He said that 30% of those above the age of 30 suffer from up to 40 kinds of illnesses which include heart problems and 57 types of cancer.

“Statistics show that every day about 50 teenagers below the age of 18 start smoking and most of them become hardcore smokers,” said Chua in a speech read by Kuala Dipang state assemblyman Dr Chong Fah during the anti-smoking run here Sunday.

He said that according to a recent World Health Organisation report, more than 100,000 youths started smoking daily.

“In 1998, the Government introduced therapy for smokers in four major hospitals in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh and Seremban.

“Today, 44 hospitals and 111 health centres provide this treatment,” he said.

Chua said that in 1999, about 1,000 smokers were able to kick the habit.

He added that the ministry had compounded 11,211 people for smoking in public places that year.

Of the number, 1,366 were youths.

Chua said the ministry was taking various steps to reduce the use of cigarette advertisements by sports and cultural organisations.

He said another measure taken was to direct manufacturers to reduce cigarettes’ tar content from 20mg to 15mg and nicotine from 1.5mg to 1.3mg.

About 1,000 adults and schoolchildren participated in the 4km run which was organised by the Malaysian Anti-Smoking Organisation.

In its Aug. 14 edition, Newsweek reporters Dan Ephron and Michael Isikoff uncovered a federal indictment against Imad Hammoud and other Lebanese Americans who allegedly would buy cigarettes in North Carolina where taxes are low and truck them to Michigan, where they’d sell them for a $10-per-carton profit. The federal agents said Hammoud, who has ties to Hezbollah, the terrorist group at war with Israel in Lebanon, would funnel cash from the illegal smokes scheme in Detroit to Hezbollah operatives in the Middle East.

The news magazine reported that Hammoud allegedly was running as much as $500,000 in cigarettes across state lines in 2002 – coincidentally, during Hezbollah’s successful military build-up in southern Lebanon.

While Hezbollah rockets have killed dozens of Israeli citizens, in part financed by the sale of cigarettes in Detroit, if the FBI is correct, the direct connection between cigarette smoking and mortality is very well-established.

Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart attacks, emphysema and a host of other types of cancers.

Perhaps the health message is reaching Southern Californians, where the number of smokers has been steadily decreasing.

For instance, smoking among Los Angeles County residents reached an all-time low 14.6percent, according to the county’s Department of Public Health.

Yet, the number of Asian and Latino men are smoking at higher rates – affixed at 19.6percent and 16.6percent, respectively. Many Asian and Latino men smoke in their home countries, where taxes are lower and health data on tobacco use more scarce. They are bringing their unhealthful habits to these shores, often to local parks and public places where children play. This type of cultural vestige has no redeeming value.

That’s why we are supporting the targeting of Asian and Latino males, who smoke twice as much as their famale counterparts, by the county Department of Public Health and the San Gabriel-based Asian Youth Center.

Two fronts emerge.

One, the new countywide anti-smoking campaign or “cig-alert” helped by health groups and pharmacists as well. The county’s “It’s Quitting Time, L.A.!” campaign will try to convert 200,000 smokers by 2010, according to the county’s Tobacco Control and Prevention Program.

The Asian Youth Center has urged a crackdown on smoking in Rosemead parks, where group volunteers recently picked up 1,500 butts in a single afternoon amid playgrounds, ball fields and picnic areas.

Last, the the city of Rosemead responded by banning smoking in public parks, which went into effect Aug.11. We hope other cities move ahead with similar bans and health campaigns that protect the public’s lungs and help smokers of all ethnicities to kick the tobacco addiction.

Source: Whittier

To get business owners ready, the River Valley Tobacco-Free Coalition hosted meetings and handed out information clearing up the laws.

“Our assistance is to show the best practices, and lay it all out in a kit. We will come in and do it for you for free… so basically we’re just kind of like a guide [to] offer a clear statement on what this actually means,” said Mona Clemons.

Business owner Jim Jenkins said the information he received helped clear the air.

“It was really informative, because there is a lot of stuff flying around, different rumors,” Jenkins said.

After the law takes effect July 21, business owners will have 30 days to make their restaurants comply.

Source: TheHometownChannel

Smoking will not cause damage to fertility and can in fact fight disease – according to some “pro-smoking campaigners.

Sophie Goodchild and Martin Hodgson say that tobacco companies are taking a new marketing approach to play down risks of smoking. Philip Morris has even funded research which would suggest that smoking does not interfere with the process of conception.

Because of this, the anti-smoking lobby has accused the tobacco giant of deception.

Anti-smoking groups such as Ash come down hard on tobacco giants arguing they have moved towards treatments which may boost fertility to change their image. The study they are referring to was funded by Philip Morris and claimed that supplements such as mineral selenium and vitamin E boost fertility in men who have poor quality sperm.

Over the past several years, the tobacco industry has seen a drastic reduction in sales in Western Europe and North America. This is mainly due to higher taxes, tougher laws, and a growing awareness of the implications of smoking.

What a load of rubbish!

Source: World Fitness

Dr John Greenwood from the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s burns unit is treating a 67-year-old Loxton woman who suffered burns to a large area of her body when she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in her lounge room.

He says the woman’s condition has now improved and she will receive surgery to begin closing her wounds early this week.

Dr Greenwood says while the woman’s injuries are not common, the community should be cautious, particularly about smoking in bed.

“People who go to bed and smoke in bed, you know you go to bed for a good reason and that reason is usually to sleep,” he said.

There have been plenty of cases of people actually dying because they were smoking in bed and fell asleep, another great reason to quit smoking!

An example here:

An older woman and her daughter were slightly hurt early Friday after a fire broke out in their apartment in north Seattle near Shoreline.

Seattle firefighters were called to the apartment in the 13500 block of Linden Avenue North shortly after 4:30 a.m., fire spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said both women received minor injuries and were taken to Northwest Hospital. The cause of the fire was found to be smoking in bed. Damage was estimated at $15,000.

Source: Seattle PI

“You usually go to bed because you’re ready to sleep and you know this kind of injury … it might be dwindling … as less and less people smoke, it’s still phenomenally dangerous.”

Source: ABC News

The aim is to initially get smokers to quit for four weeks from May 2 to May 29, and then hopefully for good.

Quit & Win is an international anti-smoking contest for adults that has been organised since 1994.

More than 80 countries are participating in the competition, which is supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and has several partners.

At the end of the Bahrain competition on May 29, 10 winners will be selected and called to take a biochemical test to check if they have been smoking.

The first prize-winner will receive BD300, donated by the society, and the others will receive prizes donated by the International Hospital of Bahrain, Bahrain Specialist Hospital, Alba, GPIC, Al Jishi Pharmacy and other sponsors.

The first prize-winner will also be eligible to enter an international draw with prizes of $10,000 (BD3,780) and six regional prizes of $2,500 (BD945).

Source: Gulf Daily

THE chances are high that Filipino children aged 11 to 16 have already have tried smoking cigarettes. The probability that a child has already lighted his first stick–or worse, is a full-blown smoker–is even greater when members of his family are smoking, too. And then, of course, there is peer pressure.

A Youth Tobacco Survey by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Philippine Chapter among grade school and high school students in Metro Manila has reinforced what many people have been thinking all along about youth and smoking.

The survey of 2,932 respondents with an average age of 13, from twelve elementary and secondary private and public schools in Metro Manila was conducted by the ACCP after a series of “tobacco or health workshops” in these schools from 1998 to 2001.

Source: Cigarette Smoking Amongst Teens is High

The Philippines has concentrated on high cigarette tax to be used to anti-smoking campaigns since 2004.

The proposed foundation in the Philippines would get five percent or about P1 billion in funding annually from tobacco industry taxes.

Navarra also said that anti-tobacco advocates in the House of Representatives were also keen on filing a bill that would impose higher taxes on tobacco companies, which currently remit 25 percent of their revenues in excise tax.

The heavy taxation is projected to raise the prices of cigarettes by five percent every year and discourage buyers, especially the poor, from smoking, Navarra said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

They also have tough anti-smoking regulations (national Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003) around the capital Manila, people feel the suffering even in the commercial areas like Makati City.

Makati City, Philippines – Smokers thought they would no longer enjoy the nightlife in trendy Makati City after the local government enforced the toughest anti-smoking policy in the Philippines three years ago.

With a strict smoking ban, restaurants, bars, discos, cafes, hotels, shopping malls and cinemas in the Manila suburb were forced to shun smoking patrons to avoid being penalized or even shut down by authorities.

Source: M & C News

They have even had anti-smoking stamps!

Source: Trussel

You can find the Philippines Youth Smoking Survey Here.

Recent studies have shown that Honey can help with quitting smoking.

Writings on the healing and curative powers of honey date from ancient Egypt. Fortunately for us, these writings have been faithfully documented and archived through the ages, leaving us a legacy of honey that is truly unique in recorded history.

It is probably safe to say that no other food source in the world is as rich. In fact, the variety of components contained in honey range across such a broad spectrum of vitamins, enzymes, proteins and amino acids, that it is actually classified as a complete food.

Grape Juice – Grapefruit

There are claims that a six week-treatment with grape juice has been known to wash cancer out of the blood. There are also numerous claims that skin cancer will dry and “flake off” using this remedy. If your stomach becomes queasy or loose, start the treatment from the beginning but use smaller amounts of grape juice, mixed half-and-half with water, and gradually increase your intake of the grape juice. When your stomach adjusts, take the grape juice straight. Continue this treatment for six weeks.

This cure is thought to have been brought to New York by English doctors and is said to have been used sucessfully to cure hopeless cancer patients. One undocumented report states that of 100 patients sent home to die after being diagnosed as terminally ill with cancer, all subscribed to the treatment and were saved. The total treatment can be had for under $25. The treatment is especially recommended in the case of leukemia patients. Six weeks of this treatment is supposed to be enough.

Natives of the West Indies like to chew on licorice sticks or on sugar cane stalks. Inspired by this, one doctor recommended that his patients chew licorice sticks to break the smoking habit. The idea has apparently been very successful. Ex-smokers like having something to chew on or hold in their mouths. The licorice stick is a safe substitute for a cigarette.

Other Names of Licorice Root
Liquorice, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis Fisch., Radix Glycyrrhizae, Gan Cao, Kan-Tsao.

Used Part, Taste and Property
Root and rhizome; Sweet and neutral; non-toxic.

Common Use in Chinese Herbal Formulas
Vital energy tonic, fatigue, weakness; Sore throat, cough, Addison’s disease. Used in Patent Formulas of Si Jun Zi Tang, Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang, Er Chen Tang and this herbal quitting formula.

Main Chemical Components
Triterpenoid, saponin (glycyrrhizin), flavonone (liquiritin, liquirigenin), chalcones, isoflavan, licoricone, etc.

Many people do recommend if you trying to quit smoking you should eat licorice. Black or Red makes no difference. Licorice has a ‘calming the nerves’ affect, helps lower Cholesterol and is non-fattening.

Sensation seeking traits are often linked together.

Common triggers can be :

• After a Meal
• After Sex
• In a Traffic Jam
• With Alchohol
• With Coffee
• After Excercise

The mind links things all the time… if you smell something you like to eat, you salivate… because your mind has made a link between the smell, and the action of eating it… links like this also occur with smoking… for example, if you regularly used to smoke with a cup of coffee in the morning, then there will be a link in your subconscious between the smell of coffee, and smoking.

If you can, avoid the ‘stimulant’ or trigger… in the above example of the morning cup of coffee, perhaps switch to tea or fruit juice. This idea is simply designed to stop you even thinking about having a cigarette in the first place. After all, the difference between a smoker and a someone who has never smoked, is that the person who has never smoked, doesn’t even think of having a cigarette in the first place.

If these triggers are really the problem, it’s better that you avoid them until you have full control over your habit.

They say it makes sense to get used to a smoke free pub now rather than wait for the law to change. Mike and Elaine believe that far from losing trade, a smokeless pub will encourage more people to use their restaurant.

And as both of them are smokers themselves they’ll be sharing the sacrifice, and hoping the ban will give them the encouragement they need to kick the habit.

But what do you think? Should pubs and clubs be exempt from the ban? Should there be a ban at all?

Should all clubs and bars in Malaysia be smoke free?

What about eating places and mamaks?

The BBC went into York city centre one lunchtime to find out what people thought.

“Certainly ban in restaurants, but not pubs because people go there to drink and smoke.”
Mr Faulkner

“It’s too easy at the moment, you can smoke anywhere.”
Steve Jones

“It [smoking] is just very unsociable, I think.”
Mr & Mrs Bailey

“I think it’s great actually; it’s a good idea.”
Mari Samperio

Source: BBC Lifestyle

“I started just with my friends, just a teenager drinking and having a smoke after school,” said Rennie, a Gilroy resident who’s now been smoking for five years. “I tried to quit once, about two years ago, but stress gets to you. Life gets to you.”

These days, Rennie smokes half a pack a day, and quitting could be harder than ever despite a plethora of stop-smoking aids for sale, from patches and gum to pills, hypnosis and laser treatments.

The average smoker today is not a casual puffer, but someone deeply physically addicted or leaning on cigarette use for the satisfaction of psychological needs, according to Margo Sidener, executive director of the American Lung Association Santa Clara-San Benito Counties office. For this group, return rates to the habit after one year are high – from a low of 50 percent to a high of 80 percent nationwide – but persistence can be the key to success.

“We have a lot of hard-core people still on cigarettes who have tried to get off, but the message is that the relapse is part of the process,” said Sidener. “Just because you have tried three or four times, it doesn’t mean you should give up. It takes some people a little more practice than others.”

Sidener, who has been in the smoking cessation field for 23 years, said therapists used to focus on three stages of quitting: preparation, active quitting and maintenance. In these stages, people mentally prepared themselves for the act of quitting, swore off their cigarettes and kept their resolve. The only problem was, it didn’t work.

“Some people go back and forth, back and forth and finally go into long-term maintenance, but it wasn’t part of the plan,” said Sidener.

When it does come to quitting, nicotine replacement therapies – such as nicotine gum, patches and inhalers – can help to cut cravings. Some smokers are helped by an anti-depressant called Wellbutrin, which is marketed as a stop-smoking aid under the name Zyban. If you’re willing to risk having a treatment fail, just about anything that convinces you that you can quit will help, said Sidener.

But one element of old-fashioned smoking-cessation plans still rules when it comes to quitting the habit. Behavior modification, usually with the support of family, friends or a peer group, is still the best way to quit, according to experts, and the reasons for that decision only continue to grow.

By Melania Z.

There are many things that you can do. Support should of course be unconditional, but it’s also pratical to find out what is worth doing. You could achieve this by finding out what is the root cause of the smoking problem (questioning and observing) and move on from there.

For instance, if the trouble lies with the famous hand-to-mouth syndrome, try carrot or celery sticks as substitutes for cigarettes. They’re healthy and they keep both hand and mouth busy. If the recovering smokers find the vegetable sticks too bland, try seasoning them with some Italian herbs and a dash of salt. You could also make delicious low-fat dips (recipes are widely available on the Internet) for the sticks.

My partner felt that he’s more tired and sleepy when he’s quitting. So I took him to the gym. Exercise definitely made him felt more energetic and his perceived dependence on cigarettes also lessened. It’s important not to give in to the couch and tv at home during these times as at this point, the recovering smokers need strong, reliable characters around to support him. I also served him coffee to jumpstart the morning and bought him individually packed instant coffee which he kept by his side all the time. This way, he could have his coffee at anytime he felt like a puff.

Another effective way is to keep the recovering smokers busy so that they’re not pre-occupied with the idea of smoking. Do organise activities, preferably ones that take place in non-smoking area. Take this opportunity to revive activities such as picnic in the park, volunteering at a charity homes, sight-seeing in your own city and so on. Besides assisting recovering smokers to cope, it would also improve your relationship with each other!

Remember, you must be supportive not just with words but with actions as well. By helping your loved ones, you’re helping yourself too.

There are apparently two reasons to believe antidepressants and anxiolytics might help in smoking. First, anxiety and depression are symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, and smoking cessation sometimes precipitates depression. Second, smoking appears to be due, in part, to deficits in dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, all of which are increased by anxiolytics and antidepressants.

The active ingredient in Zyban, like Wellbutrin, is bupropion, a relatively weak inhibitor of the neuronal uptake of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Chemically, bupropion is related to phenylethylamines and has a relative molecular weight of 276.2. Although, bupropion was initially marketed as an anti-depressant (Wellbutrin), it is chemically unrelated to tricyclic, tetracyclic, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or other known anti-depressants.

Warnings, Cautions and Various Nasty Possibilities
Insomnia and dry mouth are the most common side effects associated with this medication. However, there are certain medical conditions which warrant against using bupropion. These conditions include seizures, eating disorders, and current use of certain other medications, such as Wellbutrin. Of course, you should always check with your physician prior to starting any medication, and you should be monitored regularly during treatment.

Using Bupropion
Treatment with bupropion begins while the user is still smoking, one week prior to the quit date. Treatment is then continued for 7 to 12 weeks. Length of treatment should be based on the relative benefits and risks for each individual, and should be discussed with a physician. People who have not made significant progress towards abstinence by the seventh week of therapy are unlikely to successfully quit during this attempt, and bupropion treatment should be discontinued. Dose tapering is not required when discontinuing treatment.

The effectiveness of Zyban for Smoking Cessation here.

Information about Zyban as an aid in beating Nicotine Addiction here.

Quitnet bupropion medication guide here.

After less than 30 minutes of smoking your last cigarette:

• Pulse returns to normal.
• Blood pressure drops down to normal.
• Temperature of hands and feet increase to normal.

Ater 8 hours:

• Blood’s oxygen level returns to normal.
• Carbon monoxide level in blood decreases to normal.

After 24 hours:

• Risk of heart attack decreases.

After 48 hours:

• Sense of smell and taste increase.
• Nerve endings begin regrowth.

After 72 hours:

• Breathing becomes easier after bronchial tubes relax.
• Lung capacity increases.

After 2 weeks to 3 months:

• Lung ability increases by as much as 30%.
• Circulation improves.
• Walking is easier.

After 1 to 9 months:

• Body’s energy level increases
• Lungs increase their ability to handle mucus, reduce infection and clean themselves.
• Sinus congestion, coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath decrease.

After 5 years:

• Death rate because of lung cancer decreases about 50% for the average, one-pack-a-day smoker.

After 10 years:

• Death rate from lung cancer becomes about equal to that of non-smokers. risks for other cancers (mouth, larynx, pancreas, bladder, kidney and esophagus) decrease.
• Pre-cancerous cells are replaced.

NOTE: “Normal” refers to what was an average level for you before smoking your last cigarette, depending on your fitness level and other factors.