Philip Morris International Steps In The Future

For years, Altria, home to Philip Morris Tobacco Company and its popular Marlboro cigarette brand, was a corporate pariah blamed for the deaths of millions of people and sued for hundreds of billions of dollars by attorneys general in every state. After eventually acknowledging, like others in its industry, that cigarette smoking was, indeed, addictive and caused disease, Altria went a step further.

Altria’s motives for submitting to strict oversight have long been a mystery. Did the company and its executives, who were internally pursuing a strategy of “societal alignment,” suddenly embrace a true partnership on public health? This is an interesting question.

Another possible answer was highlighted this month, as the federal government began fine-tuning aspects of a law that President Obama signed last summer that gives the government sweeping new powers to regulate the production and marketing of tobacco products.

A series of letters that Altria submitted to the F.D.A. as part of that process argues that the government should, effectively, sign off on the notion that smokeless tobacco products are less harmful than cigarettes — and that Altria and other companies should be allowed to market them as such to consumers.

While public health doctors agree that the smokeless products are far less hazardous to individuals than cigarettes, they still have concerns because all tobacco products contain nicotine and carcinogens. They also contend that promoting smokeless products — some in tiny packages in the shape of cigarette packs — would attract new, perhaps younger customers and maintain the addiction for smokers who might otherwise quit. They note that Altria is adding flavorings to its smokeless products that have long been used in candy.

Caffeine and Nicotine Interaction

Amazingly, nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. The caffeine user’s blood-caffeine level will double to 203% of normal baseline if no intake reduction is made when quitting.

Smokers are used every morning to drink a cup of coffe and their Marlboro cigarettes.

This interaction is not a problem for any caffeine user who can handle a doubling of their of normal caffeine intake without experiencing symptoms. But consider a modest caffeine intake reduction, of up to one-half, if troubled by additional anxieties,difficulty relaxing or trouble getting to sleep.

Subconscious Trigger Extinguishment - As mentioned, we conditioned our subconscious mind to expect nicotine replenishment when encountering certain locations, times, events, people or emotions. Be prepared for each such cue to trigger a brief crave episode as the subconscious mind sounds the body’s fight or flight survival alarm.

Remember, it is impossible for any trigger to cause relapse so long as nicotine does not enter the bloodstream. Take heart, most triggers are reconditioned and extinguished by a single encounter during which the subconscious mind fails to receive the expected result - nicotine. See each crave episode as an opportunity to receive a reward, the return of yet another aspect of life.

Teenagers and parents against smoking

Parents naturally worry about the health and safety of their children. Many parents teach their kids to avoid getting involved with drugs, although sometimes adults forget about the drug most abused by adolescents - nicotine.

Every year, teens continue to light up even though there is strong public awareness about the health hazards of smoking. When you're young, it's hard to think about the consequences of your actions. Kids don't project that smoking today can lead to negative effects in their futuresÑincreased risk of cancer, heart attack, and stroke in adulthood.

Many kids think they'll just try one cigarette or two or three. These young smokers believe that they'll be able to control their habit over time. Young people may experiment with cigars and chewing tobacco, which are also dangerous. Others try bidis, thinking they are a safe alternative to cigarettes.Colorfully packaged with a variety of flavors like cinnamon, orange, and chocolate, these unfiltered cigarettes from India have 28 percent higher nicotine concentration than regular cigarettes.

There is good news - the number of teens who currently smoke has gradually declined since 1996. But there is also bad news - over 4 million youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are smokers. In fact, by the time they leave high school, more than one-third of graduates are active smokers.

Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug. Once your teen is addicted, it will be very difficult to quit.The cause of addiction is simple. Nicotine goes straight to the brain. The human brain has circuits that control feelings of pleasure. Dopamine - a brain chemical - contributes to the desire to consume drugs. Nicotine spikes an increase in dopamine.

When your teen smokes, he or she inhales the nicotine. It goes quickly to the brain. In just 10 seconds, the pleasurable effects of smoking reach peak levels. Within a few minutes, the pleasure is gone, and the craving for a cigarette begins a new cycle.

A teen can easily get hooked on nicotine, although it takes much more effort to quit smoking. Many kids smokers, they find it hard to stay away from the drug's effects.The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is concerned about teen nicotine addiction and is working to determine the best methods for helping adolescents quit. NIDA has opened a Teen Tobacco Addiction Treatment Research Center in Baltimore, MD, to find the best treatments for young smokers.

Currently, the Center is assessing the nicotine patch and nicotine gum to see how safe, tolerable, and effective they are for adolescents. The Center is also determining whether teens use these quitting aids properly. At the same time, researchers are trying to find out whether these therapies work better alone or in combination with counseling and group support.

Nicotine addiction is a disease. But it is preventable. NIDA continues to fund innovative research to find the most effective treatment and prevention approaches for adolescents.In the meantime, not starting to smoke is the best form of prevention. Talk to your kids about the threat of smoking. With your guidance, maybe they won't light up.

Hollywood smoking and their influence on our children

Hollywood is such a well known place by everybody in this world. You can see there almost every actor that you like and most of them are smoking actors.The number of Hollywood films showing on-screen smoking is back up to the levels of the 1950s, with nearly 80% of films rated for young audiences including scenes in which characters light up, according to researchers in California.

Why nearly half of all teenage smokers in the US try cigarettes can be linked to on-screen smoking, leading the researchers to call for an adult rating for all films that depict tobacco use. "The science is very solid. Smoking in the movies has a very substantial effect on the risk that kids will get addicted to nicotine," said Stanton Glantz, one of the researchers at the University of California San Francisco.

A sample of the top-grossing films over the last 50 years found that smoking decreased from an average of 10.7 events an hour in 1950 to 4.9 in 1982 - and then shot up to 10.9 by 2002. An "event" ranges from a character lighting a cigarette to a shot of a tobacco advertisement.When teens see smoking cigarettes on TV they believe this is right, but it is not.

A spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America told the San Jose Mercury that industry statistics showed that only about half of PG-13 movies over the past two years had featured tobacco use. "Everybody agrees that ... our industry shouldn't be encouraging or glamourising smoking," the spokeswoman said. But the study, published in December's issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that nearly four out of five PG-13 movies show somebody smoking cigarettes or cigars or chewing tobacco.