Does Smoking Have a Place in Health Care Reform?

The Health Care Reform debate is continuing at a steady, although admittedly less intense, pace as people are becoming more vocal about their concerns and want to know more about just how it is going to affect the average American.

I’m curious about what regulations concerning smoking will come out of this process–if there will be new restrictions, new incentives to quit smoking, or nothing at all. Here are some current happenings in the smoking debate:

Read Full Post »

U.S. Navy Bans Smoking on Submarines

Beginning on December 31, 2010, members of the United States Navy will no longer be able to smoke while aboard submarines. Approximately 35 to 40 percent of the 13,000 sailors currently serving on the Navy’s 71 submarines are smokers.

A study done in 2009 revealed that non-smoking individuals aboard naval ships were being negatively impacted by the smoking habits of their fellow sailors. Specifically, one article states that this study showed that the current method of using air scrubbers to remove the smoke was still leaving an “unacceptable level of secondhand smoke in the atmospheres of submerged submarines.”

Read Full Post »

The Behavior of American Adults

A story out yesterday from Join Together took a look at rates of alcohol use and smoking in the United States from 2005-2007. Join Together, a program run by the Boston University School of Public Health, is a leader in community efforts to increase the efficiency of alcohol and drug policies, treatment methods, and prevention programming.

The report that the article is based on is Health Behaviors of Adults: United States which looked at drinking, smoking, physical activity and sleep. It found that 61.2% of American adults currently drink alcohol, while 24.6% have never drank and 14.3% self-identify as former drinkers. Within this 14.3%, 8.1% were ‘infrequent drinkers’ and 6.2% were ‘regular drinkers’.

Read Full Post »