Understanding genetics and genetic polymorphism in tobacco cessation: A public health perspective

Public policy to maximize tobacco cessation.

Tobacco use kills more than 400,000 Americans every year. For smokers, quitting is the biggest step they can take to improve their health, but it is a difficult step. Fortunately, policy-based interventions can both encourage smokers to quit and help them succeed. Evidence shows that tobacco tax increases encourage smokers to quit-recent state and federal increases have created dramatic surges ...

Attempting tobacco cessation--an oral physician's perspective.

INTRODUCTION Tobacco use is a global health care problem. Repetitive exposure to nicotine produces neuroadaptation resulting in nicotine dependence. Smoking is associated with a range of diseases, causing high levels of morbidity and mortality and is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, with more than 4.6 million smokers worldwide dying each year from smoking related illnesses. Stop...

Ethical issues in predictive genetic testing: a public health perspective.

As a result of the increase in genetic testing and the fear of discrimination by insurance companies, employers, and society as a result of genetic testing, the disciplines of ethics, public health, and genetics have converged. Whether relatives of someone with a positive predictive genetic test should be notified of the results and risks is a matter urgently in need of debate. Such a debate mu...

Increasing tobacco cessation in America: A consumer demand perspective.

Genetics and Public Health

I Introduction II Populations targeted by public health genetics interventions III Ethical, legal, and social implications of public health genetic interventions III 1. Use of genetic information: confidentiality and discrimination III 2. DNA banks III 3. Prenatal diagnosis, assisted reproduction and embryo selection IV Examples of the role of public health in genetics IV 1. Folic acid and neur...