Tobacco Ordinance Needs Protection

Glendale has received statewide recognition and been lauded for its comprehensive policies that protect residents and visitors from breathing secondhand tobacco smoke in outdoor dining and shopping venues. Glendale also has a moratorium on the number of smoking dens also known as hookah lounges operating in the city. On Tuesday, Aug. 21, the Glendale City Council will be reviewing all of the current tobacco control ordinances and opening them up for possible updating.

Teen Smokers and Tobacco Use

Why is important to educate teens on the topic of tobacco? Because according to the Tobacco Reality Unfiltered group (TRU), the number of teens who wish they would have never started smoking is 70 percent. Plus, once they have started it is very hard to quit. What makes tobacco so addictive and so hard for teens to quit smoking? Nicotine. Nicotine, which is found in tobacco, is more addictive than heroin or cocaine. In fact, nicotine reaches the brain in 7 seconds. Another reason teens smoke is peer pressure, stress, to look “cool” or because their parents smoke. Our goal is to show teens how not only addictive tobacco use can be, but also how very harmful it is to your body.

Tobacco Industry Manufacture Less Toxic Cigarette

Though emphasizing that quitting is the best remedy to combat health problems for smokers, Cornell researchers have found a way to make tax free Style cigarettes less toxic. Researchers from the lab of Jack H. Freed, the Frank and Robert Laughlin Professor of Physical Chemistry, have demonstrated that lycopene and grape seed extract literally stuffed into a conventional cigarette filter drastically lowers the amount of cancer-causing agents passing through. Their research is published in the Jan. 2 issue of the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). "The implications of this technique can help reduce the hazardous effects of tobacco smoke," said Boris Dzikovski, research associate and paper co-author. The Cornell scientists altered filters of normal cigarettes by placing a mixture of grape seed and lycopene treated with activated carbon in the middle. Their experiments focused on gas-phase free radicals, as opposed to other hazardous ingredients such as the solid particles, or tar, contained in cigarettes.