California’s attempt to raise the cigarette tax by $1.00 failed by less than a percentage point. 50.3 percent opposed the tax and 49.7 supported it. Proposition 29 planned to use the money generated from the tax to fund cancer research and anti-smoking programs, as well as replenish funds for anti-smoking campaigns.  The hope was to raise around $700 million per year.

The initiative would raise the tax to $1.87 per pack, only the 16^th highest in the country. However, raising taxes in other states, such as New York, has effectively lowered the amount of cigarettes bought, especially by young people. Medical News Today reports “Each ten percent increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes reduces youth smoking by about seven percent.” Officials speculated that the tax would lower youth smoking by 13.7 percent, along with convincing thousands of others to quit smoking, and a larger number never to start.

A previous cigarette tax, Proposition 86, which would have raised the tax by $2.60 per pack, was defeated in 2006. The tax has not been raised since 2000, holding the cigarette tax at $.87 for twelve years.

According to Balletpedia.org, supporters included Lance Armstrong and the Livestrong Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and others. Opponents included the California Taxpayers Association, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity.

Phillip Morris led the Tobacco Companies on a massive campaign against the initiative, pumping millions of dollars into advertising that dropped support from two-thirds in March to less than half during the ballot reading on June 5.

According to the LA Times, Morris and his company conducted a classic “red herring” technique, diverting the attention away from the beneficial effects of the initiative and drew attention to where the money was going to go. They claim the goal of Proposition 29 is too narrow, and won’t solve many of the problems that California currently faces, such as a lack of funding for schools and roads. The Tobacco companies argued that cancer is only a small problem in comparison and that the money should be used in other ways to help the state.

Teresa Casazza of the California Taxpayers Association, said “Proposition 29’s good intentions are overshadowed by the fact that California simply cannot afford another billion-dollar government boondoggle to create another wasteful spending program.”

A majority of Californians support the tax for the obvious benefits, but enough were swayed by the opposing campaign to stop the law from passing.

Armstrong told the New York Times, “the defeat of this life saving initiative is a genuine tragedy. Big Tobacco lied to voters to protect its profits and spend $50 million to ensure it can continue peddling its deadly products to California kids.”

There is no doubt that the debate will continue with the next election and a new proposition in the hope of lowering the number of cigarette smokers.

The article California Proposition 29 Fails by Less than One Percent appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Wisconsin, US -Kohl’s Department Stores announced that in celebration of life, survival, and a “Wish for a World with Less Breast Cancer and More Birthdays,” Kohl’s threw a “One Wish” Birthday Bash at the 2012 American Cancer Society Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk, May 5, 2012, on Milwaukee’s lakefront. Decorated with nearly 8,000 pink cake pops, balloons and giant birthday candles, the celebration represents the company’s greater commitment to the fight against breast cancer. More than 3,000 Kohl’s associates, friends and family took part in the walk.

“Kohl’s is proud of our partnership with the American Cancer Society in providing valuable information and resource tools to local women battling breast cancer. It is important that Wisconsin women – our mothers, daughters, friends and co-workers – have easy access to breast health care information for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.”

“In the three years since we began our partnership, our program has provided nearly 17,000 women in southeast Wisconsin with life-saving breast health information and more than 1,850 breast cancer patients have received services and information,” said Julie Gardner, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Kohl’s Department Stores.”

“This year our Kohl’s team included more than 3,000 associates, friends and family members – making it the largest corporate team in the history of the Making Strides against Breast Cancer Milwaukee walk. We know breast cancer has impacted thousands of families across the state and as a company, we are passionate about making a true difference in the fight against breast cancer and providing support to those when they need it most.”

“In 2012, more than 4,000 Wisconsin women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Our partnership with Kohl’s Department Stores provides Wisconsin women access to life-saving breast health information and the steps necessary to prevent breast cancer or find it early.

It’s a gift that is truly life changing,” said Jari Johnston-Allen, chief executive officer, American Cancer Society, Midwest Division. “The American Cancer Society is honored to partner with Kohl’s in the fight against breast cancer and together, are working towards creating a world with less breast cancer and more birthdays.”

In 2010, Kohl’s philanthropic program, Kohl’s Cares, announced a nearly $5 million donation to the American Cancer Society’s Midwest Division over three years. In addition to this contribution, Kohl’s offers its Kohl’s Cares women’s cause merchandise, a series of exclusively-designed products to support the fight against breast cancer.

This women’s health philanthropic initiative builds upon Kohl’s long history of charitable involvement in the communities it serves. Since 2000, Kohl’s and the Kohl’s Cares program have combined to give approximately $47 million to support charitable initiatives in the metro-Milwaukee area. Also, during the past 12 years, the company’s Kohl’s Cares kids cause merchandise program, which sells plush toys and books, has raised more than $208 million to benefit children’s health and education initiatives nationwide.

The article Less Breast Cancer, More Birthdays appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Rock legends Chicago and The Doobie Brothers will share the stage this summer for an evening of classic rock hits spanning both artists’ extensive repertoire of chart topping and award winning hits. Doubling the value for fans this summer, both bands will co-headline the 21 date U.S.tour kicking off on July 11th in Tuscon, AZ at the Anselmo Valencia Amphitheatre with confirmed dates through August 24th at the Toyota Pavilion in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Each band will perform individual sets, playing their biggest hits, and then both Chicago and The Doobie Brothers will join together for a thrilling grand finale encore, playing each other’s songs at the end of each of these summer shows.  Tickets for the Live Nation promoted tour go on sale in select markets beginning March 2nd at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.

Chicago, the legendary band with horns, and the highest charting American band in Billboard Magazine’s list of Top 100 artists of all time, will once again allow a winning bidder to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing the band’s classic hit song, “If You Leave Me Now” onstage with Chicago at every concert.

This is the third consecutive year that Chicago has teamed up with the American Cancer Society to create “Sing With Chicago,” a highly successful promotion that has raised over $130,000 to fight breast cancer.  Fans in every market will be able to bid on a package that includes a meet and greet with the band, two premium tickets and a chance to sing onstage in concert with the band.

Previous year’s winners were so moved by the experience that they launched the Facebook group, “I Sang With Chicago,” where they shared stories about their experiences and videos of themselves onstage singing with the band.  Each winner has an incredible story to tell.

As was done last year, the money raised this year is in honor of Chicago’s friend Paqui Kelly, the wife of Notre Dame’s head football coach Brian Kelly, who is a breast cancer survivor. Chicago has generously supported other charitable causes in the past, including the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation and Hannah & Friends, started by Maura Weis and her husband, Charlie Weis, the current coach at the University of Kansas.

Northern California’s Doobie Brothers are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their propulsive roots-based, harmony laden, guitar driven style that sold an estimated 40 million records over the course of four decades.

In 2010, original members Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston, and 30-year member John McFeemarked a new chapter with the delivery of a potent album – World Gone Crazy (HOR Records), featuring a guest appearance by the legendary Willie Nelson.  It’s their first new album in a decade, and it produced the Top 20 track “Far From Home” and the Top 5 GAC Video “World Gone Crazy.”

Their current single, “A Brighter Day,” is #22 on the AC charts, and continues to climb the charts. The band recently returned from an extremely successful tour in New Zealand. Forty thousand tickets were sold (3 shows)—almost 1% of the entire population of New Zealand. Over the past year, The Doobie Brothers made several stops into Nashville to appear on the Grand Ole Opry and to film a Crossroads special with Luke Bryan. Bryan and the Doobies performance of “China Grove” was in heavy rotation on the CMT channel.

For additional information, visit:  ChicagoTheBand.com and DoobieBros.com.

The article Rock Legends Chicago and The Doobie Brothers Join Together on Stage appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital opened its doors amid an emotionally charged debate regarding how to treat childhood cancer. At that time, few children with the most common form of childhood cancer survived, and many physicians believed treatment was futile.

St. Jude physicians and researchers took a radically different approach, and these efforts proved pivotal in changing the way the world treats childhood cancer. St. Jude is recognized for playing a significant role in improving overall survival rates for childhood cancer, which have increased from 20 percent in 1962 to 80 percent today.

In recognition of this impact over the past 50 years, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam declared February “St. Jude Month” in the state of Tennessee. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, the hospital opened February 4, 1962.

“In the nearly four decades I’ve been at St. Jude, I’ve had the privilege of watching the organization grow from one star-shaped building to a sprawling campus of about 2.5 million square feet of research, clinical and administrative space,” said Dr. William E. Evans, St. Jude director and CEO.

“When I started, there were a few hundred people on staff. Now we have more than 3,700 employees. Driven by our patients, and thanks to our employees, our colleagues at ALSAC and the public support they generate, St. Jude will only continue to grow and flourish in the years to come.”

The history of St. Jude is marked with milestones in the treatment of pediatric cancer and other childhood illnesses. In 1971, St. Jude investigators showed that the combination of chemotherapy and radiation cured at least half of all children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

The most common form of childhood cancer, ALL, was previously considered almost universally fatal. Today, St. Jude patients with ALL have a 94 percent survival rate. In 1984, a St. Jude patient with sickle cell disease was the first to be cured with a bone marrow transplant.

St. Jude is currently engaged in the largest effort in the world to do whole genome sequencing of pediatric cancer tumors. The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project collaboration has already produced significant new findings related to aggressive forms of pediatric leukemia, eye tumors and brain tumors.

“St. Jude has a legacy of taking on the toughest of pediatric cancer questions, and that focus won’t change,” said James R. Downing, M.D., scientific director and deputy director at St. Jude. “We’re uniquely positioned as an institution to move research and treatment ahead. From the genetic data we collect from the genome project, we’re creating the foundation of knowledge to deliver the next decades’ childhood cancer discoveries and treatments.”

Throughout its five decades, St. Jude research has included work in cancer biology and genomics, pharmacogenomics, gene therapy, bone marrow transplant, drug discovery, radiation treatment, blood diseases and infectious diseases, integrated into a long series of innovative clinical trials.

According to Joseph Laver, M.D., St. Jude clinical director, “the unsurpassed family-centered care that is provided at St. Jude stems from the multidisciplinary team approach that has been a hallmark of St. Jude since the doors opened in 1962.”

“Looking toward the future, St. Jude is a national resource with a global mission and will continue to enhance its leadership as a resource for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases,” Evans said. “Even though we’ve grown significantly, our mission has never wavered.

We’ve created a collaborative culture whose team members demonstrate unceasing compassion for our patients and families, innovation in our treatment and research, and quality in everything we do.”

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/stjude

The article St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Celebrates 50 Years appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The life-confirming documentary about Dee Dee Ricks and her emotional rebirth as a cancer survivor will debut on October 27, exclusively on HBO in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The 39-year-old mother-of-two was living her dream as a self-made millionaire on New York City’s Upper East Side when she was diagnosed with aggressive stage II breast cancer.

Insured and affluent, she could afford the best treatment money could buy, but was shocked to realize how difficult it is for uninsured women in the same situation, and determined to do something about it. So there she was; a successful woman who finally made her full potential in the face of breast cancer.

The honest story of The Education Of Dee Dee Ricks tracks the transformation of Dee Dee from successful businesswoman to determined advocate for poor breast-cancer patients, even as she faces her own battle with the disease.

According to HBO’s press release, the story begins in 2008, when this self-described “vain” woman and single parent was diagnosed with aggressive stage II breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. She decided to document her experience for her children, in case anything happened to her.

During her successful recovery, Ricks receives her first medical bills. Although able to afford the payments, she is disturbed by the realization that many women are bankrupted by the expense.

Ricks subsequently meets with Dr. Harold P. Freeman, founder and president of Harlem’s Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care, believed to be the only cancer center in the nation to provide or ensure access to timely cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment to all patients, irrespective of their ability to pay, and she pledges to raise $2.5 million for the clinic.

At the clinic, Ricks bonds with Cynthia Dodson, an uninsured African-American breast cancer patient whose resilience and optimism are an inspiration. According to the American Cancer Society, African-American women are less likely to develop breast cancer, but 37 percent more likely to die, from the disease than their white counterparts.

The two become as close as sisters, supporting each other through treatment. As Ricks celebrates her last chemotherapy session, she learns that Dodson has spots on her liver and resolves to make sure her friend receives the best care possible, while stepping up her support for the Center.

Unfortunately, because Dodson’s diagnosis and treatment came late due to her financial status, her future is in doubt. Reflecting on her new priorities in life, Dee Dee concludes, “Cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me.” The Education Of Dee Dee Ricks showed at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year and will screen at the Paley Center’s DocFest later this month.

The filmmakers have also joined a major National Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign. Perri Peltz, the documentary’s director, is a former news correspondent and longtime public health advocate who reported on health-related issues for NBC and CNN and has worked for the Robin Hood Foundation supporting organizations that fight poverty.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.theeducationofdeedeericks.com/

The article The Education of Dee Dee Ricks, National Cancer Awareness Month on HBO appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In Indiana, a measure has been introduced in the House that would require medical doctors to tell women seeking abortion that having the procedure comes with risks including “the possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer.”   Indiana isn’t the only state that makes this claim either. According to the Guttmacher Institute, five states — Alaska, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia — currently include some mention of a link between abortion and breast cancer in written counseling materials.

The connection between breast cancer and abortion that these state governments and other abortion opponents refer to comes from outdated data that has since been proven to be faulty.  Since 1981, several dozen studies looking at a potential link between abortions and a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer have been published. Many of the older studies alleging a link between breast cancer and abortion were flawed; some studies included only a small sample size and most of the older studies were dependent upon self-reporting abortion data which is a scientifically unreliable method.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and other major health organizations have soundly rejected any potential link between breast cancer and abortions.  Over eight years ago, the U.S. National Cancer Institute brought together “more than 100 of the world’s leading experts who study pregnancy and breast cancer risk.” They found that neither induced nor spontaneous abortions lead to an increase in breast cancer risk. In fact, the risk is actually increased for a short period after a woman carries a pregnancy to full term.  According to ACS, these findings were considered “well established,” which is the highest level for scientific evidence.

Even recently, in June 2009, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Gynecologic Practice wrote, “Early studies of the relationship between prior induced abortion and breast cancer risk were methodologically flawed. More rigorous recent studies demonstrate no causal relationship between induced abortion and a subsequent increase in breast cancer risk.”

The largest, and probably the most reliable study on this topic, was conducted during the 1990s in Denmark, a country with very detailed medical records on all its citizens. In this study, all Danish women born between 1935 and 1978 (a total of 1.5 million women) were linked with the National Registry of Induced Abortions and with the Danish Cancer Registry. All of the information about their abortions and their breast cancer came from registries – it was very complete and was not influenced by recall bias. After adjusting for known breast cancer risk factors, the researchers found that induced abortion(s) had no overall effect on the risk of breast cancer. The size of this study and the manner in which it was done provides good evidence that induced abortion does not affect a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Another prospective study was published by Harvard researchers in 2007.  The study included more than 100,000 women between the ages of 20 and 46 at the beginning of the study in 1993. These women were followed until 2003. They were asked about childbirths and abortions at the start of the study so recall bias was unlikely to be a problem. After adjusting for known breast cancer risk factors, the researchers found no link between either spontaneous or induced abortions and breast cancer.

The California Teachers Study also reported on more than 100,000 women in 2008. Researchers asked the women in 1995 about past induced and spontaneous abortions. While the women were being followed in the study, more than 3,300 developed invasive breast cancer. There was no difference in breast cancer risk between the group who had either spontaneous or induced abortions and those who had not had an abortion.

The research is clear that there is no link between abortions and breast cancer.  However, many abortion foes continue to purport the myth, suggesting that pregnancy somehow protects women against breast cancer.  It is a dangerous myth that even the governments are now spreading along for their own purposes.  Women need to have the facts about breast cancer so that they can take the necessary steps to try to prevent it.  Scaring women into believing a lie does nothing to prevent breast cancer.

The article The Abortion Breast Cancer Link appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.