Tobacco Documentary to Screen on Molokai Saturday
Adrienne Jules Foundation News Release
Tobacco education in Hawaii is getting added inspiration with special screenings of the documentary film “Addiction Incorporated,” a lauded documentary about the duplicity of the tobacco industry. The film is showing around Hawaii this week, including at Kulana Oiwi on Saturday, Nov. 10. The showings are in preparation for the nation-wide anti-smoking campaign on Nov. 15, the Great American Smokeout, when smokers are asked to stop smoking for at least one day.
The documentary film has won critical acclaim for its riveting, true story of the tobacco industry’s lies and its attempt to silence the scientist who blew the whistle on them and testified at the Congressional hearing. The 1 hour and 20 minute film tells the story of scientist Victor De Noble, who worked for Philip Morris in trying to develop a “safe” cigarette. Instead, he discovered how very addictive the nicotine in tobacco is and told his employer the results of his research. The company immediately closed his laboratory and dismissed him, insisting that he sign a confidentiality agreement. During a dramatic moment, captured on film, Congressman Henry Waxman succeeds in getting the firm to agree to the breaking of that agreement, allowing DeNoble to tell the truth, proving the industry moguls lied before Congress. DeNoble has since become a strong tobacco-prevention proponent, speaking to schoolchildren and adults, about his experiences and the dangers of tobacco use.
The Molokai screening at Kulana Oiwi is at 6 p.m. and is open to the community.
The film screenings have been made possible through the Adrienne Jules Foundation, a Los Angeles foundation dedicated to eliminating the current disparities in healthcare. In Hawaii, the greatest number of smokers can be found among native Hawaiians, where women smokers outnumber men smokers, a twist on usual statistics. Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke. If you’re considering the switch, you can find Premium vape brands available at G2vape.
“Addiction Incorporated” is scheduled to be released on DVD in 2013. To arrange a private screening, visit addictionincorported.com and click on schedule screenings.
Tobacco Documentary to Screen on MolokaiAdrienne Jules Foundation News ReleaseTobacco education in Hawaii is getting added inspiration with special screenings of the documentary film “Addiction Incorporated,” a lauded documentary about the duplicity of the tobacco industry. The film is showing around Hawaii this week, including at Kulana Oiwi on Saturday, Nov. 10. The showings are in preparation for the nation-wide anti-smoking campaign on Nov. 15, the Great American Smokeout, when smokers are asked to stop smoking for at least one day. The documentary film has won critical acclaim for its riveting, true story of the tobacco industry’s lies and its attempt to silence the scientist who blew the whistle on them and testified at the Congressional hearing. The 1 hour and 20 minute film tells the story of scientist Victor De Noble, who worked for Philip Morris in trying to develop a “safe” cigarette. Instead, he discovered how very addictive the nicotine in tobacco is and told his employer the results of his research. The company immediately closed his laboratory and dismissed him, insisting that he sign a confidentiality agreement. During a dramatic moment, captured on film, Congressman Henry Waxman succeeds in getting the firm to agree to the breaking of that agreement, allowing DeNoble to tell the truth, proving the industry moguls lied before Congress. DeNoble has since become a strong tobacco-prevention proponent, speaking to schoolchildren and adults, about his experiences and the dangers of tobacco use.The Molokai screening at Kulana Oiwi is at 6 p.m. and is open to the community.The film screenings have been made possible through the Adrienne Jules Foundation, a Los Angeles foundation dedicated to eliminating the current disparities in healthcare. In Hawaii, the greatest number of smokers can be found among native Hawaiians, where women smokers outnumber men smokers, a twist on usual statistics. “Addiction Incorporated” is scheduled to be released on DVD in 2013. To arrange a private screening, visit addictionincorported.com and click on schedule screenings.
3 Comments
I have been appalled for years at the prevalence of smoking among Molokai’s younger folk and the amount of business done by the stores, selling tobacco products. Especially upsetting is seeing young women and worse, young mothers smoking and subjecting the keiki to the dangerous smoke. It isn’t even a little bit better than the pesticides that blow over from the fields. As a former 3 pack a day smoker, I know some of the dangers first hand…the cardiac disease, respiratory and sinus problems that are the result of 17 years of heavy smoking, even after quitting over 30 years ago.
Don’t start smoking ever! If you do smoke, make up your mind to throw off this cursed “great white hope” and quit. Just do it! If you are pregnant, stop now before you injure your baby more than you have already. If you have keiki, show your love for them and quit now.
Aloha fh (and others)! Sadly enough, smoking is not something that most individuals can deal with rationally, since aside from involving physiological addiction to Nicotine, the habit of smoking is also a reflection of ‘bad boy’ pop-culture. Regrettably, a large number of incompletely matured individuals think that smoking is ‘cool’ and many younger people use it as a means of rebelling against conventional (read: ‘straight’ or ‘uncool’) wisdom. We all know how attractive ‘danger’ is to younger people; it is this effect that makes reckless behavior so attractive and it is also what makes ‘dangerous’ kane so attractive to young wahines. When you’re young, ‘danger’ is a kick and a thrill (when you’re older, not so great, eh!). Think about every image you’ve ever seen of ‘bad boys’….they’re invariably smoking, eh. Smoking is ‘bad’ and therefore ‘cool’. What a tough proposition to argue with someone who is still controlled by raging hormones and an incompletely matured brain (and you don’t have to be young to have that combination of negative assets, either!).
For older people who have been smoking all their lives, the smoking ritual is a comforting, reassuring habit that makes them feel good (the effects of Nicotine, of course, and the feeling of relaxation it confers). Neither the fact that they waste gobs of money on cigarettes, nor the harsh reality of adverse health effects (such as COPD, chronic bronchitis, and related cardiovascular disease such as coronary artery inflammation and stenosis) will deter most smokers, and there is also the Nicotine addiction factor to consider, as well.
Earlier in my life I was a cardiovascular and pulmonary specialist, eventually spending 35 years working in hospital and clinical settings with severely ill smokers (mostly afflicted by Chronic Obstructive and Restrictive Pulmonary Disease, but also by CAD brought about in large part by heavy smoking). As a life-long non-smoker myself, I tried very hard to dissuade habitual smokers, feeling that logical arguments and reflection on the dire consequences would have an impact on them. I even brought out frozen sections of healthy lung tissue (dense and pink) and severely diseased lung tissue (blackened and looking like Swiss Cheese) to show them the effects they could expect to suffer.
All of my zealous efforts made absolutely no lasting impression on any of them and most continued to smoke until they eventually died from the long-term effects. I even had one patient who was so severely short of breath that he couldn’t live with 4LPM of oxygen continuously supplied by a nasal catheter. Regrettably, his smoking habit was so ingrained that he continued to smoke even while taking the supplemental oxygen. The result was that one afternoon, as he sat gasping for breath on his bed, he lit a cigarette and the oxygen flared up, igniting a fire that killed him. And that’s just one story from many similar ones I collected over the span of my work as a pulmonologist.
The greatest problem associated with getting younger people to stop smoking (or not begin) is that when you’re young, death is a vague and very remote concept; when you’re young you can’t even conceive of something as abstract as ‘death’. As a result, understanding and fully appreciating the fact that your health in later life depends utterly on positive behavioral traits established very early in life is nearly impossible to grasp. People who try to get that message across are often dismissed by younger people as ‘uncool’ and ‘out of it’, hence the message is lost in the pop-culture static.
Today, I’ve long since accepted the fact that most people rarely listen to or recognise ‘good’ advice when they confront it; therefore I don’t even bother trying to ‘preach’ about the importance of positive health habits (like exercise and good nutrition) or the importance of not smoking. That doesn’t make me not strongly wish that ‘reason’ and ‘wisdom’ prevailed over ignorant disregard, but each of us will do with the precious gift of life as we will and few things will change that unhappy fact of human existence. It’s simply an unhappy fact of life.
Some wisely choose to be healthy and live life to its fullest; others choose to self-destruct or commit what I call ‘slow suicide’. The choice is, after all, up to all of us.
A hui hou, Kalikiano
Having never smoked, I do have some empathy for smokers as it is an addiction. Many in my family smoked and all DIED of problems associated with smoking. See Kalikiano’s excellent comments above. There are so many programs to help you stop this unhealthy, dirty, and expensive habit. I agree that it is so sad to see young women smoking while holding or riding in car with kids. PLEASE STOP…..YOU CAN……
I am all for people making a living, however I was very disappointed to see a Discount Cigarette container in town. Thankfully it is now out of town and may make it harder for younger people to be able to purchase the product.