Indian Smokers and Tobacco Addiction

Smoking kills, but most smokers still don’t know how. One in two Indian smokers isn’t aware that tobacco addiction can lead to stroke and 38% that it can cause heart disease. These are some of the startling findings of a World Heart Federation report that will be released at the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) in Dubai on Saturday. India is high on tobacco addiction. It has 138 million smokers and 28% of its people in the 15-49 age group use tobacco in some form or the other. Bidis are the most popular (48%) followed by tobacco-chewing (38%) and cigarettes (14%).

Cost of Tobacco Smoking

An employee's money-saving idea is one hot topic in Fort Worth. He wants the city to hire only non-smokers, and that proposal is getting a reaction from co-workers and City Council members.

City Manager Tom Higgins presented the idea informally as one of several possibilities to the Council at Tuesday's meeting. Council member Frank Moss raised serious issues with the idea. "We may lose a lot of good people by excluding smokers," he said.

Tobacco Smoking and Teens

You may have recently noticed a surge on the anti-tobacco war front. This increase in the anti-tobacco campaign comes at the heels of national cancer statistics, which report that there has been a decrease in national cancer rates. The fact is that adolescents are hard to reach when it comes to preventive health care. From 1997-2003, cigarette use declined sharply, but more recent statistics show that current rates are declining at a much slower rate. Nearly all first time tobacco use occurs before high school graduation.

Smoking Promotion Effective

Many of us know that long term smoking can lead to harmful effects, but now a recent ad campaign is showing positive signs of helping people kick the habit. You may have noticed the graphic commercials recently that show the effects of smoking.According to some recent numbers, those stop smoking ads are doing their job. The often gruesome ads are turning heads and turning over some new life choices for smokers.

The number of calls to tobacco quit lines has increased considerably in Ohio and across the nation ever since the government launched the graphic ad campaign.

Cigarettes A New Safety Standard

Fire chiefs hope a new safety standard on discount OK cigarettes will help save lives across the county.

A recent EU safety standard means cigarettes sold in the UK should have special chemical bands in their structure so that cigarettes go out if not actively smoked.

Councillor Christine Bampton-Smith (Lib Dem, Luddenden Foot), vice-chairwoman of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority’s Community Safety Committee welcomed the move.

Ottawa Public Smoke-Free Zones

Smokers should butt out on restaurant patios as well as city-owned parks, beaches, buildings and markets, Ottawa Public Health is recommending.

A decade after the city banned smoking indoors, the next phase of the bylaw expansion would make all city properties -including beaches, more than 1,000 parks and 300 city facilities, including the ByWard and Parkdale market stalls - smoke-free zones. Smoking on city streets and sidewalks would still be allowed.

More controversial will be the push to keep smoking off of outdoor restaurant and pub patios.

Manhattan Tobacco Cessation Program

The Manhattan Tobacco Cessation Program at the New York University School of Medicine announces release of Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: A Toolkit for Dental Providers.

The toolkit, already at use in NYU College of Dentistry’s teaching clinics, will be distributed to dental professionals New York State and the greater dental community nationwide.

During the past three years, NYUCD clinics’ use of the Toolkit for Dental Providers has resulted in favorable smoking cessation outcomes. In one clinic alone, the cheapest Kiss cigarettes smoking rate went down from 21% to 12% from 2008 to 2011, respectively. In addition, the assist rate, which was the percentage of smoking patients that received a prescription to quit from their clinician, began at 5% in 2008 and reached its peak at 58% in 2011.

Dentists Help People Quit Smoking

Smoking is something that can seriously damage oral health. According to WebMD, cigarette use can lead to increased buildup of plaque and tartar on the teeth, a higher risk of gum disease and oral cancer and other major and minor problems such as bad breath and loss of bone in the jaw.

As a result, dentists are often encouraging their patients to give up the habit. Recently, Mobi Health News reported that the company Aetna is giving dentists tablet computers that are equipped with smoking cessation programs designed to help them encourage patients to quit.

"The program is designed as an innovative interface between patients and dentists and we anticipate that devices like tablet computers can be used to break down barriers between clinicians’ and their patients," said David Albert, D.D.S., quoted by the news source.