WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Tobacco companies designed cigarettes to appeal to women's desires to be thin and healthy in ways that went "far beyond marketing and advertising," health researchers said Monday.

“They said internal documents released by tobacco companies under a 1998 court settlement show the companies created cigarettes, including "slim" and so-called "light" brands, in part to attract women.”

“A 1985 Philip Morris document reads: "(Women) do not want to stop smoking, yet they are guilt-ridden with concerns for their families if smoking should badly damage their own health. Thus they compromise by smoking low-tar cigarettes."”

“"How unfortunate that the industry used these findings to exploit women and not help them. Cigarette designs and ingredients were manipulated in an effort to make cigarettes more palatable to women and to complement advertising allusions of smooth, healthy, weight-controlling, stress-reducing smoke," Jack Henningfield of Johns Hopkins University and colleagues wrote in a commentary.”

“In the United States, 19 percent of adult women and 24 percent of adult men smoke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Smoking is the single biggest cause of heart disease and cancer.”

“In the United States, 19 percent of adult women and 24 percent of adult men smoke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Smoking is the single biggest cause of heart disease and cancer.”

For full article:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30614059.htm

What’s new?

Be aware of the reading material in your office! Encourage your patients to quit smoking and stay smoke-free without undermining their efforts in your waiting room. GRATCC now has a list of magazines and other publications that do not publish any tobacco related advertisements! For a copy of this list, please contact your Office Services Coordinator at your next visit or contact us by phone at the numbers listed below.
Visit our website and look at the new link “Smoking Cessation Resources” for a comprehensive list of the smoking cessation resources in the GRATCC area broken down by county. Let us know if you have additional ones to share.

Need more info?

For more information on GRATCC, please visit our website at: http://cvhpinstitute.org/tcc

For more information regarding our “5A” training model that is provided by our clinicians.
Please visit: http://www.rhealth.org/guidelines/tobacco.pdf

GRATCC Contacts

Scott McIntosh, PhD (585)273-3876
Director
scott_mcintosh@urmc.rochester.edu

Tracy Korts (585) 273-3872
Project Coordinator
tracy_korts@urmc.rochester.edu

Office Services Coordinators:
Gabrielle Kapsak (585)273-5239
gabrielle_kapsak@urmc.rochester.edu

Stephanie Paredes (585)273-5238
stephanie_paredes@urmc.rochester.edu

Brianne Testa-Wojteczko (585)273-3113
brianne_testa-wojteczko@urmc.rochester.edu

Referral to intensive services: (585)530-2050
NYS Quitline 1-866-NY-QUITS
NYS Quitsite www.nysmokefree.com