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Biomedical subjects

G N Connolly

Publications and source records attributed to G N Connolly.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Snuffing tobacco out of sport.

Use of oral snuff has risen sharply among baseball players following a tobacco industry marketing campaign that linked smokeless tobacco with athletic performance and virility. Millions of adolescents have copied these professional role models and, today, are at risk of developing oral cancer and other mouth disorders. New policies and programs are needed to break the powerful grip that the tobacco industry has on professional sport. Health agencies, including the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Dental Research, have teamed up with major league baseball to help players quit and reduce public use of oral tobacco. If these efforts are successful, our national pastime will once again become America's classroom for teaching health and fitness, not nicotine addiction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Worldwide expansion of transnational tobacco industry.

As smoking rates fall in North America and western Europe, transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) from the United States and Great Britain turn to cigarette markets of the developing world to replace those smokers who have quit or died from smoking. The majority of these markets are dominated by state tobacco monopolies that advertise and promote smoking minimally. Few women or adolescents smoke in those nations. The majority of men do, but they smoke far fewer cigarettes per year than their counterparts in developed nations. Trade barriers in the developing world prevent foreign cigarette companies from entering. TTCs employ various techniques to force open those markets, including trade pressure from the US government. Once the market is open, Western cigarette advertising and promotions target nonsmoking women and children. Retail tobacco outlets increase, smoking rates rise, and more death and disease result. Latin America was the TTC target in the 1960s, the newly developed nations of Asia during the 1980s, and, today, the tobacco giants are pushing into eastern Europe, China, and Africa. If nothing is done, emerging national smoking-control programs will be overwhelmed, and state-owned cigarette monopolies will be taken over by the TTCs. Policies and programs to curb smoking exist, but for various reasons many lesser developed countries have not adopted them. The threat of TTC entry into a closed market offers an opportunity to form national coalitions against smoking, educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use, and implement public health policies and programs to restrict marketing and use of cigarettes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1986

The reemergence of smokeless tobacco.

Smokeless tobacco (snuff and chewing tobacco) is reemerging as a popular form of tobacco, particularly among male adolescents. In different regions of the United States, from 8 to 36 percent of male high-school students are regular users. The use of smokeless tobacco has been shown to cause oral-pharyngeal cancer. The strongest link is with cancers of the cheek and gum. White mucosal lesions (leukoplakia) are found in 18 to 64 percent of users, often at the site where the tobacco was held. Other associations have been suggested for cancers of the esophagus, larynx, and pancreas. Nitrosamines, found in high concentrations in smokeless tobacco, most likely have a role in its carcinogenicity. Other health problems include periodontal disease, acute elevations of blood pressure, and dependence. In early 1986, after action at the state level, Congress enacted a federal law requiring health-warning labels on packages of smokeless tobacco and a ban on electronic advertising. Other regulatory measures under consideration include raising state and federal excise taxes, tightening controls on advertising, and prohibiting sales to minors. In view of the recent growth of this problem, policy makers are taking the opportunity to intervene with preventive measures to protect a new generation of tobacco users.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Developing a sealant program: the Massachusetts approach.

This paper describes the program structure and strategies being used by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to promote the utilization of sealants. The program design includes four components: clinical demonstration, consumer education, professional education, and reimbursement. Eighteen Massachusetts neighborhood health centers and six local health departments are participating in the clinical demonstration component. Since March 1984, dental personnel from these sites have applied sealants to 4,398 schoolchildren. The promotional theme "Save Teeth: Seal Them" has been incorporated into brochures designed to increase knowledge and awareness of consumers. Curriculum materials have been developed to educate dentists and dental hygienists to apply sealants and understand the rationale and scientific basis for their use. Since January 1984, 18 sealant educational sessions have been conducted statewide for 630 dental providers. Information is being presented to third-party carriers, some of whom have subsequently adopted a policy to include reimbursement for sealants.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

What Massachusetts residents know about fluoridation.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health conducted a comprehensive, statewide telephone health interview survey during 1980. Adult members of 1,091 households were interviewed. The purpose of this paper is to report the attitudes and knowledge of the Massachusetts residents surveyed regarding fluoridation, as well as the relation of their attitudes with demographic and socioeconomic variables, dental and other health behaviors, and outcome of fluoridation referenda. The majority, 60 percent, were in favor of community water fluoridation. As expected, groups that were most likely to favor fluoridation were parents, those who were better educated, and those with higher incomes. About three-fourths of those surveyed were correctly aware of the purpose of fluoridation. Public opinion about fluoridation, as measured by this survey, did not correspond with the outcome of fluoridation referenda held in 14 Massachusetts communities between 1980 and 1983, which showed that 61 percent of the voters were not in favor of fluoridation.

Adolescent↗