Smoking - a practice which harms our health

Tobacco smoking is a practice in which tobacco is burned and the smoke inhaled or tasted. Smoking is primarily practiced as a route of administration for nicotine through the lungs; it is a way of getting nicotine into your system rapidly.

Over one billion people globally smoke tobacco every day.

Smoking dates are coming since 7,000 years ago. The globalization of cigarette smoking originates from the European exploration and conquest of the Americas, where tobacco smoking was common. The Europeans quickly took it up, and it spread around the world rapidly

USA statistics - according to the American Heart Association, 23.1% of men (24.8 million) and 18.3% of women (21.1 million) are smokers. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) an estimated total of 443,000 deaths occur every year in the USA from cigarette smoking - almost 1 in every 5 deaths. That is more deaths than the combined total from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders.

UK statistics - according to the National Health Service, UK, about one quarter of the adult population of the UK smokes (20 million people). 25% of British men and 23% of British women smoke. Smoking is the biggest cause of illness and death in the UK, causing 114,000 smokers to die annually. About half of all British smokers eventually manage to stop.

Many countries have introduced legislation over the last three decades banning smoking in shops, restaurants, pubs and bars, public places, etc. Not that many decades ago movie theaters (cinemas) in England used to have smoking and non-smoking sections. A significant number of young people are not aware that smoking was common in commercial airplanes.

People's view of smoking has varied over time, from being a vulgar habit, a sophisticated pastime, to a deadly health hazard. Over the last three decades of the twentieth century, mainly in industrialized countries, smoking became increasingly viewed as an undesirable activity that is bad for the health - a practice that kills.

Weight gain is directly related to quitting smoking. |

Weight gain is directly related to quitting smoking. |

Important tobacco production news and info - Lawmakers raise taxes on cigarettes in the wh...

Lawmakers raise taxes on cigarettes in the whole USA!

Georgians do not agree to pay more for cigarettes.

Georgia state legislators are considering a bill that would increase taxes on a pack of cigarettes by one dollar, bringing the total tax to $1.37. These changes will affect the well known brands like Parliament cigarettes, Kent cigarettes or not so known brands like Cosmos brand.

Representative Ron Stephens, Republican of Savannah, sponsored House Bill 39, which according to his website; he estimates will generate $350 million for the state, and attract $1 billion in federal health care funds.

Mercer University Director of Employee Wellness, who is Rachel May, promotes health indicatives on campus. She affirms that the tax hike is a good way to generate money for the state, and might reduce smoking. Every person that they can convince to quit smoking is a huge help for them personally and also to the bottom line in terms of cost reduction for healthcare.

But not everyone's convinced the bill's a good idea. Several Republican gubernatorial candidates’ spoke out against the tax at Tuesday night's debate. House Speaker David Ralston and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers both affirm they do not agree with the bill.

Deanna Jones, downtown Macon restaurant employee, says she's been smoking for about six years and thinks the tax is an unfair way to try to balance the state's budget. She thinks that there are better ways to get more money than to make someone pay more for a cigarette.

In the end every person makes his own decision and takes care of himself.

Menthol Cigarettes - More Addictive Than The Regular Ones » Cigarette Brands - Decision Making

Menthol Cigarettes - More Addictive Than The Regular Ones » Cigarette Brands - Decision Making

Dangerous Ingredients from Cigarettes We Smoke.

FDA is working on revealing the ingredients that are being used cigarettes and other tobacco products. In June, tobacco companies have to tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drug makers have for decades. The producers also will have to show any studies that were made on the effects of the ingredients.

Companies for long time have used coffee, cocoa, menthol and other additives to make tobacco smell and taste better. For example there is a very well known brand with menthol addcitions Glamour Superslims Menthol.

The new info from FDA shows what ingredients might also make tobacco even more addictive or harmful.

There will also be used the data to develop standards for tobacco products and could ban some ingredients. Tobacco products today are really the only human-consumed product that we don’t know what’s in them. These are the words of a representative from Food and Drug Administration.

June 2011 while the FDA must keep much of the data confidential under trade-secret laws, it will publish a list of harmful and potentially harmful ingredients. Under the law, it must be shown by quantity in each brand.

Cigarette manufactures affirm that their products include water, flavorings, sugar and tobacco together with chemicals like diammonium phosphate, a chemical used to improve burn rate and taste, and ammonium hydroxide, used to improve the taste. The scientists say that those chemicals can easily make the body absorb nicotine and other bad components from a cigarette.

There are almost 46 million people, or 20.6 percent of U.S. adults who are smoking cigarettes, this is what affirm Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, down from about 24 percent 10 years ago. There also more than 443,000 people in the U.S. die each year from diseases caused by smoking.

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.