There’s some bad news for Black folks who like to puff. A surprising new study suggests that darker-skinned people have a stronger propensity for becoming addicted to tobacco. Read more.

South African teens are getting high off HIV drugs. Teens in South Africa are reportedly buying medication used to treat HIV and AIDS and smoking it to get high. Patients and healthcare workers are selling them the meds, reports the BBC. “I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked at first, these were school boys in their uniforms,” documentary maker, Tooli Nhlapo, told the BBC. “They take a pill and grind it, until it is a powder. Some also mix it with painkillers and others mix it with marijuana. They showed me how they roll it and smoke it,” said the filmmaker. AIDS patients have been caught smoking their medication instead of using it as prescribed, which doctors say will not help treat the virus. The anti-retroviral medication acts as a hallucinogen and has the effect of relaxing those who smoke it. “When you look at them, just a few seconds after taking it, they are in another world,” Nhlapo said. Healthy people who smoke the drugs could be putting themselves in danger, according Dr. Kas Kasongo. “People who are healthy that are taking this medication are exposing themselves to potential side-effects of these drugs,” he said. He also said patients are also putting their health at risk by not taking the drugs as they are supposed to. “We don’t have more than 20 anti-retroviral drugs on the market and, remember, they have to be used in a cocktail of at least three or four,” he said. “Therefore, abusing a particular drug, whichever it is, is a concern because it can give rise to resistance to drugs within that same group.” 

Zimbabwe president says cholera outbreak is over. Despite what international health organizations are saying, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe believes that the outbreak in cholera in his nation is over, reports Reuters. “I am happy we are being assisted by others, and we have arrested cholera,” Mugabe said in a speech Thursday where he also accused the West of trying to invade Zimbabwe. “Now that there is no cholera, there is no case for war.” The water-borne illness, which is normally easily treated and prevented, has killed almost 800 people in the nation, and a United Nations agency says that number is on the rise.  The death toll rose to 783 and 16,403 Zimbabwean are believed to have cholera, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “The figures speak for themselves. We hope that the joint efforts of the United Nations and government will contribute to halting the epidemic,” said a spokeswoman for the group in response to Mugabe’s words. And U.S. agency, USAID, also insists the outbreak is ongoing and that they are sending an additional $6.2 million in aid. “This is a cholera outbreak that is ongoing and urgent. This is clearly a humanitarian crisis,” an official from the group told reporters. The nation’s opposition movement, Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is in deadlocked talks to form a unity government with Mugabe, also denounced his claim. “We remain on the side of the people, while Zanu-Pf [Mugabe's party] remains on the side of terror,” and MDC statement said. French officials also accuse the Zimbabwe president of not letting in aid workers to slow the disease’s spread. “Contrary to what Mugabe says, the cholera epidemic is not under control. … France strongly regrets this decision and calls on Zimbabwe’s authorities to allow aid to reach the population,” a spokesman said. The disease could spread to 60,000 people if it’s not treated, says the U.N.

Putting up a brave and healthy front by going to the gym for daily workouts, the President-elect admitted on Sunday that he still struggles with an unhealthy habit: smoking. As Barack Obama answered other burning questions about his economic recovery plans on Sunday, he told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that for all intents and purposes, he’s given up smoking, but admitted to an occasional slip up. “There are times where I’ve fallen off the wagon,” Obama said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” However, the reformed smoker says he won’t be lighting up at the White House, which is a smoke-free zone.

Black teens are less likely to smoke than Whites. During their teen years, Blacks are much less likely to smoke than Whites, a new study says. However, most of this advantage disappears by mid-adulthood, researchers say. There is a puzzle here in that usually the health disadvantages in African Americans show up early in life and get worse as they get older,” says Fred Pampel, Ph.D., a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. “For cigarette-smoking, African Americans tend to act in a more healthy way during their teens, but that advantage goes away by middle age.” The study appears in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Pampel used data from two surveys to look at groups of White and Black teens to see how their cigarette-smoking patterns changed as they aged. “Resources, such as higher income, more education, better access to medical care and greater use of nicotine replacement products, help Whites quit at a faster rate,” Pampel said. But C. Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the study did not factor in possible socio-demographic differences in exposure to higher tobacco prices and taxes, which “deter youth onset and promote quitting, especially among low-income smokers, and protection by worksite and comprehensive smoke-free airs laws, which affect adult cessation more than youth initiation.”

 Celebrities stand up to diabetes. Several celebrities are talking about their battles with diabetes during National Diabetes Month. To see what they have to say, go to BET.com/Body & Soul.

Laws are needed to restrict smoking parents.

Parents who smoke cigarettes around their kids in cars and homes should beware – second-hand smoke may trigger symptoms of nicotine dependence in children. The findings are published in the September edition of the journal Addictive Behaviors in a joint study from nine Canadian institutions. “Increased exposure to second-hand smoke, both in cars and homes, was associated with an increased likelihood of children reporting nicotine dependence symptoms, even though these children had never smoked,” says Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin, senior author of the study, a professor at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. As a result, there needs to be laws that stop parents from being allowed to smoke in their cars when they are driving with children, suggest the researchers from and a researcher at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal.

Ugandan man killed because he kept smoking.

In Uganda, a group of people attacked and killed a man because he would not stop smoking, reports the BBC. The incident, which has left local officials in shock, happened in a public bar, where the country has had a ban on smoking for about four years. “I’m really not happy with it. He had broken the law, but they should have taken it to the police for the law to take its course,” saidJohn Okeya, an official in the village where it all happened. While the victim was smoking and drinking at the bar he made “provocative comments” to others who told him to stop smoking before the mob eventually approached him and strangled him to death. Many residents have spoken out against the case of extreme vigilantism, saying the attackers went too far. “These people who killed made a mistake because the law does not say kill a smoker, the law says take the smoker to the authority concerned,” said one resident. However another local said the action was necessary. “He was told to move away and smoke from outside and he refused,” the he said. The police have detained several suspects in the killing.

Zimbabwe leaders already aren’t getting along, reports say. Not too long after holding a press conference where everyone was all smiles, it looks like there’s trouble between the Zimbabwe leaders already. Just days after President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (along with Arthur Mutambara who leads a small faction of the opposition) publicly agreed on a power sharing deal, they are reportedly deadlocked once again on ministry appointments. Sources tell CNN that ZANU-Pf, the party of controversial longtime leader Mugabe wants to control important ministries like defense, justice and home affairs while giving Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change less important ones like correctional services. In the deal signed earlier this week, ZANU-Pf was assigned 15 council ministers and the opposition altogether was assigned 16. Mugabe seemed to have misgivings about the deal very early on. In fact, he told his supporters that the agreement was a humiliation, but that he had to sign it since Tsvangirai gained so many votes in the first round of elections (while Tsvangirai had the majority he didn’t have the over 50 percent needed to secure a victory). And at least one official from the Movement for Democratic Change also had problems with the deal the weekend before it was signed, saying Tsvangirai shouldn’t sign until issues with the ministries were taken care of. Still, he went ahead and inked the deal on Monday.

Wyclef helps Haiti, and there’s model search in Kenya

World Lens: Musician Wyclef Jean pitches in to help Haiti, Zimbabwe leaders are all smiles and the search for is on for Kenya’s next top model. See these pictures and more.

http://www.bet.com/News/Photos/NewsFlipBookWorldlens0915.htm??Referrer={457FF100-3B70-4ACA-BAD9-54876F2F0D30}

Smoking causes more cancers than once thought 

Infamous Klansman will rally troops in civil rights capital

Renowned ex-Klansman David Duke is uniting his troops in Memphis, the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. Duke, the Louisiana White supremacist politician who came a stone’s throw from landing in the U.S. Senate, has announced his Euro-International Conference to be held in the historic city on Nov. 8. But it is unclear exactly where the event will be held, according to Kevin Kane, an official with the convention and visitors bureau. At the convention, Duke will address the presidential election. “We will assemble to say clearly that neither Black radical, Barrack Obama, nor Mr. Amnesty, John McCain, truly represent the will of the American people,” says Duke, who left the Democratic Party several years ago to join the Republican ranks. Before his run for the Senate in 1990, Duke left the KKK – officially – and he formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People, NAAWP. He says he didn’t pick Memphis because it is the infamous site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the home of the National Civil Rights Museum, but because it is the most centrally located cities in the United States.

Police seek noose planter at Texas University. Police want to know who put a noose on the chair of the student body president at Abilene Christian University last week. When Daniel Paul Watkins, and African-American senior political science major, returned to his office on Wednesday, somebody had put the racially insensitive symbol there. University President Royce Money said the action is nothing short of a hate crime and campus cops are working to solve the case. Only about 13 percent of the student body at Abilene Christian, a campus of 4,700 students, is Black.

Life expectancy rises for HIV patients
Since 1996, the life expectancy of HIV patients in developed countries taking antiviral therapy has increased more than 13 years, and deaths have dropped by almost 40 percent, researchers report. Despite these gains, life expectancy still falls short by some 20 years, compared with people in the general population. Life expectancy among injection-drug users and those who start their treatment late is even shorter, reports HealthDay.com. “People on [antiretroviral therapy] can live a fairly long life,” said lead researcher Robert Hogg, from the British Colombia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver. “If they are women, they can marry and have children, and see them grow up. If they’re going to school, they can graduate from university, or they can continue to have a full adult life expectancy.” The report was published in this week’s special HIV/AIDS issue of The Lancet. For the study, Hogg’s team collected data on 43,355 HIV patients from Europe and North America who participated in 14 studies. Among these patients, 18,587 started treatment in 1996 to 1999, another 13,914 began treatment in 2000 to 2002, and 10,584 started treatment between 2003 and 2005. Deaths decreased from 16.3 deaths per 1,000 person in 1996 to 1999 to 10 deaths per 1,000 person-years in 2003 to 2005. In addition, life expectancy for someone starting treatment at age 20 increased more than 13 years, from 56.1 years in 1996 to 1999 to 69.4 years in 2003 to 2005, the researchers found. Still, African Americans remain the largest group affected by HIV in America and tend to have shorter life expectancies because of being treated later in the disease cycle, health experts say. For those who start treatment later, life expectancy is 52.4 years, compared with 70.4 years for patients treated early. Also, life expectancy for injection drug users is also lower at 52.6 years, compared with people who acquired HIV is another way at 64.7 years.

Study to examine the South’s high cancer rates.
Researchers plan to recruit 90,000 people in 12 Southern states to learn why the South has become the cancer belt of the United States and why Blacks have higher rates of several kinds of cancer, United Press International reports. Brain cancer and lung cancer are among those that disproportionately affect people living in the South. “When you look at a map of brain cancer incidence in the United States the Southeast just lights up in red,” Dr. Reid Thompson, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville said in a news release. The researchers will look at study participants’ lifestyles, family medical histories and risk factors for cancer and other serious diseases, UPI reported. “We’re asking patients about their diets, possible job-related exposure to cancer causing chemicals, and we’re collecting DNA samples,” Thompson said.

Maybe it’s time for MCs to revisit a few old-school party rhymes. If not, The Smoking Gun Web site is around to keep those claiming hardcore, thug backgrounds as honest as Boy Scouts. For the second time this year, Smoking Gun has outed a performer who appears to have embellished his street credibility. Rick Ross had previously denounced photos that surfaced last week as “Photo Shop fakes created by fake people to entertain fake people.” But TSG reports that the pics, showing a younger, clean-shaven Ross in prison-guard gear, are authentic. The site indicates that William Leonard Roberts, aka “Rick Ross,” has a social security number and employee record matching those of a man who worked in corrections for 18 months in 1995. Ross reportedly earned $22, 913.54 a year. TSG previously blew singer Akon’s false claims of prison time and having master-minded an auto theft ring out of the water. Crime may not pay, but lying about it apparently does.

RZA to make directorial debut

While many rappers make the leap to acting, few have gone the route of directing films. Wu Tang Clan’s RZA, having studied filmmaking with Quentin Tarantino and having made a recent appearance in American Gangster, is set to helm a forthcoming martial arts feature. RZA joins Ice Cube, Will Smith and Queen Latifah in the ranks of hip-hop veterans who’ve moved beyond acting to executive roles in the film industry. He also made an appearance in Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai.

Ashanti takes on a new role
Grammy-winning singer and Long Island native Ashanti has a new gig: tourism ambassador. The R&B singer was introduced Tuesday at a news conference as one of nine ambassadors who will promote tourism in Nassau County on Long Island. County Executive Thomas Suozzi placed an orange blazer with a tourism patch over her white dress at the event at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, where 16 tourists were offered an all-expenses-paid tour of Nassau. Ashanti sang at Suozzi’s two mayoral inaugurals in her native Glen Cove.Ashanti says it’s “amazing” to be asked to “give something back to the community.” The singer recently released her fourth studio album, “The Declaration.” The tourism campaign pitches Nassau as “The Island Next Door” and is targeted at visitors to the city.

Scientists say that the tobacco industry tweaked menthol levels in specific brands of cigarettes, deliberately creating a milder experience for first-time smokers, ScienceDaily.com reports. Menthol masks the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes. These milder products were then marketed to the youngest potential consumers, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found. “For decades, the tobacco industry has carefully manipulated menthol content not only to lure youth but also to lock in lifelong adult customers,” said Howard Koh, professor and associate dean for public health at Harvard and a co-author of the paper. Lead author Jennifer M. Kreslake, a research analyst, and colleagues from the Tobacco Control Research Program at Harvard, reviewed internal tobacco industry documents on menthol product development, conducted laboratory tests to measure menthol content in U.S. brands, examined market research reports and drew data from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual nationally representative survey among U.S. residents 12 years and older. The industry documents revealed that tobacco companies researched how controlling menthol levels could increase brand sales among specific groups. The 2006 national survey showed that a significantly greater proportion of adolescent and young adult smokers used menthol brands, compared to older smokers. In 2006, 43.8 percent of current smokers, ages 12 to 17 years old, reported using menthol cigarettes, as did 35.6 percent of current smokers 18 to 24 years old. By contrast, 30.6 percent of smokers older than 35 reported menthol use. The researchers noted that race was also a factor in use and brand choice, with African Americans as a whole more likely to use menthol brands. African-American adolescent and young adult smokers used menthol as frequently as did older African-American smokers, but they were more likely to choose a lower-menthol variety. Earlier Harvard research described industry efforts to target African Americans with menthol brands.

Jamaica is leading the Caribbean AIDS fight
Jamaica has reduced HIV in Jamaica to about 1.5 per cent, thus leading the Caribbean fight against AIDS, the Jamaican Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer reports. The country’s success has lead to an agreement for Jamaica to receive $55.2 million from the Global Fund to further fight the deadly disease. Lauding the successes of the first Global Fund program, led by outgoing Chief of Epidemiology and AIDS Dr. Peter Figueroa, the minister reported that there was also a 35-percent decline in AIDS-related deaths between 2004 and 2006. He accredited this to overall improved access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. “The mother-to-child transmission rate has also witnessed a dramatic decline, from 25 percent in 2004 to less than 10 percent in 2007,” he noted. However, while Jamaica has achieved much success in HIV control, particularly in treatment and care, risk-taking behaviors have not decreased significantly, especially among vulnerable groups and young persons. Spencer announced that the new Global Fund would be rolling out a number of initiatives to target vulnerable groups, such as prostitutes and their clients, drug users, prison inmates and young persons, among others.