The province announced new funding today to help smokers in certain target groups kick the habit. The funding, which comes during National Non-Smoking Week (Jan. 18-24), is directed at expectant and new mothers as well as people living in poverty, participating in addictions treatment or struggling with mental illness. Over the next two years, the government will spend $280,000 to assist programs operated by Healthy Child Manitoba, the Addiction ... Jump to full article >>

Only 5% to 10% of smokers who try to quit succeed. For the rest, the quick onset of withdrawal symptoms—craving, irritability, hunger, and headache—is too much; the brain begins to raise hell and demand a fresh dose of nicotine, which binds to certain receptors and causes the pleasurable release of dopamine. In the face of 40 years of public-health drumbeating, smoking bans, and social pressure, that’s an amazing failure rate. The prof ... Jump to full article >>

MEL GIBSON has quit smoking for the sake of his newborn baby daughter. The one-time chain smoker is convinced he has kicked his nicotine habit once and for all – but it wasn’t easy. The Braveheart star explains, “The first three days, you’re an axe murderer. On day four you might take a bat to someone. Day five? You’re OK.” And his decision to quit smoking has had immediate health benefits: “I’ve lost five ... Jump to full article >>

America’s first black president Barack Obama’s triumph was not inevitable. In fact, he might never have run for the presidency had he not secured his wife Michelle’s backing by agreeing to quit smoking and spend Sundays with family, a new book has revealed. According to the book, ‘The Race of a Lifetime’, it was only after Obama promised to give up puffing, be home on Sundays and attend his daughters’ parent-t ... Jump to full article >>

Quitting smoking is tough, but getting to the point where you’re ready to quit is half the battle. According to government estimates, about 70% of current U.S. adult smokers want to kick the habit—but smoking is a hard habit to kick. Comprehensive dental work gave Sharmil Hassan the motivation to quit successfully. “On my last visit to my parents in South Africa, I decided to have some dental work done while on vacation there,̶ ... Jump to full article >>

Smokers, here’s a gift you can give your loved ones for Christmas: Quit smoking, and protect children and the rest of your family from dangerous tobacco smoke pollution (TSP). Clean indoor air can be a challenge to maintain during winter months. In frigid temperatures, fresh air barely enters our homes when doors are hastily opened and shut. And in winter, we spend more than 90 percent of our time indoors. Tobacco smoke pollution occurs ma ... Jump to full article >>

A Recently Completed Medical Study Conducted in South Africa Shows An Impressive 45% Success Rate When Using Electronic Cigarettes As A Smoking Cessation Tool. In the first government controlled official study of the electronic cigarette’s effectiveness as a smoking cessation aid e-cigs show an impressive 45% success rate. The study, conducted in South Africa, consisted of 349 smokers. At the conclusion of the two month study 45% of those part ... Jump to full article >>

Smokers could soon break their habit with a jab that stops nicotine from being addictive by preventing it from entering the brain, scientists claimed. As a result the vaccine stops the smoker from deriving any pleasure from inhaling a cigarette. In human trials the vaccine proved successful in 50 per cent of cases. Help: Smokers could quit using the vaccine that stops nicotine entering the brain This would help relieve the NHS of the heavy burd ... Jump to full article >>

Steamboat Springs — This fall, six women graduated from “Baby and Me — Tobacco Free,” a program to keep women from smoking during and after pregnancy. Funded by a grant and led locally by Hope Cook, the prenatal coordinator for the North­west Colorado Visiting Nurse Association, the program gives expecting and new moms incentive and motivation to quit smoking and stay smoke-free. Missy Chotvacs was one of Cook’s fall graduates. She le ... Jump to full article >>

Trying to buy a company that specializes in products that help people quit smoking may seem like a radical change for Reynolds American Inc. But analysts said yesterday that it all depends on how Reynolds would potentially use and market cigarette-replacement products in gum, pouch and spray form made by that company, Niconovum AB. Media reports have said that Reynolds is close to buying Niconovum, of Helsingborg, Sweden, for $44.5 million. The ... Jump to full article >>