Smoking help
Smoking and heart disease enormous burdens in Asia
Throughout the WCC conference, numerous sessions highlighted the impact of smoking and secondhand smoke on the global risk of cardiovascular disease. Dr Judith MacKay (University of Hong Kong), a policy advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), stressed that coronary heart disease is an enormous burden in Asia, particularly in China. As documented throughout the [...]
Why do tobacco plants make nicotine?
The short answer is that tobacco plants make nicotine to discourage insects from eating them (it is poisonous to them), so what one really has to do is make a connection between insects and people. Given the huge variety of life, it is often hard to remember that it is all put together in very [...]
Green Tea can protect smokers from diseases
Green tea is one of the best things we can do to protect our health, slow down the aging process and prevent disease. Taking up the habit of smoking or even, the ‘need’ of smoking, the smokers know about its dangers and ill effects. But they continue to go on smoking. They wholly accept the [...]
Smokers’ kisses can be fatal
Smokers’ kisses can be fatal, a leading child health expert has warned. People who smoke are also prime candidates for carrying the potentially deadly meningococcus bacteria in the back of their throats, says Professor Robert Booy. The bug can be passed to children through “normal family cuddles and kisses”, he says, and one in 10 [...]
A Cigarette A Month Can Get A Kid Hooked
Teenage smoking is often thought of as kind of innocent experiment, but a drag on a friend’s cigarette may be the beginning of something that will be hard to shake. A study of adolescent smokers in the journal Pediatrics tracks the course of addiction to nicotine among a group of sixth-graders. After following 1,246 middle-school [...]
Rheumatoid Arthritis Incidence on the Rise in Women
The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in women has risen during the period of 1995 to 2007, according to a newly published study by researchers from the Mayo Clinic. This rise in RA follows a 4-decade period of decline and study authors speculate environmental factors such as cigarette smoking, vitamin D deficiency, and lower dose [...]
Parents have the power to prevent youth tobacco use
Young people begin smoking for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it makes them feel sophisticated, grown-up or glamorous like celebrities they see on TV or in movies. For some, it makes them feel independent and in control. Some young people start using tobacco because they watch their parents. Parents — you have a tremendous amount [...]
Scientists Spot Real ‘Smoking Gun’ in Prostate Cancer
The primary cause of prostate cancer could be the fusion of two genes and the subsequent abnormal prostate cell growth that results when receptors for the hormone androgen get blocked, a new study reveals. The implication is that standard efforts to treat the disease by targeting the androgen receptors might be missing the real “smoking [...]
Tobacco May Keep Us from Catching the Flu
Cigarettes kill more than four million people a year, but a cousin of the tobacco plant could help protect the rest of us from a major flu pandemic. This February, Darpa, the Pentagon’s R&D branch, awarded $40 million to Texas A&M University and pharmaceutical manufacturer G-Con to launch Project GreenVax, an effort to speed vaccine [...]
NHS explores paying people to become healthier
The NHS is exploring the possibility of using financial incentives to encourage healthier lifestyles. Several areas have already started their own schemes – and the results have given some encouragement. NICE, which advises the NHS in England and Wales, believes they may help tackle obesity, smoking and drinking. It described rewarding lifestyle changes as an [...]
Mixed Smoke Signals in San Francisco
Last weekend, San Francisco’s new antismoking ordinance—which bans smoking in public places like bus stop shelters, outdoor dining areas and A.T.M. lines — went into effect. But while San Francisco city government is willing to restrict the use of the product, a committee of the the Board of Supervisors drew the line Monday at setting further [...]
E-cigarettes can help kick the butt
Nicotine delivered via an e-cigarette can help curb the urge to smoke, says new research. E-cigarettes are electronic nicotine delivery devices that resemble cigarettes but do not use tobacco. They release a small dose of nicotine with each puff. “The e-cigarettes that we tested appeared to be as effective as a standard nicotine replacement therapy [...]
Kids Don’t Need Congress Chewing Tobacco Ban Plan
I’d never smoked a cigarette or marijuana. I rarely even had a beer. It was 1973 and, for whatever reason, I wasn’t one of those high school kids who chasing the next little buzz or that elusive high. Plus, baseball players caught smoking or drinking at our school got kicked off the team back then. [...]
Smoking May Boost Multiple Sclerosis Risk in Some
Smoking appears to enhance the link between an existing risk factor and multiple sclerosis, nearly doubling the chances of getting the disabling neurologic disease, according to a new study. The existing risk factor is having high levels of antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common herpes virus that infects most people but is associated [...]
