Missing My Grandpa

This entry is a sad one for me. My grandfather, Robert Yragui, died from emphysema over Labor Day weekend.

I was just getting to know him. He was my biological mother's father. I was not in touch with that part of my family until recently. I reached out to Grandpa first. He was very sweet and caring. He liked to recount stories of his youth in Idaho growing up on a ranch with his Basque relatives. He was a passionate progressive and always railed against the Republicans. He was smart and articulate and soulful.

I felt so sad to see him suffer from emphysema. He smoked for many years but finally quit in his 50s. I guess the damage was done, though. He developed emphysema later on that progressively got worse. Every time I visited him he had his oxygen tank with him as well as a coterie of inhalers and medication. As time went on, everyday tasks became harder for him. He could not go down the street for a short distance without being short for air. Things got so bad that he had to go into a hospice for the last four months of his life. The disease that stole his breath finally stole his life.

I am so angry with the cigarette companies! Tobacco products are the only products that kill when used as directed. They cause a constellation of illnesses, of which emphysema is one. Emphysema is a disorder of lung inflation characterized by enlargement and destruction of the air spaces. If a person has chronic bronchitis as well as emphysema, the condition is called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Smoking is responsible for 80-90 percent of all COPD cases, including emphysema. COPD is now the fourth most common cause of death in the United States and is rising.

When will the carnage stop? I am doing my part with Butt Out to inspire the LGBT community to fight against the tobacco industry. You can be part of the fight too. If I can prevent even one young person from sharing my grandfather's fate, I will have succeeded.

Robert (Bob) Andrew Yragui

July 13, 1933 - Sept. 4, 2010

Here is his obituary in the Chronicle

Robert (Bob) Andrew Yragui July 13, 1933 - Sept. 4, 2010 Passed away at home in Vallejo, on September 4, 2010 after a long battle with Emphysema. Bob was born on July 13, 1933 in Shoshone, Idaho. Bob attended the University of Santa Clara where he obtained a B.S in history. Bob then met Maurine Yale and they married in San Francisco on April 14, 1957. Bob went to work for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. He was very active in his union local, and was elected shop steward. He began his union locals' first newspaper. Bob is survived by his wife Maurine, and daughters, Teresa, (husband Ron Garnys), Elizabeth Ann, Emily (Mike Arnold), Claire (Rudy Jaime), and Catherine Yragui, his beloved grandchildren, Jane Aceituno, Merisa, Kyle, and Kelly Rasmussen, Brandon Yragui, and brothers Nicholas, Edward, and Leon Yragui. A memorial Service will be held on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 2:00 pm, at Skyview Memorial Lawn, 200 Rollingwood Drive, Vallejo, CA 94591, (707) 644-7474. A gathering at the family home will follow the service. The family would like to thank Sutter VNA and Hospice

Secondhand Smoking Harms School Performance

I grew up in a house filled with smoke. Both of my parents smoked. They smoked everywhere - in the house, in the car, in restaurants - you name it. If my parents had that persistent, nagging itch for for some nicotine satisfaction, they lit up, regardless of where they were or who was around. I always wondered whether those plumes of smoke might impact my health. I later learned that second-hand smoke was linked in children to increased risk of asthma, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. My biological mother never smoked with me in the womb but my step-mom smoked while pregnant. Smoking while pregnant results in higher risk of the child having childhood behavior problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I knew all of that. What I was amazed to learn today is that childhood second hand smoking exposure results in impaired performance in school. Check out the article in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The study was done in Hong Kong among 23,000 11- to 20-year-old non-smoking students. The study was split between youngsters who lived with at least one smoker and those who did not. The students rated their school performance. The level of rating one's school performance as "poor" compared to classmates varied with exposure to second-hand smoke. 23% of students who were exposed to smoking at home at least five days a week rated their performance as poor. That rate was 20% for students who had less exposure. The rate was only 17% for students who lived in non-smoking households. The researchers accounted for certain factors like parents’ education levels and the type of housing the students lived in.

The study was not perfect. The researchers depended on the student's self-assessment of academic performance and exposure to smoke in the home. Future studies can do a better job of measuring school performance by, for example, looking at official school records. They can also make objective measurements of exposure to smoke by, for example, testing urine. The study was a positive step forward in learning about the effects of second hand smoke on youngsters. A lot more work needs to be done.

I did not have trouble in school growing up but my siblings did. A number of things conspired to harm their ability to excel in school. It is troubling to learn that my parents' smoking might have been one additional factor. Parents really should read this study. It ought to be a criminal act for a parent or anyone else for that matter to smoke around a child. Let's see what the future brings.

Stay in Touch!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day happened Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO) organized the day. Its theme for the global anti-smoking day was "gender and tobacco" and the harmful effects of tobacco marketing and smoking on women and girls. Countries in the developing world are seeing a rise in women smoking as women become more affluent and have more disposable income to spend on cigarettes. Tobacco companies are beginning to target this increasingly empowered segment of the population. This trend of increased female smoking is mirrored in the LGBT community in California where lesbians and bisexual women smoke nearly three times as much as heterosexual women. The trend worldwide is very troubling.

Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world, currently responsible for the death of one in 10 adults worldwide, or about 5 million deaths each year, said the WHO. Women make up about 20 percent of the world's 1 billion smokers, but if current tobacco usage continues smoking will kill 8 million people a year by 2030 -- 2.5 million will be women.

Even more alarming is the incidence of smoking among youth. It is estimated that more than 8 percent of girls between 13 and 15, or around 4.7 million girls, are using tobacco products in the Asia-Pacific region, said the WHO. Compare that to LGBT youth smoking in California where 43.7% of LGBT youth smoke!

We have to protect our young people worldwide from the ravages of smoking.

A YouTube video of an Indonesian two-year-old boy, who reportedly smokes two packs of cigarettes a day, angered anti-smoking groups around the world last week. The video has been removed by YouTube.

"The tobacco industry is thriving and if we look at our society, even children have started to smoke," Krida Wacana Christian University (Ukrida) student Stefano Leatemia told The Jakarta Post newspaper on Monday.

WHO is calling for comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship to protect women and girls from images that portray smoking as glamorous or fashionable. Only half of the nations in the Asia-Pacific have bans on tobacco advertising.

We need more than a No Tobacco Day. We need a No Tobacco Life. With activism and personal encouragement we can help keep all of us, including our most vulnerable citizens, from becoming slaves to the noxious product.

Stay in Touch!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Massachusetts Makes the Tobacco Fight Graphic

You know how a lung is supposed to look: Plump and pink all over, gleaming with health. Picture me now holding the lung slice at last year's Butt Out booth for SF Pride. Cropped within two clear panes of plexiglass was a sliver of diseased lung. The lung matter was grey with black marks here and there. The slice had craters in it and red pocks where blood vessels had blown up. Imagine me with the biggest grimacing look that you can imagine on a person. Someone actually had that lung! That lung slice belonged to a long-time smoker who died of a smoking related disease. Let me tell you, that lung slice validated the decision not to smoke for me and everyone passing by the booth that day. Nothing said DO NOT SMOKE better than a slice of human flesh that looked like it had been left out in the sun for days.

Massachusetts is getting graphic too. Pending approval of the Public Health Council, the state will require its 9,000 convenience stores, pharmacies, and gas stations to show posters of the physical harm caused by smoking by tobacco racks and cash registers. Consumers will have to look at pictures of degenerated lung mass and decayed teeth before making their tobacco purchases. The hope is that some of those consumers will rethink their choice. Massachusetts will be the first state to mandate anti-smoking posters at retailers and will follow New York City's lead, which has been successfully waging its own campaign (check out the pictures). Retailers will suffer $200-$300 fines if they don't put up the posters.

San Francisco should create a similar program. San Francisco already has some momentum for change with the second-hand smoking ordinance. The City should run with it. Money should not be a concern either. Massachusetts has accessed $316,000 in federal stimulus money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do the posters. Local workers get jobs making the posters. Maybe the City can get similar funds. Let's do it!

I always recoil when I think about the lung slice that I saw while tabling. I don't smoke and seeing the lung slice makes me not want to smoke even more. Let's hope Massachusetts succeeds in deterring people with its poster program. Why can't we do the same here?

Stay in Touch

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

The Misinformation is Out There

Sorry, I’ve been missing in action for awhile. I’ll do a new blog post next week. This week I’m posting a letter to the editor that will hopefully be printed in the BAR soon. The letter, written by Butt Out’s Brian Davis, is a response to a recent “Guest Opinion” piece in the BAR which suggests that the new secondhand smoke law is unnecessary:

http://ebar.com/openforum/opforum.php?sec=guest_op&id=268.

This piece, written by a member of the LGBT community, is filled with misinformation and misguided conclusions based on incomplete information, that I feel ultimately serves to encourage smokers to continue smoking rather than inspiring them to quit. Here’s Brian’s letter. See you next week!

“I am writing in response to the guest opinion article: “New smoking ban is not needed.” The article suggests that secondhand smoke is not a serious health concern, when in fact 53,000 people a year in the U.S. die because of it, and the Surgeon General has determined that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

It’s true that smoking rates in general have gone down, but the LGBT community in California is still smoking at very high rates: 30.4% overall -- twice as much as everyone else. It’s ironic that the article suggests we should spend more money educating “marginalized populations at most risk of smoking” without mentioning that the LGBT community is among the most at risk, and without realizing that the new law will help inspire the 70% of LGBT smokers who want to quit to break free from their addiction.

It is not true that there was a parade of children in front of the Supervisors talking about how smoking on bar patios affects their asthma. The youngest to testify were a few high school students, and they didn’t talk about smoking in bars.

Also, it is inaccurate to suggest that taking these practical measures to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke in bar environments will be harmful to business. Many other cities have similar laws and their bars have continued to thrive, often drawing additional customers who enjoy breathing air free of smoke drawn in from open doorways to the street or outdoor patios, and who enjoy being outdoors at a bar without having to inhale toxic fumes.

And yes, the air in outdoor smoking patios is toxic. A recent Stanford study demonstrated that exposure to tobacco smoke outside can be just as hazardous as indoor levels, increasing non-smoker’s risk of heart disease, asthma, and many other diseases caused by smoking.

Finally, the name of the group that advocated for the new law is the San Francisco Tobacco Free Coalition, not the “Anti-Smoking Coalition” as the article claims. We are working for the health of this city by helping protect people of all ages from exposure to secondhand smoke and helping the vast majority of smokers who want to quit get the help they need to break free from tobacco.

Brian Davis
Project Coordinator

BUTT OUT! Ending Tobacco Industry Exploitation of the LGBT Community
On behalf of the San Francisco Tobacco Free Coalition”

Stay in Touch

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

FDA Champions Youth In New Rule

Both of my parents smoke. Their brand of choice is Marlboro. Back in the day in the 1980s my parents took advantage of the "Marlboro Mile" program to accumulate free knick-knacks with the Marlboro logo on it. My parents spent so much money on cigarettes and we were poor. Why not fill the house with free Marlboro mugs and other accoutrements? We had every conceivable item, including Marlboro logoed camping tents that we pitched in the living room. Every day I had an added reminder that cigarettes existed. I was given the message that smoking and heavy smoking won you cool stuff.

I didn't pick up smoking, but my other siblings did. Only one of my siblings has broken free of the habit.

My family's experience is not an isolated one. Big Tobacco has its hooks in our youth, particularly our LGBT youth. Every day nearly 4,000 kids under 18 try their first cigarette and 1,000 kids under 18 become daily smokers. National youth smoking rates range from 28% to 35% for adolescents. The numbers are even bleaker for LGBT youth in California. Fully 43.7% of them smoke! LGBT youth smoke for so many reasons, principally out of a sense of alienation at being gay in an antigay world. The tobacco companies have pounced on LGBT youth insecurity and vulnerability in their marketing efforts at youth generally. It is a moral horror.

Enter the feds in white hats. Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule banning numerous Big Tobacco practices impacting our youth. The rule is a creative and comprehensive effort to protect our youth that will save many LGBT youth as well from picking up the deadly tobacco habit.

Most of the rule reinstates a 1996 rule that was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000. The Supreme Court stated that the FDA overstepped its powers because they did not have the authority to regulate tobacco. Congress licked that problem in 2009 with passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The FDA bans a good number of practices. They ban tobacco sales to minors, sales of cigarettes in less than 20-pack size, sample giveaways, and tobacco sponsorship of sports, music and other events. Those provisions were in the old 1996 rule and were in part adopted by the tobacco companies in the Master Settlement Agreement. The rule bans other things including sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in vending machines and self-service displays, music and sound effects in audio tobacco ads, and sale or distribution of items like hats and t-shirts with tobacco brands or logos. A controversial part of the rule is the mandate that most tobacco advertising and labeling be displayed only in black text on a white background. The tobacco companies have rushed to sue over this provision. Stay tuned.

Let's hope the FDA's action will be but one step in the fight against Big Tobacco's targeting of our youth. Then we can send that Marlboro camping tent and the bag of "goodies" inside of it to the wilderness.

Stay in Touch

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).

Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Iowa Hate Group Claims Same-Sex Marriage is Worse than Smoking

You read that right. An anti-gay organization in Iowa called the Iowa Family Policy Center is saying that same-sex marriage is worse than smoking. This claim not only comes from left field but is appalling in the face of statistics on smoking showing the deadly toll of smoking on the population. As mentioned before in this blog, smoking kills more people than murder, suicide, traffic accidents, drugs and alcohol combined!

The lack of sensitivity and understanding is incredible. Just listen to what the president of the group, Chuck Hurley, has to say:

“The Iowa Legislature outlawed smoking in an effort to improve health and reduce the medical costs that are often passed on to the state. The secondhand impacts of certain homosexual acts are arguably more destructive, and potentially more costly to society than smoking.”

The "secondhand impacts" that Hurley refers to deals with a U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that showed gay men have higher rates of HIV and syphilis. Hurley claims that giving same-sex couples the right to marry will increase the rates of HIV and syphilis in Iowa.

Penalizing gay people and withholding their rights stigmatizes people. Many new transmissions of HIV and syphilis happen to people who do not know their status. People in loving married couples can draw on family and community support to empower themselves and seek the knowledge and services necessary to remain HIV negative or to seek treatment if they become HIV positive. Witholding civil rights like marriage exacerbates the rate of infection.

The comment about smoking calls for special attention. Smoking kills people on a massive scale. I learned recently that one third of the world's population smokes. Smoking causes disease in about half of smokers. Tobacco is the only product marketed that kills its users when used as directed. One cannot ignore the terrible swath of destruction that smoking has blazed in our lives.

Compare that to same-sex marriage or to marriage in general. Marriage solidifies the love and commitment of two people. Their lives are intertwined and strengthened by the union. Our society strongly sanctions marriage. Everyone from our immediate families to the IRS gives support to married couples. Marriage is a stabilizing force in people's lives that positively impacts gay lives as well as straight lives. The comparison to smoking completely falls flat in the face of the benefits of same-sex marriage in the lives of LGBT people and in the community at large. Just listen to Butt Out coordinator Brian Davis describing his marriage with his husband Ted and the comparison to smoking:

"My 22 years with Ted has invigorated my life. Smoking destroys life. Getting married brought me and Ted closer together. Tobacco tears families apart forever through death and disability. There is no comparing same-sex marriage and smoking."

Let's tell the haters in Iowa to get their facts and their values straight. Same-sex marriage is a bond that shines. Smoking casts a heavy pall on all of us.

Stay in Touch

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).

Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Smoking Triggers Recurrence of Cancer in HIV+ People

Smoking negatively impacts the health of people with HIV. People with HIV have weakened immune systems that are bolstered but not completely bolstered by life extending anti-viral medication. Smoking makes it harder to fight off HIV related illnesses, especially those dealing with the lungs. The damaging effects of smoking on HIV+ people is illustrated by the results of a recent study looking at the effects of smoking on the recurrence of head and neck cancer.

Some HIV+ people contract the human-papillomavirus (HPV). HPV can cause head and neck cancer. It is possible for HIV+ people to fight off the illness and put the cancer into remission. That time free from cancer can be cut short because of smoking.

University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor scientists looked at 124 patients who were treated at the University of Michigan for squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx. They compared rates of recurrence in HIV+ people who smoked compared to those who did not smoke. Overall, 82.3% had HPV-positive tumors. Among these patients, only 32.3% had never used tobacco. Current smokers were more than five times more likely to have a recurrence!

The cancer can be caused by HPV negative and positive viruses. Among those with HPV-positive tumors, the rate of recurrence was highest among current tobacco users (34.8%), followed by former users (19.6%) and those who had never used tobacco (6%). The recurrence rate among patients with HPV-negative tumors, who had all used tobacco at some point, was the highest at 50%.

The investigators noted potential limitations in the statistical analysis for the study, which included two different cohorts that differed in gender distribution, HPV-positivity, treatment regimens, and follow-up times.

Stay in Touch

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).

Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.