News

Smoking can make your nipples fall off
I cringe every time I see a patient for a breast lift who is a smoker. I’m
deathly afraid that despite my warnings, she will smoke before or after
surgery and cause her nipples to turn black and fall off.
-Anthony Youn, M.D., Metro Detroit plastic surgeon

U.S. shouldn't delay anti-smoking images
A federal judge has sided with the manufacturers and postponed putting the images on packs.

FDA issues graphic cigarette labels
Nine new warning labels featuring graphic images that convey the dangers of smoking will be required by the Food and Drug Administration to be on U.S. cigarette packs by 2012.

A year later, Michigan's smoking ban has mixed impact
The Macomb County Health Department recently tweaked its procedures in enforcing the state smoking ban after discovering bogus complaints against a northern Macomb County establishment.

Michigan's smoking ban marks 1st year
As Michigan's ban on workplace smoking celebrates its first birthday Sunday, the debate about its cost to the state and small businesses continues.

County Health Department ends anonymous smoking-ban complaints
On May 1, 2010, Ray Basham took two granddaughters to a Taylor bowling alley. He doesn't recall his score, but sniffing the air, he knew he'd won.

"I could breathe easier," said Basham, who'd fought for years in the Michigan Legislature to ban smoking in public places.

Warren bar owner loses bid to overturn smoking ban
A judge today denied a Warren bar owner's request to declare the state's smoking ban unconstitutional but did toss out a fine the man incurred, agreeing some elements of the law are confusing.

New Smoking Regulations on U.S. Submarines
With the advent of 2011, the United States Navy implemented the smoking ban below decks abroad all U.S. Navy submarines while encouraging all personnel to make efforts to quit smoking according to the Submarine Forces (SUBFOR) reports.

University of Michigan releases details of smoke-free plans
The University of Michigan is releasing details of its plans to implement the school’s smoke-free policy that goes into effect July 1.

Business owners, consumers clear the air on effects of smokefree law
A recent survey of 6,900 Michigan residents by the state Department of Community Health found that more than 70 percent of those questioned supported the smokefree air law which prohibits smoking in all public restaurants and bars since May 1, 2010. That's a 4 percent increase over the previous year.

Quit Smoking: 7 Myths That May Be Keeping You From Quitting
To debunk the common myths that keep smokers smoking, we spoke to Iyaad Hasan, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Tobacco Treatment Center.

EXPOSURE TO TOBACCO SMOKE CAUSES IMMEDIATE DAMAGE, SAYS NEW SURGEON GENERAL’S REPORT
Exposure to tobacco smoke – even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke – causes immediate damage to your body that can lead to serious illness or death, according to a report released today by U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin. The comprehensive scientific report - Benjamin’s first Surgeon General’s report and the 30th tobacco-related Surgeon General’s report issued since 1964 - describes specific pathways by which tobacco smoke damages the human body and leads to disease and death.

In interest of public health, Detroit may ban smoking in public housing
The world for Michigan's smokers may be shrinking again. Already illegal to light up in public buildings, bars, restaurants and -- by July 1 -- on University of Michigan campuses, smoking bans are moving inside some public housing, too.

Electronic Cigarettes: E-Cigarettes Should Fall Under FDA Regulation, Says Court
A federal appeals court says electronic cigarettes should be regulated as tobacco products by the Food and Drug Administration rather than as drug-delivery devices, which have more stringent requirements.

Survey: More than 75 percent favor Mich. smoking ban
More than 75 percent of people surveyed by the state Department of Community Health favored Michigan's smoking ban, according to results of a study released this morning.

Researchers with the agency completed the public opinion survey before the law, which bans smoking in bars, restaurants and other public venues, went into affect May 1.

U.S. cigarette brands tops in cancer causing chemicals
Smokers of U.S. brand cigarettes may get more bang for their buck in the worst way according to a small study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hidden Cam: Bar Ignores Smoking Ban
A Local 4 Defenders hidden camera investigation finds out that a Redford sports bar is not only ignoring the new Michigan smoking ban, but also encouraging customers to puff away.

Bars see increase in business since smoking ban
It's been only weeks since Michiganians were forced to extinguish nearly every form of indoor smoking - and surprising to many, business at many local bars has already increased.

For years, as the Michigan legislature talked about the smoking ban, many bar owners quietly worried that doing so would kill their business; even though they were concerned about secondhand smoke risks for their employees and themselves. The opinions of business owners were controversial. If they spoke against a ban, they would offend their non-smoking clients. If they wanted clean air, their cigarette-loving patrons might grow angry.

Michigan's Smoke-Free Law Goes into Effect May 1
On Saturday, May 1, Michigan becomes the 38th state to enact a smoke-free law which bans smoking in all worksites, including bars and restaurants.

Smokers, bar owners adjust to new ban
On the morning after Michigan’s new smoking ban went into effect for bars and restaurants, some tavern owners saw first-hand evidence of the consequences.

Smoke-free era to begin in Michigan
For the first time in 97 years, the Detroit bowling alley will be smoke-free. And so will most other public places in Michigan as the state institutes a smoking ban in 17,000 bars, restaurants and other establishments.

Smoking ban enforcement begins at 6 a.m. Saturday in Metro Detroit
Health officials from Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties will begin enforcing the state's new ban on smoking inside public buildings at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Tobacco ‘mints’ tied to kids’ poisoning
Smokeless, flavored tobacco products that look like candy and come in packages shaped like cell phones may be contributing to accidental poisonings in very young children, new research suggests.

Nicotine-laced pellets, strips and sticks that dissolve completely in the user’s mouth — dubbed “tobacco candy” by critics — have joined chewing tobacco and snuff to become the second-most common cause of unintentional tobacco ingestion in kids younger than 6.

Cloud of confusion envelops Michigan smoking ban
With less than a month before Michigan's smoking ban goes into effect, the state isn't sure who should enforce the law, and counties are warning it shouldn't be them.

FDA Takes Action to Protect Kids from Tobacco Addiction
On March 19 the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products published a new rule to protect kids from tobacco addiction and premature death from tobacco use. The new rule, which becomes effective on June 22 – exactly one year after President Obama signed the historic Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law -- prohibits a wide range of sales, distribution, and marketing of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to youth.

Michigan eateries snuff out smoking before ban
Michigan's smoking ban might seem unfair to smokers or another blow to a wobbling restaurant industry. But others see an opportunity to do what they've wanted to do for years: toss out their ashtrays.

What´s in a cigarette?
The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the ingredients used in cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Want to quit smoking? See your doctor, try the 4 D's
If your resolution is to quit smoking in 2010, there have never been more resources to help.

Michigan's smokes now will burn themselves out
A state law that took effect Friday requiring stores to sell only self-extinguishing cigarettes, may help snuff out smoking-related deaths.

The benefits of going smoke-free
As a physician, I want to help people live healthier and happier lives. Yet no matter how many patients I see in my lifetime, I will never make as big a difference in the health of Michigan citizens as our Legislature can by passing comprehensive smoke-free legislation.

Tobacco companies scoping younger crowd with social networking, smokeless products
Big tobacco companies are looking for new ways to market products to young people in America. Tobacco companies have started advertising on social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Shisha ´as harmful as cigarettes´
Smoking a shisha pipe is as bad for people as smoking tobacco, the Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found.

Mich. health leaders target growing hookah use
Dearborn -- Everybody that Rola Rayes knows smokes the ornate water pipe that has become popular in Metro Detroit and around the world. But no one realizes the dangers linked to the pipe, known here as a hookah, because it is so ingrained in her Middle Eastern culture.

President Obama Signs Anti-Smoking Law
Twenty years ago, the Senate passed a measure -- by just one vote -- that banned smoking on airplanes. Today even tobacco-producing states have smoking bans in bars and restaurants. Today President Obama signed a new tobacco law that public health organizations and many lawmakers have been advocating for nearly a decade…

Tobacco Regulation Bill Poised for Passage
All sides in the debate over whether tobacco products should be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agree that the odds are good that Congress will soon pass an FDA regulation bill, the Washington Post reported May 11.

U-M to ban smoking on all campuses
Smokers at the University of Michigan already have to go outside, but beginning in 2011, they'll have to go off campus to light up, officials announced Monday.

Prisons adapt to ban on tobacco
Whether they wanted to slap on a nicotine patch, chew gum or go cold turkey, smokers at Michigan correctional facilities were forced to kick the habit under a statewide tobacco ban enacted Feb. 1.

Secondhand Smoke Linked to Dementia
People exposed to secondhand smoke may face as much as a 44 percent increased risk of developing dementia, a new study suggests.