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New anti-smoking campaigns focus on impotence (November 10, 1998 11:04 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) -- For years, scientists have been warning that smoking can contribute to sexual impotence as well as fertility problems in men. Now anti-smoking forces have seized on that finding as a potentially powerful new way to get people to kick the habit. In California, a $21 million campaign launched in June includes a commercial showing a cigarette drooping limply. The message: "Cigarettes. Still Think They're Sexy?" In Thailand, the health ministry ordered the nation's tobacco monopoly to print a new warning on cigarette packs: "Cigarette smoking causes sexual impotence." In England, public health activists are lobbying for a similar warning label. The impotence risk -- and strategy -- are attracting media attention, too. Last Sunday, CBS's "60 Minutes" devoted a segment to the subject. Activists are hoping the message will get through to people who weren't deterred by the generations of warnings about slow-developing threats such as cancer, emphysema and heart disease, which altogether kill 400,000 smokers in the United States annually. "What a terrible problem for the man because he is so physically addicted," said Elizabeth Whelan, director of the American Council on Science and Health, which opposes tobacco companies. "It will be interesting to see if this motivates men -- especially young men -- to disassociate themselves from that image of impotence." Statistician Steven J. Milloy, who regularly contradicts what he regards as "junk science" and frequently sides with the tobacco industry, said anti-smoking forces are distorting a 1994 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that concluded that smokers are twice as likely as nonsmokers to be impotent. Milloy adjusted the CDC data to consider blood vessel disease, hormone imbalances and other risk factors. As a result, he said, the link between smoking and impotence became statistically insignificant. The impotence-and-smoking message has been boosted, in part, by the runaway popularity of Viagra. Pfizer Inc. reported that three of four men who participated in its clinical trials for Viagra were smokers. And, Pfizer found, 21 percent of men with erectile dysfunction have underlying conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes -- all of which can be caused or complicated by smoking. Urologists say smoking can diminish erections by reducing blood flow in the penis, just as it can clog blood vessels to the heart. In studies published since 1989, between 39 percent and 82 percent of the men suffering from vascular impotence were smokers. Smoking can reduce fertility in men, too. Chemical compounds in cigarette smoke can change levels of hormones and enzymes that affect the number, shape and mobility of sperm -- all important factors in conception. Clive Bates, director of the London-based Action on Smoking and Health, said the warnings about smoking and impotence are shockingly effective because cigarettes are so often associated with the after-sex experience. "The advantage of the penis from a communications point of view is that it is easy to imagine it shriveled up and shrunken," Barnes said, "whereas damage to other vital organs such as the heart is much less obvious." By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA, AP Science Writer Copyright 1998 Nando Media Copyright 1998 The Associated Press janet paterson - 51/41/37 - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/ [log in to unmask]