No More Tobacco

Smoking Stats… from our friends at heartpoint.com – 25% of Americans smoke, and 70% of them would like to quit. 30% of them try to quit in any given year. About 2.5% succeed in a given year (this is all comers, whether they try and get help at all or not). Eventually, 50% of all smokers quit.

The percentage of smokers fell quite a bit with initial public education attempts in the 70′s and 80′s. In 1965, 52% of men and 34% of women were smokers. By 1991, these percentages were 28% for men and 24% for women. The numbers are not falling as quickly now.

Smoking costs are estimated at $50 billion dollars per year. To cover these costs, the taxes on a pack of cigarettes should be about $4.

3000 teenagers start smoking every day. The medical costs of smoking are $50 billion dollars each year. If you add the lost productivity, the costs rise to $97 billion dollars per year.

Quitting smoking now greatly reduces your risk of dying.

Magazine Ads For Smokeless Tobacco Reach Many Adolescents… Medical News Today in an article said that young people who read some of the most popular magazines on newsstands see a great deal of advertising from smokeless tobacco companies, according to a new study.

Advertising can make smokeless tobacco attractive to young people, and lead study author Margaret Morrison says little attention has been paid to how this exposure can potentially affect them.

Health experts say smokeless tobacco is highly addictive and can cause cancers of the mouth and throat and loss of teeth. Despite these risks, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey reported that 8 percent of high school students had used smokeless tobacco in the last 30 days, with a rate of 14 percent among males. view source

Smokers Don’t Sleep As Well As Non Smokers…Medical News Today reported that a new study by researchers in the US has found that cigarette smokers don’t sleep as well as non smokers: they are four times more likely to report feeling unrested after a night’s sleep than non smokers.

The study is published in the February printed issue of the journal Chest and is the work of Dr Naresh M Punjabi, who is Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology based at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues.

The researchers also found that smokers spent more time in light sleep and less time in deep sleep compared to non smokers. The biggest differences occurred in the early stages of sleep, they said. Speculating on their findings, the researchers suggested nicotine withdrawal as the most likely cause.  view source

Yet another reason to quit smoking. Not only will you live to sleep for years, but you will sleep better too.

UK Quitting Smoking With Stop Smoking Service…A quitting assistamce service in the UK called NHS Stop Smoking Services helped nearly 165,000 smokers to quit smoking in the summer of 2007 , as showed in a report by The Information Centre for health and social care (The IC) on January 29.  view report

Half the 327,800 who used the service successfully quit between April and September 2007, a period which coincided with the introduction of the smoking ban in most public places in England on July 1.  Again, reaffirming the essential benefit from a no smoking ban. An excellent step foward for the UK, and kudos to NHS for their commitment and assistance, for they may have helped saved hundreds of thousand of lives. Keep up the great work NHS Stop Smoking Service!  view article source

Geneva, Switzerland,  February 4,2008.  In the first global initiative of its kind, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and members around the world lead an initiative to promote smoke-free environments for children. “I love my smoke-free childhood” launched on World Cancer Day, February 4, with these messages for parents:

- Avoid smoking at home or in a car
- Caution children to stay away from secondhand smoke and places that allow smoking
- Teach children there is no safe level of secondhand smoke
- Do not smoke while pregnant or near someone who is pregnant
- Use a smoke-free daycare center
- If you are a smoker, ask your doctor what you can do to stop
- Become a role model for your child – do not smoke

In addition, UICC is publishing a 40-page expert report, “Protecting our children against secondhand smoke”. “I love my smoke-free childhood” is the first focus within the World Cancer Campaign, a five-year cancer-prevention effort launched on World Cancer Day 2007. The Campaign offers parents simple steps to share with children to prevent cancer later in life. (http://www.worldcancercampaign.org) 

An outrageous statistic: 700 million children – almost half of the world’s children – breathe polluted air from tobacco smoke. People who smoke in confined spaces like the home or the car subject others to a dangerous mix of toxins including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and cyanide, even when the windows are open. Second-hand smoke exposes children to chronic health risks like

- Cancer Risks – numerous
- Increases a baby’s risk of dying suddenly from unexplained cause
- Contributes to low birth weight in newborns and harms lung development
- Causes bronchitis and pneumonia in young adults
- Increases the risk of ear infections, asthma, coughing and wheezing among school-aged children

These health threats underscore the need for parents to protect the children from secondhand smoke. 

 Please do not release the toxic fumes of cigarettes around innocent children, or adults.

An increasing number of countries have passed anti-smoking legislation, banning smoking in all enclosed public places without exception. Ireland was the first country to do so in 2004, followed by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Uruguay, Bermuda, Bhutan and Iran. Puerto Rico and several U.S. states and cities have also enacted smoking bans.

view source 

New Study Shows Tobacco Control Programs Cut Adult Smoking Rates… Medical News Today reported that greater investments in state tobacco control programs are independently and significantly associated with larger and more rapid declines in adult smoking prevalence, according to a study by researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Researchers were able to quantify the link between comprehensive tobacco control programs and a decrease in adult smoking – observing a decline in prevalence from 29.5 percent in 1985 to 18.6 percent in 2003.

The study, “The Impact of Tobacco Control Programs on Adult Smoking,” is the first of its kind to use multi-state survey data on smoking to examine the association between cumulative state tobacco control program spending and changes in adult smoking prevalence. Combining educational, clinical, regulatory, economic, and social strategies, these comprehensive programs encompass coordinated efforts to establish smoke-free policies and social norms, to promote and assist tobacco users to quit, and to prevent initiation of tobacco use.  view full article

Did you know… Each year 31,000 kids are left without fathers thanks to tobacco. A fact recently learned during the super bowl ad of tobaccofreeflorida.com. On their website, they also tell some more interesting facts, like :

• In Florida, smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined
• 692,000 kids in Florida are exposed to secondhand smoke at home
• 28,700 adults in Florida die each year from their own smoking

These figures show the real need for change. Florida could stiffen up their no-smoking laws, as we all should. Help someone quit, it is hard to tell how many people could be saved by it.

NY Department of Health Urges Doctors to Talk to Patients about Smoking… Medical News Today reported that the New York State Department of Health unveiled its “Don’t Be Silent About Smoking” ad campaign, urging health care providers to make quitting a priority for their patients who smoke. The $1.3 million cutting-edge campaign features graphic images of health care providers with their mouths stitched or taped shut to dramatize how doctors can help their patients quit by discussing smoking.

State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., said, “We want to challenge clinicians across the state to take time at every office visit to talk to their patients who smoke.” Studies have found that when health care providers take the time to talk to their patients about smoking and offer assistance with quitting, long-term success can be dramatically increased.

“Doctors spend a lot of time treating smoking-related health problems. If we did a better job at helping our patients who want to quit, we could save thousands of lives and alleviate a great deal of suffering,” Commissioner Daines said. view full article

Study Backs Value of U.S. State Anti-Smoking Plans…Reuters reported on January 30 that U.S. state tobacco control programs are effective at cutting the number of smokers, and states that spend more get the best results, federal health officials said on Tuesday. Declines in adult smoking rates in individual states are directly related to increases in state per-capita investments in tobacco control and smoking cessation programs, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an independent research institute analyzed data on smoking rates and tobacco control spending in all 50 states from 1995 to 2003. The advocacy group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said the states will spend about $717 million in fiscal year 2008 on tobacco control and smoking cessation programs. These programs include advertising on the hazards of smoking, school- and community-based anti-smoking efforts, and steps like creating toll-free telephone lines to help people quit. The study found that the more states spent on programs, the larger the declines they achieved in adult smoking rates, independent of other factors like higher tobacco prices. view full article

Cigarettes In Movies…The New York Times reported on January 28 that last May, the Motion Picture Association of America said that all portrayals of smoking would for the first time be considered alongside sex and violence in assessing the suitability of movies for young viewers. The organization did not guarantee an automatic R rating for films featuring cigarette use, but did say that “pervasive smoking” would lead to a more restrictive rating. How, then, to explain the PG-13 given to Woody Allen’s latest film? The cast of “Cassandra’s Dream” burns through so many cigarettes on screen that some patrons have exited theaters feeling like they just paid $12 to sit in the ashtray of an 18-wheeler. Has Hollywood’s get-tough stance on cigarettes gone up in smoke? view full article