Individual counseling can be a big help for smokers who are trying to quit. Just under 11% of smokers are able to quit without some type of therapy, according to the latest U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) guidelines. But one-on-one counseling increases the average success rate to nearly 17%. “Sure, medication is effective at curbing withdrawal symptoms,” says Bruce Christiansen, PhD, lead researcher at the University of Wisconsin� ... Jump to full article >>

Two years after the General Assembly passed a bill to ban smoking from most workplaces, including restaurants, supporters say the law is working and should be extended to include places such as over-21 venues that are now exempt. “There literally are hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who are healthier, and tens of thousands who do not have lung cancer or heart disease because they now get to breathe clean air,” said state Sen. Roy ... 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 >>

China executed two people and imprisoned others as a warning not to endanger the public safety by producing harmful exports. On November 24, a dairy farmer and a milk salesman were put to death in the 2008 scheme to water down infant formula that left at least six children dead and sickened more than 300,000. In a move to reassure the world that China will protect its exports from unethical producers, those responsible were severely punished. Ne ... Jump to full article >>

Public health advocates foresee a perfect storm heading to Ohio next year that could increase smoking rates, gut enforcement of the indoor smoking ban and allow Big Tobacco to lure children into using new, mint-flavored tobacco products. “We are poised to see our smoking rates rise if we don’t do something about it. It has happened in other states,” said Shelly Kiser of the American Lung Association. Ohio’s adult smoking rate has already ... 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 >>

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 >>

TERRE HAUTE — If Hoosiers or Americans in general really acknowledged the health threat that is smoking, we would have declared a real national war on tobacco addiction — complete with readily available smoking cessation programs and the prescription aids to go with them. Instead, we continue to wag our fingers with radio, television and billboard PSAs and struggle to enact piecemeal anti-smoking legislation in this county or that city, oft ... Jump to full article >>

MedWire News: Children born to women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during pregnancy face an increased risk for asthma symptoms in early life, researchers warn. “Smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be a considerable risk factor for changes in growth and maturation of the fetal lungs and the later development of wheeze and asthma,” explain Paraskevi Xepapadaki (University of Athens, Greece) and team in the journal Pediatr ... Jump to full article >>

Like a smoke ring floating up to the ceiling of a dimly lit bar, cigarette prices continue to rise. Today, the state’s $1-a-pack tax increase, which passed unanimously in the Florida Senate and by a nearly a three-to-one margin in the state House, takes effect. It is the first increase in Florida’s cigarette tax since 1990 and moves the state’s per-pack tax from 33.9 cents – 46th highest in the country – to $1.33.9, ... Jump to full article >>