[Also see a number of Youtube videos I made about quitting smoking, in English and Persian]
WARNING: THESE TIPS WORK! :-)
© Reza Ganjavi
"Smoking is so addictive that the mind plays tricks on itself. And the most common trick is procrastination: I will quit in the future, I will quit when such and such event occur, etc. -- and when that time comes, the mind plays a trick on itself again by getting into conflict with itself and saying, to heck with it, I will smoke, but, I will quit at some point in the future and the cycle repeats. The key to psychological freedom is to see what-is." Reza Ganjavi
The Big Tobacco criminals take another victim: A friend wrote: My dad died Fri PM. He was 71. Very long battle with lung disease caused by smoking.
"Quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it hundreds of times." Mark Twain
Also see: http://www.notobacco.org/
- ride the wave of love and quit smoking.
- Most smokers who think they can quit anytime they want don't know that only 5 out of 100 people who want to quit can - and that cigs are as addictive as heroin & nicotin and so the addiction itself makes the mind trick itself in bringing excuses why this is not the right time to quit.
By Reza Ganjavi
John Lennon wrote: "Although I'm so tired, I´ll have another cigarette, and curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid get". (Raleigh was responsible for introducing tobacco to the civilized world).
I have a very dear friend who smokes cigarettes, so despite being extremely busy these days, I decided to pull out this old file and update and release it. If you do not smoke, you may want to pass it onto a friend who does - you never know - it might just help. Your comments are welcome. Cigarette companies want you to believe that smoking is ‘cool’. United States is doing a good job of controlling these monsters, but in the rest of the world they’re out of control. In Europe, where I live, smoking is a social disease.
My observation is that 85% of people in their late-teens smoke! Official survey points out that the higher the economic class the lower the rate of smoking – and also in the same school, students in lower ranks smoke more. In the USA, it is such a joy to go to a club or concert and not nearly die from smoke, and not have your clothes stinking for weeks from the ugly smell of cigarettes. Recently the US government as well as several foreign governments began to sue large tobacco companies. Philip Morris got hit with a $50 million punitive damage for one person’s cancer. And an $80,000,000 on March 29, . Tobacco companies reached a $206 billion legal settlement with U.S. States. Less than 5% of those who try to quit smoking succeed – this shows how highly addictive this nasty drug is – smoking is a road that leads only to misery of being an addict.
When one is young and strong, the damage of the cigarettes is not visible, but after a while, they lead to insensitivity and misery. Sensitivity is necessary for perceiving beauty, and without it, life becomes unhappy – so the young, happy smoker gradually turns into an unhappy, addict whose happiness is dependent on a little ‘cancer-stick’. So, he smokes to find happiness which leads to greater misery. It is like a camel that chews on thorns and its mouth bleeds, but it still gets its pleasure. I am proposing there is a totally different kind of living in which conflict has no place, so you are full of energy.
Not only smoking in not cool but it is a disease - it kills one out of every two smokers, one person every 10 seconds, 3 million people per year (according to World Health Organization) - and people smoke to supposedly enjoy it - how empty and boring life has become that one tries to get enjoyment from inhaling 4000 kinds of substances, many of which are known cancer causing agents. Recent research links smoking to miscarriage, and that it mutates the DNA’s (therefore, messing around with the very core of our existence).
But most smokers I know are not stupid and have good lives - they are just addicted. (The other night I saw a man who was both addicted AND stupid - sorry to judge - he just looked it - and guess what he was doing: smoking the damn thing non-stop: he took a hit immediately after exhaling the last puff - as though he was drinking holy water!). The average smoker has trouble quitting - they are probably too busy and their lives are so complicated (smoking adds to that), that they never get face to face with the challenge - just postpone it for a future which never comes, always having an excuse, meanwhile cigs just linger in that background and fasten their curse on the smoker's life.
Nicotine is a highly addictive drug and is considered as addictive as heroin. That means it should not be messed around with – like a dangerous trap or a poisonous snake – it’s best to just keep away – most smokers start by thinking they’ll just smoke one a day, or only at night, or what not – but for most people it gets out of control before they know it – specially as soon as something goes wrong. Knowledge of how harmful smoking is, does not seem to help a person change. I have known cancer patients who could not give up smoking even in their death-bed. One of my co-workers died from cigs after losing his voice and his tongue to cancer. So, what is it that's going to help a person kick this nasty habit?
Generally speaking, any sort of change requires first seeing what is. I see time and again smokers who are utterly unhappy at smoking - as they take a puff, you can see the pain they experience - often they give a hopeless look at the cigarette and wonder if they are gaining anything in return for this pain of doing something totally unnatural. Many smokers testify that out of the 20 cigs they may smoke in a day they barely "enjoy" one or two - in fact, the rest, they may hate - can you imagine the level of conflict and energy wastage that the person goes through if all day they do what they hate?
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
The first step is to admit you are addicted - that is a sign of intelligence. I sometimes run into a few heavy smokers who say they smoke because they want to smoke - either they are lying or they've never tried to quit finding out how hard it can be. I know people who tried everything but couldn't quit. I know an acupuncture doctor who was treating patients for smoking but was a smoker himself. There is also a class of people who smoke one or two cigs occasionally - that is not problematic.
Quitting cigs means a change in lifestyle from an unhealthy one to a healthy one. Other than that nothing will change, so giving up smoking does not mean giving up everything in life - though any change has an effect on one's world - however small. Your friends who smoke will undoubtedly be effected - that is if you are still hanging out with them - my grandmother used to recite an old poem which said good friends lift you to the highest points and bad friends drag you down to the lowest - that is not to say smokers are bad people, but you get my point - it's called peer-pressure. I think the most important thing is to understand the process of smoking and addiction. There are two kinds of dependence: physical and psychological. Let's look at them:
Physical dependence - this one is the easy part - the body, the central nervous system, is addicted to nicotine. Nicotine, I believe (some doctors agree), is a double edge drug: it works as a stimulant against depressants (e.g. alcohol), and as a depressant against stimulants (e.g. caffeine). So, it's a constant up and down cycle - and it becomes easier to quit if for a while one lighten or avoid the intake of alcohol, coffee, non-herbal tea, coca cola, etc. (if you are addicted to these, it's easier on you to gradually lower your intake), some experts say even onions should be avoided too - but these are just tips which may or may not be important. The idea is to have a healthy life style: to eat right food - avoid meat, sugar and artificial food, eat some raw food, exercise, get enough sleep, and, hey, why not get a message if you can!
All these things make the body feel good in itself by itself, so it doesn't crave for happiness from a cigarette. Breathing exercises (deep breathing) also helps. The good news is that 3 days without nicotine, and it's out of your system. But be careful, the next time you drink a large cup of coffee, or a few beers, the body may have an urge for the antidote. Switching to ultra-low-tar cigs also helps ease the withdrawal. Hang in there - it only takes a bit of time to get used to the lighter cigs - but it may be better to just go "cold turkey". Know beforehand what to expect: irritability, restlessness, etc., for only a few days.
Psychological dependence - I believe lack of understanding of this is why smoking is so hard to kick. The key here is to observe yourself very carefully, how you are feeling, what you are thinking, when you pick up a cigarette. Cigarette plays the role of a friend who says: let me celebrate with you when you are happy, or let me help you when you are sad - but it does neither - it just sneaks in poisons into the blood stream. Seeing what you are - seeing the connection between how you feel/think and wanting a cigarette - in daily life, not theoretically - is a tremendously powerful insight which brings about its own action and change (the art of seeing is a whole topic by itself which I won't go into now - to see clearly one must look with a quiet brain, otherwise one judges what is seen based on past experience - when that judging too is seen, it can change - but as long as the judge, the observer, separates itself from what it sees no change takes place because the seer is the seen. Seeing requires being totally in the present). I know a veteran smoker who had such a strong insight that he immediately quit for good. And when a dear pleasure is ended one gains a lot of strength from having died - to a habit.
And order in life is also important. When there is order one can be at peace easier - and much of the craving for cigs or drugs is a craving for peace - so, may I suggest: clean up your room and your life, and cigs will just fall-away as a natural consequence. If you have mess in your life you do not have the energy to change. When you are in conflict with yourself you suffer so much that you are willing to pay any price for happiness so you say "to heck with it - I'll quit in the future'. Change in future is an illusion. Change can only take place now. Can we live without craving? Can I observe craving in my body/mind so fully that I bring it to an end? Can I live without any stimulation: emotionally, chemically, intellectually? The answer is yes, but you will have to find the answer yourself otherwise it is merely words.
There is a class of smokers who are mostly young, who are closet smokers - even in the street or in their car when they notice that someone is seeing them smoke they are ashamed. Why? Probably because they don't want to look stupid? A lot of interesting things happen in the "closet", the battle to quit can be a tough one. Fighting it only makes it stronger, because you lose energy in the conflict, in the friction, between what you are and what you think you should be - whereas just seeing it can bring its own change - energy is required for change. Smoking causes stress, as caffeine does in most people, but people often try to use these things to combat stress which is a vicious circle. One young girl told me she stopped exercising when she started smoking so that she does not feel how bad cigarettes are for her! Many people, especially older smokers, lose the flame of discontent which is necessary for kicking the habit, and helplessly give up and put up with smoking: a gradual painful suicide.
Cigarettes make your beautiful teeth dirty, make your beautiful hair and skin look unhealthy, make your clothes smell, contaminate your breath/mouth smell, are bad for all of your body: lungs, heart, and all senses: you cannot taste, smell, see, hear, feel as well as you could. They disrupt the most fundamental living process: breath. You wake up and you have the residue of all the junk around your eyes and in your body. Your body has to work extra hard to keep itself pure, it has to constantly fight with the damage to the lungs, etc. (so smokers need to take extra vitamin C).
You know what some smokers do? Have cigarettes and coffee for breakfast because after the body has purified itself in sleep, you get the most pleasure - when you are young you can get away with that but if this sort of regime continues it dulls the body's intelligence and makes it insensitive: the sensitivity that is required for happiness, health, and an extraordinary way of life (Leonard Cohen: "Well I've been where you're hanging I can see how you're pinned"). Many marijuana smokers say it is natural - yes, maybe the grass is natural, but the process of inhaling smoke is totally contradictory to life. And you can see what happens to these people when they get older: they become dull like a rock - like a stone - from getting stoned!
Cigarettes are expensive for your pockets as well as your health. It's better to put out the cigarette after 2 hits if you are not enjoying it than to smoke it all because they are expensive! Psychically speaking - (not scientific but interesting) - Charles Leadbeater wrote that narcotics (including nicotine), reverse the direction of energy flow in the chakras which makes you have good feeling but it damages the chakras – someone told me recently since they started smoking 2 weeks ago, they’ve had "devil attacks"! Also, a smoker's life becomes overly complicated for various reasons, including (again, not scientifically speaking) attracting negativity, because one is poisoning the system, "you attract what you are". As the saying goes, "happy go lucky" - and we can add to it: "healthy goes happy". Keep the flame alive, and Good Luck.
As the joke goes: "It's OK if you want to smoke - just don't exhale". "I love you just the way you are..." A last piece of advice: Love is the best catalyst for change - so "fall in love" - it worked for me!
PS – What about marijuana? This is also a very popular drug, and it is heavily propagated by the ‘cool’ image of the Jamaican Reggae culture. I saw one of Bob Marley’s guitarists in a concert recently. These guys look like lizards now – like a stone – a rock – dull, dead – from too much ‘getting stoned’. Don’t get me wrong – I like the music of Marley but the life-style lead to nowhere. I know other people who’ve been smoking for many years. They’re lazy and stupid, and generally are unhappy and sick. Marijuana is a drug – it’s a medicine – it has medicinal use for treating certain conditions – it’s also a pain-killer. So, it has its place, but it is abused. It has an effect on the respiratory system – it opens the lungs – so you get more air, more Prana, you feel ‘high’. But just as any other drug, a nose drop or anti-histamine, if it is used too much, the body loses, forgets, its natural effects. Another reason one gets "high" is that the brain in temporarily made quite.
But the question a serious person must ask is, "can I have a quite brain naturally?" Why? Because we see that it’s great to have a quite brain – then you can really see, really listen (for this topic I highly recommend the writings of J.Krishnamurti www.kfa.org). To get high with pot is like blowing-up the door of the safe which holds treasure – then the door gets damaged – but it can be opened naturally…Pot taxes the brain – makes it quite for a while and the person has nice insights, perhaps cleans up things one had been ignoring – so in a sense bringing some sort of awakening – but then it makes the brain restless, dull, and to the other extreme unable to perceive the depth of things. Marijuana seriously harms motivation – you smoke a joint and get happiness so you’re not motivated to do something to improve your life to have a happier life. But as Persians say, "what the wind brings the wind takes". The high wears off, and if it’s done too much, this cycle of up and down, leads to dullness. Many pot smokers also smoke cigs. Pot makes you stupid – so you don’t feel the awful taste of cigs. One source told me that THC enlarges brain cells which leads to feeling high but then when the effect wears off the cells shrink to smaller than their original size so one feels down, cluttered, and confused. Fortunately the damage is not permanent as the cells are not killed – as is done by alcohol!
The tobacco plant absorbs and accumulates heavy metals such as cadmium from the surrounding soil into its leaves. Following tobacco smoke inhalation, these are readily absorbed into the body of users.[93] Tobacco smoking is the most important single source of cadmium exposure in the general population.
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE QUIT
From Reza to a friend (MT).
Congratulations for quitting smoking. I was extremely happy to hear that. Only 5 to 7% of the smokers can quit. Guard it with care - be very very careful - nicotine is such a strong drug that one hit and you can be back - look at it like a poisonous snake - you don't play with it - you want to have nothing to do with it. Congratulations on your new apartment too - definitely forbid smoking there.
The times you need to be most careful are if and when you take other drugs: e.g. alcohol and caffeine - cig works against both stimulants and depressants. Al least for a good while I would suggest abstaining from these things - and if you happen to drink a few wines be very careful. The evil of cig may try to creep in.
Take vitamin C - it'll help repair the damage done. After a while your senses will be more acute, more sensitive - if you live good - by good I mean: to eat well - as you do anyway - get enough rest - exercise (e.g. walking / swimming). Your friends might change - be open to it (the same person may change because you have changed and you have an effect on your 'world' - you are the world and the world is you - did you read Krishnamurti yet or is it collecting dust - or a person whose lifestyle / mentality / outlook on life maybe very different may go - you know all these things already....... :-) - to live "good" also implies having order - order in the room - order in the mind - order in relationship... As the body cleanses itself your skin and hair will be even more beautiful - you can see better, hear better, colors maybe more vivid.
You will be more in tune. A guitar that is in tune does not sing so well. (I encoded Googoosh stuff on my laptop by the way). Breath is the most fundamental process of life - smoking interferes, messes around, with this process, and disrupts, interrupts the connection of one with the "breath of god".
You attract what you are. By putting poisons in your blood and body and aura (energy field), you attract negativity. You get into accident. It's related. I am sure. You spray your guardian angels away, though they come back and want to stay and protect you. They try. I cannot invite god, love, luck. I cannot invite the breeze but I can keep the window open.
I met her years ago - she was a teenager who smoked. We reconnected after a long time. She still smokes but wants to stop. She said she wants to get help from an expert.
I'm not an expert but happened to be there -- so gave her some tips. Following these, she stopped smoking immediately and as I write this, she's freed herself from a most miserable, dirty, ugly addiction.
Some notes I sent her in the course of our conversation. She is genuinely interested in setting herself free from the chains of that nasty habit.
Yes, wanting is the first and most important step.
Look, nicotine is very addictive but after 3 days you're free from it. Reason most people have trouble quitting is because they don't understand psychological dependence. I explain this in my article. Also they fool themselves into believing they'll quit in the future... so they defer it for later...
If you really want to get that shit out of your life (it's literally shit - it's worse than shit - shit just has some bad bacteria -- smoking has thousands of poisons) you can take different paths.
One is to really come to terms and understand what you are -- how you crave it -- how you depend on it etc etc. -- and out of that understanding some change comes.
But I would suggest this:
Stop right now. Go cold turkey. 3 days, and you're free. Don't look back. Don't have an inward discussion. Do NOT try even one cig -- one cig and you're back in the prison. It's a prison.
And if you fail, at least you learned about craving.
So then deal with craving.
Don't take alcohol and caffeine since they counteract with nicotine and makes you want it.
Just a few days...
Anyway it's good to be free from all chemical dependence.
I would say given your situation / veg / vit / wanting / child / etc etc -- and now a kick from me 🙂 you have everything you need to FREE yourself from that shit right now. Just put it aside and don't even think about it -- not even one. 3 days and you're home free. Then we celebrate together 🙂
Destroy your cigs. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. If you get craving, do something else - take deep breaths -- go for a walk - drink water - contact me... and craving will drop.
read my article tonight.
today is the first day of the rest of your life 🙂
I send you lots of good energy. to save yourself from that disgusting prison.
Hi dear -- one GOLDEN tip I can give you: nicotine is so addictive that it makes you play games with yourself. It makes your mind trick itself into believing NOW is not the right time but that you will stop in the FUTURE.
I talk about it in the article.
That idea that I will change in the future is an illusion. Because any change needs to happen in a NOW.
But the brain / nervous system says, no, leave me alone with the addiction, I will change in the future. And it brings 1001 excuses. I'm sure you've been through this: when I'm pregnant, when I finish school, etc. etc. -- New Year's Day. But they don't work because they're all about FUTURE.
And when that deadline comes the brain finds an excuse to push it out to a future deadline, and it gets into conflict with itself and addiction takes over because conflict is a loss of energy and you lose, and the opposite gets stronger.
Attention can solve all this.
And controlling it from the physical side as well by reducing drugs that counteract with nicotine (alcohol, caffeine)... and improving body's general state of health. Deep breaths. Make sure you get enough sleep. Minimize your exposure to microwave radiation (5G 4G WiFi Bluetooth...). This is a great device to have www.emfmessen.ch (German)
https://emfcrisis.yolasite.com/emfmeter.php (English).
95% of smokers who want to quit smoking don't. Most of them think they'll do it in the future. Some give up and are victims of that deadly snake. And a few stupid ones, turn it around and say "I smoke because I like to", which is a lie, unless a person is a teenager when the body is very strong and the dirt hasn't accumulated enough, and the body doesn't feel the pain.
It's important to not get into psychological conflict with yourself. (But every smoker who is intelligent has conflict -- so a goal of life is to end one's internal conflicts by refining one's life).
In that light, it's important to pay attention to every cig smoked. Scan body's state. Why am I smoking? Do I have physical craving? is it because I'm sad and have another psychological issue that makes me want to escape? Or I make an image of the thrill that that super strong drug gives my brain for a few seconds? Whatever it is, to see it clearly. And at same time, improve the body's health so it can feel good without that shit. Smokers feel miserable - then they smoke to feel good. Which is a vicious circle. I know that -- I used to smoke. It's one big bad spider net that one's caught in. A road that surely leads to misery.
But we can gather all our energy and break free.
Good luck.
Also, it improved one's luck in general to stop smoking because every puff puts negativity in the system, and that attracts negativity. In Ayurveda they say it makes you susceptible to negative psychic influence. It's sooo true.
Be well.
- It's also very good to do deep breathing -- for example when you're in nature -- to sit and exhale all the air out of your lungs. And then inhale. I will show you some techniques. They're called Pranayama. They're very powerful.
--- 6 months later she got sucked into smoking again...
T. [her child who was saying mommy shouldn't smoke] knows what's good and bad for you... suck yourself out of that hole - just do it. forget the analysis and all the thoughts and plans and so on -- most are excuses of the addiction so you stay with it. Just die to it. Voila! like you did before. Get yourself out of that hole. That road leads to suffering - nothing beautiful about it. 🙂
https://rezamusic.yolasite.com/tipsforquittingsmoking.php
Look at it this way -- every fall is an opportunity to rise and be stronger. The BIG lesson here for you is NOT to mess with it. I learned this the hard way that's why I advised you already but some lessons people have to learn for themselves. You don't play with a poisonous snake because it bites you! You try ONE cigarette and you're finished and fall into that disgusting black hole. Rescue yourself. Don't fall for the tricks the mind plays "later". Just walk away - finished - those cancer sticks have no place in your life. Don't hang around with smokers if that makes you weak. Your freedom and health are most important.
Jon: My Grandmother died of emphyzema when she was 60. It was bad. It took her 10 years to suffocate to death. And that is still not enough to get my wife to quit smoking. But I guess it's really hard. Sigmund Freud said that he had done Opium, Cocaine and Heroine, and the only thing he couldn't quit was smoking.
Cigarettes become (an artificial) means of escaping from fears and insecurities. Cigarettes are a way to gain (temporary) security at a very superficial level.
Please add me to your list. BTW- I am on my 9th day smoke free. best wishes, Todd T
Nicotine triggers the release of glycogen from the liver, increasing brain activity temporarily. Sunflowerseed does the same. [not confirmed]
George Harrison died from smoking.
Beyk-Imanverdi the famous persian actor died from lung cancer from smoking cigs.
Several other people I personally know died from smoking - a slow, painful death
Drug pushers did it again: just heard that unfortunately Bob Parvin, my ex-boss died from lung cancer -- he was a smoker.
Another cigarette - one slep closer to grave.
Ali Bulut method: Don't smoke for 30 hours. Then for 15 hours. Then for 7.5 hours. and on... At least one person quit this way.
Bernard came and said he's quit for 2 weeks now and was thankful for the article and talks.
Your smoking counseling seemed effective. Ross
12 sep
here’s another trick the mind can play on itself: after a few days of not smoking it can think: I stopped so I can stop anytime so I’ll smoke now (but smoking now means you did not stop).
Did you read my article? I am not ready for it curious it just helps you understand dependence. It's just a set of pointers. And the idea that you're not ready for it is part of the game that your mind plays as a symptom of the addiction which means which says you will be ready for it later so you're pushing it out into the future and then you see that play that game you stop playing that game.
2016 July
After a few minutes of talking, a few questions I asked her, she admitted she doesn't like smoking. Fact is you don't like it but you say you do. Fact is you're stuck in a hole and your mind tricks itself thinking it will get out later. She called it a "mind fuck".
Message to young (and old) friends about smoking: (please also read the article: Smoking is not cool! and sepcially, Tobacco facts)
majid: "Your analysis/suggestions/ideas on smoking was the most effective so far. It is sinking in very well."
You're puffing away your happiness...
Guaranteed road to unhappiness
Ticket to misery
This road isn't going to Disneyland!
You are beautiful but cigs are ugly - you two don't match!
Life's too good to ruin it by smoking!
Ride the wave of love and quit smoking!
“After I quit smoking pot, I’ve received 3 promotions in a month”. S.H. Feb 13,
Yes it is! It is a problem!
Everyone who smokes is unhappy (at least at physical level).... It's about your future.... It's your choice to be happy or not...
Lousiest logic:
- do you like smoking?
- yes, otherwise I would not smoke. [ wrong ] because there are many smokers who do it despite despising it.
here's another lame excuse: I could be doing worst things!!
It was interesting, Fabienne (15) was sincerely wondering why I was telling Anna (16) cigarettes are not good. I told her Anna knows exactly - because she doesn't want to smoke them, she doesn't like them, but still does them because she's addicted.
you should stop smoking before it makes you suffer any more.
a group of youngsters a few nights ago had a big change of mood. i went back to give them my website and they were standing in a close circle talking in a serious mood about what this passerby just told them - that cigs are not toys -- you don't play with a poisonous snake.
If you are really honest you will admit that you dislike most of the cigs you smoke. You are doing something that you dislike.
Most of you smoke because you think it's cool - it's not cool - that's what cig companies want you to believe through
advertising. But you are messing around with a very dangerous drug. But the cigarette companies don't tell you about that. They put this dangerous drug in nice packaging and associate it with a smiling face.
Cigarette tells you it's your friend - if you're happy it says: let's celebrate together. When you're sad you think: let's smoke to
feel better. But in fact, it's not a real friend - it's like a person you know who is friendly when you're there but when you leave
he talks bad behind you: he stabs you in the back. Cigs are not your friends - they poison you...
Smoking is a subtle vicious topic -- and its food is excuses 🙂
‘Rust’ Trial: Armorer’s Texts Allude to Marijuana Use on Night Before Shooting
Workplace injuries rise after states legalize recreational marijuana
Now you're young...as you grow older cigs make your like unnecessarily complicated, then you become unhappy and want to
drink or do drugs to be happy. You'll be unhappy because you will do something you do not love (most people who smoke
don't like it) - not only that but for most people it is something they dislike but still do because they are simply addicted to
Nicotine which is as addictive as Heroin!
One out of every 2 smokers dies from smoking. And it is not a quick death - usually a slow painful one. I had 3 friends who
died from smoking.
You think you're free - freedom is so important to you - America, land of freedom, etc.. Real freedom is in your mind. As long
as you smoke you're not a free person because you depend on the cig for your happiness: if it is not there you're not happy.
You use it as a psychological crutch. You must be strong and be able to stand alone with no crutches and no fears to face life -
all its challenges and beauties.
If you don't smoke regularly and are just starting or do it as a social thing once in a while, be careful. You are walking in a
jungle full of traps - soon you could be caught by the trap of this nasty drug. Don't mess around with it - you don't play with a
poisonous snake.
Simply put, it makes you unhappy. You should be happy. You are taking away happiness from your body.
______________________________________________
She's been a vegetarian for 6 years. She smokes 10 to 20 cigs a day. She wants to quit someday she said first. Got her to face
the fact that cig is highly addictive and it creates many excuses for one to postpone quitting "I am not ready now", "maybe later"...
There is no good reason not to quit now. If one says my life is a mess or I am depressed or whatever, cig does not help any of
that and in fact makes life more complicated. The society tells you it's cool to smoke, the ads, your friends... And the person fools
oneself also because smoking is SO stupid that he/she says: I enjoy it... She admitted that she only enjoys one or 2 in the day. " So,
10 or 15 times a day you're doing something which is making you unhappy. It is so against nature, against your body's intelligence...".
She began to soften up: I will quit after this pack. "You will not quit because you have not understood it. You will buy more, or bom
from friends... but you are on the right track. If you are fully aware, and watch what goes on in your body and mind for the rest of
this pack then you can stop. To watch your body, have you drank coke, coffee and are stimulated, and watch your mind, are
you missing your boyfriend, did your boss yell at you... just to see the connection. Just to look. And when you look, you learn,
and learning brings its own change. That it's not a matter of decision, it falls out of your life.
She said she wants to be able to smoke one or two after quitting if she wants to. "It's more important not to fight with yourself,
but what you perhaps might find out is 1) cig is like heroin, one is not enough, you want more, so you learn that this is like a
poisonous snake which may also be fun to play with but it might bite, so you decide not to mess around with it. and 2) that it
brings bad luck, because it's poisoning your being, and you attract what you are.)
______________________________________________
- Talked to a 21 yr old about smoking. She smelled horrible. First she said she likes it, then admitted she doesn't like every one
of the 15 she smokes everyday. "There is absolutely no benefit for you in smoking. It does not reduce stress, it makes it more.
You smoke because the cigarette companies have brain-washed you, indirectly. The only one who benefits from your smoking
are the cigarette companies."
______________________________________________
- Talk with young smoker. He thinks like is shit and he likes every cig he smokes. I: you think life is shit because you're putting
this shit in your body - poisoning your body - this is like a horse, a dog, when it's healthy, it's happy. He: no risk, no fun. Ya,
but this is stupid risk. Take intelligent risks and have fun.
- Told teenager offering cig to a non-smoking friend: you're not being a good friend.
______________________________________________
Good luck beating the smoking habit. Just one tip: the biggest lesson I learned was that the mind plays tricks on itself by thinking it wil quit in the future "leave me alone with my addiction and I'll do it when .... " and when that event comes it finds another reason to delay it.
That's the concept of psychological time (which is an illusion) : that somehow we change in time but psychologically we will be in the future what we are in the present unless some change comes around in a present.
I found out just learning about dependence made it drop off -- physical dependence is easier beat by cutting down on things that nicotine interacts with, e.g. coffee and alcohol -- and after 3 days the craving is over. Psychological dependance drops off from simply seeing what-is.
_________________________________________
in the sauna he said he wants to quit smoking and is down to 3 a day but is finding it puzzling and challenging.
He got the basic principles of the new way of looking. Not to fight it b/c conflict weakens us. To see the tricks played by the mind (deferral). Etc. Attention is the key. Big tobacco wants you to be unaware.
We think a certain way and we think it’s normal but we think that way because it’s our habit
The last word was: The future is now. And he got it.
Brain Shrinkage Linked to Smoking
Smoking marijuana can raise your risk of developing a psychotic illness by 40 percent, British researchers say.
Smoking among teenagers leads to general health problems
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters Health) -- Teenage boys and girls who smoke daily have poorer general health, use more medications, and have significantly more trouble sleeping than those who do not smoke, investigators have found.
Researchers with the Nord-Trondelag Health Study, conducted in Norway, report that there was a consistency in the reporting of health problems, medication use and the need for health services'' among teen smokers.
The study authors surveyed 8,040 male and female students aged 13 to 18 on a variety of topics including smoking, sleep habits, eating habits, mental and physical health issues, quality of life, and school environments.......
The study also found that when compared with nonsmoking teens, daily smokers reported more physical and mental health problems, including headaches, neck pain, muscle and joint pain, stomach problems, hearing problems, nervousness, and sleep difficulties. It was alsa shown that daily smokers were much more likely to have missed more than a week of school over the prior year, and to have used medications more often than nonsmokers to help them sleep and manage pain. Boys and girls who smoked daily also reported having accessed healthcare services more often in the past year than nonsmoking teens.
______________________________________________
24 FEB
You smoke because you see photos of beautiful people everywhere smoking - these cigarette companies are out of control. "I am trying to cut down...". Her friend arrived. You smoke too? of course. "ya, not of course". yes, of course
because 85% of Swiss young people smoke. "you're right". It's a national tragedy. These cigarette companies are crooks.
You're good people, they fool you. They put their poison in a nice package - they just want your 4 francs.
______________________________________________
Olivia (17) wrote:
No I know it's shit! And I know that it's poison... and I think I'm going to stop smoking. But as I told you on friday... I didn't
have the energy to see it through.
But the worst thing of smoking is that it ruins your voice... ;o(
I've smoked for two years. And I've had a feeling that my voice had got more
and more low-powered... ;o(
I hope that my second attempt will be more successful.
______________________________________________
30MARCH
Walking down the stairs 2 young girls smoking - I: why do you smoke? "Shush!" and the one talking on the cell phone dropped
the cigarette and quietly told me: it's my mother on the phone - soon she hung-up. 'your mother loves you - that's why she
doesn't want you to smoke - but these crooks - the tobacco companies don't love you - they just want your money - so they
get you addicted - you know - sucht [german]. "I smoke because I am nervous". 'That's stupid. If you're nervous you need to
take deep breaths, stretch, eat fruits, go for walks, be healthy - gesund [german]. Smoking makes you nervous and then you
think you smoke to not be nervous - that's stupid - that's what cig companies want you to believe. And look, this beautiful girl
keeps spitting. Spitting is horrible. You spit because you smoke and the taste is awful - and because it's cool?' "Ya, it's cool"
'you learn it from American movies'. "All my friends smoke". 'Yes, it's a national tragedy - a social disease'.
'How old are you?' "15, and she is 14". 'I want to cry'. You're young now, you like it - you grow up, like all smokers you do it
although you don't like it. So, you become unhappy. 'You don't play with a snake - you play with your friend - with a ball - not
with a snake - it can bite you' "yes" 'and cig is a poisonous snake. nicotine is a narcotic - like if you try heroin you're finished -
have nothing to do with it...
Turned around and saw the first one spitting too - 'you spit too! - because of the bad taste of cigs' "yes".
______________________________________________
I've been working like a dog - in trying to catch up after a couple of weeks of being without a computer... have managed to do
some yoga etc. and go for a walk. On the walk today saw 2 youngters - maybe 15 - boy and girl - smoking "come on, go for a
walk, get high naturally... smoking's not cool - makes you sucht (addicted) and unhappy..." on the way back they were kissing
"that's better than smoking.....even better if you kiss a non-smoker.....else it's like kissing an ashtray..." They laughed...
_____________________________________________
One youngster said: "when you're young you have friends you like to be like them and liked by them - it's hard to say NO
when you're young."
______________________________________________
smoking is death – it’s not a joke. Dependence is death [No death has dignity, beauty. Dependence is suffering]. You depend on cig for your happiness.
- yes, I smoke to be happy.
- Do you like all the cigs you smoke?
- No
- So it makes you unhappy!
______________________________________________
- The only thing you're helping is big tobacco mafia. They got you fooled, and you fool yourself by saying one day I'll quit. When that one day comes you find another excuse.
______________________________________________
do you like all of the all of 16 you smoke a day?
- I wouldn’t smoke if I didn’t
- You’re lookin for a reason why u should like it. Do u actually like it?
______________________________________________
16 year old girl: my parents both smoke. I told myself I will never smoke - but I tried it and got addicted - and all my friends
smoke.
______________________________________________
You shouldn’t smoke – you don’t play with a poisonous snake.
______________________________________________
The latest analysis from the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project tracked the average amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in samples seized by law enforcement agencies from 1975 through 2007. It found that the average amount of THC reached 9.6 percent in 2007, compared with 8.75 percent the previous year.
The 9.6 percent level represents more than a doubling of marijuana potency since 1983, when it averaged just under 4 percent.
______________________________________________
your voice sounded better
remember the habit wants to persist - it's harder to quit cigs than heroin - so give it attention and fire it from your life COMPLETELY. if it stays a little bit it's got you fooled
______________________________________________
That’s not a good breakfast.
I know.
Here’s my website…smoking section…
Stephanie: I tried to stop but couldn’t. (Another victim of big tobacco in chains).
the file is called ‘smoking is not cool’
I know, I don’t do it for fun. (she spends money, health, life, and poisons herself and it’s not even for fun).
That’s just the title …
______________________________________________
if you think of it there are no more stupid ways to loose your health and money than smoking
______________________________________________
why smoke weed? get high on life. life is wonderful. he healthy and you can be high.
you smoke this shit and you feel bad.
it's a different way than the society tells you because it wants your money.
8 youngsters all smoke, and caffeine.
______________________________________________
- Come here...how many do you smoke in a day?
- 3 or 5
- Do you like it?
- Not really
- Take a puff - do you like it?
- No
- Why do you do it?
- I don't know.
3 chefs smoking "3 guys with a bad habit". It's not that bad, one said. "It's horrible. Sorry to say, one of you 3 will die from
smoking - one out of every 3 smokers die from smoking.". It doesn't matter. "It's usually not a quick death - long, painful
cancer...". Don't tell us. "tell the cigarette company not to tell you to smoke - they got you hooked on nicotine which is
addictive like heroin & cocaine.
______________________________________________
"It's not cool.... it's not funny either....."
"Put that cigarette in the water and sing"
______________________________________________
She said: "My father smoked even when he was on oxygen".
Told youngster in San Jose smoking is like locking yourself in a jail and throwing away the key in a far distant place.
Iron chains around your ankles - that's what that it. (to youngster in Folsom)
______________________________________________
Girl in Sacramento asked me to buy her cigs cause she had no ID - she had a guitar with her. "It is such an annoying habit
because I want to sing.... I've quit many times but after 2 days I start again... IF I am totally on my own I don't need cigs ...
after 3 or 4 hours of not smoking the craving is really nasty - you can't think of anything else."... K seems to be the primary
message.
______________________________________________
LETTER FROM & TO A 16 YEAR OLD SMOKER
----- Original Message -----
From: Schweizer...
Sent: Friday
Subject: hi
hey
we met last week in ..., you remember? i find your homepage very good, and i'm very happy, that there are people like you on earth; people who try to help other and put things into the right
i know I can stop smoking if I want to, and when I smoke, I remember your story of the poisoned snake and it's a very good example and it helps! but I smoke very seldom, and I always think of this, that smoking is terrible but i try to forget that, and i always "win"!! but deep in me I'm stronger than the devil, and when I know I can stop it if I want to, i don't stop! but when I feel the "poisoned snake tries to bite me I stop as fast as you can!
I just wanted to tell you that...and thank you, you helped me and you help other who smoke more than I!
bye
n...
P.S-i know, I have to learn a lot at English...
______________________________________________
Of course I remember
You were walking with 2 other young girls - you were the only one smoking. I was really quite busy and had to go but I felt so sad to see you smoke that I had to talk to you. We walked to the end of the pier. Finally got the attention of the 3 giggeling 16-year-olds to give me 5 minutes without interruptions and comments.
When I walked away I wasn't sure if it was effective or worthwhile - but I felt that maybe it had a little effect - maybe you'll look back one day, either when you're free of this nasty habit - rather - never caught in it - or you're so caught in it that like all other smokers you're suffering, having been bitten by that poisenous snake you toyed with, having those iron chains around your ankles.
What fueled my entheusiasm in talking to you was that it seemed to me that you are not fully caught - although - my guess is that you are simply because nicotine is extremely addictive. A specialist doctor told me recently that nicotine is more addictive than heroine - and it's easier to become addicted and more difficult to quit nicotine than heroine. Recently a study showed that all is takes is a few puffs for a person to get addicted to cigarettes.
Another special cause of my concern was that smoking, specially for women, specially for young women is the most dangerous - it will have all kinds of ripples later in your life and you chidren and so on - and the younger you start the more difficult it is to stop. These are things the tobacco companies do not want ou to know. Those crooks just want your money. You are sustaining their existance. They want you to believe that you are smoking because you like it, that you're not addicted, and that you can stop anytime you want - WRONG! - out of a 100 people who want to stop only 5 actually do it!
You see, you're happy, the three of you could giggle, laugh, so easily. Your hearts are filled with joy of life itself. Life is good.
You are now young and your bodies are strong and can handle the tar and the 400 poisons you put into it with every puff. Soon, you will hate it - if you're honest. But you will have a hard time stopping - you'll be caught in a jail, in a trap - a perfect victim for the tobacco companies. It's no fun being in a jail. Think again! Is it worth-it?
You see, when you stop, you also make a strong statement to your friends. You are intelliget enough not to smoke!
Again, thanks for writing - you brightened my life.
Keep in touch & Good luck
Reza
PS - I like to send you my CD - if you're interested, I'll need an address.
______________________________________________
Ignore this User | Report Abuse
Re: Bad day to quit smoking :(
by: papaweird Msg: 75627 of 75652
You said it, but if you have quit it will benifit you more than the price swings we are experienceing. Hang in there, I quit,cold
turkey, 3 1/2 years ago and have
never looked back. One of the good things that happened in my life.
The stock mkt will rebound and Vrtl will go up when is the unknown.
Oh! yes, for what it is worth stopping didn't bother me until 3 months down the road and then i thought my time in this world
was over. My body played every
trick in the book on me but I prevailed.
GOOD LUCK! PAPA
"You said it, but if you have quit it will benifit you.... Hang in there, I quit,cold turkey, 3 1/2 years ago and have
never looked back. One of the good things that happened in my life.... Oh! yes, for what it is worth stopping didn't bother me
until 3 months down the road and then i thought my time in this world was over. My body played every trick in the book on me
but I prevailed. GOOD LUCK! PAPA"
______________________________________________
A young woman walking smoking, told her it’s not cool – then showed her an old woman who was smoking and very unhappy
… “you’re going to turn out like her if you continue smoking… you’re risking your happiness… and your life… send me an
email and say: I’m Jennifer the smoker – no – the non-smoker!” She was very receptive and guessed ½ of what I was gonna
say.
______________________________________________
Boston subway - told 2 girls: Smoking is not allwed Madam. She: it's non of your business. "It IS my business - this is my world".
_____________________________________________
Standing next to a smoker guy I felt the pain in his body. It was very painful.
______________________________________________
Why do you smoke?
- stress, problems.
You think it helps? It makes it worse. You smoke because you're sucht (addicted).
- No.
How many do you smoke in a day?
- 2 a week
How old are you?
- 14
How old is yur friend?
- 15
as you grow older that becomes 2 a day then 5 and 10 a day
- I have control
Out of 100 people who want to quit, 5 can. They all thought they had power.
You can do it (quit) but you have to go through hell - and fight it. You wont want to smoke but you will and you hate yourself.
It's ok to play with a toy but you don't smoke with a poisenous snake.
So what's in your pocket is not your friend.
He took his hand out and broke the cig that was in his pocket.
When you become twenty you'll break a whole pack because you won't want to smoke but the next day you'll buy more.
He understood.
______________________________________________
keep away from those ciggies - they will bring you a lot of pain in the future NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOU THINK YOU ARE.
______________________________________________
A week or so later he wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: W.P.:
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 17
moin
i don't smoke any more
______________________________________________
(2 girls)
How old are you?
-15
...they didnt speak English too well - but understood - so I did most of the talking.
When you grow old it'll be more difficult to quit. Out of 100 people 5 can do it - and they all thought they can quit anytime they want. Nicotine is as addictive as heroine & cocaine.
- I know.
And the younger you start smoking the more difficult it'll be to quit. You have to be responsible to your life - to your future - you have to stop now otherwise you will not be happy in the future...
______________________________________________
26JUN01
Anette asked the wrong guy for a light. Told her and Selina they had walked in the "sports section" of the train - I was doing kicks before they come - and other exercizes following a standing yoga sequence in the early morning.
The usual sequence of q's:
how many? do you like it? so doing something that makes you unhappy...excuses for not wsanting to quit "this is not the right time" etc, and specially for a woman, always new research comes out.... and in this country, in Europe, cig companies are so strong, and you people are so good, they take advantage of you, fool you. So this (cig) is money in Philip Morris's pocket - they don't give a shit about your health.....
Maybe they'll write.
______________________________________________
Met a girl on the train who said she had a lot of bad health problems until she was 12 years old because her mom smoked when she was pregnant with her. But she smokes herself.
This is not a toy. It makes you suffer. Takes away your happiness. I guarantee it.
______________________________________________
this bad friend destroys you
see dependence
that future never comes. Future is now.
______________________________________________
She had a pink t-shirt on with ANGEL written on it.
-Angels don't smoke cigarettes.
- yes they do
- do they like it?
- I think so
- in english, i think so means I am not sure.
- well I'm sure otherwise i wouldn't smoke.
after some conversation she admitted:
- i tried to quit but couln't... admitted smoking is a big problem here - i started smoking at 12 - in the US...
i had to catch the bus - maybe she'll look at the website
later it occured to me maybe she was an angel? earlier today I had wrote to a friend: "...generally happy but tired - need an angel to help my body a bit but can't
ask everything from life at once :-) "
______________________________________________
NYC bans tobacco sales to anyone under age 21
______________________________________________
Cigarette is like a poisenous snake. You don't play with it. It's addictive like heroin. Get it out of your life. Just say no. Your life will be better. .
Pim: it's the ego - the ego is smoking - "you are separating yourself from it - you are the ego"
______________________________________________
It's a shame for a beautiful girl like you to smoke these ugly cigarettes - it's a shame.
It's very very very serious - the tobaccom companies make it seem like it's cool and no problem but the fact is nicotine is an extremely addictive narcotic - and the poisons you put into your body - you are messaing around with your DNA's with the most basic part of your being - with your breath. Specially since you're a woman - if you want to have kids later, and so on...
______________________________________________
from rezajournal.com:
12 April 2011 - Smoking Flower
Met a flower who smoked. Reminded me of Vero - a couple of years older - 20 - a victim of Big Tobacco mafia. Even used the same excuse as Vero: that when I am pregnant I will stop. Two kids later, Vero still smokes. Psychological time is an illusion. What we are is what we will be unless some change happens in the present. Smoking is so addictive that it makes the mind plays tricks on itself and the most common trick is deferral based on an excuse: some event that will happen in order to make one change but when that event comes the mind makes other excuses...
Despite her young age she knew The Beatles and likes them!
She smokes in order to forget her occupations, in order to be in the moment. She's obviously intelligent to recognize that, and that smoking doesn't help anything and makes like more complicated. Specially as one ages, living in constant conflict of having to do something stupid against one's will just disintegrates the mind, aside from the physical impact. And it invites negativity. I've discussed all this in : http://home.datacomm.ch/rezamusic/cig.html
It's possible to be in the present, to not carry burden of the past, without such destructive escapes.
It's also possible to solve our problems if we really want to - by putting energy into it, by attending to it, exploring the problem ... and the solution is in the problem.
______________________________________________
Cigs make you feel aweful inside then you want something to make you feel better and you smoke !!!
______________________________________________
5/22/2008 9:34 PM
Spoke with two Swiss 16 year olds. One has been smoking since age 12 and one since age 11 !! Shame on the ineffective regulators of the wicked industry. And they both admit to being unhappy about it, addicted, and unable to quit.
______________________________________________
nice job Ian
now clean up your temple and let god shine through
or
however metaphor you like to use...
cigs are no good
they are unnecessary and make life complicated
50% of smokers die from it.
Just do it. Now. Idea of doing it in future is just an illusion.
______________________________________________
Dear Onder:
Remember one thing:
any postponement of quitting, e.g., "I will quit tomorrow , or at some future date or after some future event" is just an excuse of the mind to be left alone with its addiction now, and that future never comes so the future is now.
Kind regards
It was fun talking with those 16 year olds about smoking.
You're right - they were quite open.
I spoke from the heart and it reached their hearts.
The tobacco drug pushers don't want these kids to know what misery awaits them.
Their bodies are young and can handle it now but tomorrow becomes another tomorrow and by the time they're in their 20's they'll be miserable as hell -- 95% of smokers who want to stop don't.
______________________________________________
You do something to make you happy but it makes you unhappy so you should just stop.
FG gave a good lesson - a remark of K challenging school authorities: "can you make the kids quit smoking without making them feel guilty?" Also, that "when you smoke and want to quit you have 2 problems: 1) you smoke 2) you wanna quit" [paraphrasing]
"Don't keep this child in this cancer room - it's not fair" (to his parents in train's smoking section)
______________________________________________
After a talk about smoking and what it takes to quit, said: for all this you need energy. See how you lose energy...
Don't fight it because you lose energy in the fight so it gets stronger.
______________________________________________
met group of 15 year old girls from Mexico - smoking. Good talks. You're so full of life, laughter, happiness ... - you're messing around with the most basic process of life: breath. When your car is running well, you don't go poke at the engine
Youngsters this age always think they can quit. Statistics show 95% can't.
______________________________________________
Smoking is crazy - it is stupid.
"It is eternally cool"!
What's cool about puffing in 400 poisons? It's only cool for the cigarette companies. Think!
"I am going to quit soon".
You will not. Soon will never come. Nicotine has you hooked and you play a trick on yourself - an illusion [to think time will change things].
______________________________________________
health is like gold - you don't throw gold in toilette
______________________________________________
"I am not ready yet - it's not the right time".
This is a typical trick of addiction......
When you realize that the toy you're playing with is a poisenous snake, you stop!
______________________________________________
Man in his 40's: "i smoke 2 packs a day - the addiction is like cocaine"
the physical addiction is easy - psycholgically you depend on it whe u're happy & sad - in your daily life - dont fight it - just look
______________________________________________
Why do you smoke?
- Why does it matter?
I'm just curious why somebody would smoke.
- MOre than 1/2 the population of the world smokes.
I knew we're stupid but not that much.
______________________________________________
to a 30 some year old:
When will you give me the good news that you've quit? Don't fight it nor make it into a problem - bring order - and let it fall on the wayside.
______________________________________________
27JUN03 Part by the Aare river
Simon (15): you don't like cigs?
- i don't like things that make me suffer.
- ya, i know.......
- do you drink?
- alcohol puts me to sleep, makes me lose energy and get tired (also bad for brain).
- marijuana?
- i get hight naturally through good food, exercise, etc.
- ya, i know......
______________________________________________
Don't even think about it - don't even try it because if you try it you're finished.
______________________________________________
in Tehran:
cig means suicide – slow and painful
cig, enemy of being. Don’t laugh – cry.
______________________________________________
WHy do you smoke?
- i don't know
I want to start - should I?
- no
why do you smoke?
- drugs are drugs
sucht? [addiction]
yes.
______________________________________________
Why do you smoke?
- It was made for smoking.
It was made for money.
______________________________________________
- Do you have matches?
Take a deep breath
Do you like it? Most people don’t
It’s I that smoke
We are all one.
______________________________________________
- Something that loves you told me to tell you to stop smoking.
______________________________________________
< >
you're wonderful. it's a real shame that you smoke. for you. it makes your life unnecessarily difficult and it doesn't help with the difficulties.
< >
you have a diamond inside
let it shine
the smoke puts dirt on it
and it covers your very very sweet heart with bitterness.
please stop
just do it
______________________________________________
it's very good - it's very good for cancer; it's very good for kicking happiness out of your life; if you really don't want to be happy, Smoke!
Mrs. Police you shouldn’t smoke.
I don’t want to live long
It’s a matter of quality not quantity
I enjoy smoking
How many do you smoke?
A lot
Do you like them all?
No
Then you don’t enjoy
Do you like everything in your life?
If something makes me suffer I end it.
Do you enjoy smoking
Give me an honest answer
Your answers reveal intelligence
It’s necessary
I don’t know
It’s nece b/c you’re addict
Yes for sure
One day I will stop
When I finsh
______________________________________________
if you throw yourself down the mountain it’s less painful than dying from smoking. My friends have dies – I know.
______________________________________________
Natel is ok - cig is not.
______________________________________________
It's about the quality of your life...
you're just a victim of a bunch of drug pushers.
the reason you're smoking is to give money to the tobacco companies. and they got you fooled in believing you're enjoying this... [and nicotine:... this is not the right time to quit]
______________________________________________
it's your enemy.
"it's not the only one".
it's the worst one because it makes you believe he's your friend (because it pretends it's your friend).
The enemy that pretends to be a friend is the worst kind. [logged]
______________________________________________
You're crazy for smoking - you're just supporting tobacco companies. They got you addicted to nicotine and make you believe it's cool to smoke, that you like it...
Irish doctor, regarding nicotine: it is easier to become addicted and harder to quit than heroine.
______________________________________________
"A guy told me the same thing today at noon. Why does everybody tell me that? (that I need to quit smoking)."
Life's telling you that - universe is telling you that - if you don't listen you'll be very unhappy...
______________________________________________
Why don't you stop?
"because it's not easy... I didn't smoke for 2 weeks and after I smoked again, it was gross".
______________________________________________
aug 11
That's so ugly. You're not interested in ending your problems are you? You just want to carry your problems -- like a bag.
______________________________________________
beautiful morning - ugly cigarettes
______________________________________________
You're crazy for smoking - it's terrible - it's no joke - stop it.
______________________________________________
The lousiest excuse is that "there is an ashtray here".
At least got one smoker to put it out.
______________________________________________
Smoking won't bring you happiness it'll just make you more confused.
Three boys, 14, 15, 16: as you get older other kids smoke - be strong and say no - look at your mother she wants to stop but can’t - she’s sucht - like chains around the ankle.
______________________________________________
"do you have a light?
....
"are you jesus or my mom?"
.... so question your excuses...
______________________________________________
Most people don't go that deep - they think they like it or that they smoke because they like it.
______________________________________________
Pot makes you stoned - and it turns you into stone...
Cigarette and pot hurt your psychic body by reversing the way your energy flows in the chakras........
...
.... i also want you to be happy which means to be healthy - your lifestyle of pot and cigs will lead to sorrow not happiness. don't let the society fool you - just because everyone does it it doesn't mean it's right.
______________________________________________
X pointed out the familiarity and (false) security that cig provides is comforting during times of trouble. [for a mediocre mind]
______________________________________________
- smoking is terrible
- why? - life is terrible.
- life is great. life is terrible when you smoke!
______________________________________________
Smoking is terrible how could you do that to your body?
Told the youngsters smoking pot, I am naturally high. One: how did you do that? Did you take one big mother fuXXXXX pill?
______________________________________________
- we do it because it taste good ! and because Gstaad is boring.
Dear All:
Good partying with you last night.
Sandra, I'm in love with your smile.
Anne, what was your nickname? I came back and you were gone.
Marietta, I am sorry, I hope you didn't take my jokes seriously. You're wonderful.
Adrian, what's your family name?
Marc, can I have a million for the CD? Maybe Saanen Bank wants to invest in my next Beatles CD's I'm recording for Sandra?!!?!?!
Michael, good luck in art-school.
Keep in touch all. See you around. If your email changes, let me know.
Love
Reza
(and remember, cigs suck)
www.rezamusic.com
______________________________________________
2014
young smoker who obviously wasn’t too happy going to work at 8:30 Monday morning: “it’s an excuse to take breaks at work”. You don’t need an excuse – you can just go outside and breath.
______________________________________________
You are polluting the air
______________________________________________
... Singing is great - it makes you happy. Smoking makes you suffer.
He’s not your friend - he’s your enemy - he gives you cigarettes!
______________________________________________
drugs is not a toy. you should learn how to be naturally high. And natural doesn't mean marijuana. smoking is not natural.
natural is health. when you're healty you feelk good, you don't need drugs.
______________________________________________
Told him to quit smoking and made sure he didn’t mind.
- What r u waiting for?
- For lungs to collapse.
Don’t smoke in your sleep. Gotto be awake, attentive – see how it’s related to dependence – physical and mental… pot makes you sleep.
______________________________________________
“Don’t cry, come on, smile, it’s much better. Come on…see that’s much better.” The fat baby smiled and grabbed my hand and we shook hands for a good while. "Tell momy to stop smoking. Tell her you hate it."
______________________________________________
my poetry is not as good as yours but at least babies understand it :-)
In Baden the girl said she didn’t want to talk about smoking. “that’s exactly what cig companies not want you to do - to think about it - they just want your 5 francs a day.” Off the train, she didn’t smoke.
you want to make cigarette companies rich - you give them 5 francs a day - and they make you think smoking is cool!
Surveyor: What kind of cigarette do you smoke?
Do I look stupid? Do I look crazy? Why would I be smoking cigarettes? Cigs are evil. You’re working for crooks. Can’t you find another job?
It’s so stupid: you pay 5 fcs a day for something that kills you and you don’t even like. Because you’re sucht - wakeup!
you give 5 fc a day - for that you get something that's killing you, chains around your ankle, something that you don't even like -- who'se geting a good deal? (16 yr old said chesterfield). so they want to make you believe smoking is cool, good life, etc - they don't give a shit about your life.
______________________________________________
Jan thinks he's one of the 5% who can quit anytime (the rest of the 95% also think so!)
He: you're not the first one who's told me smoking is wrong.
You either live intelligently and not suffer or not so and suffer.
______________________________________________
I am sorry that you've given in to the addiction with various excuses as justifications. I doubt your sports teacher who smokes can be labeled healthy -- inside his lungs are black. It also does damage at the psychic level. THings that neither big tobacco's propaganda, nor the nicotin's addiciton want you to know. Another very common excuse is that everyone has a vice and this is mine. It just does not make sense.
______________________________________________
To not support drug pushers, a.k.a. tobacco companies who thrive on people’s addictions.
Smoking brings bad luck
______________________________________________
psych time is becoming
5% who want to can quit
decision=conflict=friction=loss of energy.
Will: reaching=conflict -- will is out.
nicotin is highly addictive
tricks of addiction / excuses: not the right time; not ready; everyone has a vice, etc.
insight / understanding - action
______________________________________________
The sooner you break away from the prison the less you'll be raped by Big Tobacco!
This poor child has to sit in the smoking section? You have to be more responsible.
______________________________________________
“I don’t understand why my father doesn’t stop smoiking after his dad died from smoking.” X
______________________________________________
Another excuse for not quitting: I have other things to think about.
______________________________________________
she said school is stressful and we have short breaks -- smoking is a way to calm down quickly within 10 minutes! 7:45 was too early to eat but not too early to smoke ! --- I could last the smoking section for a couple of minutes before taking off.
______________________________________________
In the old days I made a mistake to start smoking and now it’s hard to quit – it’s a terrible thing. (old man taxi driver)
This nasty habit likes to survives because you inattention- if you really pay attention there is no reason for it to continue.
This monk is smoking cigs. His life is about detachment and he’s attached to frikin nicotin.
______________________________________________
she said she likes smoking because she smokes otherwise she would not smoke !!
after some questioning and urge for truth she admitted she indeed doesn't like some of the cigs she smokes.
______________________________________________
the idea of "the right time to stop smoking" is an illusion of the mind to defer a problem that needs to be dealt with immediately. Take it easy. Don't fight it. It's a defendant you want to uproot so smoothly there will be no fight - like you know who (LOL). Main thing is to keep your attention on it. Walking in sleep one may fall.
good luck
and remember, no guarantees, but smoking pushes away some luck (too bad for a nice guy like you). don't fight it. improve your health and body's happiness and take addiction very seriously. 1 or 2 won't do. clean it out from your life once and for all. and if you fail, learn, observe and clean again. it is so serious that it deserves giving it all your attention and awareness, then darkness of cigs won't last in the light of attention.
Puffin away your happiness
re cigs, one approach is just to set it aside. have you been preparing the ground? being aware of dependence?
the brain's tricks are too strong and self hypnotizing in that this is not the right time. it is. just do it.
talk to me if you need to. i'm not trying to help dig you out of a mess. it looks orderly but it's a big mess with very dangerous consequence - even now it makes you suffer. gather all your energy to end your suffering. your body is your horse. make it happy. let it be happy. cater to its own intelligence. eat and drink life, etc. vitamin c will help repair. a good multi is good too. 1 out of 3 smokers dies from it and it's a slow painful death. despite that today is important. it tars your day, your luck, everything. don't fight it. set it aside quietly, and maybe even smoker friends, for a while, till you're strong. see a doctor if craving is bad - get all the help you can get - zero in on it - don't ever let it go its merry way. gotto uproot causes of suffering. good luck.
______________________________________________
resolution to quit smoking by then ;-) ?! keeping the flame alive is good. don't let the sucker rest at peace. you want to eradicate it from your life without fighting with yourself. You put it aside while being friends with yourself. then you have a lot of energy. understanding it, coming to full grips with the power of addiction is the first and, maybe, last step!
______________________________________________
Just when you think you've heard it all:
"I need a reason to die for" said the smoker...
______________________________________________
met SF -- she said she quit after we met and talked about it... 4 years ago
______________________________________________
the reason i am interested in this is because i know it will make you suffer - it'll make you miserable...
this is hip - your bag and clothes -- just kick the cig out of your image - then you change the world - you effect your friends.
like pouring dirt ON a flower.
______________________________________________
Please stop smoking --- this deferral -- next year etc. are all excuses of the nicotine addiction -- it is very very serious and it will make you very very unhappy -- please stop it now -- the right time will never come because the whole idea of "right time" is a trick of the mind to not let go of the dependance. Please read the first 3 files on my website's smoking section.
You're very sweet and cigs are very ugly.
______________________________________________
X:i'll quit when i have a baby
______________________________________________
Talked to 2 17 year olds – you’re so beautiful – look at those eyes – you’re like a flower – smoking is like pouring dirt on a flower. It breaks my heart because it will make you suffer – it will make you miserable.
A german woman said she can’t bother with quitting (meaning it’s so hard to quit that she’s given up – instead she fools herself that she likes smoking. “Do you like all the cigs you smoke?” she: of course otherwise I would stop (wrong! Because out of a 100 people who want to stop 5 do – she had other excuses too: I don’t drink so I smoke! What kind of a logic is that?!
The 2 girls got my CD – and liked the guitar playing and wondered if I Saw Her Standing There is on it.
______________________________________________
you stop smoking - hear this from me - don't fight it - just whatever it takes...
MOST people don’t pay att – they ignore what it does to them
a 17 year old told me today the only anti cig and drug education they get is in primary school!! A lady told me after quitting for 2 months she got hooked again because she thought she's strong enough!
______________________________________________
every smoker of some intelligence sees that they're doing something they don't like and only making the tobaco company crooks rich. They're crooks because they survive by making others unhappy. Every smoker suffers. they have to, at the very least bodily.
What's your excuse for smoking?!?!?
The tobacco industry is evil. It thrives on people's addiction. Addiction makes people suffer. Every responsible government has a duty to curb these crooks as they directily effect the well being and happiness of people.
______________________________________________
here's the lousiest logic: "I must like it because otherwise I'd stop!"
______________________________________________
Here's more arguments:
Anita : when I buy a cig and hold a cig I must smoke it.
She thinks she's doing good because cig company allegedly gives money to the handicap (how hypocritical ! make people handicapped and unhappy, and turn around and support a charity!)
the diff is between being awake and asleep.
EXHALE - sit up - feeling good naturally - don;t need anything from outside
everyone wants comfort -- every addict -- every worshipper - every businessman - comfort, peace, is the goal of all strife. When you sit quietly, breathing, the body is healthy, there are no worries in the brain, there is comfort. that state is precious and must be guarded. craving destroys that state -- it's important to pay attention to the state of the body, understand its cravings, etc............ The society does't love you -- it tolerates cig advertising in every train station -- everywhere you look.
The tobacco industry crooks don't love you -- they just want your money.
______________________________________________
13 year old smoker: is it your problem?
- yes
-why?
-because you’re my brother.
______________________________________________
he: I smoke because i'm often nervous... when i go on holiday i smoke less. ... [stresses of modern life].
he: as a young person you try then you get wiser when you're older (but by then it's too hard to stop)...
______________________________________________
- It’s not your friend. It’ll make you Miserable. So why do it?
- sucht
- come on, wake up! … and he’s not your friend because he gives you cigarettes. (his friend asked for the cig back and put it back in the pack).
______________________________________________
today i met a 17 yr old (smokes 1 pack a day) and a 60 yr old (smokes 3 packs a day) who want to stop but can't.
______________________________________________
in reggae concert told the kids: is it really necessary? smoking pot...
______________________________________________
2 laughing girls: very typical answers: :
do you like all the 10 cigs you smoke in a day?
yes because if I didn't I would stop
not "because" -- you either like all of them or you don't.
i like them all
you're hopeless
what about you?
i smoke more than 10 a day and some of them i don't like
........
are you trying to save us?
i am just trying to show what is happening: you spend your money on something that makes you suffer and you keep on doing it and not do anything about it.
______________________________________________
Saw an 11 yr old smoker in baden today
______________________________________________
J.King: i admire you for putting a no-smoking sign on the guitar!
______________________________________________
met flower girl smoking: what happens if you give cigarettes to flowers?
- they'd die - they'd cry - so why do it to your boy?
she: i started and i can't stop.
______________________________________________
you got away yesterday too easily :-)
what I was going to say was just 1 thing - the biggest lesson I learned in trying to quit:
any deferral to the future is just a trick of the mind to remain with the addiction now
______________________________________________
> I am not sure if it is deferral or lack of confidence that I could make it...
Statistically, 3 to 5% of those who want to quit can. So your lack of confidence is warranted.
If you really want to do it, meaning, you're sick and tired of being dependant on something that costs, smells, etc., and is so anti-life that it causes disease. I knew several people who died from it and in every case it was a long painful death. You know all this. What I propose is understanding and learning instead of knowledge.
Really, the gist of it is the subject of psychological change. Have you read any boks by J. Krishnamurti?
Here's the article.
Good luck. We can talk anytime you like on the subject!
______________________________________________
> Hi,
> I don't have a lot of time ti write, but i just wanted to tell you that i think
> you're totally right. Personnaly, i've been smoking from 13 years old, but never
> really...The problem is that when something sad happens to you (and it's my
> case now), i begin to smoke...Except that, i do a lot of sport and i really
> think my body is healthy. Unfortunatly, too much young people are smoking in
> Europe, like all of my friend. For me, it's as stupid as i am when i am out
> drinking alcool. I've been travelling in Africa, in Cuba, In Martinique
> and i always think that there's smth in Europe which makes people sad, deep
> inside. I'll b a social worker, and the hardest thing in Geneva is that people
> are alone w their sadness...they're not hungry or poor, they're just sad. Take
> care of yourself. Cindy
______________________________________________
"you miss the best things when you take drugs" Sarah S. (she sang with a techno group -- others took drugs but she ate apples).
______________________________________________
that cigarette AND that pepsi makes you unhappy.
______________________________________________
talk w/ 16 year old who only smokes 2 a day:
you're crazy for smoking........
2 becomes 10 becomes 20 and 95% can't quit and are unhappy....
so why do something that'll make you unhappy? why? think about it.
______________________________________________
smoking is terrible. don't do it to your body. get smart.
______________________________________________
this (cig) is your enemy. it pretends to be your friend but it makes you suffer, so it's evil.
smoking will make you unhappy - it'll make you suffer.
really?
you don't know it? you will. the sooner you quit the better off you are.
______________________________________________
oct
why do you smoke?
- because everyone smokes
if everyone jumps off the clip, will you? everyone who smokes suffers or will suffer......
[he thought i was 20 years old :-))
______________________________________________
Met 16 yr old who said she’s addicted and can’t stop smoking cigs.
______________________________________________
4 nov 03
talk w/ very young girl Olivia -- probably 13 year old.
- this cig is going to make you very very unhappy. it's not a toy. you don't play with it. it's very very serious. stop it.
- i have problems
- it doesn't help with your problems. it makes them worse. it will bring you new problems.
- ok.
- ... here's my website. write to me if you want to talk.
______________________________________________
28 nov
She admitted she doesn't like smoking and knows it's stupid to smoke. She said she smokes for her country: "there are too many old people here". government wants the cig tax to support them. So she thinks she's doing good by smoking.
- You are suffering, right? It makes you unhappy.
- right....maybe
- not maybe, surely, there are clear reasons why.
- i might get hit with a car tomorrow.
- Quality is important. Even if you live one more minuet you should live happily. Why put this ugly junk in your system that makes you suffer?
______________________________________________
Hey guys -- nice meeting you all -- hope your holiday was nice...
Remember, one out of every three smoker dies from it - and it's usually in a painful way. Don't get fooled by the society's utter inattention. It doesn't care for you. As long as you submit it is happy. Society is corrupt. You have to sometimes turn your back to it and its ways of decadance. Step out of it and then you naturally change it. Remember, the addiction makes the mind play tricks on itself and the most common excuse, trick, is that this is not the right time: defer it for future, and end up one of the unhappy people you see who submit to the ways of decadance like sheeps, and suffer.
Good luck
Take care
and check out www.rezamusic.com
______________________________________________
this guy was not a teen: "you should have respect for people around you and not smoke in public".
i am so fed up with these stupid smokers in swiss restaurants - even in the vegetarian restaurant -- you just can not get away from the smoke.
______________________________________________
Take your cig outside…I don’t care if there is an ashtray is there or not, you’re violating my right to breath clean air.
______________________________________________
Smoking is not cool little girl - why do something that takes your money and makes you unhappy?
takes my money, yes, unhappy, no.
how many ...?
..
the ones you don't like makes you unhappy!
oh ya! you're right !! :-)
______________________________________________
this is not cool. it's stupid. makes you suffer.
canadian chap: so nice to hear someone say something bad about smoking in Europe.
______________________________________________
let me give u something to read to help u w/ your misery of being a smoker, and if you're not you'll be if u continue this way.
______________________________________________
take it seriously - it's your life, it's your health, it's your happiness. You don't need this shit to be happy.
______________________________________________--
she said her mom is on oxygen 24 hours 7 days a week - she is 63 - and is severly ill from having been a smoker
______________________________________________
why do you smoke?
- i don't know
then it's probably not necessary. if it was the reason for doing it would be obvious...
______________________________________________
She smokes b/c of stress
Playing w. fire
Ultimately makes u miserable
______________________________________________
RG: Smoking’s no good
It’s fine
RG: If you like it but you probably don’t like it but still do it.
Better I smoke than you
RG: We’re all family
______________________________________________
I hope you stopped smoking - it improves your luck all around (and ... in contacts you make etc... )
smoking cuts off the main connection with the universe - the breath - and poisoning the blood and body cells makes them more susceptible to "negative psychic forces" / it's easier to attract negative forces when we poison our own being.
it's against the body's nature - so quitting smoking makes the immune system having to fight less constantly with extra poisons - makes the body more comfortable - the brain clearer -
is it possible to live without any dependence ?
remember, the mind tricks itself by deferring it - as you read this you may think , one day , some day, or have a future event in mind as an excuse but these are just the mind's excuses for staying with the addiction.
reading my article might help - discussing psychological and bodily addiction.... i also made some videos -
good luck.
______________________________________________
Another sad story of a smoker enslaved to the Tobacco mafia. Every bit
of the story is sad, boring and pathetic. I am tired of talking with
smokers, specially older ones. But I tried -- the main theme being:
attention. It's a sad vicious circle of cig making the body feel
miserable and then smoking to combat the misery which is disgusting and
hopeless. And this government, oldest democracy in the world, is not
doing anything fundamental about it -- they must love the cigarette
tax. Yesterday, walking into Balgrist in Zurich, world class
hospital, it stunk from cigarette smoke. Go shopping in Coop in
Tagipark, huge supermarket, and you have no choice, whether you're
young or old, sick or healthy, child or adult, to inhale poison gas
upon entering the store, and the pathetic explanation of the company
has been: when it's mandated by law, we will make our restaurant
non-smoking. Hello!? Migro's, another chain, already made their
restaurants non-smoking. Why can't Coop? Fear of losing the
revenue of coffee or whatever that the slaves of the Tobacco mafia
consume? Even the Green party bats for smokers. What could you expect
from the Conservatives then? [copied to smoking file,
smoking-swiss file, Green party members, the fine gentleman CEO of
Coop, and a few other members of Coop].
______________________________________________
SOMEONE WROTE:
I bet if there is a BIG campaign / ad stating - "Smokers lack the sense of hygiene", I bet few will be embarrassed to do it instead of thinking they are cool when they are putting poison in their body.
The rest will not care because stinking and/or not stinking is the same for them.
Most ads just talk about health, people really don't care about that.
Little story: A guy asked me to give him a ride because his car would not start. I called a taxi for him and paid for it. He asked me why I did it and I told him that he can't ride with me because I do not want my car to stink. Sorry no smokers allow in my car. Never talked to me again. Good for him. He got my massage.
Put down the cigar or live with your stinky shame. Plain and simple
It’s important to feel the urgency of the situation. The path every smoker is on is a very dangerous one and odds are heavily against them. It’s important to at least see that the mind plays tricks on itself by deferring quitting to future – all thoughts including “I need something to substitute with cigarettes” is the same movement of avoidance denial deferral. If you think quitting immediately now is not possible then at least bring order, prepare the ground.
All one can and needs to do is to look and understand dependence. Then this nasty habit just falls away.
but you have to be VERY careful and really get that "devil weed" out of your life (cigarette) -- you mess with nasty powers when you have that in your life. Being clean is REALLY important -- energetically -- to tune into and dance to the song of good/god/love/otherness/whatever you call it...
CLEANSE - AWARE - QUIET MIND - understand process that leads to smoking
how is going with smoking? Is it still lingering in your life? look at it straight in the eyes and wipe it out 🙂
Keep at it -- what you don't want, is for the topic to get pushed in the background - and u continue being hooked on this very addictive drug and feed the tobacco industry your hard earned money, buying something u don't like and it hurts you -- how smart is that?! 😉
(I COLLECTED THESE FOR A WHILE -- THIS SECTION IS NOT UPDATED)
reprinted with kiond permission of Mr. Oscar Falconi
© 1971 Oscar Falconi
Wholesale Nutrition
PO Box 3345
Saratoga CA 95070
www.nutri.com
Facts About Smoking
Cigarette, cigar, and pipe-smoking are so debilitating that the immediate cessation of the habit is always the first step of any program to improve one's health - even more important than vitamins, diet, or exercise.
International studies of millions of people by government, industry, universities, and private research institutions have determined that smoking can cause:
stained teeth, fingers, and hair;
increased frequency of colds, particularly chest colds and bronchitis;
asthma;
neuralgia;
gastrointestinal difficulties, constipation, diarrhea, and colitis;
headaches;
nausea;
convulsions;
leukoflakia (smoker's patch);
insomnia;
heart murmur;
Buerger's disease (inflammation of blood vessel linings);
shortness of breath;
arthritis;
smoker's hack;
nervousness;
wrinkles and premature aging;
tension;
gastric, duodenal, and peptic ulcers;
lung cancer;
cancer of the lip, tongue, pharynx, larynx, and bladder;
emphysema;
high blood pressure;
heart disease;
artherosclerosis & arteriosclerosis (thickening and loss of
. elasticity of the blood vessels with lessened blood flow);
inflammation of the sinus passages;
tobacco angina (nicotine angina pectoris);
pneumonia;
influenza;
pulmonary tuberculosis;
tobacco amblyopia;
impared hearing;
decreased sexual activity;
and mental depression.
Blood flow to the extremities is decreased (cold hands and feet). One puff lowers the temperature in the fingertips 1ºF to 3ºF in 3 minutes.
Nicotine affects the nerve-muscle junctions, causing tremors and shaking. Nicotine causes narrowing and constriction of the arteries, adding to the heart's load. Nicotine, through its ability to stimulate, causes excitement and anxiety. But the effect wears off, often a period of depression follows, whereupon another cigarette is taken. Nicotine, an insecticide, makes the blood more viscous and decreases the available oxygen. It also adversely affects the breathing, sweating, intestinal, and heart actions of our autonomic nervous system, probably due to hindering the blood flow to the nerve centers in the brain.
Two to four cigarettes in a row increase blood fats 200 to 400%. The average smoker (30 cigerettes per day) has 4 to 6 times the chance of having heart disease if he's in the 45-54 year age group.
If the mother smoked during pregnancy, her baby will average 6 ounces less and its pulse will be 30% faster than a non-smoker's baby, and there'll be withdrawal symptoms in the baby after birth. Premature birth has been related to smoking by the mother. There is a direct link between parents' smoking and children's respiratory disease.
Smoking causes widespread permanent destruction of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) and narrowing of small blood vessels in the lungs, decreasing the oxygen supply, requiring a higher blood pressure, thus causing extensive circulatory problems and premature heart attacks. Smokers have difficulty running and exercising.
The cilia are tiny, delicate, hairlike coverings on the thin membrane of the surface of the lungs and trachea that, by means of their whipping, beating action, produce an upward current of foreign material and mucus from the lungs which is then swallowed or expectorated. This is the way the body cleans the lungs. This delicate lung-cleaning mechanism, in a cigarette smoker, at first paralyzes, then deteriorates, and is eventually made inoperative, through the complete destruction of the cilia. The smoker then must resort to coughing as a lung-cleaning method. This isn't efficient, and more than a cupful of tars will have accumulated in his lungs by the time of his premature death.
Air pollution (auto exhausts, industry wastes, etc.) increases the lung cancer rate of the smoker, but not of the non-smoker. Apparently, the lung-cleaning cilia are alive and working for the non-smoker.
The time to recover from any specific ill, whether caused by smoking or not, is much longer for the smoker. Often, a non-smoker will survive a sickness from which he would have died had he smoked.
The non-smoker has no need to spend money to buy cigarettes, matches, lighters, holders, ashtrays, or to spend a dime a mile for that special trip to the store. Just the cigarettes alone amount to an average of $250 per year, after taxes - wasted. Add another $250 if the spouse smokes. This is hard-earned, after-tax, money of yours, used to pay for the above smoking paraphernalia - plus tax! (Please note: these are 1971 figures.)
By dying earlier, the smoker will lose many tens of thousands of dollars in social security and other benefits which will naturally end up in the pockets of the non-smoker. The cigarette tax is more money from the smoker to the non-smoker.
The smoker is sick more often, explaining why he misses an average of 7½ work days per year, usually with a loss of pay, while the non-smoker will miss only 4½ days.
The smoker must spend valuable time looking for ashtrays, cigarettes, matches, retail stores, vending machines, or change for these machines. He experiences displeasure if they aren't immediately at hand. Just the process of deciding on "which brand" wastes vast amounts of mental, physical, and financial resources.
The overall bad health of the smoker results, on average, in a decrease of 8.3 years in his life expectancy, or about 12 to 14 minutes per cigarette. Just in lost social security income alone, this amounts to about a 5¢ a cigarette. The actual cost of each cigarette when you include extra medical expenses, lost pay, etc., is of the order of 25¢ per cigarette (1971 figures).
Just the extra medical expenses alone can be expected to eventually use up all of a smoker's hard-earned savings, already depleted by the high cost of smoking. By the time non-smokers get sick, Medicare will foot their medical bills.
The smoker's body requires more sleep every night. This extra sleep must come from his spare time. Besides needing more sleep, smokers don't sleep as well.
Smoking destroys vitamins, particularly vitamin C and the B's. Smoking has induced cancer in dogs. Insurance rates can be higher for smokers. Some 100,000 doctors stop smoking every year.
Foods will taste much better to non-smokers. Many subtle flavors and aromas will be savored if your nasal and oral senses are freed of the effects of harsh chemicals, coal tars, and other combustion products. How long has it been since you've experienced the smell of fresh-cut grass or the delicate taste of lobster from Maine or Nova Scotia?
Other disadvantages of smoking: You must always carry cigarettes and matches; your pockets bulge - or there's less space in your purse; smelly breath; smelly house; smelly clothes; messy rugs and furniture, often burned; cigarettes lying around for kids to smoke (and matches to light); you're a bad influence on kids; you're held in low esteem by your kids and your friends (even your smoking friends); the inside of your home and auto windows need cleaning more often; death or property loss due to smoking in bed.
Some 120 persons have died in two airline crashes that have been attributed to ashtray and lighter-fluid fires. Cigarette smoke collects with lint and is known to gum up delicate mechanisms such as aircraft controls.
Smokers get into more auto accidents due to being less alert, having slower reflexes, and also due to fussing around while driving (lighting up, etc.). In Czechoslovakia it's illegal to smoke while driving. Accident-proneness has been related to smoking.
A non-smoker would have to put on an additional 150 pounds in order to increase his mortality rate to that of an average smoker.
The fact that the tobacco industry provides work, that wouldn't exist without it, is a myth. The money now wasted on tobacco, if diverted elsewhere, would create a wealth of new job openings in industries producing goods and services more useful to the society than cigarettes.
Smoking makes a person irritable and argumentative, partially due to a subconscious knowledge of all of the above facts. Smoking has been related to brain damage and premature senility.
A smoker needs much more food and sleep since nicotine makes his body work harder and less efficiently and his heart beat faster, thus using more fuel and energy. This, together with the fact that a smoker loses much of his appetite and his taste for food, explains why smokers have less trouble keeping their weight down. When one quits smoking, it's IMPERATIVE that the intake of food is drastically reduced in order to keep the body weight normal. Having to eat less is of course an additional saving of time and money.
Wouldn't it be nice if everyone quit smoking? There'd be less general litter, no more butts, ashes, or wrappers in the streets, grass, urinals, etc.; no more smoke in restaurants, theaters, airplanes or buses; a more alert society, with more spare time to enjoy or improve their lot in life; fewer auto, plane, on-the-job, and household accidents; fewer forest fires; less air pollution; lower auto and life insurance rates; and fewer people coughing and spitting in public. By inflicting smoke on your non-smoking friends, it's been shown that even THEIR health and life expectancy are adversely affected.
Notice how many of your friends have quit smoking in the last 5 years. They're the smart ones (and you know it). Lower intelligence has been related to smoking. In fact, smoking is both a cause and an effect of lower intelligence, just as smoking is both a cause and effect of lower income. The (smoking)-(lower-intelligence)-(lower-income)-(more smoking) vicious circle can unknowingly spiral a brainwashed young person down and down into the depths of poverty and despair. He'll not be as physically or mentally able to cope with life's challenges. Our successful capitalistic system is based on competition, and the physically-mentally handicapped smoker inevitably ends up at the bottom of the heap. So get smart, today, now, and join the happy, healthy ranks of the non-smokers.
Quitting the Filthy Habit
The smoker's body cells have become addicted to nicotine, and to quit smoking won't be easy, since withdrawal symptoms can be expected. Here are some helpful tips that might ease the quitting process:
If you're a light smoker, you should quit immediately, only moderately shocking your system.
The heavy smoker should allow two weeks for cutting down, then quit completely. An extended cutting-down period only prolongs the pain. Prepare for an agonizing month or two, though you might get off easily. The close family must give up, too, at least in your presence. It'd of course be best if the whole family quit at once. The pain and agony you'll suffer can be relieved completely in most persons by taking vitamin C to bowel tolerance. That means to take as little as one gram or as many as fifty grams (50,000 milligrams) every day until you reach the point of liquid diarrhea, then decrease the amount until your stools are normal. But "normal", for many smokers, means frequent constipation. Stools must always be soft, never, ever, necessitating any straining.
If anti-smoking drugs help (Nikoban, Bantron, Pronicotyl), good, but be prepared to find they won't. Vitamins C and B1 and tranquilizers often help to decrease irritability and other withdrawal symptoms.
After eating don't sit down. Take a walk instead. Try to avoid situations that you associate with smoking, such as sitting in your favorite chair, particularly after dinner. Try to avoid situations that are conducive to smoking, such as bars, meetings, and boredom. Don't invite smoking friends over during the critical first few months. Never, anytime, let them smoke in your soon-to-be smell-free home. In fact, after you've quit for a few months, you'll notice how your clothes still have a strong residual smell of an ashtray. It may be necessary to clean or clear away every source of that smell, usually from carpets and clothes. Then get ready for a new life of clean lungs and great health. Your non-smoking friends won't avoid you anymore now that you no longer smell like an ashtray.
When you get that urge to smoke (and you will), drink some water. If that doesn't work, suck a prune and keep the pit in your mouth for an hour. Try the buddy system: phone a friend who's also trying to quit. Think of the satisfaction of not having given in to that filthy urge. Think how bad you'll feel if you do give in. Think about how your cigarette money helps support those hypocritical tobacco companies whose income is derived at the expense of the health, wealth, happiness, efficiency, and resources of the addicted smoker.
Keep this sheet with you at all times, and re-read it when necessary, to refresh your memory of all the ugly disadvantages of smoking, and all the advantages of not smoking.
Try to avoid calories, but if you find that substituting food for cigarettes helps you give up smoking, then by all means have an apple, gum, beef jerky, or a prune. If at all possible, exercise a bit every day, especially when you get the urge to smoke. It's a good substitute, and you'll find that exercising comes much easier as a non-smoker.
After giving up, that filthy urge may remain for several years, so don't start again. Some people are lucky in that after a few months the thought of smoking makes them sick. But don't bank on being lucky.
Cigarette displays, cigarette ads, cigarette machines, anything having to do with smoking, must be looked upon in your mind as existing only for those poor unfortunates who are addicted to that filthy habit.
Life's too good and too short to waste on that filthy habit.
June Russell's Health Facts http://www.jrussellshealth.com/
< thanks to June Russell >
Smoking — Overvie
Prevalence of Smoking
One-third of the world’s adult population are smokers (47% of these are men, 7% are women) and each year, tobacco causes 3.5 million deaths a year, or about 10,000 deaths each day. It is predicted that in 20 years this yearly death rate from tobacco use will be more than 10 million people. This dwarfs other health problems like AIDS or maternal deaths.
{“Global Tobacco Epidemic, according to WHO,” ASH Review, May/June }
An estimated 50 million Americans are smokers (25% of the population). About 20 million smokers try to break the habit every year, with only about a million actually managing to quit. Another million become new smokers annually.
{“Anytime’s a Good Time to Quit Smoking,” Washington Post Health, July 11, }
An estimated 48 million U.S. adults currently smoke: 28% of men and 22% of women. Adult smoking has remained unchanged.
{ABCNEWS.Com, Jan. }
The CDC says smoking among young adults, ages 18 to 24, has been rising for the first time to the level of those 25 to 44. High school rates are even higher. Banning smoking in the workplace and other smoking restrictions are the major reason for decline in people who smoke.
{John Banzhaf, head of ASDH - Action on Smoking, HealthCentral.com - May }
Over one million smokers of the 50 million are stopping yearly, but one million teenagers are picking up the habit. Presently 10% of the doctors smoke in the U.S. (One fourth of the Japanese doctors smoke.)
Smoking in developing countries is rising by more than 3% a year.
{“Tobacco Deceit,” Washington Post, Aug. 3, }
Effect of Smoking on Life Span
“Action on Smoking and Health” tells us that a 30-year-old smoker can expect to live about 35 more years, whereas a 30-year-old nonsmoker can expect to live 53 more years. The children of a parent or parents who smoke may be at risk from the genetic damage done to the parent before conception (because of their previous smoking), the direct effects to them in the womb, and the passive smoke they are exposed to after they are born.
{“Smokers urged to weigh the ‘facts’ during the ‘Great American Smoke-Out,’ Vital Signs, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, Nov. 14, written by June Russell, a member of Smoke-Free Charlottesville}
The amount of life expectancy lost for each pack of cigarettes smoked is 28 minutes, and the years of life expectancy a typical smoker loses is 25 years.
{“Dying to Quit,” book by Janet Brigham}
Every cigarette a man smokes reduces his life by 11 minutes. Each carton of cigarettes thus represents a day and a half of lost life. Every year a man smokes a pack a day, he shortens his life by almost 2 months.
{University of California, Berkeley Wellness Letter, April }
There are some 1.1 billion people who smoke on our planet earth. Just less than one-third of all adults in the world smoke regularly. Tobacco deaths will not only occur in old age but will start when smokers are about age 35. Half of those who die from smoking-related causes will die in middle age, each losing about 25 years of life expectancy. More than 95% of the tobacco consumed is in the form of cigarettes. About half of all smokers who undergo lung cancer take up smoking again.
{“Dying to Quit,” a book by Janet Brigham}
Physiology and Psychology of Smoking
Most smokers perceive the immediate effect of smoking as something positive; a stimulant that makes them seem to feel more alert, clearheaded and able to focus on work. However, the smoker’s perception is mostly an illusion. Take a look at what smoke does to the brain.
Within ten seconds of the first inhalation, nicotine, a potent alkaloid, passes into the bloodstream, transits the barrier that protects the brain from most impurities, and begins to act on brain cells. Nicotine molecules fit like keys into the “nicotinic” receptors on the surface of the brain’s neurons. In fact, nicotine fits the same “keyholes” as one of the brain’s most important neurotransmitters (signal chemicals), acetycholine, which results in a rush of stimulation and an increase in the flow of blood to the brain.
After ten puffs have flowed through the lungs, the smoker feels energized and clearheaded, but this is partly due to the fact that this was a period which ended a nicotine depravation, and another is about to happen. Within 30 minutes, the nicotine is reduced and the smoker feels the energy slipping away. A second cigarette is lit, and there is another surge of adrenaline, but now there is a feeling of one of the paradoxes of smoking, that at one dose it can stimulate, at another soothe. The muscles throughout your body starts to relax, and your pain threshold rises.
Another 30 minutes pass and the attention of the smoker increasingly drifts away from work and toward the nearby pack of cigarettes. Nicotine prompts brain cells to grow many more nicotinic receptors which allow the brain to function normally despite an unnatural amount of acetylcholine-like chemical acting on it, so the smoker feels normal when nicotine floods the neurons and abnormal when it doesn't. “You might say smokers live near the edge of a cliff,” says Jack Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore. “Most are never more than a few hours away from the start of nicotine withdrawal symptoms.”
The American Psychiatric Association classifies smoking withdrawal as a “nicotine-induced organic mental disorder,” and several studies have compared active smokers with ‘deprived’ smokers (those suffering nicotine withdrawal) on their ability to perform simple skill tests. These are often cited (and many were funded) by the tobacco industry as evidence that tobacco enhances alertness and performance. What they really show is that nicotine withdrawal causes dramatic mental dysfunction. Research revealed that a smoker might perform adequately at many jobs until the job gets complicated: a smoker could drive a car satisfactorily as long as everything was routine, but if a tire blew out at high speed he might not handle the job as well as a nonsmoker.
{“How Cigarettes Cloud the Brain,” Reader’s Digest, March}
In 1980, tobacco dependence was listed as a mental disorder in the official diagnostic reference for the American Psychiatric Association. The Psychiatric Association reported that smokers have a higher lifetime frequency of substance abuse, severe depression and anxiety disorders involving aggression and antisocial behavior.
The Pritikin Program states that smoking accelerates problems that come with old age, and shows up earlier in smokers, for example, premature osteoporosis. Smoking changes bone tissue, making it easier for minerals to leave the bone in solution. Smoking increases lung and bladder cancer. A smoker loses 26% of his field of vision. There is also hearing and visual impairment, taste impairment and general loss of physiological and mental function. It takes four to six days for the withdrawal symptoms to subside. After that, 90% of their problem is gone.
Risk Areas
Cigarette smoking harms the body by raising cholesterol levels and blood pressure, as well as increasing the risk of cancer and cataracts. Smoking destroys certain vitamins and creates the need for other specific nutrients.
{“Addictive substances: Nicotine,” Lets Live Magazine, Oct.}
Smokers are 4 times more likely to have gray hair and increased hair loss (British Medical Journal, Science News, Jan. 11}
No amount of smoking is free of risk. The exact amount of risk depends on how long you've smoked and how deeply the you inhale, as well as genetic factors.
(UCBerkeley Wellness Letter, June }
Smoking is associated with a decline in physical function that makes a smoker act several years older than he/she really is. Tobacco smoking reduces the effectiveness of medications, such as pain relievers, antidepressants, tranquilizers, sedatives, ulcer medication and insulin. With estrogen and oral contraceptives, smoking may increase the risk of heart and blood-vessel disease. Currently, smoking kills 1 in 10 adults worldwide.
{Information Plus - The Information Series on Current Topics, “Alcohol and Tobacco, America’s Drugs of Choice,” }
Smoking makes tinnitus worse, says Dr. Harold Pillsbury, University of NC, Professor of Surgery and Otolaryngology.
{People’s Pharmacy, Public Radio, July 24, }
Other research shows that smokers have an increased risk of heart disease (including stroke, chest pain and palpitations), cancer, emphysema, fatigue, loss of vitamins and nutrients, premature aging, gastrointestinal disorders, osteoporosis, sinus congestion and throat irritation. According to medical reports, colds, flu and laryngitis last much longer for those who smoke.
Smoking causes an increased stress in the whole body even though there seems to be a lessening of stress when the body gets its ‘fix’ from the nicotine. Dr. Norman Shealy, a physician with the Shealy Institute for Comprehensive Pain and Health Care in Springfield, MO, tells us that smokers tend to consume other drugs and chemicals more frequently than nonsmokers, and have a lower threshold for pain, possibly because smoking stimulates adrenaline and also blocks one of the body’s natural pain relievers. Smokers are more vulnerable to headaches.
Driving skills are negatively affected for both the smoker and those who breathe the passive smoke. In his book, “The Risk of Passive Smoke,” Roy Shepard tells us that tobacco smoke impairs the ability to judge time intervals and muscle responsiveness, as well as vision and memory. Also affected is the learning ability and a variety of reasoning tasks employed during test taking.
Dr. Edward Koop, past Surgeon General, tells us in his book, “The Memoirs of an American Family Doctor,” that emphysema is found almost exclusively in smokers, and that 35% of all cancers are from smoking.
In her book, “The Scientific Case against Smoking,” Ruth Winter writes that the use of tobacco is one of the primary, but frequently unrecognized contributors to drug interactions, and there can be errors in reading the diagnostic tests of the smokers because of the differences of the normal blood levels of several elements. Drugs taken by the smoker can interact, causing them to be weaker, stronger, or not effective.
Dr. John Farquhar, in his book, “The Last Puff,” tells us that 95% of those who die from lung cancer are smokers. Lung cancer is killing more women than breast cancer, and cervical cancer is increased 8 to 17 times because of the increased concentration of nicotine on the cervical mucus; pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) is worsened as well.
One out of four adults smoke now as compared to 4 out of 10 in the 1940’s. (Energy Times magazine, Feb. }
Military studies of those in basic training show that those who smoke are 50% more likely than nonsmokers to injure themselves with sprains and fractures.
{People’s Pharmacy, Public Radio, April 15, - Show # 309}
People who smoke are more likely to have sinusitis.
{Reuters Health, HealthCentral, Aug. }
Cigarettes don't just damage the heart and lungs: they also interfere with the healing of bone and muscle injuries, and they lead to higher rates of complications after surgery.
{CBS HealthWatch, Aug. }
In general, adolescents, whites and women are the groups most susceptible to becoming dependent on nicotine, even when using the same amount of nicotine as other groups. Women also smoked fewer cigarettes than men but have a higher rate of dependence.
{“Nicotine most likely to hook women, whites and young,” Reuters Health, healthcentral.com }
Smoking has been linked in medical studies to more than 25 diseases, including heart disease, strokes, respiratory illness and several forms of cancer.
{John Banzhaf, head of Action on Smoking, HealthCentral.com }
Long-time smokers may face an increased risk of multiple sclerosis say Harvard researchers.
{“Smoking risk factor for multiple sclerosis,” HealthCentral.com }
Even though studies show that kicking the habit has immediate health effects, it is clear there are permanent ones. Smokers, even those who quit years ago, have damage to their genes that can lead to cancer. There is molecular damage in the lungs of people who smoked only a pack a day for a year.
{Anderson Cancer Center, HealthCentral - Reuters News, June }
While smoking is a well-known risk factor for heart disease and cancer, the habit can wreak havoc on bones and muscles, and smokers not only fare worse after certain surgical procedures, they are more likely to see them fail. Because smoking impedes the blood supply to the lower spine, it is also linked to chronic low back pain and degenerative disk disease.
{“Smokers found to fare worse after bone surgery,” presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, investigators were from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, Reuters Health, HealthCentral.com - }
The information placed on low-nicotine brands is deceptive, and the filters which dilute the smoke when tested on the machine simulation do not appear to have the same effect as on humans. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that people who smoke ‘light’ or ‘mild’ cigarettes inhale up to eight times as much tar and nicotine as printed on the label.
{“‘Mild’ cigarettes still pack nicotine punch,” Reuters Health, healthcentral.com - Jan. }
Cigarette smoke transforms healthy saliva into a deadly cocktail that can accelerate cancer, according to new research in the British Journal of Cancer. Normally, saliva - which contains antioxidants - provides a protective buffer in the lining of the mouth for the enzymes that fight and neutralize harmful substances. New research shows that the chemicals in tobacco smoke destroy these enzymes, leaving a corrosive mix that damages the cells of the mouth, and can eventually turn these cells cancerous.
{“Cigarette smoke transforms healthy saliva into a deadly cocktail that can accelerate mouth cancer,“ Medical News Today, June }
Statistics
Smokers in their thirties and forties are five times more likely to have a heart attack as nonsmokers of the same age, says WHO.
{Washington Post Health, June 26}
The addiction to smoking gives a 50% chance of killing the user: three times the risk of playing Russian roulette.
{ASH - Jan./Feb. }
Tobacco is a mood-altering, addictive drug that kills 500,000 Americans (200 million worldwide) and costs $400 billion each year, according to “Smoking and Health Review,” . We are told by the American Lung Association that tobacco contains more than 4,000 chemicals, 60 of which cause cancer. Some of the ‘killers’ are radioactivity, arsenic, ammonia, lead, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, cadmium, phenol, benzene and hydrogen cyanide (the ‘gas chamber’ gas that poisons the respiratory enzymes).
Although smoking is a constant and chronic irritant to the body tissues, it is also a high-priced addictive pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) that is costly, not only in dollars but lives as well. In the U.S. alone, cigarette smoking causes over 1,000 deaths a day or a half-a-million lives a year, is responsible for 25% of the cancer deaths, and 30 to 40% of coronary heart disease. Smoking decreases life expectancy for all age groups, and for those who must breathe the passive smoke. There are 4,000 chemicals (lead, cyanide, arsenic, etc.) in cigarette smoke and over 30 of them carcinogenic. The act of smoking desensitizes the smoker to outside stimuli, and it is estimated that a smoker costs an employer about $5,000 yearly.
Smoking has about a 50% chance of killing the smoker. This is three times the risk of playing a round of Russian roulette.
{“How YOU Pay The Price,” ASH Smoking and Health Review, Jan./Feb. }
WHO estimates that smoking kills more than four million people a year, This figure may rise to 10 million per year by 2030 because of surging tobacco use in developing countries.
{AP, “WHO accuses tobacco companies,” HealthCentral.com - Aug. }
At least 625,000 individuals in the Americas die each year from tobacco use, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Tobacco use seems to be on the rise in most countries in the Americas. What is needed is for governments to implement the recommendations of a report of the World Bank that was released last year. Ways to reduce tobacco use: increase taxes, restrict advertising, restricting smoking indoors, and strong, meaningful, and visible warnings on cigarette packages.
{“Tobacco kills 625,000 in the Americas each year.” Reuters Sept. }
The cost of one pack of cigarettes is increased by $7 when medical and other costs are included in the price.
{Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, Report ;51: 300-302}
Comments by the Author
Smoking decreases physical fitness and vitality, and when you add the offensive breath and body odor that smokers exude, the chances of attracting the opposite sex is greatly diminished.
Those who take up smoking and become addicted can be doomed to have it be the center of their life:” Where are my cigarettes,” “I hope I have enough cigarettes so I won't run out,” “I wish I could stop this nasty habit,” “God, they taste so good,” “I am really going to try and smoke less today.”
Even if a smoker quits there are the months and years (for some individuals a lifetime) of energy focused on trying not to start again, and being driven by the urge to “smoke just one cigarette.”
Quitting smoking will be a minor task compared to the suffering and ill health that will result if you do not quit. If you haven't started, DON'T — if you now smoke, QUIT — and remember to stay away from passive smoke.
VARIOUS TOBACCO AND POT FACTS I COLLECTED A LONG TIME AGO
Tobacco plant (genus Nicotiana) of the NIGHTSHADE family,
and the product manufactured from its leaf and used in
cigars and cigarettes, snuff, and pipe and chewing
tobacco. The chief commercial species, N. tabacum, is
believed native to tropical America. The tobacco plant is
a coarse, large-leaved perennial, but it is usually
cultivated as an annual. Tobacco requires a warm
climate and rich, well-drained soil. After being picked,
the leaves are cured, fermented, and aged to develop
aroma. The amount of nicotine (the ALKALOID
responsible for tobacco's narcotic and soothing effect)
varies, depending on tobacco strain, growing
conditions, and processing. The use of tobacco
originated among natives of the New World in
pre-Columbian times. Introduced into Spain and
Portugal in the mid-16th cent., initially as a panacea, it
spread to other European countries, and by 1619
tobacco had become a leading export crop of Virginia.
Since the 1950s there has been concern over the harmful
effects of nicotine, the tarry compounds, and CARBON
MONOXIDE in tobacco smoke; smoking has been
especially linked to lung cancer and heart disease.
[from Swiss magazine]
Tobacco came to Europe
in the 16Th century, following the colonisation of the Americas and contact
with the local inhabitants. Swedish soldiers spread the habit all over Europe
during the Thirty Years War; but smoking really became established with the
rise of the cigar in the 18th and the cigarette in the 19th century.
2012 -- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major tobacco companies that spent decades denying they lied to the U.S. public about the dangers of cigarettes must spend their own money on a public advertising campaign saying they did lie, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling sets out what might be the harshest sanction to come out of a historic case that the Justice Department brought in accusing the tobacco companies of racketeering.
Tobacco companies are targeting the half billion young people in the Asia Pacific region by linking smoking to glamorous and attractive lifestyles, the U.N. World Health Organization said Friday.
______________________________________________
BOSTON - A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers. Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
______________________________________________
LONDON - As little as five minutes of exercise could help smokers quit, says a new study. Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
______________________________________________
MUNICH, Germany - Women typically get heart disease much later than men, but not if they smoke, researchers said Tuesday. In fact, women who smoke have heart attacks nearly 14 years earlier than women who don't smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology.
______________________________________________
Secondhand Smoke Leaves Kids Prone to Severe Infections
In addition to developing asthma and respiratory infections, children in households where someone smokes are more likely to catch a whole range of severe infections, including meningococcal disease. Many even have to be hospitalized, a new study found.
______________________________________________
WASHINGTON - More than one in 10 pregnant women smoke, and new research suggests many of them also may suffer from depression, making kicking the habit even harder.
______________________________________________
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Otherwise healthy men who smoke risk developing erectile dysfunction -- and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.
______________________________________________
WASHINGTON - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought.
______________________________________________
GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation said Friday that only a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising can stop the "constantly mutating virus" of the marketing industry and protect vulnerable young people.
______________________________________________
Dec 2008
ATLANTA – A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said
Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear sign the ban was responsible.
______________________________________________
Men who smoke more than a pack of cigarettes a day are nearly 40 percent likelier to suffer from impotence than non-smokers, says a study.
______________________________________________
Smoking, Cancer Deaths Linked at p53 Gene
By Karin Twilde
Researchers at the School of Medicine have uncovered the
most conclusive evidence to date linking cigarette smoking to
cancer. Their findings, reported in the March 16 issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine, represent the strongest molecular
link between cigarette smoking, the most common cause of
cancer-related death, and mutation of the p53 gene, the most
common cancer-related genetic mutation.
California Declares Secondhand Smoke a Toxic Air Contaminant
January 31,
Email Print Subscribe
News Summary
Regulators in California -- which often leads the nation on health and environmental issues -- have officially named secondhand tobacco smoke as a toxic air contaminant, setting the stage for further restrictions on smoking in the state, Reuters reported Jan. 26.
______________________________________________
AP:
Nev. Study Links Casino Smoke, DNA Damage
Mon May 15, 8:23 PM ET
RENO, Nev. - Five years of research led by a University of Nevada, Reno department head in Reno and Las Vegas casinos have concluded there is a direct correlation between exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace and damage to the employees' DNA.
"The more they were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, the more the DNA damage, and that's going to lead to a higher risk of heart disease and cancer down the road," said Chris Pritsos.
Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the
National Institutes of Health, the clinical trial followed 125 employees who work on the gambling floors of casinos in both northern and southern Nevada.
______________________________________________
Smokers At Higher Risk for Erectile Dysfunction
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter Thu Mar 23, 11:47 PM ET
THURSDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking can shorten lives, and a new study finds it may also hamper men's sex lives.
Researchers say men who smoke a pack of cigarettes or more a day are nearly 40 percent more likely to have erectile dysfunction compared with nonsmokers.
______________________________________________
Passive smoking is breast cancer risk factor
By Michelle Rizzo Fri Dec 2,
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of studies "with thorough passive smoking exposure assessment" indicate that passive smoking raises the risk of breast cancer, especially in premenopausal women, to a similar degree as active smoking.
______________________________________________
Secondhand Smoke Linked to Cervical Cancer
Fri, Jan 21,
By Anthony J. Brown, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure to secondhand smoke appears to increase the risk of cervical cancer, albeit to a lesser extent than active smoking, new research shows.
"There was good reason to think that passive smoking might be associated with cervical cancer, given the link with active smoking," Dr. Anthony J. Alberg, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told Reuters Health.
______________________________________________
Mar 10,
Report Links Second-Hand Smoke, Cancer
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists at an influential state agency have completed a draft report linking second-hand smoke to breast cancer, a finding that could lead air quality regulators to strengthen the state's indoor smoking laws.
It's the first major report to draw that connection, and one of many findings about the health effects of so-called environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS.
The 1,200-page report drafted by scientists at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment draws on more than 1,000 other studies of the effects of second-hand smoke and details a range of health problems caused by exposure to it. These included respiratory complications, heart disease and several cancers, many of which have been extensively documented.
But the report also establishes a connection between so-called passive smoking and breast cancer — a disease that kills about 40,000 women in the United States each year.
______________________________________________
Study: Cigarette Smoke May Harm Fertility
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer Thu May 26,
GENEVA - New research suggests that exposure to other people's cigarette smoke may damage a woman's fertility, especially if she needs the help of an infertility clinic to get pregnant.
______________________________________________
Smoking Ups Impotence Risk in Younger Men
Feb 25
Health - Reuters
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adding to evidence that smoking is bad for a man's sex life, new study findings show that smoking may raise the risk of impotence, particularly in younger men.
Researchers found that among the more than 1,300 men they followed, those who smoked were at greater risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) than either former smokers or non-smokers.
______________________________________________
Thu, Sep 23,
Ex-FDA Chief: Tobacco Cos. Fed Addiction
Add Business - AP to My Yahoo!
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The former head of the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) came under cross- examination Thursday after testifying that cigarette makers manipulated nicotine to keep smokers addicted, a central allegation in the federal government's $280 billion lawsuit against the industry.
______________________________________________
Feds: Tobacco Firms Worked Together
Tue, Sep 21,
Add Business - AP to My Yahoo!
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Tobacco companies, desperate to maintain their hold on tens of millions of American smokers, worked together for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of cigarettes and to encourage the young to start puffing, government lawyers said Tuesday at the start of a racketeering trial.
Justice Department (news - web sites) lawyers pointed to numerous statements by industry executives that created doubt among smokers about whether the habit was harmful and whether they really needed to kick it.
"Defendants' strategy of denial worked, and they knew it," Justice lawyer Sharon Eubanks told U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler.
______________________________________________
~~~
Marijuana Use Linked to Risk of Heart Attacks and Strokes https://futurism.com/neoscope/marijuana-linked-heart-attacks-strokes A pair of new preliminary studies have found that older adults who use marijuana every day but don't smoke tobacco appear to be significantly more likely to suffer serious cardiovascular emergencies including heart attacks and strokes.
Cannabis users are more likely to be in moderate or serious psychological distress, study finds
~~~
https://scitechdaily.com/warning-marijuana-use-may-alter-your-dna-methylation/
Warning: Marijuana Use May Alter Your DNA Methylation
~~~
https://www.psypost.org/2023/08/cannabis-users-are-more-likely-to-be-in-moderate-or-serious-psychological-distress-study-finds-167537
Cannabis users are more likely to be in moderate or serious psychological distress, study finds
~~~
More Seek Help for Marijuana Addiction
Fri Mar 4,
Top Stories - AP
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Treatment rates for marijuana nearly tripled, the government says, attributing the increase to greater use and potency.
"This report is a wake-up call for parents that marijuana is not a soft drug," said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "It's a much bigger part of the addiction problem than is generally understood."
______________________________________________
Study: Cigarettes Cost Society $40 a Pack
Thu Nov 25, Health - AP
DURHAM, N.C. - Cigarettes may cost smokers more then they believe. A study by a team of health economists finds the combined price paid by their families and society is about $40 per pack of cigarettes.
"It will be necessary for persons aged 24 and younger to face the fact that the decision to smoke is a very costly one — one of the most costly decisions they make," the study's authors concluded.
Smokers pay about $33 of the cost, their families absorb $5.44 and others pay $1.44, according to health economists from Duke University and a professor from the University of South Florida. The study drew on data including Social Security (news - web sites) earnings histories dating to 1951.
______________________________________________
Secondhand smoke costs nearly $10 bln in U.S.-study
Wed Aug 17
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The effects of secondhand smoke in the United States cost nearly $10 billion every year, according to a study released on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Society of Actuaries said that the direct costs of secondhand smoke exposure are $4.98 billion, including expenses related to the treatment of heart disease, chronic pulmonary disease, lung cancer, asthma and other sicknesses.
The study also detailed indirect costs of $4.68 billion, stemming from lost wages, reduced services and costs associated with disabilities.
"While the health effects of secondhand smoke are reduced in comparison to active smoking, the number of people exposed is so large that the costs are substantial," Society of Actuaries fellow Donald Behan said in a statement.
The group measured the costs by examining more than 200 studies that have been published since 1964 on the effects of environmental tobacco smoke.
______________________________________________
Smoking, even second-hand, ups risk of eye diseaseWed Dec 21, PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking cigarettes, or living with someone who does, increases a person's risk of developing a progressively degenerative eye disease known as age-related macular degeneration or AMD, according to a study conducted in the UK.
"Smoking puts you at increased risk of losing your sight in old age and the more you smoke the higher the risk," Dr. John Yates from the University of Cambridge told Reuters Health. "Smoking also increases the risk for the people living with you. So these are two good reasons to stop smoking."
AMD is the leading cause of reduced vision and blindness in many European countries and the US. A person's risk of developing the disease increases with age.
______________________________________________
Smoking lowers chances of surviving throat cancer
By Graciela Flores Fri Dec 9,
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with cancer of the larynx or lower pharynx, continuing to smoke or drink alcohol make it less likely that they'll survive, while eating a diet rich in vegetables and vitamin C improves their survival, a new study shows.
"One might think, now I that have cancer, what's the point of stopping smoking? But there is clearly a benefit in doing that; it will improve your survival," Dr. Rajesh P. Dikshit commented to Reuters Health.
Tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, and diet have all been linked to the development of cancer in the larynx, or voicebox, and the area immediately above it at the back of the throat, the hypopharynx. However, little was known about the role of these risk factors on the survival of patients with these cancers.
______________________________________________
Smoking may increase risk of depression
Reuters - Fri Jun 1, 12:00 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Persistent smokers appear to be at increased risk for becoming depressed compared to never smokers, results of a long-term study of Finnish twins suggest. On the other hand, this association was not seen in individuals who stopped smoking many years ago.
______________________________________________
List Linking Smoking to Diseases Expands
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The list of diseases linked to smoking grew longer Thursday. Add acute myeloid leukemia, cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach, abdominal aortic aneurysms, cataracts, periodontitis and pneumonia.
______________________________________________
Smokers, Drinkers Show Gene Changes in Mouth Cells
Thu Jul 1,
Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many healthy people who smoke or drink may have a genetic alteration in the cells of the mouth and throat that could signal an increased risk of developing cancer, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong.
______________________________________________
Toxins from tobacco smoke, referred to as thirdhand smoke, linger long after smokers move out of their homes and nonsmokers move in, say researchers from San Diego State University. Thirdhand smoke can seep into crevices and coat the surfaces of a dwelling, says lead study author Georg E. Matt. Findings, reported in Tobacco Control, show that even when a smoking home had been vacant for two months, nicotine on surfaces was up to 150 times higher in former smoking homes compared to homes of nonsmokers. Nicotine in the air was up to 98 percent higher in homes that had belonged to smokers. When nonsmokers moved into homes that had belonged to smokers, nicotine levels measured on their fingertips were seven to eight times higher than nonsmokers who had always lived in a nonsmoking home.
______________________________________________
U.N.: Smoking Kills People Seconds Apart
Fri May 28, 1:52 PM ET
Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!
By SAM CAGE, Associated Press Writer
GENEVA - One person dies from a tobacco-related disease every 6 1/2 seconds, the head of the U.N. health agency warned Friday ahead of its annual World No Tobacco Day.
______________________________________________
Cigarettes Rob Smokers of 10 Years of Life
2 hours, 45 minutes ago
Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Cigarette smokers die on average 10 years earlier than non-smokers but kicking the habit, even at 50 years old, can halve the risk, according to half a century of research reported on Tuesday.
______________________________________________
Study: Marijuana smokers' sperm slow
Tuesday, October 14,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Sperm in men who smoke marijuana regularly lose stamina and burn out which may prevent conception, said a study released Monday.
The study by the State University of New York in Buffalo, New York, is the first to focus on the swimming patterns of sperm in men who smoke marijuana, the authors say.
"The sperm from marijuana smokers were moving too fast too early," said Lani Burkman, lead author of the study, in a statement.
"To attach itself to the egg, the sperm has to swim like mad -- that's hyper activation -- and they have to be vigorous at the right time," Burkman said. "Smoking marijuana messes up the natural regulatory system."
"The timing was all wrong. These sperm will experience burnout before they reach the egg and would not be capable of fertilization."
The study, released at the annual conference of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio, found that men who smoke marijuana have less sperm because of lower quantities of seminal fluid compared to fertile men.
One of the ingredients of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the psychoactive chemical that causes people to feel "high."
______________________________________________
Smokers: increased risk of prostate cancer
SEATTLE, July 14 -- A new study indicates long-term, heavy smoking doubles the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in middle-aged men.
Science Daily magazine said the study shows men under the age 65 with a history of 40 or more "pack-years" (those who smoke a pack a day for 40 years or two packs a day for 20 years) face a 100 percent increased risk -- or double the risk -- of developing more aggressive forms of the disease, as compared with nonsmokers.
Such men with heavy smoking exposure also face a 60 percent increased risk of prostate cancer overall. Compared with nonsmokers, current smokers experienced a 40 percent increase in the risk of prostate cancer.
______________________________________________
april 1,
Mont. Smoking Ban Cuts Heart Attacks
By DANIEL Q. HANEY, AP Medical Editor
CHICAGO - Heart attacks in Helena, Mont., fell by more than half last summer after voters passed a broad indoor smoking ban, suggesting that cleaning up the air in bars and restaurants quickly improves health for everyone, a study found.
Doctors said their study, which they described as a kind of "natural experiment," is the first to examine what happens to public health when people stop smoking - and breathing secondhand smoke - in public places.
The doctors, themselves backers of the ban, acknowledged the effects need to be demonstrated in a larger locale. But despite the small numbers involved, they said Helena's experience offers a clear hint that the change reduces the risk of heart attacks for smokers and nonsmokers alike from virtually the moment it goes into effect.
People who worry about secondhand smoke often fear lung cancer most, but that takes years of exposure.
Smoking is also a powerful trigger of heart attacks and it works quickly to increase the risk by raising blood pressure, increasing the tendency of blood to make clots and other ways.
______________________________________________
Sat May 31, 4:56 PM ET
Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The leading U.S. group of cancer physicians on Saturday urged an immediate $2-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and other steps to curb smoking, which is projected to kill a billion people worldwide this century.
"Oncologists see the end product from smoking. To see a preventable form of cancer is a tragedy," said Dr. Paul Bunn, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists
one-third of all U.S. cancer deaths relate directly to tobacco. If current trends hold, 1 billion people will die this century from tobacco-related illnesses compared to 100 million in the last century.
and live in conflict of wanting to stop but can not. That is addiction, and that is what the cig co does not want its young preys (victims/targets) to know. Every smoker suffers wheter they admit ir or ignore it or not.
Smokers' Sense of Time Examined in Study
Wed May 14, 7:57 AM ET
By DAN LEWERENZ, Associated Press Writer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - For smokers separated from their cigarettes, time seems to stand still. New research indicates there's good reason for that.
Time perception, one of the simplest indicators of a person's ability to concentrate, is severely impaired after just one day without cigarettes, according to a study in the current quarterly issue of the Psychopharmacology Bulletin.
In the study, 22 nonsmokers and 20 smokers were asked — after 45 seconds — how much time they thought had passed. Nonsmokers and active smokers were generally within five seconds of being right.
But smokers tested the morning after a day without cigarettes overestimated the time by an average of 50 percent.
"We had some people (who) thought it was three minutes," said Laura Cousino Klein, an assistant professor of biobehavioral health who conducted the study with two Penn State University colleagues.
The results came as no surprise to Lynne Funk, a Penn State student who tried to quit smoking in January.
"When I'm sitting, when I'm bored ... one minute passes and it seems like five," Funk said. "That's when it would feel like time was standing still. I wanted a cigarette just to kill time, to de-stress."
Timothy B. Baker, associate director of the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, said the study might help smokers better cope with withdrawal.
If smokers mistakenly estimate how long they're experiencing urges, "they may be mis-estimating all sorts of things that may be making quitting seem more burdensome," he said.
______________________________________________
Tue Jan 21,
"Giving up smoking would substantially reduce the future incidence of pancreatic cancer," write Dr. Rudolf T. Hoogenveen of the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands and colleagues.
Source: European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
______________________________________________
WHO: Tobacco Even More Cancerous
Wed Jun 19, 3:40 PM ET
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON (AP) - Tobacco smoke is even more cancerous than previously thought, for both smokers and nonsmokers who breathe in the fumes, causing cancer in many more parts of the body than previously believed, a panel of experts has concluded.
Although smoking has been established as a leading cause of cancer, scientists have only now been able to track more than one generation of smokers to develop a clear picture of the dangers of tobacco.
The scientists, convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization ( news - web sites), said Wednesday that for types of cancer already known to be caused by smoking, the risk of tumors is even higher than previously noted. The research also definitively proves that secondhand smoke causes cancer.
The analysis is the first major examination of the accumulated research on tobacco smoke and cancer since 1986. A full report of the findings will be published later this year.
The scientists combined the results of more than 3,000 studies involving millions of people, which allowed them to draw conclusions not possible in smaller studies.
"We are still learning about just how damaging cigarette smoking is," said the panel's chairman, Dr. Jonathan Samet, head of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "Only now are we beginning to see the full picture of what happens when a generation begins to smoke at an early age, as youth do, and then smoke across their whole lifetime. Before, we only had snapshots."
"The full picture is more disturbing than what we saw when we only had the smaller pieces," he said.
There are about 1.2 billion smokers worldwide, half of whom will die prematurely from cancer, heart disease, emphysema or other smoking-related diseases, research has shown.
The best way to prevent those deaths is to get smokers to quit, the scientists said.
"Our group concluded that any possible public health gains from changes in cigarette characteristics or composition would be minimal by comparison. Changes in cigarettes are not the way to prevent cancer," Samet said.
The 29 experts from 12 countries found that in types of cancer already linked to smoking, the risk is even higher than previously believed.
"For example, for tumors of the bladder and the renal pelvis, previously we thought the elevated risk was maybe three to four times that of a nonsmoker. Today, it looks like the risk is elevated five to six times," said Dr. Paul Kleihues, director of the U.N. cancer research agency.
______________________________________________
Exercise Does Not Protect Smokers From Cancer Fri Apr 12, 02 5:26 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Male smokers who think walking, swimming or other physical activity will lower their risk of lung cancer are wrong, researchers say.
"The results of our study suggest that neither occupational nor leisure-time physical activity is associated with the risk of lung cancer in long-term cigarette smokers," write lead study author Dr. Lisa H. Colbert of the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) in Bethesda, Maryland and her colleagues.
______________________________________________
CDC Estimates Cost of Smoking Thu Apr 11, 1:02 PM ET
By ERIN McCLAM, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the nation $7 in medical care and lost productivity, the government said Thursday.
The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) put the nation's total cost of smoking at $3,391 a year for every smoker, or $157.7 billion. Health experts had previously estimated $96 billion.
Americans buy about 22 billion packs of cigarettes annually. The CDC study is the first to establish a per-pack cost to the nation.
The agency estimated the nation's smoking-related medical costs at $3.45 per pack, and said job productivity lost because of premature death from smoking amounted to $3.73 per pack, for a total of $7.18.
The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in was $2.92.
The CDC said it analyzed expenses, both personal and for the health care industry, and used national medical surveys to calculate the costs to the nation.
The agency also reported that smoking results in about 440,000 deaths a year in the United States, up from the government's previous figure of 430,000. The new study was conducted.
"The fact that nearly half a million Americans lose their lives each year because of smoking-related illnesses is a significant public health tragedy," said Dr. David Fleming, the CDC's acting director.
Representatives from the nation's three leading tobacco companies — Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and Brown & Williamson — did not immediately return calls for comment.
Among other findings of the study:
_ Smoking causes an average man to lose more than 13 years of life, and an average woman to lose 14.5 years.
_ Smoking during pregnancy causes about 1,000 infant deaths each year.
_ Lung cancer causes the most deaths among smokers, following by heart disease and lung disease.
_ Men account for about 60 percent of smoking deaths — 264,000 a year, compared with 178,000 deaths among women.
___
On the Net:
CDC tobacco site: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco
______________________________________________
YOUNG SMOKERS AT RISK
Smokers under 40 are at risk from heart attack - smashing the belief that only older people are vulnerable, says a new study.
Experts studied 23,000 cases of people who had survived heart attacks and found four fifths of the victims were in the 35-39 age group.
Last Updated: 13:42 UK, Monday August 23,
______________________________________________
Babies of Smokers End Up in Hospital More Often Fri Mar 8, 10:30 AM ET
By Chee-may Chow
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Babies who live with two or more smokers are 30% more likely to need hospital treatment than those who grow up in smoke-free homes, according to a university study.
If there is one smoker in the family, the risk is 7% higher, the study by Hong Kong University Faculty of Medicine found.
More than 40% of the newborns were exposed to passive smoke, the findings showed. Doctors say affected children most commonly suffer from respiratory problems.
The findings also underscored the dangers that passive smoke poses to the fetus. Babies whose mothers were exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy were 18% more likely to be admitted to the hospital and 26% more likely to be taken to outpatient clinics.
The additional medical costs for infants under one year old totaled at least HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) a year, the study estimated.
"This is a huge sum. It's about 10% of the total medical costs spent on infants of this age group," Lam Tai-hing, head of the department of community medicine of Hong Kong University, told Reuters Friday.
Relatively few expectant mothers smoke, but nearly 65% of pregnant women in Hong Kong are occasionally or regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes, offices or in public places, the survey showed.
The Hong Kong government unveiled a raft of proposals last year to tighten anti-smoking laws and said it wanted to present them to the local legislature before mid-. It wants to stamp out smoking in most indoor public places, including restaurants and shops and eventually in lounges and nightclubs.
Hong Kong, a territory of nearly 7 million people, has few smokers compared to many developed countries. Only 27% of its men and about 3% of its women smoke regularly.
In mainland China, 63% of men and about 4% of women smoke, according to the World Health Organization (news - web sites).
______________________________________________
Friday January 4, 1:26 PM ET
Smoking Mothers More Likely to Have Diabetic Kids
By John Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters Health) - The children of women who smoke during pregnancy are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and obesity, new research suggests.
The study, the first to link maternal smoking and a child's diabetes, suggests that smoking deprives the fetus of nutrients, resulting in lifelong metabolic abnormalities.
Drs. Scott Montgomery and Anders Ekbom from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, used data from the British National Child Development Study on around 17,000 children born in 1958.
In the study, midwives obtained information on smoking during pregnancy. Smoking among the mothers was also recorded in 1974. The researchers collected data on the children at age 7 and 16, and reviewed their medical records again at age 33.
Fifteen men and 13 women among those followed throughout childhood and adolescence developed diabetes between the ages of 16 and 33.
The investigators found that the risk of diabetes was increased more than 4.5-fold in the offspring of women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day compared with nonsmokers. The risk in offspring of mothers whose smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes a day was increased by a factor of 4.13.
The team also found that smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of obesity independently of diabetes. Offspring of smokers were 34% to 38% more likely than children of nonsmokers to become obese. Some 10% of the study group, a total of 602 individuals, were found to be clinically obese at age 33.
``These are conservative figures, as further members of the study group are likely to go on to develop these disorders in later life,'' Montgomery said in an interview. ``We plan to study the group further, and we expect to see insulin resistance in the diabetic children of smoking mothers, which would explain the association we observed between diabetes and obesity.''
Insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, occurs when the body becomes less sensitive to the effects of insulin, a hormone the body needs to use of sugar as fuel.
Cigarette smoking in young adulthood was also linked to an increased risk of diabetes in later life, according to the report in the British Medical Journal.
``To my knowledge, this is the first study to show an association between smoking in pregnancy and diabetes,'' Montgomery noted.
``Smoking during pregnancy is an act of great selfishness, which may not only affect the development of the child but could also increase the risk of diseases that could emerge 20 to 30 years after birth,'' he said.
``We have long known about the reduced size and development in the children of smoking mothers. Because diabetes and obesity are associated with heart disease, smoking during pregnancy could also risk shortening the child's life span,'' he added.
Montgomery suggested that smoking is likely to deprive the fetus of nutrients, setting the metabolism up to deal with famine rather then a modern diet rich in fat and sugar.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal ;324:26-27.
______________________________________________
Tuesday March 20, 1:33 PM ET Teen Smokers End Up with Gum Disease in Their 20s
By Charnicia Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenage smokers are nearly three times as likely as their nonsmoking peers to have gum disease in their mid-20s, results of a new study suggest.
``The most important point of the study is that the adverse effects of tobacco smoking on gum health begin even earlier than was previously thought,'' lead study author Dr. Murray Thomson, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, told Reuters Health.
``At the public health level, measures aimed at reducing smoking will also have positive benefits for oral health,'' he said.
To investigate the association between smoking and gum disease in young people, Thomson's group measured loss of periodontal attachment--the bony and soft-tissue support for the teeth--in about 900 men and women aged 26 years. The investigators asked the study participants about their smoking habits at the ages of 15, 18, 21 and 26.
Those who reported smoking at each age of follow-up were almost three times as likely as their ``never smoking'' peers to experience loss of attachment, a sign of chronic gum disease, the authors report in the April issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology. And the longer these individuals reported smoking, the greater the extent of disease, study findings indicate.
This was true even after the researchers took into account the participants' toothbrushing and flossing habits, as well as dental visits.
The study ``provides clear evidence of periodontal disease at an age when young adults are at their healthiest,'' the authors conclude.
``Don't start smoking,'' Thomson advised. ``If you have, then ceasing the habit will also be good for your gums.''
According to Dr. Marjorie Jeffcoat, from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry, it is ``totally logical'' that those who begin smoking at younger ages will have a lifetime of risk for periodontal disease.
Citing emerging evidence that individuals with periodontal disease may also be at risk for cardiovascular disease or pre-term births, she said ``It's all one more reason why people shouldn't smoke.''
Jeffcoat is not affiliated with Thomson's research.
SOURCE: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology ;29:130-135.
______________________________________________
Friday January 11 10:59 AM ET
Quitting Smoking Cuts Post-Surgery Complications
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers can lower their risk of developing postoperative
complications by quitting or cutting back on their daily cigarette intake about
2 months before surgery, researchers report.
Cigarette smoke boosts the risk of developing cardiovascular or wound-healing
problems after surgery due to its effects on the heart, lungs and immune system.
To determine whether abstaining from smoking had any affect on this risk, the
team of researchers from Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark,
assigned 120 daily smokers to receive antismoking counseling and nicotine replacement
therapy, or no intervention, 6 to 8 weeks before they underwent elective hip
or knee surgery.
About 18% of patients who had reduced smoking by at least half developed postoperative
complications, compared with 52% of patients who continued smoking their usual
amount, according to the report in the January 12th issue of The Lancet.
Quitting or cutting back had the greatest effect on wound healing. Only 5% of
patients who received antismoking therapy developed wound-related complications,
compared with 31% of patients who did not cut back. What's more, there were
no cardiovascular complications in the group of abstainers, compared with a
10% complication rate in the other group. Patients who quit or cut back also
had shorter hospital stays and were less likely to require a second surgery.
The findings have important medical and economic implications, since roughly
one third of surgical patients are smokers, conclude Dr. Ann M. Moller and co-authors.
``The worldwide effect would be enormous if the programs were implemented globally,
and not only in reduced postoperative complications,'' Moller said in an interview
with Reuters Health. ``We have substantial hope that some patients will (continue
to) abstain after hospital discharge and not (be diagnosed) with other smoking-related
chronic diseases.''
She suggests that all hospitals or surgical departments implement preoperative
smoking cessation programs that are tailored to the individual and include nicotine
replacement therapy.
SOURCE: The Lancet ;359:114-117.
______________________________________________
Wednesday March 28, 10:28 AM ET Surgeon General Warns of Smoking Peril to U.S. Women
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American women are facing a full-blown epidemic of smoking-related illness, with the deadly habit snuffing out the lives of 165,000 women a year and women now accounting for almost four in 10 smoking deaths, US Surgeon General David Satcher said in a report on Tuesday.
______________________________________________
Tuesday April 3, 6:31 PM ET Women Smokers More Vulnerable to Bladder Cancer
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to bladder cancer, two things have always seemed clear: smokers and men are at heightened risk. But new research shows that, cigarette for cigarette, female smokers are more likely than males to get the disease.
In a study of more than 3,000 adults with and without bladder cancer, researchers found that when smoking habits were comparable, women had a higher risk for the disease than men did. The finding is surprising, investigators say, because bladder cancer, which has long been linked to smoking, is more common among men.
______________________________________________
Wednesday October 31, 10:40 AM ET
Smoking Delays Pregnancy
LONDON (Reuters Health) - Women who continue smoking while trying to have a baby risk having to wait significantly longer to get pregnant, according to study findings released on Wednesday.
Researchers at the Institute of Health Sciences at Oxford University compared the time taken to conceive by 569 women smokers, ex-smokers and never-smokers.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Biosocial Science, show that on average women who continued to smoke while attempting to conceive took almost two months longer to conceive than non-smokers.
However, women who quit smoking a year before attempting to conceive were likely to get pregnant within a similar time period as non-smokers.
Tuesday September 18, 10:46 AM ET
Cigarettes May Function Like Antidepressant Drugs
By Melissa Schorr
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking may have effects on the human brain similar to those of antidepressant drugs, possibly explaining the high rate of smoking among depressed people and their resistance to quitting, a team of researchers reports.
``Chronic smoking produces 'antidepressant-like' effects on the human brain,'' lead author Dr. Gregory A. Ordway, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, told Reuters Health. ``This may contribute to the high incidence of smoking and difficulty to quit in those who are depressed.''
Tuesday November 27, 03:52 PM EST
Light Cigarettes Are Not Safer
By Melinda T. Willis ABCNEWS.com
A report from the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) finds that light or low tar cigarettes are not safer alternatives to regular.
Smokers who have switched to light or low-tar cigarettes with the belief that they are safer than regular cigarettes have been mistaken, says a new report from the National Cancer Institute.
"This report is one that has brought together scientists of various disciplines and has concluded that there are significant health risks from switching to low-tar, light cigarettes," says Scott Leischow, chief of the National Cancer Institute Tobacco Control Research Branch.
Light cigarettes have been around for 20 years and have led some people to believe that they are healthier alternatives to regular cigarettes. And who wouldn't want to inhale less tar when given the opportunity?
"Many people feel that if they are not able to quit smoking but are concerned about their health, low-tar cigarettes are a compromise," says Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco and co-scientific editor of the report that challenges this notion.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of premature death in the United States, responsible for more than 400,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) Tobacco Information and Prevention Source.
Removing Misconceptions
According to Benowitz, light cigarettes are made of the same substances as their full tar brethren. The distinguishing factor is the engineering.
Low-tar cigarettes can be made with porous paper and more loosely packed tobacco in an effort to reduce tar intake, but past research has shown that people are easily able to circumvent such designs.
"There are actually four different ways that smokers can make a low yield cigarette higher yield," says Benowitz, who published one of the first papers on the subject in the New England Journal of Medicine (news - web sites) in 1983.
Smokers can, for example, take more puffs per cigarette, take bigger or deeper drags, and they can increase the number of cigarettes they smoke each day.
Additionally, "Some cigarettes have little holes in the filters and people will consciously or unconsciously cover those holes [with their mouths] and as a result get more tar and nicotine delivered to their bodies," says Leischow.
"People are very adept at getting the nicotine that they're addicted to and as a result they also get the harmful substances as well," he adds.
The Safest Cigarette
"We do not imply in our marketing, and smokers should not assume, that "light" or "ultra light" brands are "safe," or are "safer" than full-flavor brands," states Brendan McCormick, a spokesperson for leading cigarette maker Philip Morris. "[The development of low-tar cigarettes is] related to consumer taste preferences."
Experts say the take home message of the National Cancer Institute report is that smokers who make the switch to low-tar or light cigarettes should not be fooled into thinking that they are making a safer choice.
"The focus of the [report] primarily is the public and what we can do to improve public health," asserts Leischow. "One of the key and critical recommendations is that the best way to reduce risk is to quit smoking."
In other words, the safest cigarette is still the one that is never smoked.
Study Reveals Link Between Smoking, Birth Weight Fri Apr 5, 1:39 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy are at risk of delivering a low birth weight baby, although it is not clear why. Now, researchers report that cigarettes can reduce the flow of blood in the placenta and limit the amount of nutrients that reach the fetus.
Tuesday October 23, 5:25 PM ET
Many Kids Who Smoke Get Cigarettes From Adults
By Emma Hitt, PhD
ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - Many minors who smoke gain access to cigarettes by asking older friends or even strangers to buy them, according to findings of two new studies. Antismoking programs should address this problem, but don't, the researchers say.
According to Dr. Steven E. Shive of California State University in Chico, who led one of the studies, most young adults who buy cigarettes for minors are friends and family. Only about one-third are strangers.
Friday October 19, 5:25 PM ET
Babies Better Off if Moms Quit Smoking Altogether
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Pregnant women who think cutting back on their smoking habit may be better than nothing for the health of their baby may want to rethink their decision.
A new study has found that even smoking just a few cigarettes a day can have detrimental effects on a baby's health.
``There is no 'safe' level of exposure from active smoking,'' said lead author Dr. Lucinda England of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland.
``We were able to detect detrimental effects on birth weight even among women smoking less than 5 cigarettes per day,'' she told Reuters Health. ``Women likely need to quit entirely before their baby's birth weight approaches that of a woman who never smoked.''
The study, which appears in the October 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) in Atlanta, Georgia.
It has long been known that smoking during pregnancy is associated with decreased infant birth weight and other ill effects, including premature birth and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Tuesday November 27, 1:27 PM ET
Pregnant Women Try to Quit, Men Puff It All Away
LONDON (Reuters) - Men who smoke undermine the efforts of their pregnant partners to quit smoking for good, according to survey results released Tuesday.
The study by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund showed that women who tried to quit smoking during pregnancy felt their smoking ``better halves'' were unsupportive and had double standards. Most women took up smoking again after the baby was born.
Sue Ziebland, one of the authors of the report, said the best support men could give was to quit smoking themselves.
``Women feel unsupported by men's 'do as I say, not as I do' attitude when their partners continue to smoke, but encourage them to stop,'' she said.
The study uncovered four common strategies employed by men who carry on smoking during their partner's pregnancy.
Men were said to be hypocritical, urging the woman to quit for health reasons but refusing to do so themselves, or non-interventionist, smoking in front of her without second thought.
Women were also annoyed by so-called ``secret smokers'' who did not smoke in front of their pregnant partner, and ``cheats'' who said they would share the burden of pregnancy by quitting but cheated by smoking elsewhere.
Professor Gordon McVie of the Cancer Research Campaign said that, traditionally, health education messages focused on encouraging pregnant women to quit.
``But this study suggests that pregnancy is an ideal time for both parents to kick the habit and couples are more likely to succeed if they make a joint attempt,'' he said.
Monday September 24, 1:22 PM ET
Cigarette Use Linked to Blue-Collar Occupations
By Natalie Engler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although the number of Americans who smoke cigarettes has decreased in recent years, the decline has not penetrated all occupations, according to a government study that links smoking to job and sector.
So-called ``blue-collar'' workers, such as builders, movers and auto mechanics are more likely to light up than are their ''white-collar'' counterparts, according to lead author Dr. Ki Moon Bang, of the National Institute for Occupations Safety and Health. The findings, he said, may be useful in identifying populations that could benefit from education and outreach.
Researchers have noted previously that smoking is more common among blue-collar than white-collar workers. However, the new study, published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, breaks down these categories into 40 occupations and 44 industries.
______________________________________________
``There are over 100 studies which show NRT (nicotine reduction treatment) doubles your chances of quitting in the long term,'' he commented. ``Having said that, it only doubles the chances of success from 3% to 6%, so there is still a long way to go. NRT products are not silver bullets when it comes to giving up.''
______________________________________________
Friday December 21, 10:31 AM ET International Study Confirms Passive Smoke's Harm
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exposure to passive, or secondhand, tobacco smoke increases a person's risk for experiencing a variety of respiratory ailments, according to the results of a large international study. What's more, exposure to secondhand smoke varies widely around the world. For example, people exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace varied from less than 3% of those in Uppsala, Sweden, to 54% of the participants living in Galdakao, Spain, the report indicates. Overall, exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace nearly doubled a person's risk of respiratory ailments and ``was significantly associated with all types of respiratory symptoms and current asthma,'' the authors write. Passive smoking, in general, was associated with nighttime chest tightness, nighttime breathlessness, and breathlessness after activity. ``Decreasing involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke in the community, especially in workplaces, is likely to improve respiratory health,'' conclude Dr. Christer Janson of Uppsala University in Sweden and colleagues. The study, which included interviews and lung tests of nearly 8,000 nonsmokers from 16 different countries, is published in the December 22/29 issue of the journal The Lancet. The study included 13 European countries, Australia, New Zealand and the US. In the US, smoke-free businesses are on the rise with 69% of employees reporting that they work in buildings where smoking has been prohibited by employers or government regulations, according to a recent study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites). By comparison, fewer than half of all employees surveyed --46%--worked in smoke-free environments. The US Surgeon General first warned of the dangers of ''secondhand smoke'' in 1986, citing that exposure to tobacco smoke increased the incidence of lung cancer, heart and lung disease among nonsmokers. SOURCE: The Lancet ;358:2103-2109.
______________________________________________
Monday April 30, 5:39 PM ET
Kicking the Smoking Habit Helps Heart Patients
By Emma Patten-Hitt, PhD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers who kick the habit reduce
their risk of dying from heart problems as much as if they were to take
drugs to treat the problem--even if they have quit within the last 2 years,
according to a new study.
In a related editorial, Dr. James Lightwood and colleagues at the
University of California, San Francisco, note that ''given the expense of
commonly used medications for heart failure, smoking cessation
counseling with follow-up may be more cost effective than
pharmaceutical treatment for heart failure.''
The editorialists add, ``It is never too late to quit smoking, even for
patients with heart failure and other serious cardiovascular disease.''
______________________________________________
Friday December 29, 10:20 AM ET
Smoking Ups Risks for Skin Cancer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Skin cancer can now be added to the
ever-growing list of illnesses linked to cigarette smoking. Researchers at
Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands report that, compared
to nonsmokers, people who smoke are twice as likely to develop one of the
more common types of skin cancer--squamous cell carcinoma.
______________________________________________
Wednesday February 14, 10:49 AM ET
Poll: Most American Smokers Try to Quit, But Can't
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority of smokers continue to light up even though they are
well aware of the hazards of smoking and most say they want to quit but cannot kick the habit, according to a
Harris Poll released on Wednesday.
The poll found that almost everyone who smokes believes that their smoking increases their risk of getting lung
cancer (88%), of getting heart disease (84%) and that it will probably shorten their lives (80%).
Eighty percent of the respondents said they tried to stop smoking, but couldn't do it. On average, people who
were still smoking said they had tried to stop and failed as many as eight times, according to the poll of 1,011
adults.
``These survey data leave little room to doubt that the power of nicotine addiction is the main reason why
smoking has not declined any faster, even though most smokers would like to and try to give it up,'' said
Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll.
The nationwide poll was conducted between January 11-15, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points. The questions on smoking were included in the annual Harris survey of key health risks and
health behaviors.
Dr. Tom Houston, director, of the SmokeLess States National Tobacco Policy Initiative, said the poll is good
news because it indicates that more people are taking anti-smoking messages to heart.
The number of smokers who acknowledge the health risks is up from a poll done about four years ago by the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, he said in an interview.
``That means that our educational effort, the message that we've been trying to get across is getting through,''
said the Chicago physician.
There are about 50 million smokers in the United States and only about 3 to 5 percent can successfully stop
smoking in any given year, he said.
An estimated 430,000 Americans die prematurely each year from tobacco related illnesses, he said.
The SmokeLess States program supports groups working to reduce tobacco use. It is a joint effort between
the American Medical Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Tuesday December 12,
Marijuana a Downer for Fertility
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Health) - New research about marijuana's
effect on the reproductive systems of both men and women may prove to be
a real bummer for those who smoke the illicit substance.
While it has been known for years that male marijuana smokers have lower
sperm counts, new research has shown that chemicals in marijuana hinder the
sperm's ability to fertilize an egg.
Tuesday December 12,
Young Marijuana Smokers at Highest Addiction Risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who begin using marijuana early are
more likely than others to become dependent, new findings show.
In a study of over 2700 marijuana users in Ontario, Canada, those who
started smoking at 17 years or later were twice as likely to eventually quit
compared with those who started at 14 years or younger.
Wednesday December 13,
California's Antismoking Program Cut Heart Deaths
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - California's aggressive antismoking
campaign reduced heart disease deaths by 33,000 researchers report.
The findings follow government statistics released last month showing the
program cut lung cancer cases by 14% over the same period.
Dr. Stanton Glantz and Caroline Fichtenberg of the University of California,
San Francisco, note that the increased risk of heart disease associated with
smoking falls off quickly after quitting. So a program that cuts smoking levels
should be expected to have a quick impact on levels of heart disease.
Tuesday December 19,
White Youngsters Smoke Cigarettes at Earlier Ages
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - White smokers in the US say they started
their habit at an earlier age than their African-American or Hispanic
counterparts, researchers report. The earlier an individual begins smoking, the
more likely they are to be a heavy smoker in later adulthood and the less
likely they are to try to quit.
______________________________________________
Monday November 13, 5:35 PM ET Smoking Particularly Dangerous for Women
BALTIMORE (Reuters Health) - Women smokers are at higher risk of a host of harmful health outcomes compared with nonsmokers and even male smokers, researchers suggest. The latest research on tobacco's impact on women was the topic of a November 10th symposium sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Lung cancer, cervical cancer, cardiovascular disease, mouth diseases and infertility are among the conditions striking women smokers at far higher rates than women who do not smoke, researchers reported. Furthermore, women are at higher risk of some diseases when compared with male smokers.
``Women who smoke are four times more likely to develop cervical cancer than women who don't use tobacco,'' according to Dr. Sandra Brooks, from the University of Maryland Medical Center. And, women seem to be more vulnerable to lung cancer than are men, added Dr. L. Austin Doyle, also from the University of Maryland.
Women also are more susceptible to certain aesthetic, functional and life-threatening oral health conditions than men, Jacquelyn Fried, associate professor at University of Maryland's School of Dentistry, noted. Women tobacco users are at increased risk of facial wrinkles, gum inflammation, and cancers of the lips and mouth.
And, women smokers are at higher risk of passing a host of harmful health conditions to their offspring. ``Learning disabilities, ADHD, fetal and perinatal deaths and SIDS: these are all caused by maternal smoking,'' Dr. Theodore Slotkin, from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, told the symposium.
Slotkin said the rate of such conditions is increased between 50% and 500% in pregnant women who smoke compared with those who do not. Despite the publicity about the negative effects of smoking on pregnancy, tobacco use continues in one-quarter of all pregnancies, he pointed out.
Furthermore, ``smoking may prevent some (women) from ever conceiving,'' noted Dr. Howard D. McClamrock, from Maryland Medical Center's in vitro fertilization program. ``Studies have shown that tobacco use can decrease the supply of eggs within the ovaries, even in young women.''
______________________________________________
Wednesday October 17, 6:23 PM ET
Marijuana's Effects on Brain Are Reversible: Study
By Steven Reinberg
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Intellectual impairment associated with heavy marijuana use is apparently reversible with abstinence, researchers report.
And marijuana withdrawal symptoms in habitual users are similar to those seen with nicotine withdrawal, according to a second report published in the October issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The lead author of the first report, Dr. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health, ``It appears that cognitive impairment from marijuana use is temporary and related to the amount of marijuana that has been recently smoked rather than permanent and related to an entire lifetime consumption.''
______________________________________________
Thursday August 16 2:10 PM ET
Smoking to Become Major Cause of Death in China
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking is poised to become a leading cause of death among middle-aged men in China if current smoking habits persist, researchers said Thursday.
In the coming decades, tobacco will cause one third of deaths among men aged 35 and older in China, which holds 20% of the world's population and consumes 30% of the world's cigarettes, researchers from the University of Hong Kong predict.
______________________________________________
Thursday July 19, 10:31 AM ET
Pot-Smoking Dads May Increase Risk of SIDS
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fathers who smoke marijuana may be putting their infants at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), a major cause of death among infants, new research suggests.
Monday July 16, 5:19 PM ET
Many Teens Underestimate Smoking Risks: Survey
By Charnicia E. Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite numerous youth-directed health warnings about the dangers of cigarette smoking, many teens continue to underestimate their risk of premature death from smoking-related causes, new research findings show.
``As long as young people fail to appreciate the risks of smoking, they will endanger their health and create an addiction that they will regret having started,'' study author Dr. Daniel Romer told Reuters Health.
Monday July 16, 5:24 PM ET
Tobacco Firms Urged to Remove Dangerous Additives
LONDON (Reuters Health) - The UK Department of Health confirmed on Monday it is urging tobacco firms to reduce levels of carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals from cigarettes.
A spokesman told Reuters Health that government officials had sought advice from experts on the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health on which of the hundreds of chemicals in tobacco should be removed from cigarettes.
``Ministers want firm new action on tobacco additives and carcinogens in tobacco smoke. If the industry does not take action, we will be looking to powers under the Consumer Protection Act that would allow us to ban tobacco additives if proven unsafe,'' he added.
______________________________________________
Big Tobacco 'Light' Cigarette Con Exposed: Report Tue Mar 12, - 5:19 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using recently released US tobacco company documents and other trade sources, Canadian researchers have detected a concentrated effort to deceive the public about the health risks from cigarettes described as "Light" or "Ultra-Light."
Tobacco companies were concerned that growing evidence linking tobacco with lung cancer would result in large numbers of smokers quitting, according to Drs. Richard W. Pollay and T. Dewhirst from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. To meet this challenge, the companies began producing "low-tar" and "light" cigarettes, the researchers report in the March issue of Tobacco Control.
The tobacco companies believed that these cigarettes would reassure the public, the investigators say. Companies branded cigarettes as "hi-fi" (high-filtration) and implied that these cigarettes would reduce or eliminate the health risks of smoking.
However, tobacco companies themselves described filtered cigarettes as "an effective advertising gimmick," or "merely cosmetic," offering "the image of health reassurance." Company documents describe consumers who smoked low-tar cigarettes as wanting "nothing less than to be conned with information," Pollay and Dewhirst note.
Tactics used by the tobacco companies to sell these products included using ineffective filters, filters that loosened over time and actually delivered more nicotine than unfiltered cigarettes, menthol, high-tech imagery and misleading data about tar and nicotine yields.
Tobacco companies also added a seemingly healthier cigarette to an established brand. Although this "virtuous variant" product was promoted heavily, it was rarely available, causing customers to confuse the brands, the authors explain.
Names such as Merit, Life, True and descriptions such as Mild, Ultra, Light and Superlight were used to promote a healthful product image, Pollay and Dewhirst found.
Companies used machine-based tar yields that did not reflect the actual tar levels that consumers were likely to get while smoking. "Such products could (and would) be advertized as 'tar-free,' 'zero milligrams FTC tar,' or the 'ultimate low-tar cigarette,' while actually delivering 20-, 30-, 40-mg or more 'tar' when used by a human smoker! They will be extremely easy to design and produce," Brown and Williamson, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, wrote of their Barclay brand.
Based on their review, Pollay and Dewhirst conclude that "over the past 50 years, advertisements of filtered and low-tar cigarettes were intended to reassure the many smokers who were anxious about the health risk of smoking."
SOURCE: Tobacco Control ;11:18-31.
______________________________________________
Tuesday July 24, 5:40 PM ET
Secondhand Smoke May Impair Nonsmokers' Blood Flow
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even a brief bout with secondhand smoke may be enough to temporarily slow down nonsmokers' blood circulation, new study results suggest. The short-lived slowdown may help explain how, over time, exposure to cigarette smoke can raise nonsmokers' heart disease risk, according to investigators.
In a study examining the impact of environmental cigarette smoke on heart blood vessels, Japanese researchers found that 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke reduced nonsmokers' coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR)--a measure of the speed of blood flow.
Monday August 20, 1:52 PM ET
Mood States Identified as Smoking Triggers
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many smokers are more likely to light up during a moment of anger or a fit of anxiety. But men seem to be more likely to puff away to alleviate feelings of sadness, while women are inclined to break out their smokes when they are feeling happy, the results of a small new study suggest.
Smoking is related to negative moods and energy level, more clearly in men, and has soothing effects on sadness in men and on anger in men and women, according to Dr. Ralph J. Delfino of the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues.
Monday August 6, 5:29 PM ET
Smoking May Be Risk Factor for Infant Colic
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke at least 15 cigarettes a day during pregnancy or shortly after birth may be twice as likely to have a fussy and seemingly inconsolable baby than women who do not smoke, the results of a study suggest.
The findings, published in the August issue of Pediatrics, support previous studies demonstrating a link between smoking after birth and infant colic. While studies have not looked closely at the relationship between smoking during pregnancy and colic, smoking is known to affect the fetal growth and later health of a child, the researchers note.
Neither a mother's age, marital status, alcohol and caffeine intake, breast feeding habits, the child's birth weight, nor a father's smoking habits affected the risk of infantile colic. Colic is defined as prolonged bouts of crying or irritability that occur more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks and have no known cause.
``Our study indicates that maternal smoking during pregnancy or in the postpartum period increases the risk of infantile colic,'' according to Dr. Charlotte Sondergaard from the University of Aarhus in Denmark, and colleagues. ``Ante- and postnatal care that includes advice of smoking cessation is important and also might be important for preventing infantile colic.''
In an interview with Reuters Health, Sondergaard suggested that maternal smoking may affect the baby's gastrointestinal tract or irritate the upper respiratory airway in a way that raises the risk of colic. She stressed, however, that the study did not examine how smoking, either during pregnancy or postnatally, affects the baby.
______________________________________________
Friday January 05,
Officials in California now say careless smoking and not a car fire sparked the 11,000-acre blaze that has destroyed homes and forced hundreds out of their homes in Southern California.
Investigators with California's Department of Forestry say careless disposal of a cigarette was the cause of the fire. "Investigators on the scene found a cigarette, probably from somebody driving by"
______________________________________________
Wednesday June 6, 6:32 PM ET
Jury Awards Smoker in Philip Morris Suit
By Deena Beasley
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In one of the largest individual damage awards ever against the tobacco industry, a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday ordered Philip Morris Cos. Inc. to pay more than $3 billion to a 56-year-old cancer patient who said the tobacco giant failed to warn him of the dangers of smoking.
______________________________________________
Monday June 18, 10:31 AM ET
Quitting Smoking Can Boost Girls' Self-Esteem
By E. J. Mundell
TORONTO (Reuters Health) - Adolescent girls who make the decision to quit smoking experience higher-than-average increases in self-esteem, researchers report.
______________________________________________
Monday June 4, 2:49 PM ET
Big Tobacco Found Guilty of Deceptive Business Practices
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several tobacco companies were found guilty of deceptive business practices on Monday in a case brought by Blue Cross Blue Shield, which sought to be reimbursed for funds it allegedly spent on smoking-related costs, as a jury ruled that the companies must pay about $29.6 million in damages.
In the case -- a third-party payor complaint on behalf of health care plans -- Blue Cross Blue Shield sought reimbursement of alleged smoking-related medical care costs that were incurred by health care plans. Blue Cross sued in a Brooklyn, N.Y. court for direct claims on their own behalf and on behalf of their subscribers.
All of the defendants except for British American Tobacco Plc were found guilty of deceptive business practices. The companies were ordered to pay Blue Cross Blue Shield about $17.8 million in direct liability and $11.8 million in non-direct liability, which would go to Blue Cross Blue Shield's subsidiary companies. Other defendants in the case were Philip Morris Cos. Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.; British American Tobacco's Brown & Williamson unit; Lorillard Tobacco Co., a unit of Loews Corp.; and Liggett Group, a unit of Vector Group Ltd.
New York-based Philip Morris said its part of the direct and non-direct liability damages totals about $11 million.
______________________________________________
Thursday August 24, Just one cigarette leaves brain wanting more
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Puffing on a single cigarette can leave a lasting impression on the brain's pleasure center that primes it for nicotine addiction, new research shows. This glimpse at nicotine's early effects could lead to drug therapies to help smokers quit, a report suggests.
In the brain, nicotine uses mechanisms similar to those involved in learning and memory to leave a nicotine ``memory'' in the brain's ``reward center,'' according to researchers at the University of Chicago, Illinois. The memory basically says: ''Nicotine is good.''
The investigators used brain tissue from rats to uncover the path nicotine takes to instill addiction. In doing so, they identified specific nicotine receptors that could be potential targets of drug therapy to quash addiction, Dr. Daniel S. McGehee told Reuters Health in an interview. The study findings are published in the August issue of the journal Neuron.
Scientists have known that nicotine triggers a release of the feel-good hormone dopamine. McGehee said this research shows that even small amounts of nicotine create a ``long-term excitability'' in the connections between the brain cells that produce dopamine. The cells are then primed to react to the next nicotine exposure with a greater rush of dopamine.
According to McGehee, nicotine appears to attach to a specific receptor on dopamine-producing cells. Therefore, he said, a drug that blocks these receptors may help smokers kick the habit. While all addictive drugs affect dopamine levels, he noted, the process identified in this study seems to be unique to nicotine.
``It's a tragedy,'' McGehee said, ``that cigarettes are such an easy delivery system to nicotine.''
Tuesday October 3, Smoking May Lead to Teen Depression
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Contrary to the notion that depressed teenagers were more likely to take up smoking, a study found that young people who became smokers were more likely to become depressed, researchers said on Monday.
Cigarette smoking was the ``strongest predictor'' of developing depressive symptoms among a group of 8,704 teenagers who were not depressed a year earlier, said study author Elizabeth Goodman of Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
The adolescents who were not depressed at the start of the study--and may or may not have been experimenting with cigarettes--were four times more likely to have depressive symptoms if they were moderate or heavy smokers a year later.
The impact of nicotine or other cigarette additives on certain brain receptors could be to blame for the onset of depressive symptoms, Goodman said.
There has been some success in using anti-depressants to help smokers stop, suggesting a close link between the effects of cigarettes and the brain's chemistry that dictates mood.
Monday August 7, Tobacco Foes to Unite Against Smoking
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Organizers of the largest ever anti-tobacco meeting say their top priority is building a global network to combat the toll of tobacco-related diseases, which is expected to rise to 10 million deaths per year by 2030.
Monday August 14, Tobacco Kills 625,000 in the Americas Each Year
By Charnicia E. Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - At least 625,000 individuals in the Americas die each year from tobacco use, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Tobacco use seems to be on the rise in most countries in the Americas, and the PAHO are urging governments to clamp down on tobacco sales to help reverse the trend.
``Smoking in the Americas, as in any developing countries, is on the increase (and) we can be sure that the amount of disease from smoking is going to go up--particularly heart disease and cancer,'' said David Brandling-Bennett, deputy director of the PAHO. The Pan American Health Organization serves as the regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
20 October
Smoking doubles women's rheumatoid arthritis risk... all women involved in the study were 55 to 65 years old...women who smoked more tha 40 years had roughly a doubled risk...those who quit smoking more than 10 years before the beginning of the study had no increased risk.
Wednesday September 13 10:58 AM ET
Tobacco industry uses additives to mask odors
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette manufacturers have gone to great lengths to mask the acrid smell of secondhand smoke by adding chemical additives to their products, according to a review of tobacco industry documents.
``These documents suggest that this practice is part of an overall campaign to counter the decline in the social acceptability of smoking,'' report researchers from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in the September issue of the journal Tobacco Control.
After searching through some of the millions of pages of documents made available as part of the tobacco settlement, the researchers learned that the tobacco industry used additives and other technologies to alter the visibility, odor, and irritating qualities of the smoke. The manufacturers did this without necessarily altering the overall level of smoke or the chemicals that make up the smoke and did little testing to see if the additives changed the smoke's toxicity, according to Dr. Gregory N. Connolly and colleagues.
In particular, manufacturers have tried to tinker with some of the more cosmetic aspects of cigarette smoking, such as reducing the smell of cigarette butts. The investigators found that many campaigns focused on making cigarettes more acceptable to young women by trying to limit the stale odor that can get trapped in hair or clothes.
One such campaign by R.J. Reynolds was termed Project TF for ``Tomorrow's Female,'' which was targeted toward 18- to 34-year-old women smokers who ``want a fresher, cleaner smoking experience,'' according to the researchers.
By ``reducing the normal warning signs of exposure to smoke toxins,'' the use of chemical additives in cigarettes can increase the potential harm of the smoker and those that breathe in secondhand smoke, note the authors. For example, women smokers with young children ``may increase their child's risk of developing respiratory diseases through increased environmental tobacco smoke exposure if they themselves are not bothered by the smoke,'' Connolly and colleagues write.
The researchers are calling for the tobacco industry to disclose a list of ingredients, including chemical additives, in an effort to ``protect the public from the dangers of smoking and exposure to (secondhand) smoke.'' SOURCE Tobacco Control ;9:283-291.
______________________________________________
Study Suggests Why Cigarette Smoke a SIDS Risk
Tue Sep 3,
BERLIN (Reuters Health) - Italian researchers have found a possible explanation for why exposure to cigarette smoke during pregnancy may increase a baby's risk of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS.
In a study presented here at the European Society of Cardiology annual conference, Professor Alessandro Mugelli from the University of Florence and colleagues found that exposing rats to carbon monoxide, a component of cigarette smoke, can interfere with the maturation of heart cells in the developing fetus.
SIDS is the most common cause of death among newborns, Mugelli said. Placing a baby on his or her stomach rather than the back to sleep can greatly increase the risk of SIDS. Overheated rooms, secondhand smoke and fluffy bedding are also a risk.
______________________________________________
R.J. Reynolds Fined $20M for Ads
Thu Jun 6,
By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A judge fined R.J. Reynolds Co. $20 million Thursday for violating the terms of the national tobacco settlement by running magazine ads aimed at teen-agers.
______________________________________________
Nov 11,
British Study Warns of Health Danger of Cannabis
LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking three pure cannabis joints is as bad for your lungs as smoking 20 normal cigarettes and marijuana is more dangerous now than it was in the 1960s, British researchers said on Monday.
In what it described as a shocking new report, the British Lung Foundation (BLF) said tar from cannabis cigarettes contained 50% more carcinogens--the agents that produce cancer--than tobacco.
"Three cannabis joints a day cause the same damage to the lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes," it said in a statement.
It also said the health dangers of cannabis have substantially increased since the 1960s because today's marijuana has increased amounts of a key chemical compound.
______________________________________________
Many Smokers Puff Away Despite Chronic Illness
Thu Dec 26, 3:58 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many people with chronic illnesses that can be worsened, or even caused, by smoking continue to puff away on cigarettes, according to a survey conducted by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
In -, 38% of people with emphysema, 25% of people with asthma, 20% of people with hypertension or cardiovascular problems and 19% of people with diabetes reported being smokers, according to a press release from the AHRQ.
Among all smokers, 57% reported that their doctors had urged them to give up cigarettes at some time during the 12 months prior to the survey. The researchers also found that people in fair to poor health were roughly 1.5 times more likely to smoke than those who reported being in excellent or very good health.
The findings stem from the AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which went out to 15,661 adults in -. The survey, designed to collect a variety of information on people's health and their satisfaction with health care, also included questions on smoking habits and whether or not smokers had been counseled by a doctor to quit.
About one quarter of US adults overall currently smoke cigarettes.
Among those 18 or older, people with less than a high school education were about twice as likely to smoke as those who reported more than 12 years of education, the survey found. One third of those who didn't finish high school smoked, compared to 16% of people who had graduated from high school.
______________________________________________
Desire to Be Thin Linked to Smoking Habit in Girls
Mon Jun 10, 1:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The drive to be thin is a strong indicator of whether or not young girls will take up smoking, new study findings suggest.
Parents and educators should "stress effective, healthy weight control methods" for girls who want to keep weight gain to a minimum, according to the authors of the report, which was sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Maryland.
To better understand what causes young women to take up daily smoking, lead author Dr. Carolyn Voorhees of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues followed 9- and 10-year-old girls for a 10-year period. During that time, all of the girls participated in annual interviews that covered their smoking habits, self-esteem, exercise habits and home life. They also underwent physical exams.
As previous research has also shown, white girls were much more likely to be daily smokers than black girls by the age of 18 or 19. A range of factors influenced a girl's likelihood of becoming a smoker, including parental education, feelings of self-worth, alcohol use and wanting to be thin.
Girls were more likely to be daily smokers by age 18 or 19 if their parents had a lower level of education, if they lived in a single-parent household and if they drank alcohol at age 11 to 12. Those with a higher drive for thinness at age 11 to 12, as well as worse behavioral conduct at this age, were also more likely to smoke, the investigators found.
"The common thread in predicting daily smoking between black and white girls was their concern with weight," Voorhees and colleagues write in the June issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.
"This has not been reported previously in black girls and might indicate that more girls smoke as their desire to be thinner increases," the researchers add.
______________________________________________
Fetal Nicotine Exposure Tied to Breathing Problems
Fri Jul 12, 1:35 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nicotine exposure in the womb, even in the absence of other substances present in tobacco smoke, may lead to breathing difficulties in newborns, results of an animal study suggest.
The findings indicate that nicotine can have lasting harmful effects on developing fetal lungs, according to Dr. Hakan Sundell and colleagues of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
"The issue is of clinical significance, because nicotine replacement for pregnant women is often regarded as a safe alternative in smoking cessation programs," they write in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
"Prenatal nicotine exposure appears to have long-term effects on the postnatal breathing pattern, suggesting altered lung function," Sundell and colleagues write. "These changes are most marked close to birth but persist during the initial postnatal period."
Nicotine easily passes through the human placenta to a developing fetus, the researchers point out. And concentrations of nicotine in the fetus can be equal to or higher than in the mother, they add.
______________________________________________
Dow Jones Business News
Philip Morris Hit With $28 Billion Punitive-Damage Verdict
Friday October 4, 2:20 pm ET
By Pat Maio
Dow Jones Newswires
LOS ANGELES -- After deliberating for just under two days, a Los Angeles jury awarded $28 billion in punitive damages to a 64-year old woman smoker dying of cancer in a lawsuit brought against tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. .
"This is long overdue," said Michael Piuze, the lawyer representing Ms. Bullock in the case. "There's no amount of money big enough to punish Philip Morris."
______________________________________________
Marijuana Smoking Tied to Depression, Schizophrenia
Fri Nov 22,10:22 AM ET
Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Young people who frequently smoke marijuana may be more likely to later develop depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia, the results of three studies released Friday suggest.
______________________________________________
Thursday May 3, 3:19 PM ET
Quitting Cigarettes May Be Harder for
Women
By Keith Mulvihill
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women may have a tougher time
kicking their smoking habits compared with men, according to a
Pennsylvania researcher.
In general, women are more concerned than men about possible weight
gain and women are more likely than men to have a history of major
depression, which is related to poor success rates for quitting, explained
study author Dr. Kenneth A. Perkins of the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine. What's more, women may get less support from
their partners when it comes time to quit.
______________________________________________
More Evidence Smoking Linked to Breast Cancer
Mon Oct 7, 200 1:51 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke or who are exposed to secondhand smoke may have an elevated risk of breast cancer a new report suggests.
The findings support those of previous studies, including a report released on Friday showing that girls who begin smoking as teens may be more susceptible to breast cancer later in life. Another recent report linked heavy smoking with breast cancer risk.
In the new study, current smokers were 50% more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer compared with women who had never smoked and were not exposed to passive smoke, while former smokers were 20% more likely to be diagnosed, the investigators found.
Likewise, women who reported that they had never smoked but that they were exposed to cigarette smoke for more than an hour a day for at least a year were 60% more likely to have breast cancer, report researchers in the October 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. But if this exposure occurred during childhood or before a woman's first pregnancy, it did not appear to increase her breast cancer risk.
______________________________________________
Smoking, Drinking May Up Risk of Eye Disorder
Mon Oct 7, 10:47 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers and heavy drinkers may be more susceptible to age-related maculopathy (ARM), the leading cause of blindness in the industrialized world, researchers report.
Dr. Ronald Klein and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin in Madison evaluated the association between smoking and alcohol consumption and the long-term risk of ARM in more than 3,600 adults aged 43 to 86 years.
Cigarettes and alcohol can both result in oxidative damage to the cells of the retina, they explain. Antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C and E may help protect against the development of ARM, an irreversible deterioration of the retina of the eye.
The study found that heavy drinkers, or adults who consumed at least four drinks a day, were about 6 times more likely to develop symptoms of late ARM over a 10-year period. And those who reported that they were heavy drinkers in the past were more than twice as likely to develop late ARM. Current smokers were also more likely to develop the disorder, report researchers in the October 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
However, more research is needed, since there were few women in the study who reported being heavy drinkers and smokers. Older people, who are more likely to develop ARM, were also less likely than middle-aged adults to report smoking or drinking heavily, when the study began. And several smokers dropped out of the study after 5 years.
"Although these data do not permit us to provide definitive evidence regarding whether stopping smoking and heavy drinking will prevent the development of late age-related macular degeneration, patients should be advised not to smoke or drink heavily because of their significant known adverse affects on health," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology ;156:589-598.
______________________________________________
Smoking, Pelvic Infections Up Tubal Pregnancy Risk
Fri Feb 14,
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking and sexually transmitted pelvic infections can more than triple a woman's risk of having an ectopic pregnancy, French researchers report in the February issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
______________________________________________
Nicotine 'Cooks' Proteins in the Body
Mon Oct 28, 5:22 PM ET
By Merritt McKinney
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As if smokers need another reason to kick the habit, California scientists have discovered that a byproduct of nicotine, the substance that makes cigarettes so addictive, causes a type of chemical reaction in the body similar to that which occurs when sugar is scorched or food goes bad. This reaction is thought to play a role in diabetes, cancer and other diseases.
Although the health effects of the nicotine byproduct, known as nornicotine, are uncertain, researchers also found that the substance interferes with the actions of a commonly used steroid medication.
The interaction between sugars and proteins can produce substances called advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs. The accumulation of AGEs appears to contribute to the aging process and certain diseases.
Now Drs. Kim D. Janda and Tobin J. Dickerson at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla have found that nornicotine, which is found in tobacco and is produced as nicotine is metabolized, leads to small, but significant, accumulation of one type of AGE. They also found that blood collected from smokers had higher levels of the nornicotine-related AGE than blood from nonsmokers.
"Our results provide a direct chemical link between tobacco use and the development of AGEs, a class of compounds previously implicated in various disease states," Janda and Dickerson conclude in a report in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites).
The findings suggest an "unrecognized pathway" through which tobacco use can be harmful to health, according to the report.
In comments to Reuters Health, study author Janda said that the "very startling point is that this chemical reaction that nornicotine can cause also can take place with certain drugs." The researchers found that nornicotine interacted with the steroid prednisone to form byproducts that may interfere with the activity of the steroid as well as cause harmful effects.
The interaction with prednisone raises the question of whether nornicotine also interacts with other drugs, according to the California researcher.
Janda said that "the public needs to be made more aware" that tobacco and other nicotine-containing products create a substance "that was previously unrecognized as a potential danger to proteins in the body and administered prescription drugs."
Janda pointed out that even nicotine patches and gums that people use to quit smoking can trigger the reaction. Of course, if these products are successful, then a person will no longer have to consume any sort of nicotine--in cigarettes or in gums or patches.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ;10.1073/pnas.222561699.
______________________________________________
Wednesday January 17, 10:32 AM ET 'Mild' Cigarettes Still Pack Nicotine Punch
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers who choose to puff on ''light'' or ``ultralight'' cigarettes may not be getting the break from tar and nicotine they've been promised, researchers report.
Study results show that the amount of tar and nicotine inhaled by smokers depends on the number and strength of their puffs and therefore varies tremendously among smokers--even with cigarettes touted as being low in tar or nicotine.
In fact, people who smoke ``light'' or ``mild'' cigarettes inhale up to eight times as much tar and nicotine as printed on the label. People who smoked brands listing higher levels of nicotine inhaled about 1.5 times as much of these chemicals, report researchers in the January 17th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
``The conclusion has to be that the tar and nicotine ratings on cigarette packets are not worth the paper they are written on,'' said Dr. Martin J. Jarvis, from University College London, UK, in a prepared statement. ``Not only are they misleading to consumers, but machine-measured ratings are also downright dangerous as they encourage 'health-conscious' smokers to switch to 'light' brands rather than quit.''
In the study, Jarvis and colleagues interviewed more than 2,000 adult smokers and measured levels of cotinine--a byproduct of nicotine--in their saliva. The findings appear to confirm several past studies--some conducted using smoking machines--that have suggested that the level of tar and nicotine ingested by smokers is indeed higher than that listed on the label.
The researchers explain that the information printed on cigarette labels is based on test results from such machines, which simulate smoking. But people tend to take stronger puffs than machines. Low-nicotine brands have special filters, which dilute the smoke during the machine simulation by as much as 83%. However, the filters do not appear to have the same effect when humans smoke cigarettes.
``Smokers can achieve essentially whatever delivery they desire...through taking larger and more frequent puffs and through maneuvers such as blocking ventilation holes with lips or fingers,'' the report indicates.
The authors suggest that socioeconomic and genetic factors might shape a person's preference for a certain nicotine level. In fact, people who smoked low-nicotine brands tended to be older, female and better educated. They also smoked fewer cigarettes each day, the researchers add.
SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute ;93:134-138.
______________________________________________
Friday August 18, 5:37 PM ET
Smoking raises risks of sinusitis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a new study provide yet another reason to stop smoking: People who smoke are more likely to develop the headaches, nasal congestion and sinus pain and pressure of sinusitis.
______________________________________________
A study by the federal health agency found that secondhand smoke levels directly outside public smoking areas were five times higher than the levels in smoke-free airports.
VARIOUS HEADLINES
Cigarette Smoke May Up Cancer Risk By Interfering With Genes - Yahoo! News
DailyTech - Pollutant _Thirdhand Smoke_ Lingers in Homes Long After Smokers Move Out
FDA Unveils Graphic Images for Cigarette Packs - Yahoo! News.mht
Giving up smoking can help reduce stress levels_ study
Health Buzz_ Smoking Damages DNA Within Minutes, Study Finds - Yahoo! News
Increase efforts to tighten tobacco control.mht
More than 600,000 people killed by 2nd-hand smoke - Yahoo! News.mht
New Report Slams Cuts for Anti-Tobacco Funding - WPMT.mht
Pollutants linger long after smoker moves out - Health - Addictions - msnbc.com
Report Card_ States Spending Less On Tobacco Prevention _ AHN.mht
Smoking ban in NYC parks takes effect - Yahoo! News.mht
Tobacco smoke linked to behavioural problems in kids.mht
______________________________________________
Tuesday October 3, 10:48 AM ET
Smoking May Lead to Teen Depression
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Contrary to the notion that depressed teenagers were more likely to take up smoking, a study found that young people who became smokers were more likely to become depressed, researchers said on Monday.
Cigarette smoking was the ``strongest predictor'' of developing depressive symptoms among a group of 8,704 teenagers who were not depressed a year earlier, said study author Elizabeth Goodman of Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
The adolescents who were not depressed at the start of the study--and may or may not have been experimenting with cigarettes--were four times more likely to have depressive symptoms if they were moderate or heavy smokers a year later.
The impact of nicotine or other cigarette additives on certain brain receptors could be to blame for the onset of depressive symptoms, Goodman said.
There has been some success in using anti-depressants to help smokers stop, suggesting a close link between the effects of cigarettes and the brain's chemistry that dictates mood
______________________________________________
Thursday August 3,
Tobacco Firms United to Contest Health
LONDON (Reuters) - Seven of the world's leading tobacco firms
cooperated for more than two decades in denying the health risks of smoking
and designed strategies to reassure smokers, according to a study published
on Friday.
Secret tobacco industry documents revealed that top firms launched
``Operation Berkshire,'' a plan that contested the causal link between
smoking and lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other illnesses.
Australian researchers said the documents, made public during U.S. court
cases and now available on the Internet, show the industry was determined to
protect its commercial interests at the expense of public health.
______________________________________________
Friday June 23, 2:43 PM ET
Teen Smokers Need Help in Kicking the Habit
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many teen smokers try to kick the habit early on, but they
generally don't succeed until their 30s. Teenaged smokers may need specially tailored
treatments that can help them quit smoking, report researchers from the National Institute on
Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland.
``By age 17, one half of smokers have tried to quit and failed, two thirds regret ever having
started, and nearly 40% express interest in some form of treatment for tobacco
dependence,'' report Dr. Eric T. Moolchan and colleagues in the June issue of the Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Those findings are from a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, note the researchers, who analyzed dozens of studies on teenage smoking
published over the last 20 years.
They conclude that more effort is needed to find out why teens start smoking and find
specific ways that help them kick the habit.
``As approaches to adult smoking cessation expand, our commitment to the long-term health of children must prompt youth-targeted interventions aimed at cessation or long term-reduction of smoking, as well as prevention of smoking initiation,'' they write. One study of 18-year old smokers who wanted to quit showed that cost (52%), health (52%), fitness (27%), unacceptable/bad image (16%) or social pressure (11%).were important reasons for wanting to give up the habit. Not surprisingly, peer pressure is a strong influence on teenage smoking, especially among high-school students. After that, they note that parental smoking and family conflicts are the most significant predictors of the transition from occasional to regular smoking. A study of 11- to 13-year olds found that 75% of kids who smoked had one or two parents who smoked. The earlier teens start smoking, the more severe their nicotine addiction will be, according to the study authors.
They note that the rate of teenage smoking is on the rise--36.4% of high school students smoked compared with 27.5%--despite price hikes and other measures
designed to restrict kids' access to tobacco products.
______________________________________________
Monday May 15, 6:08 PM ET
Smokers Have Lower Levels of Heart-Protecting Protein
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Compared with nonsmokers, smokers have lower levels
of paraoxonase (PON), a protein in the blood that provides a measure of protection against
coronary artery disease, Swiss researchers report.
The study results ``are highly consistent with the hypothesis that modifications of serum
PON could be a mechanism by which smoking accelerates the (process that leads to arterial
disease),'' according to Dr. Richard W. James and colleagues from University Hospital in
Geneva, Switzerland.
PON, an enzyme attached to HDL (''good'') cholesterol, may have a role in protecting LDL
(''bad'') cholesterol from being damaged and contributing to arterial disease. Low serum
PON was recently identified as a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease, the
authors explain.
`The novelty of our study is that it shows smoking not only makes LDL cholesterol more
toxic by producing free-radicals, but also weakens one of the means of limiting oxidation of
LDL cholesterol,'' he added.
Tuesday August 8 5:39 PM ET
Upping Nicotine Levels May Help Smokers Quit
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Boosting nicotine levels in smokers may actually help them reduce their smoking, perhaps even easing the path to smoking cessation, according to research presented Monday at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Chicago.
Dr. Rachel Tyndale, associate professor at the University of Toronto's Center for Addictions and Mental Health in Canada, said genetic clues led her team to experiment with a new approach to nicotine replacement compound. In a short-term study, the new compound reduced smoking by 50% compared with (an inactive) placebo.
The key to success is an enzyme inhibitor that slows the inactivation of nicotine in the liver. Until now, nicotine pill development has been stymied by the fact that the liver metabolizes 70% of ingested nicotine before it can reach the brain.
Tuesday August 8 5:36 PM ET
A Link Between Nicotine And Alcohol Dependence
By Andrew Holtz
CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Not only do smoking and drinking often go together, new research on identical twins indicates nicotine dependence may influence some people's risk of becoming alcohol dependent, according to research presented here Monday at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health.
Tuesday August 8 5:46 PM ET
Quitting Smoking Reduces Cataract Risk
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing age-related cataracts, clouding of the lens in the eye that impairs vision. But it has not been clear if quitting smoking reduces this risk. Study results published in the August 9th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that quitting does reduce cataract risk--but also provides evidence that only some smoking-related damage to the lens is reversible.
Tuesday August 8 5:43 PM ET
Environmental Smoke Exposure Linked to Illness
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There is ample evidence that smoking is bad for your health. It is also known that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke may lead to respiratory illness in children.
Tuesday August 8 4:53 PM ET
Smoking and Pregnancy
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who quit smoking midway through their pregnancies can still reduce some of the smoking-related risks to their babies, including low birth weight and small head circumference, results of a study suggest.
However, quitting at this point may not reduce other risks such as intrauterine growth stunting, according to Dr. Anna A. Lindley of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues.
According to the report in the August 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, the ``findings suggest that early-to-midpregnancy smoking cessation prevents deficits in infant birth weight, head circumference and BBR''--brain to body weight ratio, which is an indicator of brain mass.
Previous studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of delivering low birth weight babies; those with a smaller head circumference--a measurement that is used to gauge brain development; and babies with a small crown-heel length, a measurement of fetal growth.
Twin Study Shows Alcohol, Nicotine Vulnerability Linked
There may exist a common genetic vulnerability to nicotine and alcohol dependence in men, according to an
article in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a member of the JAMA family of journals.
Monday June 12,
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Computer software has become an essential part of great
endeavors, from Internet start-ups to guiding space probes. A new report suggests that the
computer can also play a role in a more personal feat for many people--to quit smoking.
A report from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a self-help, computer-based
smoking cessation program that includes use of nicotine gum and is tailored to the individual
may improve smokers' quit rates.
Researchers found that smokers using the program, the SmithKline Beecham's Committed
Quitters Program (CQP), had an over 50% higher rate of quitting smoking compared with
those just using the gum and an audiotape (the UG group), according to study results
published in the June 12th issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study was funded by SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, which manufactures Nicorette nicotine gum and the NicoDerm CQ nicotine patch.
``The Committed Quitters Program is a set of computer-tailored printed materials designed to help people
successfully quit smoking with Nicorette gum,'' lead author Dr. Saul Shiffman, from the
university's Smoking Research Group, explained to Reuters Health. ``Avoiding the
one-size-fits-all approach of most materials--which doesn't work well--the CQ program
creates for each smoker materials that address that smoker's particular concerns about
quitting smoking,'' he added.
Tuesday April 18 9:15 PM ET
Diet suffers when spouse is a smoker
SAN DIEGO, Apr 18 (Reuters Health) -- For the husbands and wives of those addicted to
tobacco, good nutrition may be going up in smoke.
``We found that men and women who were married to smokers -- as compared to men and
women married to nonsmokers -- consumed significantly more total fat and saturated fat,'' said
researcher Dr. Jeffrey S. Hampl of Arizona State University in Tempe. He presented his
team's findings at the Experimental Biology conference held here this week.
Numerous studies have found that nonsmokers who breathe in the secondhand smoke of a
spouse or family member have an increased risk for cancer and heart disease. But Hampl's
team sought to determine if living with a smoker was also associated with poor nutrition.
Smoking Linked to Impaired Intellect in Elderly (Reuters)
British and Spanish researchers warned on Wednesday that smoking late in life could impair intelligence in the elderly.
- Apr 18 9:27 PM ET
Terrible twos worse if mother smoked during pregnancy (Reuters)
Yet another reason to give up cigarettes -- results of a new study show that women who smoked during pregnancy are more likely
to have toddlers with behavior problems.
- Apr 13 10:29 PM ET
Japanese Researchers Show How Smoking Harms Skin (Reuters)
If the increased risk of lung cancer and heart disease isn't enough to convince smokers to quit, Japanese scientists have a new
incentive -- it causes wrinkles. - Apr 12 3:03 PM ET
New York hospitals sue tobacco industry for $3.4 billion
NEW YORK, Mar 30, (Reuters Health) -- New York hospitals are taking aim at Big
Tobacco. On Thursday, the Healthcare Association of New York State and 145 hospitals
throughout the state filed a $3.4 billion lawsuit against eight tobacco manufacturing,
marketing and research firms. The hospital group says it is seeking to recover the unpaid
costs of treating smokers and other victims of tobacco-related illnesses.
``Although it is part of the charitable mission of New York's nonprofit hospitals to care for all
who come to us, we should not have to bear the burden of intentional fraud, deceit, and
greed of Big Tobacco,'' Sisto said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. ``Treating these
illnesses diverted precious and scarce resources from other public and community health
needs,'' he explained. ``That, in itself, is an offense for which tobacco companies should
pay,'' he said.
28MARCH00
The 12-member San Francisco Superior Court panel ordered Philip Morris Cos
Inc.(NYSE:MO - news) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.(NYSE:RJR - news)
each to pay $10 million to Leslie Whiteley, a California woman who developed lung cancer
after smoking for 25 years.
The same jury decided last week that the two companies should pay Whiteley, a
40-year-old mother of four, $1.7 million in compensatory damages after finding that the
cigarette makers acted with malice, knew about the health hazards of smoking and
deliberately misled the public about those dangers.
The jury's first verdict, which also found that the two companies committed fraud, set the stage for Monday's
punitive damage award -- sums which in prior cases have gone as high as $81 million.
FEB
Prior studies have shown that cigarette smoking promotes the formation of molecules called
``free radicals'' in the bloodstream. These free radicals are highly reactive chemicals that
cause oxidation, or changes that alter the cell lining of the arterial walls (the endothelium).
Vitamin E can counter these changes because it is an antioxidant, meaning that it can absorb
or neutralize damage-causing free radicals.
``Free radicals have been implicated in several chronic diseases such as cancer or arthritis.
They can cause terrible harm to the body, and not only to the endothelium,'' said Dr. Jerome
Cohen, professor of medicine in cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine,
Missouri, in an interview with Reuters Health.
According to Cohen, ``The chemicals in cigarette smoke lessen and can reverse the ability of
the arterial walls to dilate during periods of stress or exercise, when increased blood flow is
necessary. In fact, cigarette smoking may even cause the arterial walls to constrict. This may
account for the increased incidence of sudden death and heart attacks seen in smokers.''
Friday March 10 3:01 PM ET
Tough laws can snuff out smoking rates
NEW YORK, Mar 10 (Reuters Health) -- Tough antismoking measures such as a cigarette
tax and an aggressive antismoking media campaign can help extinguish smoking habits among
adults, results of a recent study suggest. The aggressive tactics, which have already worked
in California, could benefit the rest of the country as well, according to the report.
Friday March 10 1:21 PM ET
Pot smokers tend to become dropouts
NEW YORK, Mar 10 (Reuters Health) -- Teens who smoke marijuana may be more than
twice as likely to drop out of high school than their nonsmoking peers, results of a recent
study suggest.
Wednesday March 8,
Cigarette smoke increases risk of deadly infections
NEW YORK, Mar 08 (Reuters Health) -- If you're a smoker -- or even exposed to
secondhand smoke -- you are at greater risk for serious infections with pneumococcal
bacteria, which include meningitis, pneumonia, or blood stream infections.
The risk of infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the virus that causes pneumonia, was four times higher for cigarette smokers and two-and-a-half times higher for those exposed to secondhand smoke.
March 2, 00
Aging pot users at risk for heart attack
SAN DIEGO, Mar 02 (Reuters Health) -- Aging marijuana smokers have almost a five
times higher than normal risk of having a heart attack in the first hour after smoking cannabis,
according to findings presented at the American Heart Association's 40th Annual
Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
Tuesday February 29 4:15 PM ET
Anti-Smoking Ads Affect Youth Behavior-US Study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Younger adolescents who are regularly exposed to
anti-smoking messages on television are half as likely to start smoking as those not exposed,
a study released on Tuesday found.
A second study in the same journal found that teen-agers who could name a cigarette brand
as having attracted their attention the most and owned a tobacco-sponsored promotion item,
such as a sun visor or sports bag, were more than twice as likely to become established
smokers.
``Both show that advertising techniques are effective whether you're trying to promote
tobacco use or prevent it,'' said Michael Seigel, associate professor at Boston University
School of Public Health and lead author of the study on anti-smoking advertising.
The government accuses cigarette makers of conspiring for 45 years to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking and seeks to recover billions of dollars spent by Medicare and other federal health programs treating smoking-induced illnesses
In filing the lawsuit last September, Attorney General Janet Reno said federal health plans spend more than $20 billion a year treating smoking-related illnesses, which take 400,000 lives a year.
(Knowledge alone does not bring change)
NEW YORK, Feb 04, (Reuters Health) -- Although most smokers in the US know that
cigarettes can cause heart and lung disease, few have been able to kick the habit, according
to results of a nationwide poll.
The survey of more than 1,000 adult smokers revealed that 89% know that smoking
increases the risk of lung cancer, 86% know that it increases the risk of heart disease, and
84% believe that it will shorten their lives.
While 70% of respondents have tried to quit smoking in the past, none were successful,
according to the poll, conducted by New York City-based Harris Interactive.
Tuesday February 8,
Nicotine as addictive as heroin
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON, Feb 08 (Reuters) -- Nicotine is a powerful addictive substance on a par with
heroin and cocaine and should be controlled like a drug or medicine, British doctors said on
Tuesday.
In a hard-hitting report prepared by international experts, the Royal College of Physicians
said cigarettes are nicotine delivery products and said nicotine addiction should be
recognised as a major medical and social problem.
Vaping harms heart and lungs: American Heart Association https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4103481-vaping-harms-heart-and-lungs-american-heart-association/
Monday January 21, 2:37 PM ET
Lower-Status Monkeys More Likely to Take Cocaine
By Faith Reidenbach
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The alpha male in a group of monkeys gets the best banana, doesn't have to fight--and is less likely than subordinate monkeys to use cocaine, scientists have observed.
Dr. Michael Nader of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and colleagues found that animals who became dominant after moving from solitary housing to social housing showed changes in brain chemistry that made them less likely to use drugs. But monkeys who were subordinate after the move showed no brain chemistry changes.
Tobacco may kill 1 billion this century
The danger that is posed by tobacco to the overall well-being of the world is the focus of this news article. As per the article, tobacco use alone is predicted to claim the lives of one billion people in this century, which is ten times greater than the toll it took in the last century. The article stresses that reducing tobacco use would have the most significant impact on global cancer rates, followed by dietary changes that include less saturated fats and more fruits and vegetables, as well as decreasing the incidence of cancer-causing viruses and bacteria. Lung cancer continues to be the most common type of cancer, with over 10.9 million new cases reported annually, and it is unlikely to be displaced from this position. Furthermore, the article notes that even if smoking rates decline throughout the world, there will be a consistent or slight rise in the number of smokers due to population growth. The article emphasizes that the likelihood of developing cancer is greater in developed nations, while cancers in developing nations are more frequently lethal.
Friday December 17, 3:05 ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking marijuana can cause cancer, California researchers said Friday, and aging baby boomers who have been indulging since the swinging 60s may just be starting to feel its ravages. The report, by Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of the Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California Los Angeles, adds to evidence that smoking cannabis can have cancer-causing effects similar to those linked to cigarette smoking.
``Many people may think marijuana is harmless, but it's not,'' Zhang said in a statement. ``The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco. The big message here is that marijuana, like tobacco, can cause cancer.''
Monday December 27,
Smoking marijuana increases head and neck cancer risk
NEW YORK, Dec 01, (Reuters Health) -- Teens who smoke have an increased risk of depression.
Smoking during pregnancy risks newborn health
NEW YORK, Oct 05, (Reuters Health) -- Pregnant women who smoke 15 or more cigarettes per day double the risk that their newborns will be hospitalized during the first 8 months of the infant's life, report Danish researchers.
NEW YORK, Nov 30, (Reuters Health) -- Bladder cancer patients who continue to smoke
after being diagnosed tend to be younger than nonsmokers diagnosed with the disease. In
addition, patients with the cancer who smoke are at increased risk for faster disease
recurrence than nonsmokers, report researchers.
Writing in an accompanying editorial, Smith adds, ''Nevertheless, even the suggestion that
continued smoking may promote tumor recurrence and progression seemingly would be a
powerful deterrent against continued smoking.''
NEW YORK, Nov 22, (Reuters Health) -- Smoking cigars may increase an individual's risk
of dying from coronary heart disease (CHD), results of a recent study suggest.
NEW YORK, Oct 08, (Reuters Health) -- Every day, almost 5,000 US teens try cigarettes
for the first time, and about 2,000 young people become regular smokers, according to new
survey results.
The majority of the individuals surveyed were as young as 12 or 14 years when they first
experimented with smoking. The researchers speculate that many youngsters start smoking
at an early age because of peer pressure experienced during ``the transition from elementary
to junior high school at age 12 years and from junior high to high school at age 14 years.''
The authors also point to the glamorization of smoking on television and in movies as
possible factors encouraging teens to smoke.
4-NOV-
Smoking tied to impotence after prostate cancer treatment
Smoking increases the risk of impotence in patients who receive radiation treatment for prostate cancer, according to a report from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tuesday October 12,
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) launched an inquiry Tuesday into what it called a ``systematic and global'' bid by the tobacco industry to undermine U.N. efforts to control smoking.
The U.N. health agency named top Swiss public health official Thomas Zeltner to head a committee of independent experts who are to review evidence and recommend further action.
The London-based group ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) said in a statement it backed the WHO inquiry and would hand over relevant documents it had uncovered in the public domain. ``There is strong suspicion that the tobacco industry has been using its money and influence to stop the U.N. doing anything effective to prevent millions dying from smoking, especially in the Third World,'' ASH international campaign manager Emma Must said in the text made available in Geneva.
Wednesday September 22,
U.S. Sues Tobacco Firms Over Smoking Costs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department Wednesday filed a massive lawsuit that accuses the tobacco industry of fraud and deceit since the 1950s, and seeks to recover much of the $20 billion spent by the federal government every year on smoking-related illnesses.
``In the complaint, the United States alleges that for the past 45 years, the companies that manufacture and sell tobacco have waged an intentional, coordinated campaign of fraud and deceit,'' Attorney General Janet Reno told a news conference in unveiling the landmark civil lawsuit.
Monday September 13 3:25 PM ET
California Cigarette Sales Plunge After New Tax
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Anti-smoking activists Monday hailed news that cigarette sales in California fell by 30 percent in the first half of , as higher state taxes and tobacco company price hikes pushed up the cost of cigarettes to as much as $4 per pack.
``It's beyond our expectations,'' said movie director Rob Reiner, who led the ballot battle to pass Proposition 10, the extra 50-cent-per-pack tax California implemented in January to help fund children's educational programs.
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters Health) -- While quitting smoking remains the number one means of
reducing a smoker's risk for fatal lung cancer, real declines in death risk only appear between 15-20
years after individuals kick the habit, according to new study findings.
Tuesday August 31 12:53 PM ET
Brand switchers have better luck quitting smoking
NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters Health) -- Smokers who switch to lower tar- or nicotine-containing
brands for health reasons may be more likely to subsequently kick the habit than their more
brand-loyal counterparts, a new study suggests.
Monday August 16 1:02 PM ET
Smoking triples pneumonia risk
NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters Health) -- Pack-a-day smokers face nearly three times the risk of developing pneumonia compared with nonsmokers, according to researchers.
According to the authors, smoking may contribute to pneumonia by triggering ``alterations in the immune system and inflammatory functions'' that reduce the body's ability to fight off disease.
But there was also some good news in the report -- studies have shown that immune responses return to normal, healthy levels soon after individuals quit smoking. In fact, Gonzalez and colleagues report that pneumonia risks among ex-smokers dropped by 50% within 5 years of kicking the habit.
Tuesday August 17 6:40 PM ET - Secondhand Smoke Hikes Stroke Risk
LONDON (AP) - Highlighting the dangers of passive smoking, a new study suggested Tuesday that
breathing in other people's cigarette smoke makes nonsmokers 82 percent more likely to suffer a stroke.
A mother who smokes during pregnancy may more than triple her child's risk for ear infection, researchers report.
- Aug 03 2:13 PM EDT
Friday July 6, 5:43 PM ET
A Single Cigarette Can Affect Heart Function
SEATTLE (Reuters Health) - Smoking just one cigarette can cause an abrupt change in the function of the heart's key pumping chamber, according to research presented here last week at the 12th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Society of Echocardiography.
Dr. Firas A. Ghanem and colleagues at the Brody School of Medicine of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, suspected that smoking might immediately, but transiently, impair the function of the left ventricle-the heart's key pumping chamber--between heart muscle contractions. This impairment, also called LV diastolic dysfunction, has been linked to shortness of breath.
Cigarettes did indeed cause changes in left ventricle function, but nicotine chewing gum did not, suggesting that other chemicals act in conjunction with nicotine to cause heart problems, the researchers note.
Ghanem and his colleagues evaluated the effects of smoking and nicotine gum on 27 healthy people. None had any evidence of heart disease, and none were taking any medications.
People were divided into two groups. One group smoked a single cigarette and the second group chewed nicotine gum for 15 minutes. Before and after exposure to either gum or the cigarette, the researchers used a Doppler echocardiogram to measure the blood flow in the heart. Doppler echocardiograms use sound waves to produce images of structures within the body.
In the cigarette group, there were differences in several measures of heart blood flow, but no changes were noted in the second group, before or after chewing nicotine gum.
There were limitations to the study, Ghanem pointed out. The number of patients was small and nicotine levels were not measured. Also, the changes in heart function observed didn't meet clinical criteria for dysfunction of the left ventricle, Ghanem noted. ``In conclusion, immediately after smoking a single cigarette, LV diastolic function, as measured by Doppler echo, significantly worsens,'' Ghanem said. ``Chewing nicotine gum does not seem to have the same effect.''
Thursday June 28, 1:23 PM ET
Smoking Risk Factor for Multiple Sclerosis: Study
By Emma Patten-Hitt, PhD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Long-time smokers may face an increased risk of multiple sclerosis, according to researchers from Harvard University. They found that women who smoked a pack a day for 25 years or more were more likely than nonsmokers to develop the disease.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system believed to involve an abnormal immune system attack on nerve cells. The disease can lead to vision changes, muscle weakness, coordination problems and other debilitating symptoms. It strikes women more often than men.
According to the Boston researchers, led by Dr. Miguel A. Hernan, smoking has been linked to other immune system-related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
To investigate a possible link between smoking and MS, the researchers combined data from two ongoing studies of nearly 240,000 US female nurses. Their smoking history was taken at the beginning of each of the studies. Every 2 years after that, the participants answered another survey about their smoking status and health.
Women from one study were followed for 18 years, and those from the other were tracked for 6 years. During that time, the researchers identified 315 definite or probable cases of MS.
Compared with nonsmokers, the risk that current smokers would develop MS was increased by 60%. Former smokers had a 20% higher risk than women who had never smoked.
Hernan's team also found that the more a woman smoked, the more likely she was to develop MS. Nurses who smoked a pack per day for 1 to 9 years were at a 10% increased risk of developing MS. Those who smoked the same amount for 10 to 24 years were at a 50% increased risk, and those who smoked a pack a day for 25 years were 70% more likely than
nonsmokers to develop MS.
The researchers report the findings in the July 1st issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
``It is not known why smoking is linked to MS,'' Hernan told Reuters Health. The explanations, he said, range from the fact that smokers are more likely to develop respiratory infections (which may increase the risk of MS) to the direct toxic damage that components of cigarette smoke inflict on the nervous system.
Hernan also pointed out that these results probably hold true for men, as well. ``Although no data are available, it seems likely that the association between smoking and MS exists among men, too,'' he said.
``If smoking causes MS, this would be...an additional reason to avoid smoking,'' Hernan pointed out, while noting that the risk of cancer and heart disease are even stronger reasons.
In addition to underscoring the importance of not smoking, he added, ``elucidating the link between smoking and MS may help us understand the causes and lead to therapeutic and preventive advances.''
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology ;154:69-74.
Smoking Ups Heart Risks Despite Low Cholesterol Fri Feb 15, 1:22 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low cholesterol levels are no protection against the heart risks caused by smoking, according to findings from a study of middle-aged American men.
Wednesday July 14 10:37 AM ET
Chemicals Increase Smoking's Grip - Report
LONDON (Reuters) - Tobacco companies have been adding chemicals to cigarettes to enhance their
flavor and make them more addictive, a new report said Wednesday.
The joint report by British charity Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), the anti-smoking group ASH and the U.S. state of Massachusetts revealed more than 60 tobacco industry documents dealing with the use of additives in cigarettes.
``They have taken a traditional tobacco product and turned it into a high delivery nicotine product,'' Dr Gregory Connolly, the director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program, told a news conference to launch the report.
Additives are being used to initiate young people into smoking and to speed the delivery of nicotine to the brain, he added.
The report is based on internal tobacco industry documents about the use of additives which were released during recent tobacco court cases in the United States.
NEW YORK, Jun 25 (Reuters Health) -- Women who smoke during pregnancy substantially increase
the likelihood that their child will develop certain psychiatric disorders during adolescence, namely
behavioral problems if it is a boy, and drug abuse problems if it is a girl, US researchers report. In their study, Dr. Myrna M. Weissman of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues followed children over a 10-years period and compared outcomes in 50 children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy with those of 97 other children whose mothers did not smoke. All of the pregnant mothers who smoked had at least 10 cigarettes a day on most days throughout the pregnancy.
NEW YORK, Apr 06, (Reuters Health) -- People who start smoking during adolescence may be more susceptible tosmoking-related DNA changes linked to cancer than those who start smoking in adulthood, report US researchers in the April7th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
March : Male children born to women who smoke during pregnancy run a risk of violent and criminal behavior that lasts well into adulthood, perhaps because of central nervous system damage, a study published Sunday said. The finding was consistent with earlier studies that linked prenatal smoking by women not only to lawbreaking by their offspring but to impulsive behavior and attention deficit problems, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta said.
Wednesday October 3,
Report: Laughing Gas May Help Smokers Quit
By Emma Hitt, PhD
ATLANTA (Reuters Health) - A dose of laughing gas on quit day may help smokers kick the habit, according to new research.
Dr. Jesse H. Haven at the Anchor Health Center in Naples, Florida, and colleagues will report the findings here at this week's Annual Scientific Assembly of the American Academy of Family Physicians (news - web sites).
Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide, is the same gas used to anesthetize patients in the dentist's chair.
Haven's team hypothesized that nitrous oxide may help smokers quit because it has been shown to replenish stores of dopamine, a brain signaling chemical that becomes depleted during drug and alcohol withdrawal.
In their study, Haven and his colleagues administered a mix of half nitrous oxide and half oxygen to 25 smokers on the day that they planned to quit. The patients inhaled the gas for 20 minutes through a mask.
The researchers then monitored the smokers for 3 days after the treatment to see how many had refrained from smoking. None of the smokers were taking any other kind of smoking cessation therapy during the study.
Overall, the investigators found an 85% reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day in the 3 days after the patients took the gas. Forty percent of patients were able to completely abstain from smoking during the 3-day period, and 92% said their craving for tobacco had ``noticeably decreased.''
The authors conclude that ``nicotine cravings were helped significantly by the administration of nitrous oxide.''
According to Haven, many of the patients who quit completely have remained cigarette free until this point, about 6 months after the nitrous oxide treatment. He added that smokers who abstain for the first 3 days are more likely to quit for the long-term than those who don't.
``I was encouraged by the results,'' Haven told Reuters Health. ``Patients seemed to enjoy the treatment and it simultaneously helped them quit, so we want to continue to see if it works with some other smoking cessation treatments that are already available.''
Haven noted that many physicians may not be set up to administer the gas in their own office yet; however, he encourages physicians to recommend the therapy to patients.
``This is an extremely safe procedure,'' he said. ``If there is any therapy that helps a few more smokers quit, physicians should be recommending it to their patients.''
In an interview with Reuters Health, Terry F. Pechacek from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites)'s Office on Smoking and Health said, ``we are always happy that people are trying to help in the antismoking effort.''
But Pechacek added that without comparing the results of patients who inhaled nitrous oxide with those from a control group--for example, patients who inhaled an inactive gas--it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of laughing gas as an aid to smoking cessation.
``Additional studies are needed,'' he said.
Thursday October 11,
Poorest Spend Scarce Funds on Tobacco, Not Food
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even people living in one of the world's poorest nations have not escaped the lure of cigarette smoking, a new report suggests.
In Bangladesh, despite abject poverty, many men who earn as little as $24 a month spend a portion of their income on tobacco products, forgoing other seemingly more critical expenditures such as food, clothing and housing for themselves and their families, investigators found.
``An estimated 10.5 million people currently malnourished could have an adequate diet if money on tobacco were spent on food instead,'' according to Dr. Debra Efroymson of PATH Canada in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and colleagues.
In the report, published in the October issue of the journal Tobacco Control, the researchers evaluated surveys that included information about tobacco use and other basic expenditures for 32,000 Bangladesh households.
Overall, rates of smoking in the country are high. Men aged 35 to 49 had the highest prevalence of tobacco use, with 70.3% being smokers. Women's smoking rates were much lower, the findings show.
The rate of smoking increased as income decreased, Efroymson and colleagues note. Among the poorest men--those with a household income below $24 a month--58.2% smoked. In the highest-income group of men, those whose household incomes were higher than $118 per month, 32.3% smoked.
``Average male cigarette smokers spend more than twice as much on cigarettes as per capita expenditure on clothing, housing, health and education combined,'' the researchers report.
Possible solutions that might encourage people to spend less money on tobacco, according to Efroymson and colleagues, would be for the country to impose an increase in taxes on tobacco products and disseminate educational information on the dangers of tobacco.
``From our research, we conclude that tobacco use is a neglected issue in poverty reduction--and that poverty is a neglected issue in tobacco control,'' Efroymson's team writes.
``A further benefit of tobacco control measures could be decreased expenditure on non-essential goods, and a concurrent improvement in the health and well-being of the poor,'' they add.
SOURCE: Tobacco Control ;10:212-217.
Friday October 12
German Anti-Smoking Campaign Focuses on Wrinkles
By Ned Stafford
FRANKFURT (Reuters Health) - In the battle to convince young women to stop smoking, the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) thinks the desire to be beautiful may be a more powerful weapon than the fear of lung cancer.
Beauty and wrinkles--or lack thereof--is the major theme of European Week Against Cancer : Women and Tobacco, which is targeting women from 20 to 35 years old.
The ECL says lung cancer is rising more rapidly among women than among men in the European Union (news - web sites), and in some countries lung cancer among women under 45 years of age is more common than among men in the same age group.
In Germany, the Week Against Cancer has been organized by the charity German Cancer Aid. Dr. Eva Kalbheim, spokeswoman for the group, told Reuters Health on Friday that in the battle against smoking, she is convinced a positive message, such as looking pretty, is much more effective with women than the scare tactics of lung cancer.
``Research shows that you do not get results with negative tactics,'' she said. ``People shrink back. They do not want to hear it.''
She also noted that young women have trouble understanding the concept of mortality. ``They feel like lung cancer could never happen to them,'' she said. ``But young women want to look beautiful.''
She said the negative cosmetic effects appear relatively soon after women start smoking, but that the effects are reversible if women quit smoking early enough.
But ``the damage on skin and the subsequent formation of wrinkles is irreversible if smoking continues for decades. After 20 years of smoking, the skin of a 40-year-old woman has aged an additional 20 years.''
The German effort has enlisted the support of Caroline Beil, a well-known TV personality. Beil, 34, is an ex-smoker whose message will be listened to by younger women, Kalbeim said.
Beil, speaking at a Berlin press conference, said: ``I feel more fitter and prettier without cigarettes.''
``These four companies, for over 50 years, have knowingly and consciously manufactured, designed and sold a nicotine-delivery device called a cigarette ... in a negligent and wrongful manner,'' plaintiffs' attorney Scott Segal said during opening arguments in the First Judicial Circuit of West Virginia.
Tuesday November 27, 5:20 PM ET
US Report: Light Cigarettes as Deadly as Regulars
By Todd Zwillich
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - ``Light'' and ``low-tar'' cigarettes have done nothing to reduce the rates of smoking-related deaths since their introduction in the 1970s, and may have even contributed to a rise in illness rates among smokers, according to a US government report released Tuesday.
Anti-smoking groups said that the marketing of low-tar and light cigarettes has deceived the public and policymakers into thinking that it is possible to smoke without a high risk of lung cancer and other diseases. Many public health authorities advocated the use of low-tar cigarettes throughout the 1980s as a means to reduce the health risk associated with tobacco.
``There's no safe cigarette. The only way to reduce your risk from smoking is not to start, or to quit,'' said Dr. David M. Burns, the senior scientific editor of the report, published by the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites).
``Smokers are being duped. They're being conned. It's a scam that's being put forward on the American public by the tobacco industry,'' said John L. Kirkwood, CEO of the American Lung Association.
A statement issued by Phillip Morris USA, the maker of several popular cigarette brands including Marlboro Lights, said that tar levels in government tests are averages that show relative differences in toxin yields between brands, not risk differences to smokers.
``The tar and nicotine yield numbers that are reported for cigarette brands are not meant (and were never intended) to communicate the precise amount of tar or nicotine inhaled by any individual smoker from any particular cigarette,'' the statement read.
``Tar'' is a catch-all phrase used to describe levels of dozens of toxic chemicals in cigarettes. The Federal Trade Commission allows tobacco companies to tout ``low-tar'' and light cigarettes if tar and nicotine levels fall below a certain point in machine tests.
Burns and others said that public health experts assumed starting in the 1960s that reducing tar levels would help smokers who did not quit to reduce their health risk. The assumption did not take into account a key fact that government sampling machines miss: smokers take deeper puffs or simply smoke more cigarettes to compensate for the lower nicotine in each cigarette.
Results in the report show that people who smoked ``light,'' ''ultra light'' or low-tar cigarettes had the same overall tar exposure as those smoking regular cigarettes. They also show that the death rates from smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease were similar in the different groups.
Some data, though still preliminary, even suggest that the widespread use of light cigarettes may have contributed to a rise in smoking-related illness. Overall death rates from lung cancer among women rose from 44 per 100,000 in the mid-1960s to 119 per 100,000 in the mid-1980s, according to the report. Similar trends were seen for men, and the rises correspond to a flood of light and low-tar cigarettes on the market.
One possible culprit is that smokers may inhale smoke from light cigarettes deeper into the lungs to increase their nicotine dose. The deeper inhalations could increase the risk of certain deep lung cancers like adenocarcinoma, said Burns, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
``We can't say that for certain, but things didn't get any better'' with the advent of light cigarettes, he said.
Activists attacked tobacco companies who promote new reduced-carcinogen cigarettes as a healthier way to smoke. One new product called Omni, sold by Liggett & Myers subsidiary Vector Tobacco, uses a chemical treatment to keep some toxic gasses out of smoke. Another product, RJ Reynolds' ``Eclipse,'' promotes the reduced-toxin cigarette as the safest alternative for people who choose to smoke.
``We have no more proof...that the products and claims being introduced today will produce any more of a reduction in disease risk than the products introduced by the tobacco industry 40 years ago,'' said Matthew L. Meyers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Meyer and leaders from the American Cancer Society (news - web sites) and other health groups urged Congress to pass legislation granting the US Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. The Supreme Court barred the FDA from regulating tobacco because the agency lacked the appropriate legal authority.
``Without FDA authority, the tobacco industry will continue to be free to use advertising and marketing gimmicks to portray their deadly product as safer and less harmful,'' said M. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association (news - web sites).
In a statement, Phillip Morris said that the company sees ''FDA regulation as the best way to establish appropriate standards for determining what is a 'reduced risk' cigarette. This would include setting guidelines for any claims that could be made by manufacturers, including the type and manner of communication that should be provided to consumers.''
Wednesday May 9, 6:36 PM ET Cigarette Smoking Linked to Breast Cancer Risk
By Will Boggs, MD
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking is a major risk factor for breast cancer among women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, US researchers report.
Their study of 132 families with at least three breast or ovarian cancer patients found that patients' sisters and daughters who smoked were more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer, compared with the nonsmoking sisters and daughters of patients.
Tuesday July 11, 5:53 PM ET Mother's Smoking Linked to Muscle Problems in Infants
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Cocaine use during pregnancy can cause serious complications in infants. And researchers note that many women who use cocaine also smoke cigarettes. Now, US researchers report that cigarette smoking and not cocaine use during pregnancy is likely to be the cause of increased muscle tone, or hypertonia, in babies born to these women.
``The majority of babies that are born to moms that use cocaine are normal, but this specific population does show a higher prevalence of hypertonia,'' according to lead researcher Dr. Delia A. Dempsey of San Francisco General Hospital in California.
The following very interesting information was extracted from www.tobaccofacts.org.
Annually smoking kills four times as many people as all other drugs, car accidents, suicides, homicides, and AIDS put together.
Following are some statistics showing how easy it is to be caught:
The earlier people start smoking, the harder it is to quit when they are older. People who start smoking in their teenage years run the risk of becoming life-long smokers. One-third to one-half of young people who try cigarettes go on to be daily smokers. Eighty-five percent of teenagers who smoke two or more cigarettes completely, and overcome the initial discomforts of smoking, will become regular smokers. In a study of high school seniors, only 5% of those who smoked believed they would still be smoking two years after graduation. In fact, 75% were still smoking eight years later. It takes an average of five attempts for an adult to successfully quit smoking. Nicotine addiction is "the most widespread example of drug dependence in our country" according to the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1989, about 64% of teenagers who are current smokers had made at least one serious attempt to quit but could not.
Health impact of tobacco
By now, almost everyone knows that smoking and other tobacco use causes cancer. But did you know it's also the number one cause of heart disease and emphysema, too? In fact, smoking is the main cause of preventable death in Canada.
That first puff... and afterward
When you use tobacco, the effects on your body are immediate. Your pulse increases. Breathing becomes faster and more shallow. Circulation begins to drop.
A cocktail of more than 4,000 substances - more than 50 of them cancer- causing - hits your lungs. Poisonous compounds like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia gas enter your bloodstream. Meanwhile, nicotine begins to feed the cycle of addiction.
If you're allergic to smoke or susceptible to asthma (and if you smoke, the chances of developing asthma rise sharply), flare-ups and chest spasms can begin quickly. And over the medium term, you become much more susceptible to colds, flu and pneumonia.
No life like it
Surprise - research shows that if you use tobacco, you're more susceptible to physical injury. A study by the U.S. Army found that heavy smokers were twice as likely to be injured while exercising as non- smokers.
Physically-fit smokers broke bones and sprained ankles more often that similarly fit non-smokers. And the more the soldiers smoked, the more likely they were to develop blisters on 160-km marches.
Amount smoked Injury rate Non-smokers 20 per cent 1-10 cigarettes per day 35 per cent 10 or more cigarettes per day 40 per cent
It isn't just soldiers, and it isn't just young people who face a higher risk of injury.
Older women who smoke, for example, get more hip fractures. Researchers at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal London School of Medicine in the U.K. reported recently that "of all hip fractures, one in eight is attributed to smoking."
The risk of hip fractures is 17 per cent higher for smokers than non-smokers at the age of 60, they report in the British Medical Journal. 70-year-old smokers have a 41 per cent higher risk, and 90-year-olds have more than twice the risk.
While there isn't as much data on men, what information exists suggests "a similar proportionate effect in smokers."
But there's good news for women. "Stopping smoking prevents further excess bone loss, and stopping at the time of menopause should avoid the excess risk."
The young and the breathless
Youthful invulnerability is no defence from tobacco. Even adolescent smokers develop more respiratory problems like shortness of breath and wheezing „ and suffer more severely from the symptoms.
Young tobacco users have:
abnormally high heartbeats, low tolerance for exercise, lower lung capacity, worse asthma, and an increased risk of damaging arteries from fatty buildups associated with heart disease.
Dying for a smoke
Every 13 seconds, someone in the world dies from a tobacco-related illness. And every year, tobacco kills:
5,800 British Columbians, 45,000 Canadians, 418,000 Americans (compared to 1,000 Americans who die from cocaine abuse), and 2.5 million people world-wide - a number the World Health Organization says will grow to 4 million by the year .
Of the 3,000 American youth who start smoking every day,
30 will be murdered,
60 will die in traffic accidents,
and 750 will be killed by a smoking related disease.
It's a huge health problem, accounting for one in every five deaths in B.C. - including 30 per cent of all cancer deaths and one in four deaths from heart disease. Nationally, 85 per cent of all lung cancers and 33 per cent of all strokes are caused by tobacco.
It all costs B.C. society $1.5 billion dollars every year.
But the real bottom line is this:
More than half of young smokers today - 55 per cent of boys, and 51 per cent of girls - can count on dying from a tobacco-related disease... unless they quit.
Youth smoking behaviour and attitudes:
Even though more than 90% of youth know that smoking is addictive, most children under ten believe if they were to start smoking, they could stop any time they wanted. In fact, although only 5% of high school seniors believed they would still be smoking two years after graduation, 75% were still smoking eight years later. (Source: kickbutt.org)
Here are some other smoking assumptions, attitudes and behaviours of Canadian young people.
PREVALENCE
29% of 15 to 19 year olds, and 14% of 10 to 14 year olds are current smokers. Smoking among teens 15 to 19 years of age has increased 25%. 2 About 85% of smokers began before they were 16 years of age 3
CONSUMPTION
Generally, males smoke more than females, and as all youth smokers get older, they smoke more. Daily smokers 15 to 19 years of age smoke an average of 13 cigarettes per day while those 10 to 14 years smoke 10 cigarettes per day.
BEHAVIOUR
Age 13 to 14 is a critical time for adoption of smoking. Daily smoking steadily increases until age 15, then remains stable. There is a strong association between the smoking habits of youth and the number of friends who smoke. The most common reason cited for starting to smoke is the influence of friends. 80% of current smokers have seriously thought of quitting; and 80% of those have made at least one attempt. Corner stores are the number one source for cigarettes. Half of 10 to 14 year olds who tried to buy cigarettes in a store were never asked their age, and were never refused when trying to buy cigarettes.
ATTITUDES
91% of youth believe tobacco is addictive. 83% who have seen tobacco company sponsorship advertisements feel this is brand advertising. Lung cancer and heart disease are among the most common smoking-related health problems known by youth. Knowledge of health problems increases with smoking experience.
Cigarette smoking has a heavy impact on the world's natural environment.
You can guess what cigarette smoke does to the air in a room. But according to the San Francisco Tobacco-Free coalition, the environmental damage caused by the tobacco industry goes way beyond air pollution:
Litterbutts: Take those cigarette butts you see all over the ground. They take roughly 25 years to decompose. After their annual beach cleanup, California officials discovered that cigarette butts made up half of the garbage they found on the state's beaches.
Butts wash down storm drains and into rivers, lakes and the ocean. Fish, birds and other animals eat the butts, mistaking them for food - but with no way to digest the filters, they die.
Great - one more chemical to worry about: Growing tobacco means using pesticides - lots of pesticides. In developing countries, farmworkers - many of them children - end up exposed to cancer-causing chemicals that also leach into the local soil and water.
Smoke a butt, kill a tree: In some countries, tobacco curing barns burn an entire square kilometre of forest for every square kilometre of tobacco they cure. In a single hour, one cigarette-making machine uses four miles of paper rolling and packing cigarettes.
Who in the world smokes the most?
"Worldwide, tobacco is going like gangbusters."
-Geoffrey C. Bible, CEO of Philip Morris
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Tobacco causes more deaths than all other forms of substance abuse combined," killing 3 million people a year. That's one every ten seconds. WHO estimates the worldwide costs of tobacco at more than $200 million U.S.
Globally, the industry is huge, selling 6 trillion cigarettes a year. World tobacco production was 7.7 billion kilograms.
With that kind of production comes a lot of money. The tobacco industry pulls in $168 billion a year. If the tobacco industry became a country, economically it would be larger than 180 of the world's 205 countries.
But that's not enough for the tobacco companies. With smoking on a steady decline in many Western developed countries, they're turning their attention to the developing world with massive advertising campaigns that link smoking with the good life.
And in many countries, children and teens are being openly targeted. One multinational made the pages of Reader's Digest when a khaki-clad woman, arriving in front of a school in a Jeep bearing the "Camel" logo, handed free cigarettes to 15- and 16-year-old students in Buenos Aires, Argentina during recess.
To determine the world's heaviest smokers, WHO compiled data showing the number of cigarettes consumed in a particular country divided by the adult population (considered 15 years and older). The number gives us an estimate of the "per capita" consumption. In other words, if every adult in the country smoked, this is the average number of cigarettes each adult would consume in one year.
But every adult doesn't smoke which means, in practical terms, the number of cigarettes consumed per smoker (rather than per adult) is actually much higher than the number which appears below.
For example, if half of all Canadian adults smoke, the average consumption doubles to more than 5,000 cigarettes per year. Note that Canada has the 13th highest cigarette consumption in the world!!
Rank
Country
# cigarettes/person
(15 yrs. and over)
Poland 3,620
Greece 3,590
Hungary 3,260
Japan 3,240
Korea (Rep.) 3,010
Switzerland 2,910
Iceland 2,860
Netherlands 2,820
Yugoslavia 2,800
Australia 2,710
United States 2,670
Spain 2,670
Canada 2,540
New Zealand 2,510
Ireland 2,420
Germany 2,360
Belgium 2,310
Israel 2,290
Cuba 2,280
Bulgaria 2,240
United Kingdom 2,210
Austria 2,210
Saudi Arabia 2,130
France 2,120
Turkey 2,100
Luxembourg 2,080
Portugal 2,010
Syria 2,000
Italy 1,920
Venezuela 1,920
Denmark 1,910
China (P.Rep.) 1,900
Surinam 1,870
Norway 1,830
Mauritius 1,830
Trinidad & Tobago 1,780
Philippines 1,760
Columbia 1,750
Tunisia 1,750
Finland 1,740
Each day, over 3,000 young Americans become regular tobacco users. (source: American Legacy Foundation )
Jul
Philip Morris Apologizes for Czech Report -Newspaper
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. Inc. has apologized for a widely criticized company-funded study that said the Czech Republic reaps a financial benefit when smokers die early, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
``We understand that this was not only a terrible mistake, but that it was wrong,'' Steven Parrish, a senior vice president, was quoted in the newspaper. ``To say it's totally inappropriate is an understatement.''
Company officials last month distributed an economic analysis in the Czech Republic that concluded cigarettes are not a drain on the country's budget, in part because the government saves money on health care, pensions and housing when smokers die prematurely.
Anti-tobacco advocates and others roundly criticized the report when it came to light in news accounts last week.
According to the Journal, Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter to Philip Morris chief executive Geoffrey Bible after reading about the report. Bible answered in a letter saying that the funding and release of the report ``exhibited terrible judgement as well as a complete and unacceptable disregard of basic human values.''
Feds Seek Restraints on Big Tobacco
Tue Mar 12, 1:41 AM ET
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department (news - web sites) wants to impose sweeping new restrictions on cigarette manufacturers, including banning the terms "low-tar" and "light" and eliminating cigarette vending machines.
Tobacco companies are insisting only Congress can do that.
The government's proposal, contained in documents sent to tobacco companies, would require that graphic health warnings cover 50 percent of cigarette packs and advertisements. It also would ban cigarette vending machines and the use of the terms "light" and "low tar."
Tobacco Company Ordered to Pay $150M
Fri Mar 22, 8:06 PM ET By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $150 million in punitive damages Friday in a lawsuit that contended low-tar cigarettes are as dangerous as regular ones. The jury found that Philip Morris had falsely represented that low-tar cigarettes are healthier, the first verdict in the nation to make that finding. The tobacco company said it would appeal. The jury also awarded $168,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of Michele Schwarz of Salem, who died of lung cancer at age 53 in after smoking low-tar Merit cigarettes. Schwarz had switched from a regular filtered cigarette because she believed the low-tar version would be better for her health, said the attorney for her estate, Lawrence Wobbrock. Wobbrock contended in court that Philip Morris marketed the cigarettes as having fewer health risks. But James L. Dumas, one of the company's attorneys, said Philip Morris did not market Merits as healthier than regular filtered cigarettes. He said the company advertises them as milder, or feeling less harsh. Wobbrock said smokers were getting the same amount of tar by taking more puffs on their cigarettes and smoking them closer to the butt. But Dumas said it was not the company's fault that smokers figured out how to get around the low-tar design. Dumas also said that Schwarz, who worked for many years in the medical office of her physician husband, was well aware of the dangers of cigarette smoke. Attorney John Philips contended jurors were given "erroneous instructions" by the judge, but would not elaborate. He also said that when plaintiffs highlighted portions of documents on an overhead projector, it amounted to "a guided tour through the documents." Anti-tobacco groups hailed the verdict as a big victory. The decision could become a significant factor in other lawsuits where low-tar cigarettes are at issue, said Edward L. Sweda, attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston. "It proves such a case is winnable in a big way," said Sweda. Martin Feldman, a tobacco analyst with Salomon Smith Barney in New York, said the verdict appeared to be the first time a jury issued a ruling on low-tar cigarettes. He said the size of the award "indicates the tobacco industry still has significant work to do if it is ever to convince West Coast jurors of its defenses." The trial came three years after another Multnomah County jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $80.5 million to the family of Jesse Williams, a retired janitor who died of lung cancer. At the time, it was the largest individual smoker verdict in the country. The punitive damages were later reduced to $32 million and the case is pending before the Oregon Court of Appeals. Although tobacco companies win most cigarette lawsuits, they have recently fared poorly in West Coast courts. Three large verdicts were lost in California in the past three years, including a $3 billion verdict last summer that was reduced to $100 million. That award was the largest to date in a case brought by an individual against a tobacco company. Philip Morris is appealing the reduced award, calling it "excessive." The smoker, Richard Boeken of Los Angeles, died in January of lung cancer at age 57.
Study: Smoking, Baby's Sex Linked
Fri Apr 19, - 1:32 PM ET
By EMMA ROSS, AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Couples are more likely to have a girl than a boy if either
of the partners smoked heavily while they were trying to conceive, new
research suggests.
Some scientists consider the ratio of male to female births to be an
indicator of a population's health, because male sperm and embryos are
more fragile than their female counterparts.
The study published this week in The Lancet medical journal is the first
to propose that smoking may play a role.
Normally, boys have a slight edge over girls, with almost 52 percent of
all babies born worldwide being male. The balance tends to even out
later in life because females are better at survival.
However, the comparative number of males has been declining in
several industrialized countries over the past few decades and
researchers suspect toxic substances may be partly to blame.
Dr. Henrik Moller, who has conducted extensive research on sex ratios
but was not connected with the latest study, said the findings "fit with
what is already known about certain exposures, certainly in the male."
Tobacco Giants Campaigned Against Smoke-Free Zones
Wed May 29, 10:40 AM ET
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Leading tobacco companies have manipulated the hospitality industry in a worldwide campaign to prevent restaurants and bars from introducing smoke-free areas, according to research published on Wednesday.
By capitalizing on fears of lost profits and through donations to industry organizations such as the International Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes (HORECA), tobacco firms led by Philip Morris tried to stifle support for smoke-free premises.
"The tobacco industry has effectively turned the hospitality industry into its de facto lobbying arm on clean air," said Dr. Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco.
In a report in the journal Tobacco Control, Glantz and his colleagues analyzed publicly available tobacco industry documents that they said show the industry aggressively recruited hospitality groups to convince restaurants to fight against smoke-free areas.
If an association refused, the tobacco industry created its own organization to promote its agenda.
"Develop, as needed, creation of national hospitality associations where none exist and encourage their affiliation with HORECA International," Philip Morris said.
But Marc Fritsch, a spokesman for Philip Morris International in Lausanne, Switzerland, said the scientists inaccurately reported the company's policies on public smoking restrictions.
"We continue to believe that a total ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, night clubs, hotels and similar establishments that cater to smokers and non-smokers is extreme," the company said in a statement.
"Apparently, the authors of the Tobacco Control article believe that it is inappropriate for us to express these views or to seek the support of business sectors that might share the same concerns. We respectfully disagree," it added.
The researchers also accused the tobacco industry of promoting the idea that ventilation systems could reduce the dangers of second-hand smoke so smokers and non-smokers could share the same space.
Glantz said the strategy was first developed in the 1970s and intensified as more evidence accumulated about the dangers of second-hand smoke.
"For more than a decade the tobacco industry disseminated misinformation asserting that the hospitality industry will suffer financially when smoke-free environments are instituted," Glantz said.
But he added that 100% smoke-free policies had been shown not to harm a business's profits.
Glantz and his colleagues said public health advocates should be aware of the relationship between organized restaurant associations and the tobacco industry
Firms Ordered to Pay Smoker $37.5 Million
Tue Jun 11, 6:23 PM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - A jury in Miami on Tuesday ordered three U.S. tobacco companies to pay $37.5 million to a sick former smoker in a follow-on case to the landmark class-action suit that resulted in a record $145 billion judgement against cigarette makers.
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., a unit of British American Tobacco Plc , and Philip Morris Cos. Inc. said the jury in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County found in favor of plaintiff John Lukacs, 76, who claims that his use of cigarettes caused him to develop diseases.
In July , a Florida jury, in what has become known as the Engle case, stunned tobacco companies by ordering them to pay $145 billion to sick smokers, the highest punitive damages award in U.S. history. The case is on appeal in the Florida Third District Court of Appeals and the Lukacs verdict will be subject to the outcome of the Engle appeal.
Both companies said they intend to appeal the verdict. A ruling on the appeal from Florida's Third District Court of Appeals in Miami is not expected before late .
"We remain confident that the appeals courts will reverse both this verdict and Engle," said Jeff Raborn, attorney for Brown & Williamson, in a written statement.
Cigarette Campaigns Hook Youth with Lifestyle Ads
Tue Jun 11, 5:35 PM ET
By Suzanne Rostler
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to creating anti-smoking campaigns, public health officials should take a page from cigarette advertisers' book, researchers suggest.
Their analysis of roughly 100 previously secret marketing reports, memos and strategic planning documents from tobacco companies revealed that cigarette advertising is largely focused on the consumer attitudes and lifestyles of young adults, who are on the brink of becoming fully addicted smokers or deciding not to smoke.
This group of 18- to 24-year-olds also serves as a role model for teenagers, who may try smoking for the first time, researchers point out in the June 12th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association ( news - web sites ).
"Market segmentation strategies based on the attitudes, lifestyle, aspirations and activities of young adults may be more useful than demographic data alone," conclude Drs. Pamela M. Ling and Stanton A. Glantz from the University of California, San Francisco.
"Physician counseling and public health campaigns that identify with the psychological needs and values of smokers and nonsmokers may improve smoking prevention and cessation efforts," they add.
According to their analysis, cost emerged as an important issue among young smokers during the 1980s. To attract potential consumers in this group, R. J. Reynolds began offering savings opportunities such as "buy one, get one free," coupons and free promotional items.
Philip Morris also discussed targeting smokers based on their leisure activities, political opinions, media use, attitudes and goals in its internal memos.
Over the next decade, smoking became less socially acceptable, which threatened to cut profits in the tobacco industry. Many smokers felt guilty about the effect of secondhand smoke on others. Based on this, R. J. Reynolds defined a new market segment, which it dubbed "Social Guilt." This segment accounted for roughly one quarter of the market.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Glantz suggested that clean indoor air and price increases might be effective targets of anti-smoking campaigns, based on the findings.
"We need to be concentrating more on young adults than teens and use the same marketing approaches that the tobacco industry does," he said.
For instance, anti-smoking campaigns that used a rebellious tone and encouraged young people to fight tobacco-industry manipulation were successful because they provided an alternative way to rebel.
"Exposing specific manipulative targeting in tobacco-industry campaigns, such as Philip Morris' program to reach black smokers with so-called inner-city bar nights...may be useful in reaching other rebellious smokers," the authors suggest.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association ;287:2983-
[Some comments in brackets added by Reza Ganjavi]
Smokers Unrealistic About Odds of Quitting
Fri Mar 8
By Merritt McKinney
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If given the chance to turn back time, the overwhelming majority of smokers would not start smoking, a new UK survey shows. But even though most smokers would like to kick the habit, they are deluded about how easy it will be for them to quit, researchers say.
"Most smokers know they are dealing with an addiction and want out, but they need to get serious about quitting and stop putting it off or it will just keep on getting tougher to quit," Clive Bates, the director of the London-based Action on Smoking and Health (news - web sites), told Reuters Health. Bates is a co-author of a report on the survey that is published in the March 9th issue of the British Medical Journal.
In the poll of 893 smokers, 83% (79% of men and 87% of women) said that if given the chance to live their life over again, they would not start smoking. People aged 45 to 64 were most likely to regret having started smoking, with 90% saying that they would not choose smoking again. People in this age group may be starting to experience some of the health problems caused by smoking, the authors suggest.
But most younger people also regretted the decision to start smoking. Seventy-eight percent of respondents aged 16 to 24 said that they would not start smoking if given a second chance.
Despite smokers' strong desire to quit, the survey found that most smokers had unrealistic expectations about how easy it will be for them to stop smoking. A little more than half of all smokers, 53%, expected to kick the habit within 2 years. This is unlikely, according to the investigators, who cite recent research showing that only 6% of smokers actually quit within 2 years.
Women were more optimistic than men about their odds of quitting, with 45% believing that they would quit within a year compared with 34% of men.
Young smokers were most likely to be overconfident about their ability to quit. Among 16- to 29-year-olds, 80% said they expected to quit within a decade. In reality, 65% of people who ever smoked are still smoking at age 40 and 46% are still smoking at age 60.
"However tempting it is to cling to the hope that they'll somehow just stop smoking, the truth is they'll need to take decisive action," Doreen McIntyre, the chief executive of No Smoking Day, told Reuters Health. "The sooner they do so, the more likely it is they'll succeed," according to McIntyre, who is one of the survey's co-authors.
Smokers need to be realistic about facing a powerful addiction, McIntyre added. "Addiction can be overcome but it doesn't just disappear with wishful thinking," she said.
"People who want to stop--and that's clearly the majority--should talk to their physicians or pharmacist [or write to reza for a free consultation as a non-professional who’s helped some people quit] about how to go about it, and start making a serious quit attempt as soon as they are ready," McIntyre advised. [reza: no no no – the idea of “being ready” is an excuse of the addiction in itself.]
"Think of quitting smoking as a siege against addiction," Bates recommended. The smoker who wants to quit should plan well in advance and set a quit date, he noted. [reza: no way! The future is now – that day will come and with it many excuses! “nothing changes on new year’s day]
"Know the enemy well by finding out what to expect and how to deal with withdrawal symptoms," Bates said. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist about medications that can ease cravings to smoke, he advised. [reza: oh my god – medications could have side effects – how about understanding craving and its relationship with other aspects of life style and diet!!]
Bates also urged smokers to enlist family and friends in the battle to quit and to avoid situations where they might be tempted to smoke. "For example, don't go out to a smoky bar 3 days after quitting," he said. "And above all, think of how good life will be without the threat of terrible diseases and the constant nagging desire to smoke."
Friday November 30, 1:32 PM ET
Cigarette Hazards Worse Than Most Smokers Think
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly all smokers in a recent survey said they knew the dangers of cigarettes and many were confident that they could kick the habit before the health effects caught up with them.
However, they may be seriously misinformed about the health risks of smoking, as well as how easy it is to quit, according to findings presented by Dr. Michael Cummings of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Wednesday during the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In a telephone survey of more than 1,000 US smokers aged 18 to 89, about 94% of the respondents felt they were adequately informed of the health risks of smoking. Sixty percent believed they could quit before they had serious health problems.
However, almost one-third said smoking five cigarettes a day presents the same risk for developing cancer as not smoking, which is untrue. And 53% erroneously believed that nicotine causes cancer. While nicotine is addictive, it is the numerous toxic compounds found in cigarettes that make smoking a cancer risk.
About 27% of the respondents did not believe they are at greater risk of developing lung cancer than any one else in their age group, study co-author Dr. Gary Giovino, also of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, told Reuters Health.
Many incorrectly believed that cigarettes are less dangerous when filtered (60%), when tar is reduced (58%), or when additives are removed (50%). The researchers noted that most respondents were not aware of filter fallout, which is the inhalation of fibers released from cigarette filters when the smoker inhales.
These findings show that, ``there is more work to be done,'' Giovino said. ``Even adult smokers need to learn that every cigarette hurts,'' he added.
``Most say if they develop lung cancer, they think they will survive,'' the researcher said. Only 10 to 15 patients out of 100 who are diagnosed with cancer live for 5 years, but most smokers in the survey thought the number was 50 out of 100.
In addition, many smokers are unclear as to how smoking cessation tools actually work.
When asked, ``Do nicotine medications work by making you physically sick if you smoke cigarettes,'' Giovino noted that 42% of respondents answered ``yes'' while 27% did not know.
``About one in five said nicotine medications completely eliminate the urge to smoke, which of course, they do not,'' Giovino said. Only 35% of the smokers knew that nicotine patches are less likely to cause a heart attack than smoking cigarettes, he added.
``Smokers have an optimism bias about smoking and a pessimism bias about nicotine replacement,'' Giovino explained. ''Nicotine replacement therapy needs improved advertising so the general public better understands how it works and its safety.''
7MAY
> p.s FYI DAY 3 without nicotine.......and still kicking!
> feeling holy, contemplative. aware. and tres cool (i was that before anyway!) :) it's a new process i have never seen myself > go through.....it's enhancing.
i know - dreamed about it last night. You did it - 5 out of 100 can do it - don't look back - don't even think about it - you don't play with a poisenous snake - it bites and brings instant bad-luck.
"not feeling very self-congradulatory, although i do appreciate and in fact
expect your support! rather more self-analytical, and as i said aware of
habits, the apres-meeting cigie, the car drive ciggie, the good music
playing on my stereo and the wind blowing in my hair ciggie, all the
rituals, it's amazing how many i have! it's a process to re-writing all
the rituals.........a new narrative tool perhaps!
Hello,
My email has changed so please add me to your list. BTW, I have
added your site to my links in a couple of places because I find
it not only informative, but enjoyable.
BTW- I am almost 3 months smoke free. I rarely even think about
it anymore, and when I -do- think about it, it is now such a
-small- problem.
best wishes,
Todd T."
Ex-smokers face ulcers and colds
Smoker
The side effects are little known
Smokers should be warned they face higher risks of developing mouth ulcers and colds when they quit, warn experts.
Doctors found smokers developed the unpleasant side effects up to two weeks after quitting.
And they say many ex-smokers could be deterred from staying the course unless they are told what to expect.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal's Tobacco Control, studied 174 smokers at one, two and six weeks.
Symptoms
After one or two weeks' abstinence the quitters were more likely to have cold symptoms, including sore throats, coughing and sneezing.
During the first week of stopping around a third of those studied had three or more symptoms.
It is an unexpected side effect of giving up smoking
Amanda Sandford of ASH
They found mouth ulcers were significantly more likely during the first fortnight. After six weeks all the symptoms had subsided.
The authors say the increase in mouth ulcers could be related to the loss of the antibacterial effect of smoking and the rise in cold symptoms could be linked to a short-term depression in the immune system.
Positive move
The scientists, from the Department of Psychology, at St George's Hospital Medical School, said they did not fully understand the impact of the symptoms on the relapse rates, but said they might be linked to people taking up smoking again.
Dr Michael Ussher, said: "This study is the first to provide clear evidence for an increase in reports of cold systems and mouth ulcers following smoking cessation.
"Being psychologically prepared for these effects may reduce their impact on the attempt to stop smoking."
Amanda Sandford, research manager for ASH, Action Smoking Health, said people should not be discouraged by the temporary side effects.
"It is an unexpected side effect of giving up smoking.
"It is important that people are warned about it.
"You just need to give smokers a reassurance that it is a positive thing to give up smoking."
But she said that anyone whose symptoms lasted for a long time should contact their GP.
DRUG PUSHERS : BIG TOBACCO EXECUTIVES
One of the most famous events depicted in the motion picture "The Insider" was the videotaped testimony of the "7 Dwarves" (as they were described by Dr. Wigand) -- the 7 CEOs of Big Tobacco. Their "nicotine is not addictive" testimony, part of the Waxman Hearings, is detailed below.
Background:
Rep. Waxman served as Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment. To help focus public attention on the dangers of tobacco, Rep. Waxman invited movie stars and celebrities to appear before his committee. These hearings contributed to the vast change in public opinion about smoking.
Other hearings by the Waxman subcommittee exposed the secret activities of the tobacco industry, both through the testimony of industry insiders and internal tobacco company documents.
What the Waxman hearings were OFFICIALLY called:
House of Representatives
Committee on Energy and Commerce
Subcommittee on Health and the Environment
Hearing on the Regulation of Tobacco Products
Opening statement from Chairman Waxman:
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:05 a.m., 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry A. Waxman (chairman) presiding.
WAXMAN. The meeting of the subcommittee will come to order. I'd like to ask our guests to please take your seats.
This is an historic hearing. For the first time ever, the chief executive officers of our Nation' s tobacco companies are testifying together before the U.S. Congress. They are here because this sub- committee has legislative jurisdiction over those issues that affect our health. And no health issue is as important as cigarette smoking.
It is sometimes easier to invent fiction than to face the truth. The truth is that cigarettes are the single most dangerous consumer product ever sold. Nearly a half million Americans die every year as a result of tobacco. This is an astounding, almost in- comprehensible statistic. Imagine our Nation' s outrage if two fully loaded jumbo jets crashed each day, killing all aboard. Yet that is the same number of Americans that cigarettes kill every 24 hours.
Sadly, this deadly habit begins with our kids. Each day 3,000 children will begin smoking. In many cases they become hooked quickly and develop a life long addiction that is nearly impossible to break. For the past 30 years a series of surgeons general have issued comprehensive reports outlining the dangers these children will eventually face.
Lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, bladder cancer, and stroke are only some of the diseases caused by tobacco causes. And now we know that kids will face a serious health threat even if they don' t smoke. Environmental tobacco smoke is a Class A carcinogen, and it sickens more than 1 million kids every year.
In fact, five former surgeons general of the United States testified before this subcommittee this year, that the most important legislation in disease prevention that we could enact would be restrictions on smoking in public places. This subcommittee will soon act on that legislation, and it will consider other measures as well. This hearing will aid our efforts by presenting an important perspective. But these hearings are important for another reason as well.
For decades the tobacco companies have been exempt from the standards of responsibility and accountability that apply to all other American corporations. Companies that sell that sell aspirin, cars, and soda are all held to strict standards when they cause harm.
We don' t allow those companies to sell goods that recklessly endanger consumers. We don' t allow them to suppress evidence of dangers when harm occurs. We don' t allow them to ignore science and good sense. And we demand that when problems occur, corporations and their senior executives be accountable to Congress and the public.
This hearing marks the beginning of a new relationship between Congress and the tobacco companies. The old rules are out, the standards that apply to every other company are in. We look for- ward to hearing the testimony this morning, and to working with these companies to begin to reduce the extraordinary public health threat that tobacco poses.
An old proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Today is the first step. Many more are to come as we deal with the most serious health problem facing our Nation.
Tobacco company CEOs declare, under oath, that nicotine is not addictive
WYDEN. Let me begin my questioning on whether or not nicotine is addictive. Let me ask you first, and I'd like to just go down the row, whether each of you believes that nicotine is not addictive. I heard virtually all of you touch on it. Yes or no, do you believe nicotine is not addictive?
CAMPBELL (President of Philip Morris U.S.A.).
I believe nicotine is not addictive, yes.
WYDEN. Mr Johnston?
JAMES JOHNSTON (Chairman and CEO of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company). Mr. Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definition of addiction. There is no intoxication.
WYDEN. We´ll take that as a "no." Again, time is short. I think that each of you believe that nicotine is not addictive. We would just like to have this for the record.
TADDEO (President of U.S. Tobacco).
I don´t believe that nicotine or our products are addictive.
TISCH (Chairman and CEO of Lorillard Tobacco Company).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
HORRIGAN (Chairman and CEO of Liggett Group).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
SANDEFUR (Chairman and CEO of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company).
I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
DONALD JOHNSTON (President and CEO of American Tobacco Company).
And I, too, believe that nicotine is not addictive.
Tobacco alone is predicted to kill a billion people this century, 10 times the toll it took in the 20th century, if current trends hold. "In all of world history, this is the largest train wreck not waiting to happen," said John Seffrin.
U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS, released a comprehensive report that indicated nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25% to 30% and lung cancer by 20% to 30%.
III. Health effects of children's exposure to tobacco smoke
This section presents evidence of the harmful impact of ETS exposure on children's health. Table 1 summarizes previous conclusions as to that impact. The present report specifically addresses respiratory and middle ear disease, reduced foetal growth, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), neurodevelopmental/behavioural outcomes, cardiovascular effects, and childhood cancer.
Several adverse consequences of involuntary tobacco smoke exposure of children are well understood and beyond the scope of this report. Specifically, parental and peer smoking are critical and detrimental influences on future regular tobacco use. In addition, maternal smoking during pregnancy causes well-established, demonstrable harm by reducing birth weight and increasing infant mortality.
For young children, the major source of exposure to tobacco smoke is smoking by parents and other household members. Maternal smoking is typically the largest source of a child's exposure because of the cumulative effects of exposure in utero and close proximity to the mother during early life. As children grow older, the relative contribution of other exposure sources, including smoking in public places, increases. Distinguishing between the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy and the child's exposure to both maternal and paternal tobacco smoke after birth can be difficult because children exposed to the first are usually exposed to the second as well. While identifying the specific source of tobacco smoke exposure may improve intervention targeting, cumulative tobacco exposure over a lifetime, whether in utero, from ETS exposure, or as an active smoker, causes both acute illness and chronic disease.
A. Respiratory health and middle ear disease
The effects of parental smoking on children's lungs have been extensively described in the reports listed in Table 1. This report focuses on lower respiratory tract illness during infancy, asthma, respiratory symptoms, lung function, and middle ear disease, updating previously published quantitative syntheses of the evidence on parental smoking and respiratory health of children. Studying children whose fathers smoke and mothers do not can help separate postnatal from prenatal effects of tobacco smoke.
Lower respiratory tract illness
Parental smoking is an important cause of lower respiratory tract illnesses (e.g. croup, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia) during the first years of life. Of over 40 studies, all but one reported increased risks among children whose parents smoke. Pooling the studies' results, children whose mothers smoke are estimated to have a 1.7-fold (95% CI = 1.6-1.9) higher risk of these illnesses than children of nonsmoking mothers. Paternal smoking alone causes a 1.3-fold (95% CI = 1.2-1.4) increase in risk. This result is strong evidence for a causal role of ETS exposure, since it is uncomplicated by maternal smoking during pregnancy. Similar effects were seen for both wheezing and non-wheezing illnesses, and across studies done in communities and those done in hospitals. Furthermore, adjustment for confounding did not change the estimates, and evidence of exposure-response relationships (i.e. increasing risks of illness with increasing exposure to tobacco smoke) was frequently observed. Because lower respiratory tract illness is a common cause of childhood morbidity, small increases in average individual risk coupled with widespread exposure imply large population impacts.
Asthma and respiratory symptoms
Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, and environmental factors play an important role in determining both onset and severity. Both asthma and respiratory symptoms (wheeze, cough, breathlessness and phlegm) are increased among children whose parents smoke, on the basis of over 60 studies of school-aged children . The pooled relative risks for either parent smoking range from 1.2 to 1.4. Evidence supporting a causal role for ETS exposure comes from the small but significant effects of paternal smoking when the mother does not smoke. As with lower respiratory tract illness, adjustment for confounding did not significantly change the results and exposure-response relationships have been described. Smaller relative risks in school-aged children compared to infants are consistent with reduced exposure.
Whereas there is clear evidence that tobacco smoke exposure causes non-allergic wheezing in early life, it probably does not cause the underlying asthmatic trait. In addition, parental smoking perinatally is not associated with allergic sensitization. Nevertheless, ETS exposure causes exacerbations of symptoms in children with asthma. In many countries, this has led to the standard clinical practice of recommending avoidance of tobacco smoke for children with asthma.
Lung function
During childhood, the lung grows as height increases. Damage to the lung during its development may have lasting effects and reduce the lung's reserve capacity. Substantial evidence demonstrates that maternal smoking during pregnancy causes sizeable adverse effects on neonatal lung mechanics. Maternal smoking is also associated with small deficits in lung function in school-aged children. However, distinguishing between residual effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy and childhood ETS exposure to explain these deficits is difficult.
Middle ear disease
Early childhood exposure to ETS is also causally associated with a major child health burden: acute and chronic middle ear disease. Over 40 studies with different designs have investigated effects of parental smoking across a range of outcomes from acute otitis media to surgery for glue ear. Pooled relative risks for these outcomes range from 1.2 to 1.4 and are statistically significant. No single study simultaneously addresses selection bias, information bias and confounding; where these have been investigated, however, the associations with parental smoking persist virtually unchanged. Few studies have compared the effects of maternal and paternal smoking and none have compared the effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure. Moreover, prognostic studies, showing improvement when the child has a smoke-free environment, and consideration of biologic mechanisms strongly suggest that postnatal ETS causes increased risk of middle ear disease in children.
Summary
Substantial benefits to children would arise if parents stopped smoking. While an important message must be for the mother to stop smoking before pregnancy, additional important benefits would result from postnatal cessation. Smoking by the father or other adults may have adverse effects during gestation and has definite effects after birth including increased relative risks of lower respiratory tract infection during infancy, and respiratory symptoms, middle ear disease among older children. Although these increased risks are modest, these are common health problems around the world. Thus small increases in risk translate into a substantial burden of disease for children arising from exposure to ETS.
Research directions
Further studies might be helpful to distinguish between the effects of in utero exposure to tobacco smoke and postnatal exposure. Studies in settings where women rarely smoke but tobacco smoke exposure from paternal and other sources is high would be particularly valuable. Where longitudinal studies are underway, analyses to investigate how changes in exposure are related to changes in outcome would be a valuable contribution. In addition, studies demonstrating the reversibility of adverse effects with reduced exposure to tobacco smoke, particularly in high-risk groups such as children with asthma and other health conditions exacerbated by tobacco exposure, would be useful.
B. Foetal Growth
The adverse effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on foetal growth have been known for some time. Low birth weight (LBW, defined generally as less than 2500 grams) and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are important risk factors for childhood morbidity and mortality. Over 30 studies have examined the effects of nonsmoking mothers' exposure to ETS during pregnancy on foetal growth (e.g. by studying mean birth weight or LBW/IUGR) or preterm birth. Using mean birth weight as the outcome, studies from different countries and with different study designs have consistently found birth weights reduced among the offspring of nonsmoking women exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy. Many of the studies attempted to control for potential confounding factors. Pooling the results in a meta-analysis yields a mean reduction in birth weight ranging from 25 to 40 grams, depending on the subset of studies included. In addition, pooling estimates for LBW or IUGR yields a relative risk ranging from 1.2 to1.4. Furthermore, relative risks and mean birth weight reductions were generally higher in higher exposure groups and in studies using a biomarker to measure exposure, and thus likely increasing the accuracy of exposure measurement. These results are supported by animal studies of sidestream smoke exposure. Thus, the weight of evidence indicates that ETS exposure in pregnant nonsmokers causes a small reduction in foetal growth.
At the population level, a small change in average birth weight could affect large numbers of infants because of the frequency of exposure. Furthermore, a shift in the birth weight distribution could have profound impacts on infants already at risk, moving them to a critically low birth weight.
Research directions
Additional studies of mean birth weight are unlikely to change the pooled measure of effect to any extent, but studies using a biomarker of exposure to increase the accuracy of exposure measurement and examine dose levels may still be warranted. Only a small number of studies have examined the role of ETS in increasing the risk of preterm birth, and additional studies would be valuable. In addition, research is needed to examine potentially more susceptible groups, such as those defined by maternal age or ethnicity.
C. Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
There is sufficient evidence to conclude that maternal smoking causes a marked increase in SIDS. Almost 50 studies have examined this relationship and all indicate an increased risk. Since reductions in the prevalence of prone sleeping position, eight studies have examined maternal smoking and SIDS. The pooled unadjusted relative risk from these studies is approximately 5, indicating that infants of mothers who smoke have almost five times the risk of SIDS compared with infants of mothers who do not smoke. Adjustment for potential confounders lowers the risk estimate; however, many studies over-adjust, e.g. by controlling for birth weight, resulting in an inappropriately low estimate of the risk. Pooling the adjusted results still yields a significantly increased risk of SIDS from maternal smoking.
With the available data, it is difficult to distinguish the effect of active maternal smoking during pregnancy from that of postnatal ETS exposure of the infant from smoking by the mother. While the mechanism for SIDS is unknown, the predominant effect from maternal smoking is generally attributed to in utero exposure of the foetus.
However, clear evidence for an ETS effect arises from six studies examining SIDS and paternal smoking where the mother is a nonsmoker. The pooled unadjusted relative risk from these studies is 1.4 which, though smaller than the effect seen for maternal smoking (RR = 4.7), still indicates a significant risk. Overall, parental smoking, particularly by the mother, appears to be responsible for between a third and a half of all SIDS cases.
Research directions
Additional studies are unlikely to influence the pooled estimate of risk from maternal smoking substantially. Studies of nonsmoking mothers may clarify to what extent postnatal tobacco smoke exposure contributes to the risk of SIDS. Given the overwhelming evidence of maternal smoking's effects in increasing the risk of SIDS, interventions to assist pregnant women to stop smoking should be given high priority.
D. Neurodevelopmental effects
When compared to children of nonsmokers, children of smokers perform more poorly in school. They also have lower scores in cognitive functioning tests - in particular, language and auditory processing - and have more behavioural problems, including conduct disorders, hyperactivity, and decreased attention spans. Cognitive and behavioural deficits in children have lifelong consequences and result in increased costs for education and social services.
Seventeen studies have addressed the effects of ETS exposure on child development and behaviour. Most have controlled for sociodemographic characteristics and some have demonstrated dose-response relationships, with greater deficits among children with higher exposures. In some studies, children's postnatal ETS exposure and ETS exposure of nonsmoking mothers during pregnancy have been independently associated with subtle changes, albeit statistically significant, in child development and behaviour. Adverse effects resulting from children's postnatal exposure to tobacco smoke are biologically plausible in light of evidence of altered brain development in animal models. Taken as whole, however, these studies are difficult to interpret, in part due to the possible influence of uncontrolled confounding factors. Thus, the effects of prenatal and postnatal ETS exposure on cognition and behaviour remain unclear.
Research directions
Future studies need to focus on specific effects or outcomes associated with different periods of exposure. Particular attention should be given to controlling for essential explanatory variables such as maternal intelligence, social class, and home environment.
E. Cardiovascular effects
In adults, active and passive smoking cause cardiovascular disease. In children, adolescents, and young adults, there is some evidence that ETS exposure may accelerate the evolution of cardiovascular disease. These studies document deleterious effects on oxygen transport, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and possibly endothelial function.
In addition, the adverse effects of tobacco smoke exposure in adults in thrombosis, endothelial function, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation can be plausibly inferred to occur in children. Studies of atherosclerosis in young adults indicate that exposure to tobacco smoke during childhood may also accelerate the progressive development of atherosclerosis. Evidence from animal models supports this initiation. However, the magnitude and clinical significance of these changes with respect to disease during adulthood are at present unknown. Neither the relationship of tobacco smoke exposure to vascular events during childhood nor the reversibility of these adverse effects has been assessed.
Research directions
Due to the limited number of studies in this area, further work on the evolution of atherosclerosis during youth and into young adulthood, with particular attention to tobacco smoke exposure, would be valuable. In addition, measurable cardiovascular endpoints of tobacco smoke exposure occurring in children and youth need to be developed. Such endpoints would also aid in evaluating reversibility of effects when exposure is discontinued. Focusing on studies of children, adolescents, and young adults with other major cardiovascular risk factors to examine whether tobacco smoke exposure enhances the effect of other risk factors would also add substantially to current knowledge.
F. Childhood cancers
Tobacco smoke, whether voluntarily or involuntarily inhaled, includes numerous carcinogens. Among adults, active smoking has been causally linked to cancers at a number of sites and exposure to ETS is an established cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers.
On the issue of childhood neoplasms, the pooled estimate of the relative risk of any childhood neoplasm from exposure to maternal smoking is 1.11 (95% CI = 1.00-1.23, based on 11 studies), and that for leukaemia is 1.14 (95% CI = 0.97-1.33, based on 8 studies). While fewer studies are available on paternal smoke exposure, associations are suggested for brain tumours and lymphomas. No consistent pattern of dose-response relationship has been found with either maternal or paternal smoking in the limited set of studies addressing this issue. Although known risk factors for childhood cancer do not appear to confound the observed associations, the small increases in risk might be the result of confounding by unknown factors. In most available studies, no distinction is made between preconceptional, in utero and postnatal exposure to parental smoke, making it difficult to assess the separate contribution of these periods of exposure. In conclusion, there is suggestive evidence linking exposure to tobacco smoke and childhood cancer.
Research directions
Future studies on exposure to tobacco smoke and childhood cancer should be based on large series of cases and should address the contribution of exposure preconceptionally, in utero, and postnatally.
G. Summary of health effects
ETS exposure is causally associated with increased risks of lower respiratory tract illnesses, including bronchitis and pneumonia, in the first years of life.
ETS exposure is a cause of chronic respiratory symptoms in school-aged children.
ETS exposure increases the severity and frequency of symptoms in children with asthma.
ETS exposure is causally associated with increased risk of acute and chronic middle ear disease.
Maternal smoking is a cause of small reductions in lung function. The predominant effect may be from smoking during pregnancy.
ETS exposure of nonsmoking women during pregnancy is a cause of small reductions in average birth weight.
Maternal smoking is a major cause of SIDS. The predominant effect is believed to be from
in utero
exposure. There is also some evidence that postnatal ETS exposure contributes to the risk of SIDS.
Parental smoking is associated with learning difficulties, behavioural problems, and language impairment. There is some evidence that both ETS exposure to nonsmoking women during pregnancy and children's postnatal ETS exposure may contribute to small impairments.
ETS exposure is associated with physiological changes in children that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
There is suggestive evidence that parental smoking may increase the risk of some childhood cancers. However, the potential roles of preconceptional,
in utero, and postnatal exposures are unknown.
Because many of these adverse health effects are common ailments and ETS exposure is very widespread, even small increases in average individual risk result in large population risks. In other words, a large number of cases of these illnesses can be attributed to ETS exposure. Furthermore, there may be susceptible subgroups of children that are at even higher individual risk, although this issue has not been well studied. Finally, while the effects may be difficult to measure, it is plausible that children's exposure to ETS and consequent health effects may increase risks of further adverse health effects in adulthood.
Pot Ups Risk for Mental Illness
The use of marijuana has been linked to an increased risk of developing psychotic outcomes, according to a study by researchers at Cardiff University. Analyzing 35 studies that investigated whether marijuana was linked to mental health disorders, the researchers found that people who had used the drug were 41% more likely to develop a psychosis than those who had never used it. The risk of developing a problem increased with the amount of marijuana used and the length of time the drug was used. The researchers added that even when adjusted for other risk factors, there remained a causal relationship between marijuana use and psychosis.
Tobacco may kill 1 billion this century
The danger that is posed by tobacco to the overall well-being of the world is the focus of this news article. As per the article, tobacco use alone is predicted to claim the lives of one billion people in this century, which is ten times greater than the toll it took in the last century. The article stresses that reducing tobacco use would have the most significant impact on global cancer rates, followed by dietary changes that include less saturated fats and more fruits and vegetables, as well as decreasing the incidence of cancer-causing viruses and bacteria. Lung cancer continues to be the most common type of cancer, with over 10.9 million new cases reported annually, and it is unlikely to be displaced from this position. Furthermore, the article notes that even if smoking rates decline throughout the world, there will be a consistent or slight rise in the number of smokers due to population growth. The article emphasizes that the likelihood of developing cancer is greater in developed nations, while cancers in developing nations are more frequently lethal.
Secondhand Smoke
The U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona has released a report stating that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25% to 30% and lung cancer by 20% to 30%. Cotinine levels, a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure, in nonsmokers have decreased by 70% since the late 1980s. Despite this, nearly half of all nonsmokers are still regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. The report is considered the most comprehensive government document on secondhand smoke and its effects in 10 years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/76553285/heavy-marijuana-use-can-damage-shortterm-memory-study