with me”.

Speaking to the UK’s Radio Times, the troubled star said: “Did you see me last year? Have a look at last year. Yep. Year of the Munchie 2009.

“Weed, it’s such a lovely drug. It is such a lovely drug. But it doesn’t mix well with me – at all.

“It doesn’t take much to trigger – I mean, I’ll get psychosis from having this cup of tea! Seriously. The caffeine in that’s enough. Yeah. A cup of tea will make me feel like s***.

“But it’s just a shame about weed, because I did love it.”

Williams, who won the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Brit Awards last month, said he became so depressed that he did not care if he died after going into rehab on his 33rd birthday for addiction to prescription drugs.

“I was dying. I got to the point where I really, genuinely didn’t care. I’d just got fat and depressed before. Then this one was like, ‘you might die’,” he said.

The star’s comments about cannabis have been criticized by the drugs information service Frank.

Nurse Chris Hudson said cannabis could trigger mental health problems in some users.

Mr Hudson said: “Cannabis messes with your mind – and reactions can be more powerful with stronger strains such as skunk, which is around twice as potent.

“Mental health problems associated with using cannabis include paranoia, panic attacks and anxiety and depression. The risks increase the more you use it.”

The findings, scheduled to appear online in the Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of March 8, could lead to more effective treatments for smoking addiction.

“Previously it was thought that the puff-by-puff spikes of nicotine reaching the brain explained why cigarettes are so much more addictive than other forms of nicotine delivery, like the patch or gum,” says Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research. “Our work now calls into question whether addiction has to do with the puff-by-puff delivery of nicotine. It may actually depend in part on the overall rate at which nicotine reaches and accumulates in the brain, as well as the unique habit and sensory cues associated with smoking.”

Yet, when the researchers compared 13 dependent smokers to 10 non-dependent smokers, they were surprised to find the dependent smokers had a slower rate of nicotine accumulation in the brain. “This slower rate resulted from nicotine staying longer in the lungs of dependent smokers, which may be a result of the chronic effects of smoke on the lungs,” surmises Rose.

The difference in rate of nicotine accumulation in the brain doesn’t explain why some people become addicted to cigarettes and others don’t. “Even if you correct for the speed of delivery, our study showed the non-dependent smokers eventually experienced the same high levels of nicotine in their brain as dependent smokers, yet they did so without becoming dependent. The real mystery is why.”

Rose says the absence of addiction in these smokers could be due to genetic differences, differences in the way they smoke, or differences in the psychological effects they derive. “We’re still not able to fully explain why these people are able to smoke without becoming addicted.”

Despite the questions raised, the study provides important insights into the role of the speed and level of brain nicotine levels, and which receptors in the brain are at work. “Different receptors respond to nicotine at different levels of sensitivity,” says Rose. “Knowing the levels of nicotine that are really getting to the brain gives us clues as to which receptors are more likely to be important for the dependence-producing effects of cigarette smoking.”
Provided by Duke University Medical Center

Rick Bender starting using smokeless tobacco at age 12.

The resulting effects of cancer and the treatments literally have left him with half a face.

Bender was at Piggott High school today speaking to students about his life with spit tobacco as he calls it.

With his blunt no nonsense presentation, Bender related his oral cancer diagnosis at 25 that nearly cost him his life.

Bender says his mission is to educate kids about the myth that smokeless tobacco is a safer alternative.

“That’s really what I am out here trying to break is that misnomer that this is safe, it’s not. Tobacco, is tobacco. You can roll it, stuff it in a pipe or chew it. It’s all the same stuff. It can give you cancer and will give you heart disease.”

He is known as the “Man Without a Face” due to all the surgery he has gone through to beat cancer and the devastating side effects.

His mission..to tell the truth about smokeless or for that matter any tobacco.

“There’s still a question of why it happened to me. The answer is because I used tobacco.”

Primarily smokeless tobacco or spit tobacco as Bender calls it. When he was 12 he recalls TV Ads with Football Great Walt Garrison pitching safe, smokeless tobacco.

“He says it’s a safe alternative. Turns out to be the biggest lie I was ever been told. But I fell for it and started using it.”

Bender says he dipped for years until he noticed sores in his mouth and began to be concerned.

“I’m only 25 years old. Cancer, it doesn’t happen to people my age.”

Bender went through numerous surgeries and treatments that left him with half a jaw, part of his tongue gone and severe loss of movement in his right arm. It nearly cost him his life.

“I’m just here to tell them what happened to me. If it’s scary, so be it.”

I spoke to a couple of Ninth graders to see what their reactions were and it wasn’t scare tactics but really good information they took to heart.”

Keelee Rushing says she knows a couple of her classmates that smoke and dip. Her biggest shocker came when Bender showed what the onset of oral cancer looks like.

“Especially when I saw those pictures. That kind of hit me,like don’t smoke.”

Mason Coy had been offered smokes and dip numerous times. He says he always passed.

“I want to live a healthy future and it can really damage that.”

Lynn Treece the school health coordinator says kids do smoke and dip but there is help if they choose to stop.

“Through tobacco education and cessation programs and that addiction can happen very early and we want them to be aware of that.”

Fender says his goal is to get kids to think when offered a dip or smoke.

“Maybe they’ll remember my face. Maybe they’ll say no at that point.”

Mason Coy, “Now I know the true facts, what it will do, it’s pretty scary.”

Conducted by the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Behavioral Research, the 2009 Tobacco Control Progress Report shows that Iowa and the state health department have made a number of advances in reducing smoking since 2000. Most recently, the report finds there has been a dramatic decrease in cigarette consumption in Iowa. Data from the Iowa Department of Revenue show that cigarette sales in Iowa remained steady from 2000 to 2006. Since that time, however, per capita consumption of cigarettes has plummeted from 112 to 54 in 2009.

“The fact that Iowans are smoking half as many cigarettes now is clearly attributable to the $1 cigarette excise tax in 2007 and the 2008 Smokefree Air Act,” said Cathy Callaway, chair of the Iowa Tobacco Use Prevention & Control Commission. “The importance of policies like these in improving health and saving lives cannot be underestimated.”

Unfortunately, efforts to reduce tobacco use among young Iowans have slowed in the past few years. Despite impressive declines in youth smoking in Iowa since 2000, the report shows that success has slowed. For example, cigarette use among high school students (at 19.9 percent) in 2008 was roughly the same level it was in 2004 (19.5 percent). Among middle school students, use was down only slightly from 3.6 percent in 2006 to 2.8 percent in 2008.

“It’s important to point out that awareness of Iowa’s youth-led tobacco counter-marketing campaign, JEL (Just Eliminate Lies), fell during this period,” Callaway said. “Studies show there’s a direct correlation between exposure to state-sponsored anti-tobacco advertisements and anti-smoking attitudes, beliefs and smoking prevalence. Simply put, the fewer ads JEL produces, the lower the awareness among children. That’s a major contributor to the limited success we’re seeing in the JEL program’s goal to prevent tobacco use among youth.”

Among high school students, 85 percent had heard of JEL in 2004. Four years later, however, that number dropped to 61 percent. The decrease in awareness was even more dramatic among middle school students, as it decreased from 54 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2008.

Data from more than 60 sources were reviewed in producing the Iowa 2009 Tobacco Progress Report. For more information, visit http://www.idph.state.ia.us/tobacco and look under “Tobacco Program Evaluations and Progress Reports.”

Last year, they survived without the smoke. But not everyone was happy, to the point that one legislator has pushed an emergency bill in the D.C. Council to let the stogies burn next week, and tried to make a permanent exception to the city’s smoke-free laws.

Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has asked his council colleagues to keep tradition alive for the all-male Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and another organization, Fight for Children, which hosts an annual smoke-filled professional boxing fundraiser.

Evans, who is a member of the Irish organization, said the measure was narrowly crafted, making an exception for only two nights a year and protecting workers by allowing venue employees to opt out of working the events.

But the bill has proponents of the District’s 2006 workplace smoking ban in a huff.

Angela Bradbery, co-founder of Smokefree DC, urged Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) in a letter Monday to veto the legislation that she said would force workers to choose between their health and a paycheck; open the door for other organizations to request exemptions; and send a message that “it’s okay to break the law if you’re on the council or a buddy of a council member.”

Evans, who has attended the annual dinner for at least the past 10 years but does not light up, said his bill is “perfectly appropriate for both organizations.”
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Despite opposition from the smoke-free camp, he succeeded last week in passing a one-year waiver on a 10 to 3 vote. The bill initially failed to get the necessary nine votes, but Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward switched positions on a second try.

Council Chairman Vincent Gray (D), who has joined the Friendly Sons celebration in the past, opposed the measure for policy and personal reasons. “If you make this exception, why not the next one? Once you make the decision, I think you need to be steadfast,” said Gray, whose wife died of lung cancer in 1998, though she was not a smoker.

A spokesperson for Fenty said he had not yet received the bill.

A hearing on Evans’s subsequent bill to make a permanent exception for the Friendly Sons was canceled on Monday. An aide to Health Committee Chairman David A. Catania (I-At Large) said the council member thought it was best to first review results from the one-year waiver before deciding whether to move ahead with a comprehensive measure.

Unless Fenty intervenes, the cigars will burn this year. At Fight Night, the fundraiser for low-income children, the stogies contribute to an old-fashioned aura at the Hilton Washington. Along with a steak dinner and silent auction, there are cigar girls and gift bags with a cigar and cutter.

Jeff Travers, a spokesperson for the event that raised $2.3 million last year, said he was surprised and grateful to learn of Evans’s effort last week. The organization, he said, had not been pressing the council for an exemption.

“Smoking is part of the history and part of the style of Fight Night, but we’re sure that Fight Night would be successful without cigar smoking,” he said.

The Saint Patrick’s Day event hosted by the Friendly Sons is a 640-person dinner at the Capital Hilton that has included Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and President Obama’s national security adviser James L. Jones. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has attended and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has served as keynote speaker. The dinner, now in its 82nd year, includes a report from the Irish Embassy, Irish jokes, a “Danny Boy” solo from former congressman Jim Symington — and cigars.

“The cigars are basically a throwback to the testosterone days,” said past president Bill Edwards, a retired area vice president for Hilton Hotels. “It’s a high-level but down-to-earth celebration of Irish heritage.”
By Ann E. Marimow, WashingtonPost
March 9, 2010

The Kansas Government called the new legislation a triumph for workers, families, businesses and future generations. Once it will be signed, the ban will take effect on July 1st.

So, all restaurants, bars and workplaces would be covered by the ban, as would also home day-care centers, taxicabs and limousines. But the only exceptions would be tobacco shops, private clubs such as Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, designated smoking rooms in hotels, and the gambling floors of state-run casinos.

The Government would not move smoking limitations now in place at the local level, except those rules would be unsteady than the new state measure. For example, the current ban in Kansas City, Kan. — which permits bars and restaurants to act by paying an annual $250 fee — would be extinguished and replaced by the new state law.

Legislators who required a new ban declared that they were tired of expecting and utilized an unusual move to force a vote more rapidly. Supporters had influenced a statewide ban for years, successfully leading it through the Senate only to watch it.

Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican and a physician, said: “While we continue to discus and debate, people are dying. People are becoming ill. They are asking you to help them.”

Approximately more than 30 states, except Missouri, have adopted some kind of statewide smoking ban. And thirty-nine Kansas cities and counties have local bans.

But Jim Hendricks, who owns Danny’s Bar & Grill in Kansas City, Kan., and Lenexa, explained that he is against a statewide ban, while they all knew it was necessary.

He also added that his Lenexa location lost 30 percent of its business after that city’s ban went into effect.

However, physicians, nurses and dozens of private citizens voted for the new anti-smoking measure, suggesting that after smoking ban was installed, they showed a big decrease in heart attacks. They considered such prohibitions one of the most efficient and affordable ways to lower the cost of health care.

Researchers concluded that if inhabitants from Kansas want to care about improving the health of their state, than they should vote for smoking ban.
Copyright © 2010 Smoking-Quit.info. All rights reserved.

Researcher Katariina Kallio of the University of Turku in Finland says her study on teenagers extends previous research, which found cardiovascular damage in grown-ups who breathed in other peoples’ smoke.

“We know previously that in adults there is that kind of association, but we didn’t know that in adolescents,” she said in a telephone interview. “So somehow it was a surprise that there is already in adolescents these kinds of changes.”

Significant changes

Changes include thicker walls in the youngsters’ blood vessels. American Heart Association spokesman Dr. Donald LaVan explains why that change in the arteries is significant.

“The blood vessel wall, when it becomes thickened and the lining is disturbed, is more sensitive to the effects of cholesterol deposition. So therefore, these kids are at higher risk for the development of plaque in their arteries as time goes by.”

Plaque inside the artery can restrict blood flow, and makes blood clots more likely. Blood clots can block an artery and cause a heart attack.

In their study, the researchers tested blood for cotinine, a chemical which is produced when nicotine is metabolized, so they got an objective measure of how much smoke the teenagers were exposed to. They also did ultrasound and other tests to measure blood vessel function and the thickness of the artery wall.

Dr. Kallio agrees with Dr. LaVan that the results support the recommendation that kids be kept away from tobacco smoke.

Undoing the damage

“Exposure to tobacco smoke is a risk factor for cardiac disease already in adolescents, and that’s why this study supports that children and adolescents need smoke-free environments,” said Kallio.

Although there is some evidence that artery damage caused by second-hand smoke in adults may be reversible, LaVan says it’s unclear whether that’s also true for adolescents.

“We think that they may be. We do know that people who are taken out of high tobacco smoke environments have a definite drop in developing coronary artery disease. There’s been studies that show that in adults, that when they’re taken away, it is a prevention.”

The study was published in the journal “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes,” which is published by the American Heart Association.

Accepting the grant would mean creating four full-time jobs, including a police officer and a school health and tobacco educator, and filling several part-time positions. Wage and benefit costs would total nearly $1 million, including $52,000 for the current city health officer, during the two-year life of the grant.

The program focuses on preventing youth from using and getting addicted to nicotine embedded in dissolvable tobacco products. The products are made from finely ground tobacco and shaped to look like breath mints, chewing gum and toothpicks, Appleton Health Officer Kurt Eggebrecht said.

“It could be very appealing to youth,” he said.

The money is part of $8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requested by the state to help stop the flow of dissolvable tobacco products into Wisconsin. Appleton’s grant would include $1 million for a media advertising blitz.

“We’ve done a good job of educating people on the harmful effects of cigarettes, but an unsuspecting user of the new dissolvable products may not realize they are getting hooked on nicotine,” Eggebrecht said.

Ald. Peter Stueck said the price tag seems steep.

“It’s a shame we have to take $3 million from the federal government when we already have an ordinance banning the sale of tobacco to children,” he said.

Of the remaining stimulus money, La Crosse County would get $3 million and the state $2 million.

The state Department of Health Services would funnel the money as part of the federal Communities Putting Prevention to Work program. The state’s grant application says dissolvable tobacco products “threaten to weaken the intended impact of Wisconsin’s smoke-free air law,” a ban on smoking in workplaces that takes effect July 5. Appleton enacted a smoke-free workplace ban in 2005.

In the past three years, the nation’s two largest cigarette companies, R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA, have moved into the smokeless tobacco market as smoke-free laws sweep the nation and cigarette sales continue to fall.

A year ago, R.J. Reynolds debuted a new aspirin-sized tablet, called “Camel Orbs,” that lets tobacco melt in the mouth. The dissolvable product was the first such product by a major tobacco company.

“It’s meeting the needs of smokers,” Rob Dunham, of R.J. Reynolds, said at the time.

Eggebrecht calls it “a shrewd strategy by tobacco companies who are trying to maintain their market share.”

He said school counselors told him recently the products are showing up in classrooms in Appleton.

“It’s illegal to sell cigarettes to minors, but they still get and smoke cigarettes,” he said, noting that one store in Appleton has the products readily available on racks accessible to children.

Eggebrecht said a steering committee is being formed to work with two local coalitions — Community Action for Healthy Living (which grew out of the Community Action for Tobacco Free Living group) and Activate Fox Cities, formed in 2007 as part of a national effort by the YMCA and CDC to attract key community leaders to support health improvement in the Fox Cities.

Also, he said Appleton could team with La Crosse County to bring $2 million to the media blitz.

If Appleton is awarded the money, the Common Council would have to amend the city budget to authorize spending it, city Finance Director Lisa Remiker said.
Ald. Jim Clemons said aldermen also would have to decide whether to create and fill the jobs required by the grant. “We’ll decide when we receive the grant if we are going to accept it with all the contingencies,” he said.

Among the conditions:

# Within 30 days, the city would have to hire two full-time employees — a project coordinator and project health coordinator.

# Within 90 days, several other full- or part-time positions would need to be filled by new employees or existing staff of the city and Appleton Area School District.

Federal funding fully covers the jobs for two years, Eggebrecht said. “When the money goes away, the jobs go away,” he said.

Ald. Joe Martin is wary of any such promise. “Once we have people on staff I find it’s hard to get rid of them,” he said.

Martin said the issue of dissolvable tobacco products would better be handled by the school district or community groups like the Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

In addition to his concern about the cost, Stueck said he worries that the products could be banned for sale to adults.

“It gets back to regulation of a legal product. I’m 100 percent against getting these products in kids’ hands, but I don’t want to ban adults from buying them.”

The finding comes from a study of 3,801 young adults who were asked about their pot use and then evaluated to determine if they’d experienced “psychotic outcomes.”

The study appears online in advance of print in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Youths who had experienced hallucinations early in life were more likely to have used marijuana longer, and more frequently, the study shows.

The study also suggests that more research is needed to determine whether people who are predisposed to psychosis might be more likely to smoke marijuana earlier in life and for longer periods.

Pot and Psychosis

The researchers followed young people born between 1981 and 1984, up to age 21. They were asked about their use of cannabis.

The findings show:

* 17.7% reported using pot for three or fewer years.
* 16.2% used it for four to five years.
* 14.3% had smoked for six or more years.

Overall, 233 had at least one “positive” report for hallucination on their interviews, and 65 received a diagnosis of “non-affective psychosis,” such as schizophrenia.

“Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had six or more years since first use of cannabis were twice as likely to develop a non-affective psychosis,” the researchers write.

Non-affective psychosis “is a broad category that includes schizophrenia and a handful of less common disorders like delusional disorder,” study researcher John McGrath, MD, of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, tells WebMD in an email.

People with non-affective psychosis “do not have a prominent mood element” such as bipolar disorder or mania, he writes.

“Think of depression,” McGrath writes. “Many of us get mild or moderate depression from time to time but not all of these individuals meet the criteria for full clinical depression. So too for psychosis — some otherwise well people have isolated symptoms, but no disability.”

The study also shows that those who had at least six years since the first time they used marijuana were four times as likely to have high scores on an accepted measure of delusionary experiences.

Results were similar among a subgroup of 228 siblings, “thus reducing the likelihood that the association was due to unmeasured shared genetic and/or environmental influences,” the researchers write, adding that “the nature of the relationship between psychosis and cannabis use is by no means simple” but rather very complex.

The researchers also found that “the longer the duration since first cannabis use, the higher the risk of psychosis-related outcomes.”
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News

There is rising awareness of the health risks of smoking in China, by far the world’s biggest tobacco-consuming country, and this modern city of 20 million is cleaning up its act as it prepares to host the Expo, which begins May 1.

That six-month event, which will showcase the theme “Better City, Better Life,” is expected to attract 70 million people, with exhibits from 192 countries. Most of the visitors will be Chinese from other cities where tobacco use is less strictly controlled.

Getting people to comply with the rules is likely to prove difficult, many feel.

“The regulations are not going to work. China is at least 50 years behind advanced countries, and people here lack self-discipline,” said Xu Baofeng, a manager at a mobile phone service outlet, who was standing inside the shop with his head sticking outdoor as he smoked.

“You can see the NO SMOKING sign on our wall, but many people just ignore it,” Xu said, saying that some male customers fight back or complain to higher managers if staff try to stop them.

Even before the ban took effect Monday, most major public facilities in Shanghai, including many shopping malls and all subways and subway stations, banned smoking.

Now authorities have penalties to apply, and have signed up thousands of volunteers to help enforce the ban.

First-time offenders will get a warning. If they resist, they face fines of 50 yuan to 200 yuan ($7 to $30).

In response, downtown office buildings are now distributing notices about new indoor smoking areas. Workers routinely smoke in hallways and elevator lobbies.

Most restaurants are only offering token moves, such as designating areas for nonsmokers that are not truly smoke free. At one downtown Internet cafe Tuesday, video game players were puffing away freely. A manager said he wouldn’t encourage people to smoke but felt he had no right to stop them.

People are still free to light up on sidewalks and streets.

China accounts for more than one-quarter of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers, and any newcomer to the country is hit by the pervasive smell of tobacco smoke on exiting any airport or train station. The Chinese buy a total 2 trillion cigarettes a year.

Key targets of the bans for Shanghai and other cities are hospitals, where patients complain about doctors lighting up.

Under a U.N. treaty, Beijing pledged to ban indoor smoking in public places four years ago. Like neighboring Japan, it has been gradually limiting where smokers can light up.

But such steps face stiff resistance from retailers and local governments that profit from tobacco taxes.

Guangzhou, a city in southern China, banned smoking in public places on a trial basis in 2007. But it reimposed the ban last fall, apparently having failed to enforce it earlier.

Seven other cities recently announced plans for such bans: Chongqing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Harbin, Nanchang, Lanzhou and Shenzhen.

But even Shanghai’s state-run newspapers seemed skeptical.

“Who will do the fining? Who do they report to?” read the headline in the Oriental Morning Post.

According to the British Medicine Journal, every cigarette decreases your life by eleven minutes, which seems like an awfully expensive price to have to pay. Of the three deadly habits in smoking, drinking, and drug abuse, they decide to choose the one habit that makes the least sense? Alcohol and drugs have possible health side effects but also produce a “buzz” or “high” in their respective roles, while smoking cigarettes has the most severe health related side effects while producing neither a “high” nor a “buzz.”

It just blows my mind watching the smoking commercials on TV trying to sell their product, but required by law to include a message at the bottom, stating something along the lines of “Indulging in our product leads to a variety of potentially life ending diseases, smoke at your own risk.”

Do the students think that this message is a joke? May be these students who continue to smoke cannot read these messages, or just think that they are smarter than the experts in their field of study.

As if smoking cigarettes was not stupid enough by itself, they overcharge you to pay for these disease-inducing products. According to Health.com, the average price of a pack of cigarettes is more than $5, which seems like it would put quite a dent in a college student’s wallet, as most of them do not have jobs for a steady income.

So now we have a college students who are not only killing themselves, but are spending most of their money doing so. Maybe it is because that is what the cool kids do? Wrong. Even those old reasons that inspired our elders to smoke no longer apply. They used to smoke because it was what the cool kids did, and that was how the national media trained them to think.

Now, you find that most of them are trying their hardest to stop smoking, with the growth of all these new smoking products to help them accomplish that goal. I would find it hard pressed to find anyone who views smoking as cool anymore, and in a way society is starting to show this trend. For example, Millersville University only allows smoking in designated areas, they formerly allowed it throughout campus.

With all of these reasons listed, it becomes hard to find any real reason why college students smoke. Are they trying to be rebellious, or are they just plain stupid? Either way I do not know why these kids are allowed into college because there are clearly smarter kids out there.
By Tyler Morrow on March 4, 2010