About Smoking, Smoking Cessation, Quitting Smoking, Quit Smoking, Smoking Habit, Smoking Fewer

Freedom From Smoking Online

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Congratulations on taking a vital step to improve your health!

Quitting smoking can evoke a lot of feelings: fear, resentment, relief, and so on. If you stay committed to the program and complete all of the assignments you have a good chance of remaining smoke-free for good. Millions of people have quit smoking and you can do it too! Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit kintera.

Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health

Is there a safe way to smoke?

NO.All cigarettes can damage the human body. Any amount of smoke is dangerous. Cigarettes are perhaps the only legal product whose advertised and intended use ¨C smoking ¨C is harmful to the body and causes cancer.

Although some people try to make their smoking habit safer by smoking fewer cigarettes, most smokers find that hard to do. Research has found that even smoking as few as 1 to 4 cigarettes a day can have serious health consequences, including an increased risk of heart disease and a higher risk of dying at an earlier age.

Some people think that switching from high-tar and high-nicotine cigarettes to those with low tar and nicotine makes smoking safer, but this is not true. When people switch to brands with lower tar and nicotine, they often end up smoking more cigarettes, or more of each cigarette, to get the same nicotine dose as before.

A low-tar cigarette can be just as harmful as a high-tar cigarette because a person often takes deeper puffs, puffs more frequently, or smokes them to a shorter butt length. Studies have not found that the risk of lung cancer is any lower in smokers of “light?or low-tar cigarettes.

Is cigarette smoking really addictive?

Yes. The nicotine in cigarette smoke causes an addiction to smoking. Nicotine is an addictive drug (just like heroin and cocaine) for 3 main reasons.

• When taken in small amounts, nicotine creates pleasant feelings that make the smoker want to smoke more.
• Smokers usually become dependent on nicotine and suffer physical withdrawal symptoms when they stop smoking. These symptoms include nervousness, headaches, and trouble sleeping.
• Because nicotine affects the chemistry of the brain and central nervous system, it can affect the mood and nature of the smoker.

What does nicotine do?

Nicotine in large doses is a poison and can kill by stopping a person's breathing muscles. Smokers usually take in small amounts that the body can quickly break down and get rid of. The first dose of nicotine causes a person to feel awake and alert, while later doses result in a calm, relaxed feeling.

Nicotine can make new smokers, and regular smokers who get too much of it, feel dizzy or sick to their stomachs. The resting heart rate for young smokers increases 2 to 3 beats per minute. Nicotine also lowers skin temperature and reduces blood flow in the legs and feet. It plays an important role in increasing smokers' risk of heart disease and stroke. Because nicotine is such a powerful constrictor of arteries, many vascular surgeons refuse to operate on patients with peripheral artery disease unless they stop smoking.

Why do people begin to smoke?

Most people begin smoking as teens, generally because of peer pressure and curiosity. Also, people with friends and/or parents who smoke are more likely to take up smoking than those who don't.

Another prevalent influence in our society is the tobacco industry's ads and other promotional activities for its products. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars each year to create and market ads that show smoking as an exciting, glamorous, and healthy adult activity.

How many people smoke cigarettes?

Among US adults, cigarette smoking has declined from about 42% of the population in 1965 to about 22% in 2003 (the latest year for which numbers are available). About 45 million adults smoked cigarettes in 2003. About 24% of men and 19% of women were smokers. Education seems to affect smoking rates, as shown by a steady decrease in the smoking rates in groups with a higher level of education. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit cancer.

A brief history of tobacco

Early History

(CNN) -- Tobacco was first used by the peoples of the pre-Columbian Americas. Native Americans apparently cultivated the plant and smoked it in pipes for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.

Christopher Columbus brought a few tobacco leaves and seeds with him back to Europe, but most Europeans didn't get their first taste of tobacco until the mid-16th century, when adventurers and diplomats like France's Jean Nicot -- for whom nicotine is named -- began to popularize its use. Tobacco was introduced to France in 1556, Portugal in 1558, and Spain in 1559, and England in 1565.

The first successful commercial crop was cultivated in Virginia in 1612 by Englishman John Rolfe. Within seven years, it was the colony's largest export. Over the next two centuries, the growth of tobacco as a cash crop fueled the demand in North America for slave labor.

Cancer By The Carton

The negative health effects of tobacco were not initially known; in fact, most early European physicians subscribed to the Native American belief that tobacco can be an effective medicine.

By the early 20th century, with the growth in cigarette smoking, articles addressing the health effects of smoking began to appear in scientific and medical journals. In 1930, researchers in Cologne, Germany, made a statistical correlation between cancer and smoking. Eight years later, Dr. Raymond Pearl of Johns Hopkins University reported that smokers do not live as long as non-smokers. By 1944, the American Cancer Society began to warn about possible ill effects of smoking, although it admitted that "no definite evidence exists" linking smoking and lung cancer.

A statistical correlation between smoking and cancer had been demonstrated; but no causal relationship had been shown. More importantly, the general public knew little of the growing body of statistics.

That changed in 1952, when Reader's Digest published "Cancer by the Carton," an article detailing the dangers of smoking. The effect of the article was enormous: Similar reports began appearing in other periodicals, and the smoking public began to take notice. The following year, cigarette sales declined for the first time in over two decades.

The tobacco industry responded swiftly. By 1954 the major U.S. tobacco companies had formed the Tobacco Industry Research Council to counter the growing health concerns. With counsel from TIRC, tobacco companies began mass-marketing filtered cigarettes and low-tar formulations that promised a "healthier" smoke. The public responded, and soon sales were booming again.

Surgeon General's Warning

The next big blow to the tobacco industry came in the early 1960s, with the formation of the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health. Convened in response to political pressures and a growing body of scientific evidence suggesting a causal relationship between smoking and cancer, the committee released a 387-page report in 1964 entitled "Smoking and Health." In unequivocal terms, it concluded that "cigarette smoking is causally related to lung cancer in men." It said that the data for women, "though less extensive, point in the same direction." The report noted that the average smoker is nine to 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than the average non-smoker and cited specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke, including cadmium, DDT, and arsenic.

The tobacco industry has been on the run -- albeit profitably -- ever since. In 1965, Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act requiring the surgeon general's warnings on all cigarette packages. In 1971, all broadcast advertising was banned. In 1990, smoking was banned on all interstate buses and all domestic airline flights lasting six hours or less. In 1994, Mississippi filed the first of 22 state lawsuits seeking to recoup millions of dollars from tobacco companies for smokers' Medicaid bills. And in 1995, President Clinton announced FDA plans to regulate tobacco, especially sales and advertising aimed at minors. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit cnn.

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The Tobacco Timeline

In The Beginning

Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco . . .

Prelude

Prehistory: Although small amounts of nicotine may be found in some Old World plants, including belladonna and Nicotiana africana, and nicotine metabolites have been found in human remains and pipes in the Near East and Africa, there is no indication of habitual tobacco use in the Ancient world, on any continent save the Americas.

The sacred origin of tobacco and the first pipe (Schoolcraft) c. 6000 BCE: Experts believe the tobacco plant, as we know it today, begins growing in the Americas. c.1 BCE: Experts believe American inhabitants have begun finding ways to use tobacco, including smoking (in a number of variations),chewing and in probably hallucinogenic enemas (by the Peruvian Aguaruna aboriginals). c. 1 CE: Tobacco was "nearly everywhere" in the Americas. (American Heritage Book of Indians, p.41). 470-630 CE: Between 470 and 630 A.D. the Mayas began to scatter, some moving as far as the Mississippi Valley. The Toltecs, who created the mighty Aztec Empire, borrowed the smoking custom from the Mayas who remained behind. Two castes of smokers emerged among them. Those in the Court of Montezuma, who mingled tobacco with the resin of other leaves and smoked pipes with great ceremony after their evening meal; and the lesser Indians, who rolled tobacco leaves together to form a crude cigar. The Mayas who settled in the Mississippi Valley spread their custom to the neighboring tribes. The latter adapted tobacco smoking to their own religion, believing that their god, the almighty Manitou, revealed himself in the rising smoke. And, as in Central America, a complex system of religious and political rites was developed around tobacco. (Imperial Tobacco Canada, Tobacco History) 600-1000 CE: UAXACTUN, GUATEMALA. First pictorial record of smoking: A pottery vessel found here dates from before the 11th century. On it a Maya is depicted smoking a roll of tobacco leaves tied with a string.

Introduction:The Chiapas Gift, or The Indians' Revenge?

Columbus' sailors find Arawak and Taino Indians smoking tobacco. Some take up the habit and begin to spread it worldwide.

• 1492-10-12: Columbus Discovers Tobacco; "Certain Dried Leaves" Are Received as Gifts, and Thrown Away.On this bright morning Columbus and his men set foot on the New World for the first time, landing on the beach of San Salvador Island or Samana Cay in the Bahamas, or Gran Turk Island. The indigenous Arawaks, possibly thinking the strange visitors divine, offer gifts. Columbus wrote in his journal, the natives brought fruit, wooden spears, and certain dried leaves which gave off a distinct fragrance. As each item seemed much-prized by the natives; Columbus accepted the gifts and ordered them brought back to the ship. The fruit was eaten; the pungent "dried leaves" were thrown away.
• 1492-10-15: Columbus Mentions Tobacco. "We found a man in a canoe going from Santa Maria to Fernandia. He had with him some dried leaves which are in high value among them, for a quantity of it was brought to me at San Salvador" -- Christopher Columbus' Journal
• 1492-11: Jerez and Torres Discover Smoking; Jerez Becomes First European Smoker
  Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, in Cuba searching for the Khan of Cathay (China), are credited with first observing smoking. They reported that the natives wrapped dried tobacco leaves in palm or maize "in the manner of a musket formed of paper." After lighting one end, they commenced "drinking" the smoke through the other. Jerez became a confirmed smoker, and is thought to be the first outside of the Americas. He brought the habit back to his hometown, but the smoke billowing from his mouth and nose so frightened his neighbors he was imprisoned by the holy inquisitors for 7 years. By the time he was released, smoking was a Spanish craze.
• 1493: Ramon Pane, a monk who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, gave lengthy descriptions about the custom of taking snuff. He also described how the Indians inhaled smoke through a Y-shaped tube. Pane is usually credited with being the first man to introduce tobacco to Europe.
• 1497: Robert Pane, who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, writes the first report of native tobacco use to appear in Europe, "De Insularium Ribitus."
• 1498: Columbus visits Trinidad and Tobago, naming the latter after the native tobacco pipe.
• 1499: Amerigo Vespucci noticed that the American Indians had a curious habit of chewing green leaves mixed with a white powder. They carried two gourds around their necks -- one filled with leaves, the other with powder. First, they put leaves in their mouths. Then, after dampening a small stick with saliva, they dipped it in the powder and mixed the adhering powder with the leaves in their mouths, making a kind of chewing tobacco.

Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit tobacco.

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Secondhand smoke and children

The effects of secondhand smoke on children can be more serious because their bodies are still developing. Find out more about how secondhand smoke affects babies and children.

42% of children in the UK live in a home where someone smokes. Despite nearly 60% of smokers admitting they disapprove of smoking cigarettes with a child present in a room or car, 28% continue to do so.

What's wrong with secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke contains poisonous gases, tar and thousands of toxic chemicals. These poisons get into the bodies of children who live in smoky atmospheres. Children are even more sensitive to smoke than adults as their bodies are young and still developing. It is not safe for children to be in a room where someone is smoking even if the room is not smoky as 85% of smoke is invisible and odourless.

How does secondhand smoke harm children?

Babies and children exposed to a smoky atmosphere are:

• Twice as likely to have asthma attacks and chest infections
• More likely to need hospital care in their first year of life
• Off sick from school more often
• More likely to get more coughs, colds and wheezes

Medical research also shows they have:

• Much higher risk of cot death than the children of non-smokers
• Increased risk of meningitis
• More chance of getting ear infections and 'glue ear', which can lead to partial deafness

How can I discourage my children from wanting to smoke?

Research shows that children who live with smokers are much more likely to start themselves. Smoking is a difficult habit to break, so it is important to encourage children never to start.

NHS Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0 169

For anyone considering stopping there is plenty of help and support available. Call the NHS Smoking Helpline on 0800 169 0 169. Your call will be answered by a friendly adviser who will offer expert and practical support. You can get an information pack with details on how to stop smoking and the different treatments available.

NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0 169

Women who smoke or are exposed to secondhand smoke during their pregnancy are at risk of complications. A special NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0 169 has been set up with trained advisers, who understand the different issues pregnancy brings. They will provide information and advice to help you. They will also offer to call you back at a time to suit your needs. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit givingupsmoking.

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What's in a cigarette?

Did you know that there are about 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke?

These poisonous chemicals include:

Tar is a mixture of chemicals (formaldehyde, arsenic and cyanide to name a few). About 70% of the tar is left in smokers' lungs when they inhale cigarette smoke, and this causes many serious lung diseases.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is an odourless, tasteless and poisonous gas. It combines with molecules in the blood that are supposed to carry oxygen; this makes breathing more difficult. Oxygen is essential for our bodies to work properly. Up to 15% of a smoker's blood may be carrying CO instead of oxygen, which means the heart has to work harder, which can cause coronary heart disease and circulation problems.

Acetone is widely used as a solvent, for example in nail polish remover.
Ammonia is found in cleaning fluids.
Arsenic is a deadly poison, used in insecticides.
Formaldehyde is used to preserve dead bodies.
Cadmium is a highly poisonous metal used in batteries.
Shellac becomes a wood varnish when mixed with a form of alcohol.
Benzene is used as a solvent in fuel and chemical manufacturing.
Cyanide is a deadly poison.

Getting ready to stop smoking

Everyone knows smoking causes you damage and many smokers have tried to quit before. This site is full of information to help you prepare to give up smoking. Whether you're planning on stopping now, or in the future, there's plenty of support to help you go smoke-free.

There's information on the effects of smoking, what it feels like when you're giving up, the benefits of giving up, and lots of information on all of the help available for you to stop smoking.

There are stories of how other people stopped, giving you a little inspiration! Our interactive calculator will help you find out how much money you'll be saving when you stop.

Use the links on the left to find the information you need to help you give up smoking for good!

No Smoking Day 2005 Coaster Competition

No Smoking Day ran a nationwide competition for 9 March 2005 inviting you to create your own No Smoking Day artwork on the flipside of a coaster. Hundreds of entries were received and they were all fantastic. The fifty winning coasters are shown below. Congratulations to all of the winners, who received a No Smoking Day goodie bag! Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit nosmokingday.

Smoking Stinks!

Smoking is one of the worst things kids or adults can do to their bodies. Yet every single day nearly 4,400 kids between the ages 12 and 17 start smoking. Why? There's more than just one simple answer. Some kids may start smoking just because they're curious. Others may like the idea of doing something dangerous - something grown-ups don't want them to do. Still others might have grown up around lots of people who smoke and they might think it's the way to act like an adult.

You've probably heard that smoking and tobacco use can cause cancer and heart disease. That's true, but sometimes kids can't really think that far into the future to worry about an illness they might not get for 20 years. So let's talk about the problems that might affect kids more quickly:

• bad breath
• yellow teeth
• smelly clothes
• more colds and coughs
• difficulty keeping up with friends when playing sports
• empty wallet - cigarettes and tobacco products are very expensive!

Let's find out more about cigarettes and tobacco.

What Are Smoking and Smokeless Tobacco?

Tobacco (say: tuh-ba-ko) is a plant that can be smoked in cigarettes, pipes, or cigars. It's the same plant that's in smokeless tobacco, known as dip, chew, snuff, spit, or chewing tobacco. Smokeless tobacco is not lit and breathed in like tobacco in cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. Instead, smokeless tobacco is put between the lip and gum and sucked on inside the mouth.

Tobacco contains nicotine (say: nih-kuh-teen), a chemical that causes a tingly or good feeling - but that feeling only lasts for a little while. Nicotine is also addictive (say: uh-dik-tiv). That means that if you start to use nicotine, your body and mind will become so used to it that you'll need to have it just to feel OK.

Anyone who starts smoking could become addicted to it. If you're addicted to something, it's very hard to stop doing it, even if you want to. That's why so many adults have a hard time quitting smoking. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit kidshealth.

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Smoking

Is smoking a major cause of lung cancer in women?

Many people think that lung cancer affects mostly men. But even though we hear more about breast cancer, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. And nearly all lung cancer deaths in women are due to smoking. Quitting smoking now is one important change you can make to improve your lung and overall health and live longer. Former smokers have a lower risk for lung cancer than do current smokers. In one to nine months after quitting smoking, your lungs will function better. And after 10 years, your risk of lung cancer is nearly the same as someone who never smoked.

Should women who smoke be concerned about heart disease?

Yes. More women die each year from heart disease than from any other illness. Smoking is the major cause of heart disease in women, especially those younger than age 50. Women who use birth control pills have a much higher risk of heart disease if they smoke. But after just one year of quitting smoking, you reduce your risk of heart disease by half.

Why do women and girls smoke?

Women and girls smoke for different reasons. Some women smoke to deal with stress or control weight. Younger women and girls may start smoking as a way of rebelling, being independent, or fitting in with their peers. Tobacco companies use research on how women and girls feel about themselves to influence women and girls to smoke. But there is never a good reason to smoke, and it's best to never start. There are, though, many good reasons to quit smoking. When you quit, your health and quality of life will improve. You also will help safeguard the health of those you live with by not exposing them to second-hand smoke (the smoke released from a lit cigarette or cigar).

Why should I quit smoking?

When you quit

• Your chances of getting sick from smoking will be less.
• You will have more energy and breathe easier.
• If you are pregnant, your baby will get more oxygen and be healthier.
• Your children and other people in your home will be healthier. Second-hand smoke can cause asthma and other health problems.
• You will have more money to spend on other things.

What happens to my body when I smoke?

When you smoke, you can become addicted to, or not able to do without, nicotine. Nicotine is as habit-forming as the drugs heroin and cocaine. Over time, you may have problems with your teeth and gums; staining on your teeth, fingers, and fingernails; bad breath; and wrinkling skin. There are also other, more serious health problems, caused by smoking:

• Lung cancer and other lung diseases, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis
• Other kinds of cancer, such as cancer of the throat, mouth, esophagus (food pipe), pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix (opening to the uterus or womb)
• Atherosclerosis - clogged and narrowed arteries
• Heart disease
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Early menopause - the stopping of menstrual periods
• Osteoporosis - the thinning and weakening of bones
• Infertility - problems getting pregnant
• Problems during pregnancy like miscarriage, early or premature birth, having an infant born with low birth weight, stillbirth, and even infant death

Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit 4woman.

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Smoking and lung

I think sometimes of the people who, knowing what tobacco does, nevertheless package and advertise and sell 400 billion cigarettes a year in this country to human beings with brains and lungs. Hannah Arendt wrote of "the banality of evil" in describing the drab German administrators who kept the wheels of the Holocaust turning, as though industrial-scale murder were just another government job. Surely the term applies also to the nicely dressed executives who run Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco. Or maybe we can leave banality out of it. Remembering Mary Angela, it occurs to me that "evil" will do just fine, all by itself.

They always worried in the ultimate about losing the damn gold mine they have.

The cigarette manufacturers don't want to kill their customers. That's simply an unfortunate side effect of use of the product. If they can come up with a substitute that would capture the same-size market, they'd love it. [It would] save them a lot of legal fees . . . they'd feel more virtuous.

Smoking and lung cancer are grave issues that all of us at `World News Tonight' have now experienced first hand. Peter Jennings was at the forefront of reporting on the dangers of smoking and tobacco throughout his career, and we are committed to carrying on his work.

Quit to Live: Fighting Lung Cancer.Finally, TV News finally addresses lung cancer seriously, in a monthlong series of reports on ABC's "World News Tonight" and elsewhere that will begin on Tuesday.

It's a middle of the road solution, and you know what happens when you walk down the middle of the road.

If they have a good product that is medically useful, I don't see how the tobacco-company affiliation is an issue.

I shall introduce a health bill tomorrow to the House of Commons. As promised in Labour's manifesto, the health bill will include a ban on smoking in enclosed workplaces and public places, which will cover 99% of the workforce. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit tobacco.

You Can Quit Smoking

Consumer Guide

Learn how to get help to quit smoking and improve your chances of quitting. This document explains the best ways for you to quit as well as new treatments to help. It lists new medications that can double or triple your chances of quitting and quitting for good. It also tells about ways to avoid relapses and talks about concerns you may have about quitting, including weight gain.

Good Reasons for Quitting

• Quitting smoking is one of the most important things you will ever do:
• You will live longer and live better.
• Quitting will lower your chance of having a heart attack, stroke, or cancer.
• If you are pregnant, quitting smoking will improve your chances of having a healthy baby.
• The people you live with, especially your children, will be healthier.
• You will have extra money to spend on things other than cigarettes.

Five Keys for Quitting

Studies have shown that these five steps will help you quit and quit for good. You have the best chances of quitting if you use them together:

• Get ready.
• Get support.
• Learn new skills and behaviors.
• Get medication and use it correctly.
• Be prepared for relapse or difficult situations.

Nicotine: A Powerful Addiction

If you have tried to quit smoking, you know how hard it can be. It is hard because nicotine is a very addictive drug. For some people, it can be as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

Quitting is hard. Usually people make 2 or 3 tries, or more, before finally being able to quit. Each time you try to quit, you can learn about what helps and what hurts. Continue to learn more about smoking, please visit surgeongeneral.