Report: Tobacco Use Kills 6M People a Year

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(CBS) Tobacco use causes 6 million deaths a year, a third of those deaths from cancer, according to a report released by the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation.

The tobacco industry is targeting countries with fewer tobacco controls and less effective public health campaigns, according to the American Cancer Society, which predicts that 72 percent of tobacco-related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2010. The report predicts that 2 million people will die each year from tobacco-related cancer by 2015.

Click here to read the full report

"The Tobacco Atlas presents compelling evidence that the health burden is shifting from richer countries to their lower-resource counterparts," said Peter Baldini, chief executive officer of the World Lung Foundation. "This evidence clearly articulates the breathtaking scope and dimensions of the problem. It calls out to be used actively in strengthening the case for policy change."

The American Cancer Society estimates that the tobacco industry has caused a $500 billion loss in the global economy, citing premature deaths of smokers in their most productive years and tobacco fields taking the place of agricultural fields on nearly 4 million hectares of land. Since 1960, tobacco production has increased by three times in low- and middle-income countries. But in richer countries, production has been cut in half.

The Tobacco Atlas is published by the two organizations to help develop public health strategies to reduce tobacco use worldwide.

Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/26/health/main5266774.shtml

97 Reasons to Quit Smoking

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97 Reasons to Quit Smoking (Reasons 1-10)

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1. You won't have to pay more and more and more and more each year.
Yup, taxes will almost certainly continue to go up. New Jersey, Vermont, and Connecticut are among the states leaning harder on smokers for revenue, but even some tobacco-growing states are beginning to milk the coffin-nail cash cow. Lawmakers' reasoning: There is evidence that price increases cause smokers to reduce consumption. And the medical costs of smoking are astronomical—a huge burden to the states.

2. Really, if you think cigarette prices can't go up much more, you've got Wall Street against you as well as the government.
Addiction—to oil, tobacco, etc.—is a very good thing to bank on. Many on Wall Street remain bullish about Big Tobacco's ability to jack up prices, even if sales drop because of tax increases.

3. You'll be smarter than Goofy.
"No Smoking" is a superb 1951 Disney cartoon depicting the history of tobacco use and, in modern times, Goofy's addiction and attempt to quit (there's a hilarious Mad Men-ish scene of an office full of smokers). It ends with him smoking an exploding cigar as the narrator concludes: "Give the smoker enough rope and he'll hang on to his habit."

(YOUTUBE.COM)

4. Once you quit, you'll find it more amusing that tobacco soup smells like s**t.
Or at least that's what kids at a Washington state elementary school said when Teens Against Tobacco Use visited their class recently and mixed up a concoction of cigarette ingredients.

(SMOKE-FREE.CA)

5. Smoking can cramp your style in the bedroom.
Smoking can affect circulation; with less blood flow to your genitals, arousal for both men and women can be more difficult.

6. Sever yourself from the sordid history of animal testing in smoking research.
Smoking-related cancer researchers have long used animals as test subjects, producing the famous smoking beagles photos from the 1970s, which are still used by antivivisection sites today.

(VIOLENCEFREESCIENCE.ORG)

7. You'll sleep better.
Smokers are four times as likely to report feeling unrested after a night's sleep, a Johns Hopkins study found; it seems going through nicotine withdrawal each night can contribute to sleep disturbances.

8. Cool bonuses at work may be in your future.
Employers are increasingly offering incentives—such as gift cards, premium discounts, or cash—to employees who participate in smoking cessation programs.

9. Quitting is a plausible excuse to play computer games.
A recent survey commissioned by online game maker RealNetworks suggests that playing games online can help distract people from smoking.

Find this at:
http://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20210803,00.html

Electronic Cigarette Helps You Stop Smoking

It feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette but it isn’t bad for your health. A Chinese company marketing the world’s first “electronic” cigarette hopes to double sales this year as it expands overseas and as some of China’s legions of smokers try to quit. Golden Dragon Group Ltd’s Ruyan cigarettes are battery-powered, cigarette-shaped devices that deliver nicotine to inhalers in a bid to emulate actual smoking.

“The nicotine is delivered to the lungs within 7 to 10 seconds,” said Scott Fraser, Vice President of SBT Co. Ltd., the Beijing-based firm that first developed the electronic cigarette technology in 2003 and which is now controlled by Golden Dragon.

From:

http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/05/10/electronic-cigarette-helps-you-stop-smoking/