Tobacco Related Legislation

March 7th, 2010

The federal government and the governments in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia are doing everything possible to legislate us into becoming a smoke free nation.

There are regulations and laws everywhere for insuring a smoke free environment. Some of these laws simply restrict smoking to a designated area and some of these laws prohibit smoking in practically every public venue….including outdoor events.

If the legislation doesn’t work the governments have another plan. They will simply tax tobacco products to such a degree that people will no longer be able to afford to buy the products. All 50 states and the District of Columbia impose an excise tax on tobacco products. The taxation rate varies widely. In New Jersey, for example, the excise tax on a single package of cigarettes is $2.75 (at this writing) but in South Caroline the excise tax is only 7¢.

The laws against selling tobacco and tobacco products to minors are laws that even three-pack-a-day smokers agree with. Young people don’t have the experience or the insight to make good judgments although they are certainly given enough information in school about the health dangers associated with tobacco use.

We don’t allow minors to buy alcohol and now we don’t allow them to purchase tobacco and tobacco products. The laws vary some from state to state and the enforcement of the laws varies even more from state to state.

“Minors” is generally defined by most states as a person under the age of 18 years. Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey, and Utah define “minor” as a person under the age of 19 years.

In 45 of the 50 states minors are held responsible for tobacco related offences and are penalized (usually in the form of community service).  

There are laws, laws and more laws that regulate every facet of tobacco sale and use and more are being enacted every single day.

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Discover the Benefits Related to Quitting the Smoking Habit

March 2nd, 2010

Everybody knows the health dangers of smoking and many smokers would tell you that the fear for their health and would like to quit but many, unfortunately cant find the will power to quit. Some smokers feel so trapped that they wont even try to quit in spite of the many number of benefits related to quitting. Benefits that will occur can start in the first few days and you will continue to receive positive benefits for up to 15 years down the road. In this article I would like to talk about the benefits and how soon each will occur after a person quits their smoking habit.

The immediate benefits of quitting smoking will result in the first 2 to 3 days and some people feel that these are some of the most dramatic. In the first 24 hours after a smoker quits, their blood pressure drops, their pulse rate drops, and the temperature of their extremities starts to increase. Their carbon monoxide and oxygen levels will return the level of a non-smoker and after only 1 day, their risk of a heart attach has already decreased. Within 48 hours, the nerve endings of a smoker start to heal and their ability to smell and taste will start to improve. Within 72 hours after quitting a smokers body will be 100% nicotine free and 90% of the nicotine metabolites will have passed out of body through urine starting the process of removing the chemical withdrawal. The bronchial tubes have begun to relax and lung capacity has started to increase making it easier to breath. The next stage of benefits a quitting smoker will get are from the 10 day to 3 month period.

Within the first 2 weeks the brain and body of an ex-smoker will have physically adjusted to life without nicotine and the 3,500 other chemicals in tobacco smoke that they had become accustomed to. With 2 weeks to a month, the body will no longer have the dreaded nicotine cravings. On a side point, if this is what worries you about quitting, there are products and methods available to manage your cravings until this time passes. A word of caution here: Nicotine replacement therapy can indeed help with cravings but you are infusing your body with nicotine and it will take that much longer to completely lose the cravings. With that said, after 3 months of not smoking, the bodies circulation will have increased, it will be easier to walk and workout and the overall lung function will have increased making the symptom of breathlessness much less.

After quitting for a year, you will experience less coughing and less sinus congestion. You will also experience less fatigue and your overall energy level will have increased dramatically. The shortness of breath symptoms that you experienced as a smoker will have declined even more and the cilia that work to clean the lungs will have re-grown. This will make it possible for the lungs to stay cleaner which will also help the body fight infection. After 5 years of quitting your risk of stroke will have dropped to the level of a person that never smoked.

Long range benefits can lead to an increase in life span and decreased risk in smoking related diseases. 10 years after quitting, the risk of lung cancer is around half of what it would be for somebody who had continued to smoke. The risk of oral and throat cancer will have also dropped and the risk of ulcers will have also decreased. After 15 years as a non-smoker, your risk of coronary heart disease will be the same as somebody that never smoked but you must keep in mind that many other factors affect this disease and it is important to keep a well balanced diet as well as quit smoking. The life expectancy of someone who quits smoking will increase but the amount gained will depend on your gender and how long you wait before quitting. Male smokers who quit between the ages of 35 to 39 can add up to 15 years to their life while female quitters in this age group can add up to 12 years. Men and women who quit at ages 65 to 69 increase their life expectancy by up to 3 years.

It is my sincere hope that after reading this article you have a more detailed idea of how quitting smoking can benefit you and has given you a greater desire to quit smoking. Smoking is a deadly habit and if you wish to live a long and healthy life then you should consider quitting today.

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Tobacco Related Problems and Oral Hygiene

February 25th, 2010

It is very well known that the excessive use of tobacco can cause several problems, not only to our lungs and respiratory system but to our oral cavity as well. Dentists have known the detrimental effects of using tobacco and cigarettes, however not many smokers are aware of the dangers and problems tobacco can cause when it comes to our oral cavity.

When asked about the dental consequences heavy smokers face, most people will reply that the heavy use of cigarettes will cause stains in our teeth however, the problem goes way beyond that as constant smoking can cause several diseases, one of them is known as Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis.

Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis (NUG):

This is the name of a disease which affects a smoker’s gum, as you know this particular disease is triggered by the bacterial infections often contracted by heavy smoking, the effects are actually very noticeable because they cause moderate to severe pain. Some of the symptoms reported by people who suffer from this disease are:

– Fever

– A dark or gray film on the gum

– Bad breath and bad taste in the mouth

– Swollen gums

– Swollen glands in the neck

– This disease can also affect the throat

NUG is one-of-a-kind disease because it develops quite fast, in most cases it is very painful and it attacks the gums in a very noticeable way, some of the normal effects this disease has in a smoker’s gum is that they become very sensitive and bleed easily, if the infection becomes severe the gums may appear to be deflated and would no longer be visible.

Luckily for people who suffer off such disease the treatment is relatively fast, it usually takes around two weeks however, if a smoker who suffers off such condition does not receive the necessary treatment in time the consequences could be dire in other words, it can spread to the bones, cheeks, lips and other parts of the jaw. Necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis is one of the oral diseases which makes the work of a cosmetic dentist much harder which is why before starting a cosmetic procedure that is often recommended for patients to go on a cessation program to help them quit such detrimental habit.

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Smoking Related Health Problems in Adolescents

February 21st, 2010

Smoking is the cause of many diseases and kills about four hundred and forty two thousand people every year in the United States. In spite of anti smoking campaigns and billboard warnings, more and more people are joining the bandwagon of smokers every year. Out of the total number of new smokers, ninety percent are children and adolescents, replacing smokers who have quit or died early due to a disease caused by smoking. Smoking is the top cause of preventable and premature deaths, followed by obesity.

Smoking not only increases the risk of lung disease, but also increases the risk of contracting lung cancer, oral cancer, emphysema, stroke and heart disease. Certain statistics by the American Lung Associations show alarming results. Over five thousand adolescents smoke their very first cigarette every day, out of which over two thousand turn into regular smokers. Presently there are nearly five million adolescents smokers. Twenty percent of the twelfth graders smoke cigarettes regularly.

Smoking has many harmful affects on the health of a human being. It damages the cardiovascular system, causes high blood pressure, increases heart rate, increases the risk of ischemic stroke, increases the risk of formation of blood clot formation, and decreases the oxygen amount which reaches the tissues in the body, reduces coronary blood flow & cardiac output, and damages the blood vessels. Smoking not only affects physical health, but mental health too. It causes psychological distress and depression.

Smoking not only affects the person who smokes but also other people who surround him/her. According to the American Heart Association, nearly thirty five thousand passive smokers die of smoke inhaled from a lit pipe, cigar or cigarette. People who do not smoke directly and inhale smoke from a cigarette smoke by his/her neighbor is known as passive smoker, secondary smoker or indirect smoker. Among the passive smokers, women, children and infants are at a higher risk. Infants and children who are exposed to smoke develop asthma, frequent ear infections and may even experience infant death syndrome. The symptoms experienced by secondary smokers are coughing, excess mucus formation in the airways, chest discomfort, chest pain, and lung irritation. They even feel irritation of throat, nose and eyes. If the passive smokers experiences chest pain, it can be an indication of a heart disease. Sometimes the symptoms of secondary smoking can coincide with the symptoms of other medical conditions. Hence, it is recommended to contact the doctor immediately after the surfacing of the symptoms.

In active smokers, smoking, apart from building up high cholesterol in blood, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, physical inactivity and diabetes. So smoking cessation will not only reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, which is top of the list, but also decreases the risk by fifty percent of heart attacks and deaths caused by it. But quitting smoking undertakes lots of physical and mental efforts. The person should be made mentally relaxed and stress free. In case of adolescents, they can be asked to exercise regularly and sleep adequately. The American Lung Association and The American Academy of Otolaryngology have developed certain tips which can be of great help to the smokers who are thinking of quitting. The smokers must first be made to understand the reason for quitting. Stress only makes even more difficult to quit smoking, so a stress free period should be chosen to quit. Family and friends’ encouragement and support are extremely necessary to persuade the smoker to quit. If the support isn’t sufficient, smokers can join a smoking cessation program or a support group to attain their goals. A balanced diet is a must, along with lots of rest.

Sometimes taking nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine chewing gum, nicotine inhalers, and nicotine patch, are a great help to smokers who want to quit. By using these products the smokers can satisfy their nicotine craving. The good thing is that these nicotine replacement products can deduct the poisonous gases and tars emitted by the cigarettes. But nursing and pregnant women should consult a doctor before trying nicotine replacement products. For such people non-nicotine alternative is available in the market.

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China Making Records in Almost All the Aspects Related to Smoking!

February 20th, 2010

Anti smoking campaigns are gaining huge momentum in all the parts of the world. Due to increasing pressures from organizations like the World Health Organization all the governments of the world are taking steps to put a break to the speed at which cigarette smoke is enveloping the whole of the world and its people. But not all the countries are taking up the no smoking campaigns very happily. In fact many countries are quite reluctant to add fuel to the no smoking campaigns. Among these countries one is the very powerful People’s Republic of China.

China has one of the most developing and flourishing economies in the world in the current times. Industry is booming in China. China also hosts the largest population in the world. But unfortunately the government of this vast country is quite reluctant to put any kind of actions in order to minimize the bane of smoking in the country. Till this date the cigarette packets in the country are without any warning which in itself is a very surprising fact, because there are rarely such countries in the world today that do not have warnings printed on the cigarette packets. There are also no restrictions on the advertisements of cigarettes that are being displayed in both the print and the electronic media.

The government of the country is also very unlikely to actually go strict in the anti smoking way. More than 50% of men in the country are hard core smokers. In fact to be exact, the percentage of men enjoying the fag in China is 63% as against a meager 3% in the women. Observing these figures, it is quite obvious that the country is earning huge profits from the tobacco industry in general. In fact the tobacco industry is the highest revenue earning industry in the country. So it is not surprising that the government is least willing to take up the anti smoking way and ban the tobacco industry in the country. In fact most of the government personals are themselves addicted to smoking. Inspite of all the dictums from all the world famous organizations to ban the fag there has been little effort on the part of the government to make the airs of China smoke free.

However, it is not as if the government has turned a deaf ear to all the no smoking dictums of the thinkers of the world. Certain steps have been taken by the government in the anti smoking way. For example the 2008 Beijing Olympics have been declared smoke free and so are the taxis of the country but that day is quite far off when the environment of China will be free from the pollutions that smoking spreads.

Well, it seems that quit smoking drug Chantix should be especially made available in this smoke addicted country. Pfizer chantix is a drug that is known for its efficiency in making people give up smoking. People can even buy chantix from the online pharmacies in case a person wants to give up smoking. However, the problem with the people of China is that they are not willing to give up smoking. Without the will anti smoking drug Chantix can be of no help whatsoever. If there comes a situation when the will is there but the means is lacking, then chantix online can come handy.

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Studies Related to Effects of Tobacco

February 13th, 2010

A scientific study and treatment program meant for tobacco smokers, alcoholics and drug addicts was conducted. In that, these people were required to keep themselves away from the use of tobacco and drugs. Their rate of relapse also was noted and studied. The aspects of cigarette smoking and substance abuse have got some sort of similarity. These points are the aspects of tolerance and the physiological dependence on these stuffs. In the earlier days itself, tolerance levels to tobacco and nicotine were noted and documented well. These aspects are shared by most of the drugs.

When it comes to the issues of physiological dependence and related problems, it becomes more complex. People resort to using drugs; and in the earlier stages, physiological dependence is not possible to be detected. However, many of these drugs are associated with unpleasantness, discomfort and a heightened craving for the drug they have been using during the period when abstinence had to be maintained. Tobacco products and cigarettes are no exception to this as many people will go to any extent just to have a fag when they have the urge to smoke.

There are a number of evidences that suggest that cigarette smoking forms a behaviour pattern and is also a kind of drug abuse. The deleterious factor in it is the critical element called nicotine. However, one of the agencies of the United States government stated that most of the evidence was circumstantial in nature and cannot be considered sufficient enough to officially declare tobacco cigarette smoking as another kind of drug abuse. The argument was that it had to be determined whether nicotine itself would meet the criteria in order to being defined as a drug that is abused by many a people.

In the recent past, a lot of standardized procedures were developed to find out if new drugs can be abused. Two different studies were undertaken; one was called ‘single dose study and the other ‘self-administration study’. Single dose study compares the effects of a single dose of the test drug to the outcome of single doses of some of the standard drugs that are abused.  Alcohol, morphine, cocaine and pentobarbital constitute some of the highly abused drugs as they serve as standard drugs. In the other study called self-administration study, the drug is made available to both animals and human beings to verify if they would take it on a voluntary basis.

After that, the single dose studies were used to compare effects of nicotine in cigarettes when ingested through smoking to effects of nicotine when taken intravenously. Smokers who volunteered were given cigars and cigarettes to smoke during test days and were administered nicotine injections on other days. These people were not told about the nicotine dose they were asked to consume; interestingly, even whether it contained the substance called ‘nicotine’ at all. Several conclusions were made once the study was conducted. Nicotine did produce comparable effects when given intravenously and in the form of cigarettes. This has confirmed that nicotine is accountable for the physiological and psychological effects it has on humans.

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