News & Events
Events
January 21, 2010. MDQuit's 4th Annual Best Practices Conference
A web-based CME course to help your pregnant patients quit smoking: click here.
In the News
Maryland Tobacco News
Maryland health experts weigh in on diabetes risk after quitting -- January 6, 2010
Health care professionals, including MDQuit Advisory Board Member Dr. Kevin Ferentz, discuss a new study that found that the short term risk for developing diabetes increased when individuals quit smoking.However, this effect decreased and by ten years after quitting was nearly gone. Read more here.
Maryland 4th lowest rate of adult smokers -- December 7, 2009
Maryland's effort to curb smoking has paid off with smoking on the decline in Maryland. Maryland has the fourth-lowest percentage of adult smokers (~15%) in a study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared to national rates of nearly 21%. Read more here.
Towson University is Smoke-Free! -- November 16, 2009
Towson became one of the first Maryland 4-year colleges to adopt a
campus wide no smoking policy, it will be implemented August 2010.
The ban seeks to provide a cleaner, healthier campus and students hope other 4-year institutes will follow their lead. Read more here.
Playground smoking ban under consideration -- September 15, 2009
In Rockville a proposal to ban smoking in public parks passed. Smoking can not occur within 40 ft of the parks' borders. The goal of the ban is to reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke. Read more here.
National Tobacco News
Medicare Now Providing Preventative Care Coverage for Smoking Cessation - August 30, 2010
Medicare will now more widely cover reimbursement for smoking cessation care. In the past, smoking cessation counseling was only covered if recommended by a physician to treat smoking related illness. Smoking cessation will now be more widely covered as preventative care as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Read more here.
Competition for Funds Between Tobacco Control and Antiobesity Advocates -- August 30, 2010
The decline in smoking prevalence has slowed in recent years as funding for tobacco control efforts has declined. Efforts to combat the use of tobacco products now face considerable competition for funding from antiobesity advocates, as priorities for public health have shifted. More about this here.
E-cigarettes Being Seized by FDA -- August 27, 2010
Next month, a federal appellate court will hear arguments about whether electronic cigarettes ("e-cigarettes") should be regulated by the FDA as drug delivery devices. Makers contend that e-cigarettes are not intended to be smoking cessation aids, although some users seem to be using them for just that purpose. Some of the arguments for and against FDA regulation of e-cigarettes - including some potential health concerns - are detailed in a recent news article, which can be found here.
Lowest Levels of Smoking Cause Harm to Genes -- August 25, 2010
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have found that even at the lowest detectable levels, smoking has direct effects on genetic functioning of lung cells. Changes to the functioning of such genes is a first warning sign for disease in the lungs. Similar effects had previously been shown in heavier smokers, but until this point no conclusive evidence had been found for low level smokers or from secondhand smoke. This research supports that there is no safe exposure to cigarette smoke, including exposure to secondhand smoke, and that public health efforts to ban smoking in public places can help to avoid this harmful exposure. Read more here.
Reducing Exposure to Smoking in Movies -- August 25, 2010
Several studies have determined that the likelihood of a youth trying smoking
is in part due to being exposed to smoking through movies. In the CDC's
recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, trends of smoking in
movies from 1991 to 2009 were examined. Since 2005, when depictions of
onscreen smoking peaked, the amount of onscreen smoking has declined
51%. This positive finding is tempered somewhat by the fact that in
2009, half of the most popular movies still contain smoking, including
54% of PG-13 movies, although this was down from 80% in 2002-2003. Read
more here.
Secondhand Smoke Harms
Mental Health? - July 7, 2010
Exposure to
secondhand smoke has previously been associated with negative physical
health
outcomes, but a recent study has linked it to worse mental health
outcomes as
well. During a six year study, researchers found that non-smokers with
the
highest exposure to secondhand smoke had greater psychological distress
and greater
likelihood of being hospitalized than those unexposed to secondhand
smoke. Secondhand
smoke exposure was measured through the levels of cotinine in their
saliva, and
mental health was measured using questions about psychological distress
and
admission to a psychiatric hospital. Read more
here.
Smoke-free Air Laws
are Working! - July 7, 2010
A recent study
conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that children
living in
smoke-free homes had 39% lower levels of the nicotine byproduct cotinine
in
their systems compared with children living in homes that were not
smoke-free.
This suggests that clean indoor air laws are an effective method of
lowering
children's exposure to secondhand smoke. Read
more here.
Taxes Increase
Increases Cessation Among Substance Abusers and the Mentally Ill - July
7, 2010
Recent research has
helped to quantify the impact of tobacco tax policy on smoking behavior
among
smokers with co-occurring drug, alcohol or other mental illness. A ten
percent
increase in cigarette taxes was found to reduces smoking by 18% among
binge-drinkers,
drug users, and individuals with mental health disorders, but not among
individuals
who are alcohol dependent. This population of individuals comprises 40%
of
smokers, and there little known on how to help them quit. Read
more here.
MDQuit News Archives
Note: Links to full stories may have limited access.
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
Maryland News Archives
MDQuit Newsletter Archives
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
MDQuit Events Archives
MDQuit 4th Annual Best Practices Conference - January 21st, 2010
MDQuit 3rd Annual Best Practices Conference - January 22nd, 2009
MDQuit hosted its 3rd Annual Best Practices Conference on January 22nd, 2009 at the Four Points by Sheraton BWI Airport. Click here for additional information about the Conference, including downloadable Powerpoint slides.
Cultural Diversity Workshop - October 3rd, 2008 MDQuit hosted a Smoking and Cultural Diversity Workshop on October 3rd, 2008 at the Colony South Conference Center in Prince George's County. Click here for additional information about the Workshop, including downloadable Powerpoint slides.
Smokeless Tobacco Workshop: Trends in Use and Interventions - June 26th, 2008
MDQuit in conjunction with the Allegany County Health Department hosted a Smokeless Tobacco Workshop on June 26th, 2008 at the Allegany County Health Department. Click here for additional information about the Workshop, including downloadable Powerpoint slides.
County-Specific Youth Tobacco Use Fact Sheets
Click here to view and download Fact Sheets on Tobacco Use by Youth for all Maryland Counties and Baltimore City brought to you by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. These reports have been prepared and published by the Surveillance & Evaluation Component of Maryland's Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program. A link to these pdfs can also be found under the Maryland Data Overview Page (under the Maryland State Specific Prevalence Data).
Youth Prevention and Cessation Workshop
MDQuit hosted a workshop entitled, 'Making the Grade: How to Score Big with Youth Prevention and Cessation Strategies' which was held Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, MD.
Presenters included Dr. Carlo DiClemente, Dr. Gilbert Botvin, Dr. Chudley Werch & Dr. Linda Hancock. Click here to view and download the presenter's slides.
MDQuit's 2nd Annual Best Practices Conference - December 6th, 2007
MDQuit hosted its 2nd Annual Best Practices Conference on December 6th, 2007 at Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City.
Presenters included: Dr. Kevin Ferentz, Dr. Raymond Boyle, Dr. Cathy Melvin, Dr. Lisa Dixon, Dr. Melanie Bennett, Dr. Carlo DiClemente & Dr. Thomas Cargiulo. Click here for additional information about the Conference, including downloadable Powerpoint slides.
