India Joining the No Smoking Campaign. But Will it be Fruitful!

The anti smoking measures have been very effectively implemented in the developed countries. Though the smokers didn’t exactly welcome the anti smoking measures, yet they had no other choice but to kneel down before the higher and the more powerful authorities. Huge penalties were labeled for the law breachers and hence the smokers didn’t have much of a choice. They had to agree to the anti smoking measures, if not for themselves than for the non smoking community which is actually a minority in countries like the US and the UK. Nevertheless these efforts paid well as the rate of second hand smoking saw an encouraging drop.

In the underdeveloped countries a smoke free environment is not only a far fetched dream but it is actually a dream that not many people dream. People and the authorities feel that there are other important matters to look into and hence quit smoking can wait. It is actually a matter of debate because after all, the first responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens. Therefore, protecting people from the harmful effects of the smoke also come among the priorities of the government. However, for some inexplicable reason it seems that the governments of most of the third world countries doesn’t take smoking as an important enough issue that could command priority. The matters of defense and internal peace and equanimity have to be looked into first. Everything else can wait. This is one logic that cannot be negated altogether but it is time that the governments of these countries give equal attention to the matters of public health. Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in quite a few countries and definitely one of the most potent preventable causes of death in the whole world. It not only destroys human resources but an astronomic figure of wealth also. Hence it is time for all the governments of the world to take up the task of no smoking in all earnestness. Implementing bills to the affect of no smoking is not that a hard task. If the members in the government are like minded and wise enough, implementing smoking bans won’t be an issue. This is one anti smoking measure that doesn’t eat up much of national wealth and hence is advisable and appropriate for the third world countries or the poor countries in general. These countries have an overwhelming rate of smoking and the people here are also not aware of quit smoking ways like the anti smoke drugs. Chantix is a member of the quit smoking drugs. People have seen favorable effects by using chantix. The internet is the best place to know more about chantix and it is also the best place to buy chantix. Without much of a fuss and absolutely no waste of time and labor and sometimes even at a low price one can buy chantix online. The one thing that is common between buying chantix online and offline is the chantix prescription.

The majority of the smokers in the third world countries have no access to such sophisticated ways of quitting smoke. Hence bans are the most preferred. Recently in Delhi, the national capital of India, the police ordered every commercial outlet to display signboards of “no smoking” and on violating this rule penalties amounting to Rs 500 will be labeled on the violator. Though this is a very welcome step but the problem lies in the fact that in countries like India most of the laws remain in the paper only. The rules are almost never translated into reality. If this state of affairs continues, than I am afraid most of the anti smoking rules will also eventually ordain only the papers!

Smoking: Why the first puff can get you hooked

For many, the first fag is just for the sake of trying out smoking, but for some, this first puff turns out to be a life time of addiction. Scientists have now attributed this tendency to the brain's procession of 'rewarding' and addictive properties of nicotine.

In their new study, researchers at The University of Western Ontario have said that the mechanism behind the brain's processing of the 'rewarding' and addictive properties of nicotine, may explain why some people seemingly become hooked with their first smoke.

Led by Steven Laviolette of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, the study could lead to new therapies to prevent nicotine dependence and to treat nicotine withdrawal when smokers try to quit.

"Nicotine interacts with a variety of neurochemical pathways within the brain to produce its rewarding and addictive effects. However, during the early phase of tobacco exposure, many individuals find nicotine highly unpleasant and aversive, whereas others may become rapidly dependent on nicotine and find it highly rewarding. We wanted to explore that difference," explained Laviolette.

The scientists particularly found one brain pathway that uses the neurotransmitter 'dopamine' to transmit signals related to nicotine's rewarding properties.

This pathway is called the 'mesolimbic' dopamine system and is involved in the addictive properties of many drugs of abuse, including cocaine, alcohol and nicotine.
"While much progress has been made in understanding how the brain processes the rewarding effects of nicotine after the dependence is established, very little is known about how the mesolimbic dopamine system may control the initial vulnerability to nicotine; that is, why do some individuals become quickly addicted to nicotine while others do not, and in some cases, even find nicotine to be highly aversive," said Laviolette.

The team then identified which specific dopamine receptor subtype controlled the brain's initial sensitivity to nicotine's rewarding and addictive properties and were able to manipulate these receptors to control whether the nicotine is processed as rewarding or aversive.

"Importantly, our findings may explain an individual's vulnerability to nicotine addiction, and may point to new pharmacological treatments for the prevention of it, and the treatment of nicotine withdrawal," said Laviolette.

The paper is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Children Smoking - Bad influence - Hope Its not ur kid one day!

Costlier cigarette causing smokers to smoke bidis

While the government is trying out various methods, including a hefty tax levy to make smokers give up smoking or cough up more, tobacco lovers are turning to cheaper options to 'puff away their blues'.

Trends indicate that smokers hit by the rising prices have shifted to so called down market options like bidis and Gutkas, as heavy tax slabs have failed to kill their urge to smoke resulting in an increase in total tobacco consumption.

"High rates of taxation on cigarettes are forcing consumers to shift to cheaper and alternate forms of tobacco consumption. As a result, overall tobacco consumption is increasing, as the price of other tobacco products is very low," says Udayan Lal, Director, Tobacco Institute of India (TII).

According to a report by the health ministry, India is home to 100 million bidi smokers and around 8 lakh people in the country die due to tobacco consumption annually with 6 lakh deaths caused by bidis alone.

"It's not that the government is unaware of the facts about the growing bidi industry. The highly labour intensive nature of the industry, which provides large-scale employment, gives it a powerful voice and that could be one of the reasons why tax rates are so low," says Lal.

"And also there is a highly decentralized system on manufacturing and distribution of bidis. There are thousands of bidis factories and no reliable data on their production or consumption," Lal adds.

Statistics by the ministry reveal that about 15 per cent of tobacco consumption in India is in the form of cigarettes while 53 per cent is smoked as bidis.

"Unlike the rest of the world, where, on an average, cigarettes account for as much as 90 per cent of the total tobacco consumed, in India cigarettes represent only 15 per cent of total tobacco consumption. The balance 85 per cent of tobacco consumption is in the form of traditional tobacco products like bidis, chewing "khaini", gutka, etc," says Lal.

Cigarettes contribute 85 per cent to the total excise revenues collected from the tobacco industry, amounting to Rs 8,500 crore, according to Tobacco Institute of India (TII).

Pointing out that the bidi consumption is very high in northern India, particularly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and UP, with the ratio of bidis to cigarettes sometimes being as high as 24:1, he says, "Bidis are more harmful than cigarettes because they go out more often than cigarettes and are filled with small amounts of low-grade tobacco."

Studies have also shown India's 4.4 million full-time bidi rollers the majority of whom are rural women and children who roll bidis by hand at home and are paid low wages were more likely to contract anaemia, asthma and TB than other non-smokers not involved in bidi production.

"It is an industry that is growing. More than 800 billion bidis are sold in India each year compared with 100 billion cigarettes sold annually. Easily available and comparatively cheap, the bidi is smoked predominantly by people on lower incomes," says Lal.

Adding that it is the high and discriminatory rates of taxation on cigarettes that are dictating the consumption pattern of tobacco products, Lal says, "Tax on bidis are currently just one-twelfth of the tax levied on non-filter micro cigarettes (purchased by the poor) and just 2 per cent of the tax on more expensive standard filters cigarettes. As a result bidis represent less than 6 per cent of India's total tobacco excise revenues."

Talking about the reforms needed to discourage the favoured status towards bidis, he says, "Tax on bidis should be levelled at par with other tobacco products by raising the excise duty. It would help in reducing the overall tobacco consumption as the average price of tobacco products increase and also generate more revenue for government."

The Path of A Successful Quitter

Have you ever heard of the saying, that the best way to succeed is to follow those who have succeeded? Smokers who have quit smoking successfully share common characteristics.

Here are the perfect characteristics and examples of a successful quitter.

• Successful quitters believe in themselves. They totally believe that they have the choice and ability to quit smoking for good.

• Successful quitters are completely motivated to quit smoking. They have made the decision to do whatever it takes to overcome the habit completely, without the option of turning back.

• Successful quitters refuse to go back on their decision to quit smoking. They throw away their lighters, ash tray and cigarettes and let everyone know that they are quitting smoking. They create for themselves the courage and spirit to quit smoking completely.

• Successful quitters are honest with themselves and refuse to make excuses that "justify" smoking. They accept the dangers and realities of smoking.

• Successful smokers fix a quit date and stick to it. Once they have fixed this date, they stop making excuses to prolong their smoking habit.

• Successful quitters accept full responsibility for their smoking habit. They no longer blame their parents, friends or tobacco companies anymore. They accept their faults are a determined to change them.

• Successful quitters admit that they may need help and support to quit smoking.

• Successful quitters plan their quitting process carefully. They write down their goals and quit dates and engrave these information into their minds.

• Successful quitters are persistent and determined to quit smoking, even it takes them several attempts before they finally quit for good.

• Successful quitters usually have quit friends to support them. These may be people helping them quit smoking or people who are quitting smoking at the same time.

• Successful quitters are determined to tolerate the initial discomfort of quitting smoking, knowing that they will be rewarded with a lifetime of freedom and better health.

• Successful quitters change their focus towards better health. They begin exercise programs and alter their diet.

• Successful quitters know the benefits of drinking water lots of water and discipline themselves to do so.

• Successful quitters are willing to try smoking cessation aids to help them ease the process of quitting smoking.

• Successful quitters help others quit smoking. They develop a sense of duty to share their achievement with others because they understand their plight. Unsuccessful people on the other hand are always asking, "What's in it for me?"

• Successful quitters reward themselves. They treat themselves for their achievement in as many ways as they can.

• Successful quitters never ever take another puff of cigarette, no matter what it takes or whatever situation they are in. They know that just one puff is harmful and can ruin everything they have done so far.

Remember, the best way to succeed in any quest is to follow the footsteps of someone who already has succeeded before you. If you do this right, you too can quit smoking just like any of them.

Smoking outside 'still harms kids'

SMOKING outside does not stop children being exposed to high levels of dangerous tobacco chemicals, Australian research shows.

A study of homes in Perth found higher levels of nicotine and other tobacco-related particles inside the houses of smokers compared to smoke-free homes, even if the smokers smoked outdoors.

Children in these homes had higher rates of respiratory illnesses like asthma, probably because the smokers were dispersing these particles when returning indoors.

The message, say researchers from Curtin University of Technology, is that parents must quit to make their home truly safe for children.

"If parents would like to provide a smoke-free home environment they have to stop smoking. It's as simple as that," said lead researcher Dr Krassi Rumchev.

"Because smoking outside just isn't providing the protection that many Australian smokers believe it does."

Australia's smoking rates have dropped significantly in the past decade, with only 17 per cent now smoking daily.

However, smoking rates were high in the study, with 42 per cent of 92 houses surveyed home to smokers. In almost all cases of houses with smokers, the smokers smoked outside.

Researchers measured levels of nicotine and respirable particles over 24 hours in the living rooms of all the homes.

Levels were low in homes without smokers and considerably higher in houses where smoking was reported.

Dr Rumchev said it appeared that when smokers returned indoors they were still breathing out smoke which contaminates the air enough to cause damage. Particles were also brought inside attached to their body and clothes.

"The little nicotine particles attach to the hair and body of the smoker and are then dispersed into the air at levels that can really cause problems," she said.

Respiratory illnesses were more prevalent in homes with smokers than smoke-free households, Dr Rumchev said.

Children exposed to higher air nicotine levels were three times more likely to have asthma or wheeze than those not exposed.

Air-conditioning or opening the windows did not adequately reduce environmental tobacco smoke, the research showed.

Dr Rumchev said a large-scale awareness campaign was needed to educate parents on these dangers.

Hooked on hookah? Some students unaware of harmful effects

Hookah smoking is no longer just an activity for the inquisitive caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland.

Researchers say college students are spending more of their time smoking hookahs instead of cigarettes, but many students are unaware of its harmful effects.

Crystal, a 22-year-old American University graduate student, says hookahs - or water pipes filled with tobacco - are more appealing than cigarettes. She explains why many college students are attracted to hookah smoking.

"At hookah bars you just sit down, chill out, and talk. It's a low key, laid back type setting."

Crystal says she smokes a hookah once every few months, but says she knows the effects are similar to smoking cigarettes.

"I think a lot of people think it's safer, but I don't think it's safer."

A new study from The Journal of Adolescent Health found a puff of hookah smoke is 100 times more dangerous than a puff of cigarette smoke. Of the 700 students surveyed in the study, 40 percent said they used a hookah last year.

Ritodhi Chakraborty, a 24-year-old graduate student at American University and a native of India, says the fruit-flavored tobacco makes hookahs appear less harmful.

"I think I got duped into it with the misconception that it was safer than cigarettes, and it's really not," Chakraborty says. "Everybody thinks it's not as harmful. People are like, 'This tastes like passion fruit, of course it's not as harmful.' It affects your lungs just as bad as a cigarette does."

Chakraborty says most people do not smoke a hookah properly, making it even more dangerous.

"When you are smoking hookah, you should feel like you are choking yourself," Chakraborty says. "I try to teach people how to smoke. You let the smoke come out through your nose. If you put it all into your body, you are just messing up your lungs."

Although Chakraborty knows the effects of smoking a hookah, he says he has no problem smoking them.

"It gives you the buzz, which otherwise you wouldn't get," Chakraborty says. "Who doesn't like blowing smoke out of their mouth? It's like to coolest thing to do."

Smoking Hazards - Please Quit Smoking to Make a Healthy Environment

Why Should stop Smoking?

There are so many reasons, but I would try to be short and sweet here.

1. To Increase your life Span,

2. Keep yourself fit and healthy

3. To save your Money

4. To save your time

5. To save your Family

6. To Save the environment.

And Many More.....

According to NHS:

Why it should be done. Giving up smoking increases your chances of living a longer and healthier life. It instantly reduces your risk of death or serious illness due to smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease.

Health benefits from the moment you stop

When you stop smoking, the benefits to your health begin straight away. As your body starts to return to normal, you will start to feel healthier, and within a few weeks you will also start to notice the benefits. For example:

After one month - your skin will be clearer, brighter and more hydrated.

After 3-9 months - your breathing will have improved, and you will no longer have a cough or wheeze. Your lung function may have improved by up to 10%.

After one year - your risk of heart attack and heart disease will have fallen to about half that of a smoker.

After 10 years - your risk of lung cancer will have fallen by half.

After 15 years - your risk of heart attack and heart disease will be the same as someone who has never smoked.

Research into smoking shows that people who quit smoking before the age of 35 have a life expectancy only slightly less than people who have never smoked. Those who quit before they are 50 years of age reduce their risk of dying from a smoking-related disease by 50%.

As well as the immediate and long-term benefits to your health, there are many other good reasons to quit smoking, such as those outlined below.

No longer causing harm to others through passive smoking, particularly babies and children, who are at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma, and ear and chest infections.

It is less likely that your children will go on to smoke. Research shows that children living with parents who smoke are almost three times more likely to start smoking themselves.

Limiting harm to your unborn baby. Although smoking at any stage of pregnancy can harm your baby, most of the harmful effects of smoking occur in the second trimester (weeks 14-26) and third trimester (week 27-birth). Therefore, if a woman quits smoking during her first three months of pregnancy, she will have a similar risk of giving birth to a low weight baby as a non-smoker.

Final word, Please save yourself from this bad killer habbit and take few next steps towards quit smoking path.

Cheers,

-abasits

You can Quit Smoking Now. Check out quit-smoking procedures with their rankings based on points.

Smoking: Advice for Parents

Although parenting advice to kids and teems is difficult and many times ineffective, there are some tips in order to persuade them to stay away from tobacco. To increase the chances that your child does not start smoking, it is important that you begin to start sharing with your child the dangers of smoking as early as possible. Kindergarten is not too young to begin. It is often during this time that your child may be learning about basic safety in regards to drugs, strangers and fire. You speaking to them about smoking will fit right in.

It is believed that nearly 20% of adolescents smoke in the United States. This is an alarming figure and puts millions of adolescents, teens and their family¢s at risk for smoke related diseases. To curb this, it is important for parents to take an active role in their children¢s life. This means paying attention to them, spending time with them and being involved in their world. The Center of Disease Control believes that these simple acts will help your child overcome peer pressure and will enable them to say no to at-risk, dangerous behaviors. Speaking with children, no matter how old they are about the illnesses and dangers associated with smoking can help them to not ever start smoking. If your child has already started smoking, you should still remind them of the dangers, not allow it in your home and provide them with help and support when they express that they are ready to quit. If a family member or friend has suffered from some sort of smoke-related illness, be sure to discuss this with your children.

Having a child that smokes can be very distressing to a parent who understands the dangers of smoking. If your child is underage, do not allow them to smoke at all and especially not in your home or around you. Be sure to make sure that they understand the dangers of smoking, a field trip to the hospital to see patients that are hospitalized for smoke-related illnesses might be in order.

If your child is older and no longer lives in your home, you may not have as much control. However, you can forbid them from smoking in your home and when you are around. Also be sure to be supportive when they express an interest in giving up smoking.

Global Smoking Trends- Where Tobacco Companies Make Money These Days?

Smoking has become the affliction of a large magnitude of people and others seem to be joining the smoke bandwagon at an alarming rate. Smoking has become a very common sight with one out of every fifth person being a smoker. The trend of smoking has become very common among teenagers also. The problems one gets due to smoking are many, but they do not seem to encourage people to stop smoking or deter people for starting to smoke. The hazardous effects of smoking are many, but people do not seem to be paying heed; the tobacco companies seem to be the only one is reaping the rewards out of smoking.

Since tobacco was born, it has been a few companies dominate the tobacco industry. These companies control most of the production and distribution around the world. They are quick to adapt to their policies and tactics to conform to the regulations set by the government and cater to the needs of the ever-increasing number of smokers around the world.

Tobacco companies of the world
A few companies hold the tobacco production and control of tobacco; the three largest companies sell close to two thirds of the entire supply. The stagnation in demand has prompted them to explore new markets.

The government is in a predicament since the tobacco industry accounts for a vast amount of jobs, but it also has to protect the health of its citizens. The government has tried to cut down on smokers by increasing the taxes imposed on them. By increasing the taxes on tobacco products and leveling higher duties on the companies, the companies are forced to raise the prices, which indirectly reduce use; since higher priced goods will be used less often. There is not much the government can do since tobacco is not a banned product.

The large companies also diversify their business to keep abreast in the market. They use various ways the companies diversify.

By market segments: Products are usually divided into categories, from high priced premium cigarettes to low and middle class of cigarettes. Companies with big brand names sell premium high priced cigarettes but also expand in to lower class sales to protect them from susceptibility. A decline in sales of premium cigarettes will be ploughed back by the sales in the lower or middle brands of cigarettes.

By target group: Every cigarette has its target group. By creating a new target group, the company can raise its overall market share. Thus the need to branch out into women cigarettes and target young people.

This targeting of women and youngsters has been seen in bad light. The tobacco industry has long targeted young people with its advertising and promotional campaigns. One of the most memorable, “Joe Camel” campaign initiated by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, helped generate public outrage against tobacco company efforts to reach young audiences and it is no longer used. The reason is obvious, most people start smoking at an early age. Getting a hold on a new segment will increase its share in the market.

Women are also a segment that the industries try to win over. Cigarettes for women are put forward as a symbol of liberation and some even shown in the light of slimming products. Manufacturers produce (long, slim) cigarettes especially for women. Perfumed or scented cigarettes with exotic flavors are targeted at women. Cigarettes usually have the word “slim” or “lights” to attract women consumers. Minorities are also a target for the tobacco industry.

Diversification by tobacco products: cigarettes companies also try to branch out into other tobacco products. For example, Imperial tobacco has decided to branch out into the roll your own segment; it dominates both the tobacco and the paper for this segment.

Diversification by non-tobacco products: food seems to be the favorite for companies seeking to diversify. R.J. Reynolds bought Nabisco (which, in turn, was later acquired by Kraft) owned by Philip Morris. Japan Tobacco derives a (small) part of its sales from food. Logistics and wholesaling are another favorite Austria Tabak, wholesaling of tobacco and other products (and the operation of vending machines) makes up a large share of turnover. Over 20 per cent of Altadis’ earnings originate in its logistics division. Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni owns the largest wholesaler of consumer goods in Denmark. BAT tried financial services (but, since 1998, is a pure tobacco company).

Diversification into food and other activities makes the tobacco companies less dependent on (slow-growing) sales of tobacco products. However, the profit margins in these industry are usually well below those attained in tobacco processing. Producing and marketing cigarettes remain the more lucrative activity.

Incase of diversification by geographical market, OECD-based tobacco companies are keen to reduce their dependence on their stagnant home markets and establish a presence in markets where growth is above average. After having started business in many markets in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Central Asian republics in the 1990s, their center of attention is shifting to the Far East. All the major tobacco companies now have a presence in Poland, Russia and the Central Asian republics. Austria Tabak, which gained a presence in Estonia when it acquired the cigarette activities of Swedish Match also has a 67 per cent market share in Guinea. The company was considering entering Asian markets when it was taken over by Gallaher in June 2001. Through this take-over and the acquisition in 2000 of Liggett-Ducat, the Moscow cigarette maker, Gallaher greatly reduced its dependence on the UK market. Similarly, Japan Tobacco became a world player when it acquired the international activities of R.J. Reynolds. Thanks to a relentless internationalization drive, Germany’s Reemtsma now sells less than one-third of its total in its home market (compared to over 60 per cent in 1991) (see also figure 6). It is now on the go in several Central and Eastern European countries and, in 1999, it acquired Cambodia’s Paradise Tobacco Company.

The government.

A predicament is generally faced by the Governments all across the world. On the one hand, tobacco-growing and processing can makes a large contribution to employment, tax revenue and foreign exchange receipts. In many developing and formerly centrally planned economies, the tobacco companies have made sizeable and most welcome investments when other investors were disinclined to do so. On the other hand, governments have the responsibility to protect the population’s health. Smoking is harmful to health and treating people for smoking-related illnesses is expensive. This can lead to heated debates within the same government as each sector defends the interests it believes it should represent.

The economic importance of tobacco growing and processing differs from country to country. At the national level, cigarette (sales and import) tax can be a main source of government revenue. In Russia, cigarette tax revenue contributes around 8 per cent to the financing of the state budget.

When the government owns the industry, it receives profits in addition to tax. That is why, in so many countries, State monopolies continue to control cigarette trade and production. In China, proceeds from state-owned CNTC amounted to the equivalent of US$11,000 million in 1999. CNTC has been the Chinese State’s top revenue generator for years. Japan Tobacco earned more than US$400 million for the Japanese State in the fiscal year ending March 2000. The monopolies can also play a social function. In Italy, several of the state monopoly’s factories are to be found in areas of high unemployment.

Then there are balance of payments issues to mull over, many low-income countries rely on the export of cash crops such as tobacco to pay for the service of their foreign debt.

Tobacco exports made up close to 10 per cent of Cuba’s exports in 1997-98. In the case of Tanzania it was 15 per cent, In Zimbabwe over 25 per cent and in Malawi tobacco exports made up two-thirds of commodity exports.

Citizens smoke. But, if they smoke domestically produced cigarettes, using homegrown tobacco or use imported cigarettes and tobaccos can make a large difference when foreign exchange is scarce. That explains why so many countries try to restrict the imports of cigarettes and encourage domestic producers to use local tobaccos, for example, by providing a favorable tax treatment to companies that use a minimum percentage of homegrown tobaccos. The cigarette companies have also been a key source of investment in the formerly centrally planned countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. When others were disinclined to invest, those companies saw the possibilities offered by a blend of pent-up consumer demand, outdated production facilities and the association with independence and “western style” living that so appealed to the people in these countries after many years of central planning and little consumer choice. After having lobbied successfully for the reduction of restrictions of Asian markets such as Japan and the Republic of Korea, the large tobacco companies are eagerly waiting for the opening up of the other economies (notably China) that continue to restrict imports from and/or investments by foreign tobacco companies.

Tobacco growing, processing and exports can thus make a significant involvement to national employment and national income. Yet, however important tobacco growing and processing may be at the national level, its full economic and social significance is best grasped at the micro or regional level. In some regions, tobacco is grown side by side with the crop, which is the main source of income; its contribution to overall income is modest. However, in many others, tobacco is a main source of income and employment.

Tobacco growing and tobacco processing may bring substantial economic and social benefits, but the treatment of smoking-related illness is costly. Cigarette smoking causes cancer. It is addictive. The WHO estimates that tobacco products cause around 3 million deaths per year. Cigarette smoking is the major cause of preventable mortality in developed countries. In the mid-1990s, about 25 per cent of all male deaths in developed countries were due to smoking. Among men aged 35-69 years, more than one-third of all deaths were caused by smoking. The costs of treating all these people are clearly enormous (WHO, 1997).

So far, smoking has not had the same impact on mortality among women and among people from developing countries. There is an approximate 30-40 year time lag between the onset of persistent smoking and deaths from smoking. The effects of the greater incidence of smoking between these two groups will thus be felt with a lag, but it seems reasonable to believe that its impact on them will not differ fundamentally from that on developed country males.

It may be argued that smokers willingly take a certain health risk when enjoying their smoke. They like the taste and all the other things that they associate with smoking. Nevertheless, this does not apply to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or “second-hand smoke”.

Smoke gets in your eyes your clothes. Moreover, it gets in your lungs. Non-smokers cannot escape from smoke in badly ventilated areas. To be exposed to other people’s tobacco smoke can be a nuisance in addition to being a health risk for non-smokers.
Governments and conflicting pressures: How do they get by?

In practice, governments have opted for several strategies (which are often followed simultaneously). A recent strategy consists of seeking compensation for the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses. It has been followed with success in the United States, as we saw in section 3.4. Governments also set rules regarding the maximum content of hazardous substances in cigarettes. Most of all, however, governments try to discourage demand for what is, as the industry does not tire of telling us, essentially a legal product.

This is done in a variety of ways, with some governments applying particular vigor and others taking a more relaxed approach. Overall, however, the trend is clear: governments’ rules on smoking are becoming ever more restrictive. The use of tobacco products is being discouraged in several ways.
Limitation of the space where smoking is allowed.

This is done above all to protect non-smokers from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. Smoking is being prohibited in public places (particularly health care and educational facilities) and in mass transport. Legislation requires restaurants to reserve space for non-smokers.

Limitation by age group
It is prohibited to sell tobacco products to people under a certain age.
Limitations on points of sale.

The use of vending machines is being restricted because these cannot discriminate against sales to young people.

Health warnings stating that tobacco is harmful to health have become obligatory.
The warnings must be placed on packets and in ads, with the authorities prescribing the text and the minimum space allotted to the warning in the ad or on the pack. Governments sponsor education and public information programs on smoking and health.
Advertising bans. Restrictions concern the location of ads, the media used (no billboards, no ads in the printed media or in cinemas), the images presented (no young people, no cigarette packets), and the time when broadcasting is allowed (not during hours when children watch television).

The manufacturers are unhappy with these restrictions, and in particular with the ban on advertising. In their view, it is not proved that such a ban discourages demand for cigarettes (as its proponents claim). They are concerned about its effect on the value of their prime asset, the brand name.

Worldwide, the tobacco-processing industry employs hundreds of thousands of people. However, due to a combination of slow demand growth, consolidation, and higher productivity, this number is unlikely to increase by much in the near future. Fewer people are needed per unit of production. The industry is becoming less intensive in the use of labor. Tobacco growing, in contrast, gives work to millions of people. It continues to be a highly labour-intensive activity. The scope for productivity increases in tobacco growing would appear to be more limited than those in tobacco processing.

Over a million people are employed in the world tobacco industry
However, of this number a high percentage is employed in just three countries: China, India and Indonesia. The large number employed in China comes as no surprise in view of the large number of cigarettes (one-third of the world total) produced there. Still, the productivity gap with the United States is striking. China produces roughly three times as many cigarettes as the US, but it needs over nine times as many people to produce them. In the other two countries, the scope for productivity improvements would appear to be even higher.

THE SCENARIO TODAY.
The situation concerning smoking are scary, if global trends continue as they are doing today by 2030 more than 8 million people will die each year from tobacco related causes-80% in the developing regions of the World. In India per example where 120 million smoke 1 in 5 men will die for smoking. Smoking is on the decline in developed nations but is on a large-scale rise in developing or underdeveloped nations. The statistics are frightening, every eight seconds someone dies from smoking; about 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily. There are 1.1 billion smokers in the world today, and if things continue as they have, that number is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by the year 2025.
Smoking and use of tobacco products is on a decline in most developed countries. However, it is on a rampant increase in other developing countries.
In the US, there has been a decrease in the number of smokers. This can be attributed to the growing awareness of the damage smoking causes to the health of the individual. There is however a sad side to the story, smoking has increased to a drastic level in other countries and the figures are staggering.
China is home to 300 million smokers who consume upwards of 1.7 trillion cigarettes a year, or 3 million cigarettes a minute. As many as 100 million Chinese men presently under the age of 30 will die from tobacco use. There are approximately 120 million smokers in India today, and it is estimated that in the year 2010 alone, there will be close to one million tobacco-related deaths among men and women age 30 to 69 in India. Worldwide, tobacco use will kill more than 175 million people between now and the year 2030. Current tobacco-related health care costs in the United States total US $81 billion annually. Germany spends an average of US $7 billion, and Australia, US $1 billion each year on health care directly related to tobacco use. Health care costs associated with secondhand smoke total US $5 billion a year in the U.S. It is estimated that as many as 500 million people alive today will be killed by tobacco use. The statistics are chilling.

One reason for the sudden spurt in the numbers in these countries may be due to the arrival of tobacco companies. The lax stand of the governments in these countries makes it a good bet to start business. The anti smoking lobbies in these countries have not been able to combat the increase. Increased awareness has made it hard for tobacco companies to work in many countries and so the tobacco companies have shifted their sights to greener pastures.

These countries have a very small anti smoking lobby and the government restrictions o them are not so tough and the government is dependent on the revenues it earns from them. Setting up business in these countries has resulted in increased used of tobacco products.

The anti smoking lobby has been very effective in curtailing the spread and increase of smoking around the world.

Advertising related to tobacco has is banned in most countries. Warnings of the harmful effects of the product have to be printed on the packet. This statutory warning is mandatory in most countries. The WHO in its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into effect on 27 February 2005 has specified that all 168 countries should ban advertisements unless their constitutions forbade them to do so.

Today, we are aware of the hazards of smoking. Even though the people are aware of the harmful effects of smoking they rarely seem to pay heed. Everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, heart diseases and can shorten the life span of an individual. It is a highly addictive habit and smokers are at a risk of losing ten years of their life.

With so many smokers around the world, tobacco companies are the only ones gaining form the increase.

Smoking Causes Cancer - Look at pictures to know what will happen if you smoke.

How Early Detection Can Help Lung Cancer Victims

Lung cancer is now the most common form of cancer in the United States. Lung cancer causes more death than any other cancer cases among men and women in this country.
Lung cancer is now the most common form of cancer in the United States. Lung cancer causes more death than any other cancer cases among men and women in this country. Fourteen percent of all cancer records in the United States are lung cancer cases and twenty-eight percent of cancer deaths are from lung cancer patients.

Major causes of lung cancers are cigarette smoking and breathing impure air including asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure can lead to Mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs or abdominal cavity.

Severity of lung cancer depends greatly to the amount of time a person spent smoking. As compared to non-smokers, smokers are at high risk of lung cancer. In fact, smokers are twenty-two percent more at risk of acquiring lung cancer than their non-smoking counterpart.

Additionally, because lung cancer symptoms do not manifest until it is already on its advanced stage, minor lung cancer symptoms are often ignored.

This is because minor lung cancer symptom such as frequent coughing is often associated with itchiness in the throat. Smokers believe that this is an ordinary occurrence among smokers, thus they are not alarmed until they feel more severe lung cancer symptoms.

When this happens, truly the lung cancer symptom shows because of the advanced stage of the cancer. The uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lungs is already manifesting through the lung cancer symptoms and by this time, secondary cancer cells are already developing in other organs of the body.

Severe lung cancer symptoms include persistent coughing, chronic chest pain, which is associated with shortness of breathing, wheezing and hoarseness of the voice.

Often, because of the similarity of lung cancer symptoms to bronchial asthma, people who self medicate usually try to treat the shortness of breathing with asthma medication.

The medication is thus useless because it is not working on the actual disease. It is thus imperative that minor discomforts such as shortness of breathing be brought to the attention of a competent doctor for evaluation. This will avoid treating a disease with a different medication such as in self-medicating patients.

Other lung cancer symptoms are blood in sputum, recurring cases of pneumonia or bronchitis, neck and facial swelling, sudden weight loss and constant feeling of fatigue. All these lung cancer symptoms occur on the terminal stage of the cancer, and this makes it almost impossible to manage lung cancer and it symptoms.

Additionally, because there is still no known cure for lung cancer, treatments especially on its advanced stage are done to lessen the severity of the lung cancer symptoms. Remission of the disease may no longer happen on the advanced stage.

Thus, it is imperative that minor lung cancer symptoms be monitored. It is still easier to manage lung cancer at this stage, other than in the advanced stage.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, smoking is the major cause of lung cancer, if you cease smoking, this effort will help you slow down the possibility of lung cancer. Even for those long time smokers, withdrawing from smoking will help lessen the possibility of acquiring the disease.

Keeping a healthy body and strong immune system will help avoid lung cancer for smokers or non-smokers alike.

Smokers may cease from smoking to help ensure they will not suffer lung cancer in the future. Then, they will not have to worry about lung cancer symptoms because halting smoking will also halt the possibility of acquiring this deadly disease.

Regular exercise will help ensure your immune system will be strong enough to fight lung cancer and thus no lung cancer symptoms will ever occur.

Living a healthy and active lifestyle, and avoiding smoking will ensure you will leave longer and better.

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Smoking Can Make You Look Old

Everyone wishes to look good. The way we look and present ourselves plays an important role in many areas of our lives, especially when it comes to building good first impressions. Unfortunately, smoking does little to promote your general appearance, in particular, your complexion.

Smoking narrows the small blood vessels in your skin, thus reducing healthy blood flow. When this happens, the delivery of essential nutrients like collagen, vitamins and minerals are greatly reduced. Smoking also activates a type of enzyme which break down collagen, the main structural protein in the skin that keeps it elasticated.

Over time, your complexion deteriorates. Your skin will look dry, old and wrinkled. On top of that, frequent squinting from cigarette smoke leads to more wrinkles. You may look as though you're always frowning.

In addition, most smokers experience the darkening of their lips, a typical tell tale sign of a smoker. Other experts add that smoking worsens dark eye circles.

Smoking also affects the healing process of your skin. Wounds and scars tend to take longer time to heal. Smokers are at higher risks to infections and scabbing from operation wounds or open injuries.

Recent research on smoking confirmed that smoking increases one's risk of developing a common form of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. There are over 1.2 million new cases of squamous cell carcinoma in the U.S. each year.

Fortunately, these changes and risks are reversible. Upon quitting smoking, the skin begins to recover immediately. Within hours, circulation restores and repair continues each day. Risk of skin cancer is also reduced.

So to summarize, if you continue to smoke,

• You'll end up looking many years older

• Your skin develops poor healing abilities

• People can identify you as a smoker from the way you look

• You are exposed to high risk of developing skin cancer

Don't let smoking ruin the way you look. Stop the damage now before its too late.

**References
Action on Smoking and Health
National Library of Medicine
SkinCancerInfo Homepage

It's Never Too Late to Quit

20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate drops.

12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease becomes half that of a smoker's.

5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker.

10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's and the risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.

15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker's.

Smoking--Don't Do It!

"Smoking has a detrimental effect on nutrition. Smokers break down Vitamin C about twice as fast as nonsmokers. This can deprive the body of adequate amounts of . . . versatile antioxidants . . . Other antioxidants are depleted as well. Cigarette smoke contains a compound . . . that oxidizes (destroys) the antioxidant vitamins . . . damage to DNA. The accelerated antioxidant damage, in combination with the DNA damage, SPEEDS THE AGING PROCESS". This is according to James F.Balch, M.D.

We read and hear about how bad smoking is for us on a daily basis--yet people continue to smoke--why? Because they are addicted and it is difficult to quit. Some say that it is harder to quit smoking than to quit heroin addiction. Why does this happen? It is reported that one reason is that the tolerance to nicotine develops very rapidly. This means that to experience the sense of pleasure and relaxation (this is real and is attributed to some of the same hormonal and chemical changes that are the most damaging to the body) that made the smoker enjoy smoking, he/she must smoke more and more to get the same satisfaction. Thus, a 2 a day cigarette habit increases to 1 then 2 or more packs a day.

What does this mean to those who smoke, live with smokers or know smokers? It doesn't mean to criticize them--it does mean that we need to provide education and offer PROTECTION FOR THE SMOKER AND THOSE WHO ARE EXPOSED TO THEIR SMOKE.

There is still a lot of debate about the damages of second hand smoke; however there is good research to indicate that the children who are exposed to tobacco smoke on a regular basis are at increased risk for respiratory diseases, cancer and leukemia.

WHY ELSE SHOULD YOU QUIT?

There are thousands of potentially dangerous compounds in tobacco. Let's just talk about the one we know the most about: NICOTINE: It raises blood pressure, raises the metabolic rate and drives nutrients out of the body, causes the tissues of your skin to be dull and gray looking(the tissues are starving for oxygen), deprives the cells and blood of oxygen, causes muscles to tense, affects your body temperature, causes hormonal changes, the list could go on.

THEN THERE ARE THE STATISTICS:

Cigarettes are a factor in 17% of deaths in the US annually

Heart Disease is more prevalent in smokers than nonsmokers

1/3 of cancer deaths are related to smoking

85% of those with chronic obstruction pulmonary disease are smokers

85% of lung cancer cases are related to smoking

AND IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH smoking is also linked to angina, blocked arteries, cataracts, bronchitis, asthma, colon cancer, impotence, urinary problems, and many other respiratory conditions because it paralyzes the cilia which are supposed to clear the mucous from your body. AND WOMEN it can lead to earlier menopause.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I QUIT? The healing process begins immediately--hopefully you have escaped some of the more damaging conditions--Within 24 hours blood pressure and pulse rate begin to normalize; blood oxygen begins to improve, your sense of taste and smell begin to normalize, it is easier to breathe and within one week your risk for a heart attack decreases.

HOW DO I PROTECT MYSELF AND OTHERS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE? You need to supply the body with optimum nutrition on a daily basis to try and keep up with the nutrition that is being driven from your body. The most comprehensive regimen: VitaOne or VitChe as a foundation. Coral Calcium, ViGest (it is essential that you breakdown the nutrients that you so desperately need), and Vita Enhanced Water (smoking dehydrates your system and creates acid conditions, so, you need lots of water and this water hydrates better and counteracts the acids). These four are the minimum protection for those exposed to the smoke. The smoker and the smoker who is trying to quit needs extra help: Garlic( 1 3x a day). Omega III ( 1 3x), C-Crystals ( 1/2 tsp 3x), CoQ10 (1 mg per 1 lb of body weight), CellRich (2 3x a day for 10 days; then 1 or 2 a day),Beta-Carotene ( 1 3x) and to help the liver with its cleansing job, VitaMarin (1 2x a day).

SPECIAL TIP: IF YOU ARE TRYING TO QUIT, REMEMBER, THE STRONG URGE FOR THE CIGARETTE LASTS 3-5 MINUTES so try to occupy yourself for that time: run, do push ups, talk to someone, something.

ALSO, they say that the urge for "mouth feel" is strong--DO NOT suck on candy. The sugars will increase your craving. INSTEAD suck on a Chewable Vitamin C . . . it tastes like a tart candy; but it satisfies your nutritional craving instead of creating one.

I apologize that this is so long; but if it helps save one life--ISN'T IT WORTH IT?

Love You All

A LONG TRAIL OF EVIDENCE LINKS CIGARETTE SMOKING TO LUNG CANCER

As someone who’s life has been touched by the tragic effects of cigarette smoking, I was saddened last week when the Supreme Court barred the FDA from regulating cigarettes. About 48 million adult Americans smoked cigarettes last year, according to the CDC. That’s one in four people, a fact that astonishes and alarms me. Why? Because this year an estimated 180,000 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States, and 90% of them will die within three years -- and 96% of these cancer victims are cigarette smokers.

Is there a cause-and-effect connection between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer? Two years ago, I wrote my first columns for the Post Dispatch, explaining the scientific evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, and that cigarette smoking is addictive. If these two points are indeed true, then cigarettes , so much a part of American life, are in fact an addictive deadly drug! In the hope of encouraging readers to urge congress to act, I am reprinting these columns. In today’s column we will follow the trail of evidence that proves clearly that smoking causes cancer. In next week’s column I will examine the evidence that smoking tobacco is addictive.


POINTING THE FINGER AT CIGARETTES

The long trail of evidence linking cigarettes to lung cancer has its beginnings right here in St. Louis, at Washington University’s School of Medicine. In 1948 a young first-year medical student, Ernst Wynder, witnessed an autopsy of a man who had died of lung cancer, and noted the lungs were blackened. Curious, he looked into the background of the patient. There was no obvious exposure to air pollution, but the man’s wife revealed he had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for thirty years! Like a dog with a juicy bone, Wynder had found a puzzle that would occupy him much of his professional life, and despite much controversy, he never let go of it.

Over the next two years, Wynder doggedly reviewed records to see if there were other cases linking cigarettes and lung cancer. He found that many lung cancer patients were smokers. Interviewing lung cancer patients and "control" patients with other cancers, far more cancer occurred among the smokers. Early in 1950 he published his results in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Comparing 649 lung cancer patients with 600 controls, he found lung cancer an incredible 40 times higher among smokers, with the risk of cancer increasing with the number of cigarettes smoked.

Later that year, Richard Doll, a well known British scientist, reported an even more convincing finding linking smoking to lung cancer. Over a period of years, Doll had interviewed quite a large number of physicians, inquiring of each about their smoking habits -- then waited to see which ones developed lung cancer. Overwhelmingly, they were the smokers. Because it was not "after the fact", Doll’s test of the smoking causes cancer hypothesis was particularly rigorous and powerful. From that day forward, the scientific case linking smoking to lung cancer has been clear-cut.

CIGARETTE MANUFACTURERS ARE NOT CONVINCED

As evidence linking cigarettes and lung cancer mounted in the 1950s, the cigarette manufacturers funded the Tobacco Industry Research Commission (later to become the Tobacco Research Council) to look into the matter. This industry-funded group found no compelling evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship between cigarettes and smoking, suggesting that many other factors may contribute, such as air pollution.

However, over the 1950s and 1960s, the mounting evidence became increasingly difficult to ignore. Two lines of evidence were particularly telling. The first consisted of detailed information about cancer rates among smokers. The annual incidence of lung cancer among nonsmokers is only a few per hundred thousand, but increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day to a staggering 300 per hundred thousand for those smoking 30 cigarettes a day. The world’s longest-running survey of smoking, begun in 1951 in Britain, revealed that by 1994 the death rate for smokers was three times that for nonsmokers among men over 35.

The second line of evidence consisted of changes in the incidence of lung cancer that mirror changes in smoking habits. Look carefully at the data presented in the graph. The upper curves are compiled from data on American men and show the incidence of smoking and of lung cancer since 1900. As late as 1920, lung cancer was a rare disease. About 20 years after the incidence of smoking began to increase among men, lung cancer also started to become more common. Now look at the lower curves, which present data on American women. Because of social mores, significant numbers of American women did not smoke until after World War II, when many social conventions changed. As late as 1963, when lung cancer among males was near current levels, this disease was still rare among women. In the United States that year, only 6588 women died of lung cancer. But as women’s frequency of smoking has increased, so has their incidence of lung cancer, again with a lag of about 20 years. American women today have achieved equality with men in the number of cigarettes they smoke, and their lung cancer death rates are now rapidly approaching those for men. This year, an estimated 66,000 women will die of lung cancer in the United States.

Cigarette manufacturers were not convinced by these relationships, however compelling they might seem, and continued to argue that the causal connection between lung cancer and smoking had not been proved. In a long series of court cases -- all of which they won -- the cigarette manufacturers never backed away from their claim that these relationships were coincidental.

UNRAVELING THE RIDDLE: HOW CANCER HAPPENS

With the "War on Cancer," scientists began in the 1970s a frontal assault on the problem of what causes cancer. Some data pointed to viruses as a potential cause, while other data implicated chemicals of various kinds. Over the next twenty five years, hundreds of laboratories bore down on the problem, and gradually a clear picture emerged. Cancer, it turns out, is a defect in the system cells use to control how frequently they divide. A battery of critical regulatory genes control this process in much the same way you control the speed of a car -- some genes act as accelerators, others as breaks. Cancer results when a gene mutation occurs that stomps on the accelerator or removes the breaks. The first cancer to be studies in molecular detail, a form of bladder cancer, proved to be a point mutation in a gene specifying a protein that was part of a cell division accelerator.

Cancer, then, is the direct result of damage to genes that restrain cell division. Without controls, the mutated cell divides continuously, now a cancer cell. Because healthy cells possess many controls that act as breaks on cell division (called tumor suppressors), it usually takes several mutations to induce cancer. That is why cancer is more common among older people than children.

Chemicals that cause mutations in genes are called mutagens. Cigarette smoke contains many powerful mutagens. Introducing cigarette smoke to the lungs of mice and other laboratory animals creates mutations in the epithelial cells that line their lungs (and thus are exposed to the chemicals). Cancer biologists propose that the lungs of cigarette smokers are similarly sensitive, and that lung cancer is caused by mutation of growth-regulating genes by mutagenic chemicals within cigarette smoke.

THE SMOKING GUN

Cigarette manufacturers claimed to be unimpressed by this work, largely carried out in mice. Humans, they claimed, never encounter conditions such as those imposed on research mice, and there is, as yet, no clear case for cause-and-effect in humans.

The tide turned in 1998. Scientists studying a tumor suppressor gene called p53 demonstrated a direct link between cigarettes and lung cancer. p53 is the cell’s error-detecting system, proofreading the DNA before cell division to make sure there is no damage. When it detects DNA damage, p53 halts cell division and stimulates DNA repair enzymes that fix the trouble. Mutations that inactivate p53 remove a key barrier to unrestricted cell division. p53 is inactivated in 70% of all lung cancers. A puzzling discovery was that the p53 mutations in cancer cells almost all occur at one of three "hot spots" within the p53 gene.

The key link that explains the "hot spots" and links lung cancer to cigarettes is a chemical called benzo (a) pyrene (BP), a potent mutagen released into cigarette smoke from tars in the tobacco. The epithelial cells of the lung absorb BP from cigarette smoke and chemically alter it to a derivative form, benzo (a) pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE). BPDE binds directly to the tumor suppressor gene p53 and mutates it to an inactive form. The key evidence linking cigarette smoking and cancer, the "smoking gun," is that when the mutations of p53 caused by BPDE from cigarettes were examined, they were found to cluster at precisely the same three specific "hot spots" seen in lung cancers! The conclusion is inescapable: the mutations inducing lung cancer are caused by chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Faced with this new incontrovertible evidence, the tobaccco companies have abandoned their claim that cigarettes have not been shown to cause cancer.

DODGING THE BULLET: HOW TO AVOID CANCER

Clearly, the best way to avoid cancer is not to smoke. While one cigarette is not likely to induce cancer, the accumulated risk of many cigarettes progressively increases the odds of disaster. Imagine locking yourself in a dark closet with a companion armed with a pistol. You spin the companion to mask your location, then say "Shoot!" What are the odds you will be hit by the bullet? Not great. How many times would you let your companion shoot? Every cigarette is one more shot at p53.

Using studies of how life expectancy is reduced by smoking cigarettes, life insurance companies have calculated that smoking a single cigarette lowers one’s life expectancy by 10.7 minutes (that is longer than it takes to smoke the cigarette!). Every pack of 20 cigarettes bears an unwritten label"

"The price of smoking this pack of cigarettes
is 3 1/2 hours of your life."

I started smoking a pack of cigarettes a day when I was 13, and quit when I was 30. That’s some 120,000 chances I took. How could I have been so stupid? I wasn’t unaware of how dangerous my habit was. I just couldn’t quit. In next week’s column I will explore why.

©Txtwriter Inc.

Kiss Me

Have you ever heard the saying that kissing a smoker can be almost like kissing an ashtray? Smoking leaves an unpleasant smell that lingers in the mouth and breath of smokers. Furthermore, the substances in tobacco smoke damages your teeth and gums. You may end up looking like just this.

If his teeth can look that bad,

just imagine how his lungs look like?

This is no joke. The true danger behind smoking is that it also increases the risk of mouth cancer involving the lips, tongue and nose. Mouth cancer makes up 2 to 4% of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S., with over 30,000 new cases reported each year.

Did you also know that,

• Smokers are more than six times more likely to die from different mouth-related cancers

• Using chewing tobacco increases the risks of mouth and throat cancers

• Mouth-related cancer causes symptoms such as

  • Difficulty in breathing, swallowing or speaking

  • Nosebleeds that can lead to significant loss of blood volume

  • Painful ringing in ear

  • Frequent headaches

• The cancer can spread rapidly to other parts of the body such as

  • Lungs

  • Bones

  • Brain

  • Liver

• The chance of recurrence even after early surgery is very high

At this point of time, there is still no complete cure for cancer. If you have mouth-related cancer, your prognosis is extremely poor, with only a 55% 5-year survival rate, a figure persistent for over 30 years.

About 8,000 Americans die from mouth cancers each year, while thousands of others put up with painful and expensive treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and long term medication which does little but delay their prognosis.

The best way to prevent mouth-related cancer is not to smoke at all. For smokers, that means to quit smoking. Just one simple action of kicking the habit can save you from the chronic pain and torment of mouth-related cancers.

**References
Go Smoke Free

Mouth-Cancer-Symptoms.Com

Smoking Can Cause Blindness

Several studies have proven that smoking can actually cause progressive vision problems and may eventually lead to blindness.

Age-related Macular Degeneration or AMD is a major cause of irreversible vision loss, especially among the elderly. Unfortunately for smokers, the risk of developing AMD can be doubled or more. This was revealed in The Journal of the American Medical Association in October 1996.

Smoking can cause poor blood flow to the retina, the light sensitive area of the eye, and low levels of antioxidants in the bloodstream. Both these factors contribute to developing AMD.

Because there are little options to treat AMD, quitting smoking is the main control measure at this point in time.

Smoking has also been linked with the development of cataracts. Cataracts causes the lens of the eye to become opaque (not allowing light to pass through) and this may result in impaired vision or even blindness!

Another aspect of vision is color perception. One study discovered that smokers who smoked over 20 cigarettes a day may have color perception deficits and develop problems such as color blindness.

**References
National Center For Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Journal of American Medical Association

Is It Easier to Give Up Sex Than Cigarettes??

LONDON (Reuters) - Most smokers in Europe would find it easier to give up sex for a month than cigarettes and many view even bungee jumping or parachuting as less difficult than kicking the habit.

A survey of more than 2,000 smokers published Monday showed just how addictive nicotine is when 62 percent of smokers in six European countries said they felt the New Year is a good time to quit, but only three percent used it as a trigger to stop.

"In every single country the vast majority of smokers want to stop," Dr Alex Bobak, of the anti-smoking group SCAPE, told a news conference to launch the international poll.

"The motivation is there but they don't go about it in the right way."

Nearly 80 percent of British smokers, almost 70 percent in the Netherlands, France and Germany and more than 55 percent in the Belgium and Spain would forgo sex rather than live without cigarettes for a month.

Although 60 percent of European smokers said they would try to quit if it affected their love life, 35 percent of smokers admitted they have never attempted to stop smoking.

Fear of health problems was the biggest motivator to quit, followed by concerns for their family and the cost of cigarettes but 62 percent who tried to quit began smoking again within a month.

Stop Smoking NOW or GET KILLED by smoke!!!