So long to Aussie smoking
July 28, 2011
AUSTRALIANS are smoking at
record low levels, according to
Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare statistics.
According to the figures the
nation’s daily smoking rates
are down to a record low of
15.1%, a figure which the
Government hopes will
continue to plummet with the
harsher soon-to-be-enacted
anti-smoking laws.
According to the Acting
Minister for Health and Ageing,
Mark Butler, the new Plain
Packaging legislation will be
the world’s toughest antitobacco
laws, restricting logos,
brand imagery, colours and
promotional text on packs.
“There are no two ways about
it, smoking kills so I’m pleased
people are heeding this message
and butting out,” said Butler.
Other encouraging figures
outlined in the AIHW report
include the fact that largest
falls in daily smoking were
among people in their early
twenties to mid-forties.
MEANWHILE a recent study by
the University of Sydney has given
Aussies even more incentive to
quit, with the finding that
exposure to cigarette smoke
fundamentally alters airway
tissue from people with chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), and that the damage
lasts long after a smoker quits.
“We have demonstrated for
the first time that the
extracellular matrix (ECM)
produced by fibroblasts following
stimulation with cigarette
smoke extract is functionally
different than non-exposed
ECM, and that the cigarette
smoke itself may prime the
airways in such a way to create
an environment whereby airway
remodeling is encouraged,” the
researchers said.
“We have known for a long
time that development of
fibrosis is irreversible in
people with COPD.
“Our findings suggest that
cigarette smoking alters the
lung composition in such a way
that fibrosis becomes selfperpetuating,”
they added.
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