Monthly Archive

Lets first start off by saying the easiest way to quit smoking is to not start, and in order to not start we have to educate. So in order to educate we are going give you the best of the best websites to educate the youth of the world. These sites are as cutting edge as it gets in trying to convince a whole new generation not to smoke:

1) Notobacco.org-This site offers educational videos, K-12 assembly programs, speakers, quit smoking info, anti-tobacco news, and a great anti-smoking links guide for teen smoking prevention.

With that education, hopefully smokers and wannabe’s will realize that tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 440,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct medical costs. Nationally, smoking results in more than 5.6 million years of potential life lost each year. Approximately 80% of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18.  So if we can educate and drive the point home of what smoking can do to you then hopefully we can get to them before they make that fatefull decision to light up. Ultimately, why do you think they decide to smoke in the first place? Because they think it’s cool. The cool factor. Well guess what  link #2 is Smoking is not cool!

Every day, nearly 4,000 young people under the age of 18 try their first cigarette
More than 6.4 million children living today will die prematurely because of a decision they will make as adolescents — the decision to smoke cigarettes. Think you need more convincing on why it could not be further from cool to smoke? Why not try one of the most cutting edge websites for not smoking here at #3 Thetruth.

For some hard hitting reality and facts about how “uncool” it is to smoke, check out the website  #4) ydoyouthink This site also has some very interactive elements to it which lead to it being onf of the best out there at convincing you to not start smoking. want to read the real-life stories of three teenagers dealing with quitting smoking? You might be interested in what they have to say about how they quit, what they struggled with, and where they are now. Find that here at #5) Teenquit.

Perhaps as a girl trying to figure it all out, you think that smoking might give you an edge. Find out what tobacco does to a girl’s heart, arteries, lungs, mouth, and throat, not to mention your hair, fingernails, clothes, and skin, here at #6) Girl Power.

Interestingly enough, one of the slickest ways that Big Tobacco grows it’s user base is by slick ads.#7) BADvertising counters the seduction of smoking by doctoring up tobacco ads to make them honest. View the honest ads, send them to your friends and family, and learn how to make your own honest ads. Because Tobacco’s has taken 66,515 kids and turned them into regular smokers in 2008 and 22,172 will die prematurely from their addiction we think that the site #8) Campaign for tobacco free kids make pretty good sense.

Of course the best way to stem the growth beyond being reactive is to be proactive. In that sense why not go after Big Tobacco? Become an activist and help in tryinig to prevent the spread of smoking, cancer and the production of cigarettes. At #9)Big Tobacco Sucks is your resource for becoming involved!  Once you get involved take it on a national level and get others fired up for #10) Kick Butts Day a day for youth to stand out, speak up, and seize control in the fight against tobacco.

If you really want to fight the urge to smoke, then use these sites. If you want to help others quit smoking, then this is the site for you. If you want to assist in the fight to bring down big tobacco and help the world be free, then this is the site for you. With these links, keep them, bookmark them and keep going back. Listen, Smoke Away knows that you want to quit, we also know you want your loved one or your child to quit or to even not start. With that being said, it’s all about education. Spread the word!~ and share this post!

Perhaps these warning shots that are now coming across the bow of every smoker will hit home. In an effort to stem the growth of smoking globally, governments are now slapping warning labels on the packs of all cigarettes. Check them out:

In early 2006 a new initiative was introduced in Australia, with graphic images depicting the effects of smoking  cigarettes to be displayed on cigarette packets.  Warnings must cover 30% of the front and 90% of the back of the box. The 10% of the back not occupied by a warning is used by the message “Sale to underage persons prohibited”.

For cigarette packets, warnings include: Smoking causes peripheral vascular disease Smoking causes emphysema Smoking causes mouth and throat cancer Smoking clogs your arteries Don’t let children breath your smoke Smoking - A leading cause of death Quitting will improve your health Smoking harms unborn babies Smoking causes blindness Smoking causes lung cancer Smoking causes heart disease Smoking doubles your risk of stroke Smoking is addictive Tobacco smoke is toxic

With each warning is an accompanying graphic, and detailed information on the back of the packet. In addition, cigar and loose tobacco packets show other, slightly altered warnings. These warnings target the misconception that alternative, non-cigarette tobacco products are less harmful.

In Germany, the message is more of the same but less graphical, with the following messages printed on the labels and packs: Smoking is lethal, Smoking severely harms you and the people around you, Smokers die sooner, Smoking leads to clogging of arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes, Smoking while pregnant harms your child, Protect children - don’t let them breathe your tobacco smoke! Your doctor or pharmacist can help you to give up smoking. Smoking is very quickly addictive: Don’t start in the first place, Giving up smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases. Smoking can lead to a slow and painful death. Smoking can lead to blood circulation disorders and causes impotence. Smoking makes your skin age. Smoking can damage spermatozoa and decreases your fertility. Smoke contains benzene, nitrosamine, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Talk about driving the point home! We can’t think of anything more effective in the fight to stop smoking world wide, then the cold hard facts about what smoking can do to you! Here is Germanys label:

The Canadian Tobacco Act requires warnings to be printed on all tobacco products sold in Canada.

Each warning is printed along with a short explanation and is accompanied by a picture illustrating that particular warning, for example:

WARNING
CIGARETTES CAUSE LUNG CANCER
85% of lung cancers are caused by smoking.
80% of lung cancer victims die within three years.

Accompanied by a picture of a human lung detailing cancerous growths.

In France, the warnings are similar to Germany with: Smokers die prematurely, Smoking clogs arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes, Smoking causes fatal lung cancer, Smoking during pregnancy harms your child’s health, Help yourself quit smoking: call 0 825 309 310.

In Hong Kong, thery are even more adamant in their usage of warnings.

Packaging must indicate the amount of nicotine and tar is present in cigarette boxes in addition to graphics depicting different health problems caused by smoking in the size and ratio as prescribed by law. The warnings are to be published in both official languages, Traditional Chinese and English.

Warning begins with the phrase ‘HKSAR GOVERNMENT WARNING’ and then one of the following in all caps.

• Smoking causes lung cancer
• Smoking kills
• Smoking harms your family
• Smoking causes Peripheral Vascular Diseases
• Smoking may cause impotence
• Smoking can accelerate aging of skin

In addition, any print advertisement must give minimum 20% coverage of the following warnings: HKSAR GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING

• January -February SMOKING KILLS
• March- April SMOKING CAUSES CANCER
• May- June SMOKING CAUSES HEART DISEASE
• July- August SMOKING CAUSES LUNG CANCER
• September- October SMOKING CAUSES RESPIRATORY DISEASES
• November - December SMOKING HARMS YOUR CHILDREN

In Italy, the message is more of the same but with some variance in the delivery. Smoking kills / Smoking may kill, Smoking heavily damages you and whoever is near you, Smokers die early, Smoking clogs arteries and causes heart diseases and strokes, Smoking causes fatal lung cancer, Smoking during pregnancy injures the baby, Protect the kids, don’t smoke in their presence, Your doctor or your pharmacist may help you quit smoking, Specialists in the medical profession may help you quit smoking, Smoking is highly addictive, don’t start, Quitting smoking reduces the risk of deadly cardiovascular and lung diseases, Smoking causes oral cancer.

In Latvia, here is their label.

The Netherlands.

Portugal

South Korea, with a bit of a twist on the message: Smoking causes lung cancer and other dieseases and it is especially dangerous for teenagers and pregnant women and It is illegal to sell cigarettes to people under 19! It hurts your children’s health. Smoking damages your health. Once you start smoking, it is very difficult to quit.

In the United Kingdom, the message is quite clear. One of the following general warnings must be displayed, covering at least 30% of the surface of the pack:

• Smoking kills
• Smoking seriously harms you and others around you

Additionally, one of the following additional warnings must be displayed, covering at least 40% of the surface of the pack:

• Smokers die younger
• Smoking clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes
• Smoking causes fatal lung cancer
• Smoking when pregnant harms your baby
• Protect children: don’t make them breathe your smoke
• Your doctor or your pharmacist can help you stop smoking
• Smoking is highly addictive, don’t start
• Stopping smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases
• Smoking can cause a slow and painful death
• Get help to stop smoking: telephone/postal address/internet address/consult your doctor/pharmacist
• Smoking may reduce the blood flow and cause impotence
• Smoking causes ageing of the skin
• Smoking can damage the sperm and decreases fertility
• Smoke contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.

The first written warnings on packets in Britain appeared in 2003, and shocking warning pictures are set to appear on British packets in 2008 alongside the written messages, revealed Alan Johnson, Secretary of Health in August 2007.

In conclusion, the makers of Smoke Away certainly applaud the efforts of other countries, but it is not enough. Developing nations are smoking more and more and something needs to be done to provide some type of free resource to help these people quit. There are certainly many avenues and channels to acquire cigarettes, but how many exist to help people quit smoking?

For more information on how to quit smoking or to talk to people who have quit smoking with or without the help of Smoke Away, log onto the Smoke Away support site to talk with people just like you!

Secondhand smoke, also known as ETS or environmental tobacco smoke, is a complex mixture of gases and particles that includes smoke from the burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe tip (sidestream smoke) and exhaled mainstream smoke. According to the CDC:

• Secondhand smoke contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic, including more than 50 that can cause cancer.
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults.
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30% and their lung cancer risk by 20–30%.
• Breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk.
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes respiratory symptoms in children and slows their lung growth.
• Secondhand smoke causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
• Secondhand smoke causes acute respiratory infections
• Secondhand smoke causes ear problems
• It also causes more frequent and severe asthma attacks in children.
• There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous.
• More than 126 million nonsmoking Americans continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke in homes, vehicles, workplaces, and public places.
• Most exposure to tobacco smoke occurs in homes and workplaces.
• Almost 60% of U.S. children aged 3–11 years—or almost 22 million children—are exposed to secondhand smoke.
• About 25% of children aged 3–11 years live with at least one smoker, compared to only about 7% of nonsmoking adults.
• The California Environmental Protection Agency estimates that secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700–69,600 heart disease deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States.
• Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for 150,000–300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia in children aged less than 18 months. This results in 7,500–15,000 hospitalizations, annually.

If not for yourself, think about what you are doing to others whenever you or a loved one lights up. Where is the respect for others and their quality of life? As soon as you realize what you are doing to your body as well as others around you, you will finally come to the realization that it is time to quit smoking! Let Smoke Away help. If not us then perhaps to people in the Smoke Away Support group who have quit with not only Smoke Away but other products and methods. Talk to them. But do something, today.

This just in. If you think by allowing people to smoke is good for your business, you’re sorely mistaken! Studies of restaurants and bars in Boston, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C. all show business up since they banned smoking. Chicago went smoke free the beginning of this year.

In the United States, 23 states have already banned smoking in restaurants and bars. A number of other states, including Michigan, are considering it. While many bar and restaurant owners say a smoking ban would hurt business, that appears to not be the case at all.

So you think there’s nothing wrong with a little second hand smoke?

According to a case report by a Michigan State University physician, published in the February edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine,  a woman arrived at a bar in Michigan for her shift as a waitress and, according to co-workers, seemed happy and healthy. About 15 or 20 minutes later she collapsed and within a few minutes died.

“This is the first reported acute asthma death associated with work-related ETS,” said Kenneth Rosenman, an MSU professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. “Recent studies of air quality and asthma among bar and restaurant workers before and after smoking bans support this association.”

In 2006, the surgeon general’s report concluded that ETS causes coronary heart disease, lung cancer and premature death. But at that time there was little hard evidence linking ETS to the exacerbation of asthma in adults. ETS for the uninitiated is shorthand for environmental tobacco smoke or “second hand smoke”.

Women who smoke and have a specific genetic makeup are at significant risk for the development of breast cancer, according to a recent study published by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

A research group led by Christine Ambrosone, PhD, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program, Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and Jenny Chang-Claude, PhD, Professor in Epidemiology at University of Heidelberg analyzed data from 10 of the 13 studies published in the last 10 years in which they evaluated genetic information, smoking habits and breast cancer risk in 4,889 premenopausal and 7,033 postmenopausal women.

Analysis demonstrated a significant interaction between breast cancer risk, smoking, and a specific gene called the NAT2 that produces the enzyme, N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2).

For more information about how to quit smoking, check out the numerous articles in this blog. Or to talk to people trying to quit smoking log onto the Smoke Away Support site and or check out the Smoke Away site for another option to quit smoking.

Here is the most comprehensive list of what smoking does to you. The makers of Smoke Away ask you, what more do you need to know in order for you to quit smoking? How about 70 reasons not to smoke!

Cigarette Smoking causes:

• Stained teeth, fingers, and hair
• Increased frequency of colds, particularly chest colds and bronchitis
• Asthma
• Neuralgia
• Gastrointestinal difficulties, constipation, diarrhea, and colitis
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Convulsions
• Leukoflakia (smoker’s patch)
• Insomnia
• Heart murmur
• Buerger’s disease (inflammation of blood vessel linings)
• Shortness of breath
• Arthritis
• Smoker’s hack
• Nervousness
• Wrinkles and premature aging
• Tension
• Gastric, duodenal, and peptic ulcers
• Lung cancer
• Cancer of the lip, tongue, pharynx, larynx, and bladder
• Emphysema
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Artherosclerosis & arteriosclerosis (thickening and loss of
  elasticity of the blood vessels with lessened blood flow)
• Inflammation of the sinus passages
• Tobacco angina (nicotine angina pectoris)
• Pneumonia
• Influenza
• Pulmonary tuberculosis
• Tobacco amblyopia
• Impared hearing
• Decreased sexual activity
• Mental depression
• Blood flow to the extremities is decreased (cold hands and feet).
• Nicotine affects the nerve-muscle junctions, causing tremors and shaking.
• Nicotine causes narrowing and constriction of the arteries, adding to the heart’s load.
• Nicotine, through its ability to stimulate, causes excitement and anxiety.
• Nicotine, an insecticide, makes the blood more viscous and decreases the available oxygen. 
• Nicotine adversely affects the breathing, sweating, intestinal, and heart actions of our autonomic nervous system.
• Two to four cigarettes in a row increase blood fats 200 to 400%. The average smoker (30 cigerettes per day) has 4 to 6 times the chance of having heart disease if he’s in the 45-54 year age group.
• If the mother smoked during pregnancy, her baby will average 6 ounces less and its pulse will be 30% faster than a non-smoker’s baby, and there’ll be withdrawal symptoms in the baby after birth.
• Premature birth has been related to smoking by the mother.
• There is a direct link between parents’ smoking and children’s respiratory disease.
• Smoking causes widespread permanent destruction of the tiny air sacs (alveoli) and narrowing of small blood vessels in the lungs, decreasing the oxygen supply, requiring a higher blood pressure, thus causing extensive circulatory problems and premature heart attacks.
• Smokers have difficulty running and exercising.
• The cilia are tiny, delicate, hairlike coverings on the thin membrane of the surface of the lungs and trachea. This delicate lung-cleaning mechanism, in a cigarette smoker, at first paralyzes, then deteriorates, and is eventually made inoperative, through the complete destruction of the cilia. The smoker then must resort to coughing as a lung-cleaning method. This isn’t efficient, and more than a cupful of tars will have accumulated in his lungs by the time of his premature death.
• Air pollution (auto exhausts, industry wastes, etc.) increases the lung cancer rate of the smoker, but not of the non-smoker. Apparently, the lung-cleaning cilia are alive and working for the non-smoker.
• The time to recover from any specific ill, whether caused by smoking or not, is much longer for the smoker. Often, a non-smoker will survive a sickness from which he would have died had he smoked.
• The non-smoker has no need to spend money to buy cigarettes, matches, lighters, holders, ashtrays, or to spend a dime a mile for that special trip to the store.
• By dying earlier, the smoker will lose many tens of thousands of dollars in social security and other benefits which will naturally end up in the pockets of the non-smoker. The cigarette tax is more money from the smoker to the non-smoker.
• The smoker is sick more often, explaining why he misses an average of 7½ work days per year, usually with a loss of pay, while the non-smoker will miss only 4½ days.
• The overall bad health of the smoker results, on average, in a decrease of 8.3 years in his life expectancy, or about 12 to 14 minutes per cigarette.
• The smoker’s body requires more sleep every night. This extra sleep must come from his spare time. Besides needing more sleep, smokers don’t sleep as well.
• Smoking destroys vitamins, particularly vitamin C and the B’s.
• Smoking has induced cancer in dogs.
• Insurance rates can and will be higher for smokers.
• Some 100,000 doctors stop smoking every year.
• Foods will taste much better to non-smokers.
• Smoking causes smelly breath; smelly house; smelly clothes; messy rugs and furniture, often burned; cigarettes lying around for kids to smoke (and matches to light);
• Smoking is a bad influence on kids; you’re held in low esteem by your kids and your friends (even your smoking friends);
• The inside of your home and auto windows need cleaning more often; death or property loss due to smoking in bed.  
• Smokers get into more auto accidents due to being less alert, having slower reflexes, and also due to fussing around while driving (lighting up, etc.).
• A non-smoker would have to put on an additional 150 pounds in order to increase his mortality rate to that of an average smoker.
• The fact that the tobacco industry provides work, that wouldn’t exist without it, is a myth. The money now wasted on tobacco, if diverted elsewhere, would create a wealth of new job openings in industries producing goods and services more useful to the society than cigarettes.
• Smoking makes a person irritable and argumentative, partially due to a subconscious knowledge of all of the above facts.
• Smoking has been related to brain damage and premature senility.
• A smoker needs much more food and sleep since nicotine makes his body work harder and less efficiently and his heart beat faster, thus using more fuel and energy. This, together with the fact that a smoker loses much of his appetite and his taste for food, explains why smokers have less trouble keeping their weight down.
• When one quits smoking, it’s IMPERATIVE that the intake of food is drastically reduced in order to keep the body weight normal.
• Having to eat less is of course an additional saving of time and money.

You now have read over 70 facts ans reasons why smoking is a) not good for you and b) can seriously shorten your life expectancy. What MORE do you need to know in order for you to quit smoking? Smoke Away knows that you want to quit, or you would not be reading this. If you don’t want to use our product that is fine, but at least TRY something! You, your family and your friends, will be better off because ot it. For more info, talk to the users of the Smoke Away support group, they might be able to shed some light!

Just when you think you’re getting through to people a report comes along like this. Just when you start to see bars, restaurants, and public places banning cigarette smoking, a story such as this, with as attention grabbing of a headline as you will ever see, appears.

I wish I could say that it must be a mistake but apparently not.  According to the World Health Organization, One billion people may die of tobacco-related illness this century, almost all of them in developing countries. Thats 1 BILLION!  A billion people in developing countries will DIE.

There is not a more sobering statistic to me than when I read about a case where something is so totally preventable and yet people continuously and consciously make the wrong choice. Because of what? Boredom, a quest to be cool, poverty? Regardless of the circumstances, it’s obvious that not a lot of thought or care is going into the decision making process.

It’s almost the athlete’s mentality. When an athlete is at the peak of their physical form, when they are at their very best, they have a feeling of invincibility. As if they can never be beaten, can never fail, and that they can conquer all. People have this same feeling when they smoke. They feel nothing but the smokers high and the addiction, but have utterly no clue as to what is going on inside their bodies. In fact they won’t until it is too late as this latest statistic bears out.

To this end WHO has decided to roll out an unprecedented  global campaign to fight the spread of smoking and limit the reach that it currently has.

The effort provides the first comprehensive look at tobacco use, as well as smoking control and taxation policies, in 179 countries. It also lays out six strategies to reduce tobacco use, many used by rich countries in recent decades, although far from fully deployed even there.

Tobacco use is a risk factor for six of the world’s eight leading causes of death and causes about one in every 10 deaths of adults now. That toll is expected to rise steeply as tobacco companies target new customers, particularly women, in low-income countries, WHO officials said.

My question to the tobacco companies would be, how could you, with a clear conscience, target women in low income countries? How in the hell is that a strategy? Do these people sit in their board rooms and decide that this is a viable path to profitability?

“What we’re saying is that we don’t want to let that happen,” said Douglas Bettcher, director of the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative. “We want to see the operating environment of the tobacco companies become as difficult as possible in the near future.”

While WHO cannot force countries to make stringent tobacco control a priority, it hopes to convince them such efforts are cheap, proven, and especially beneficial to their poorest citizens.

“In many countries, money spent by the poor on cigarettes is taken away from what they could spend on health and education,” said Patrick Petit, a WHO economist who helped produce the 329-page report accompanying the initiative’s launch in New York.

Margaret Chan, WHO’s director-general, said the compilation of data is itself a powerful tool for change. “I truly believe that what gets measured gets done,” she said.

WHO is using marketing techniques reminiscent of the tobacco companies’. It has branded the campaign MPOWER — each letter represents one of six strategies — and is eschewing scare tactics in favor of the theme “fresh and alive.” Press materials came with a box that looks like a pack of cigarettes and contains a pad and pens describing the elements of the campaign.

The six strategies are: 1) Monitoring tobacco use and control policy 2)Protecting people by enforcing “smoke-free” laws 3)Offering smokers nicotine replacement and counseling programs 4)Warning on cigarette packs about smoking’s hazards 5)Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and promotion and 6)Raising the price of tobacco through taxes.

Numerous studies have shown that raising the price of cigarettes is by far the most powerful strategy. For every 10 percent increase in price, cigarette consumption drops about 4 percent overall and about 8 percent in young people.

While some cities, states and provinces employ the strategies in a coordinated fashion, no countries do so, the WHO report said. Uruguay employs the most of any nation — three: graphic pack warnings, a ban on smoking in public buildings and free smoking-cessation help. The United States employs two, at least to a degree: national monitoring and a national ban on many forms of tobacco advertising.

Only 5 percent of the global population is protected by laws to curb smoking; only 5 percent live in countries that completely ban tobacco advertising and event sponsorship; and only 6 percent live in places where cigarette packs carry pictorial warnings of smoking’s hazards. (In Brazil, some packs feature a man with a tracheotomy, a breathing hole created in the front of the neck after treatment for throat cancer).

The report sketches a picture of huge diversity between countries and regions in current tobacco use.

In Greece, 59% of men smoke cigarettes every day; in Sweden, 15% do. 38% of Serbian women smoke, but only 1% of women in Kyrgyzstan do. In Indonesia, 65% of men are smokers, but only 4% of women.

Nearly 2/3 of the world’s smokers live in 10 countries, with China accounting for nearly 30%. About 100 million Chinese men now under 30 will die from tobacco use unless they quit, the report said.

In India, which is second to China in the number of smokers, tobacco control is complicated by the fact there are two types of cigarettes that are priced and taxed differently.

In 2006, Indians smoked about 106 billion conventional cigarettes and 1 trillion “biris.” The latter are loosely packed combinations of tobacco and flavorings such as chocolate or clove, wrapped in a leaf of the tendu tree.

Biris are made in thousands of small factories and home workshops and cost about 10 cents for a pack of 25. They are taxed at a lower rate than normal cigarettes, ostensibly to protect the poor, who are their main consumers.

WHO’s campaign was put together with financial help from a philanthropy run by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman. He is giving $125 million over two years for global tobacco control and helped pay for the country-by-country survey that provided baseline data for the campaign.

In New York, he created one of the most comprehensive anti-smoking programs in the country. His advocacy of higher tobacco taxes has pushed the average price of a pack of cigarettes there to $6.20, and he is seeking another 50-cent increase.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in June that the percentage of adult New Yorkers who smoke fell from 22 to 18 from 2002 to 2006, with the steepest drop in people 18 to 24 years old.

The campaign organizers held two news conferences in New York yesterday, one at the United Nations, WHO’s parent organization. U.N. headquarters is about the only place in the city where a smoking ban is not enforced, because the U.N. campus is autonomous territory. The Vienna Cafe there is packed with smokers all day long. It used to have signs saying “Smoking Discouraged,” but they haven’t been in evidence recently.

Clearly things need to be done quickly. Who needs to worry about global warming this century when a billion people will be gone? The makers of Smoke Away want you to quit, we don’t care what method you use, though we would love for you to use our product. The bottom line, just quit for the sake of you and your family and friends.

The American Lung Association developed the Quit Smoking Action Plan under the guidance of a team of experts on cigarette smoking.  It offers specific recommendations for selecting a personalized plan to free yourself of cigarettes and stay that way.

To help you better understand your options, the material is presented in the following 3 Steps of a Quit Smoking Action Plan, along with charts to guide you through each step.

A Deadly Combination: Addiction and Behavior

Nicotine is a powerful drug that raises mood, reduces anxiety, and, in those accustomed to it, increases alertness. Over time, it causes changes in smokers’ brains that make them need nicotine. Then, when they try to quit, smokers have unpleasant symptoms such as irritability, craving for cigarettes or difficulty concentrating.

An additional obstacle to quitting is the many daily behavior patterns that smokers may not even realize they have, such as morning or before-bed cigarette routines, or smoking with friends, co-workers or spouses. Each person’s smoking behavior is different, but these established patterns link smoking to many activities of daily life. These are called triggers.

People who are fairly dependent on cigarettes need to incorporate multiple sources of help in their quitting plan to maximize their odds of success. Those who are less dependent on cigarettes may be successful by using only a few sources of help. However, the more help you have, the better your chances of quitting and staying smoke-free.

Be a Smart Quitter!

There are many programs to help you quit smoking. The cost of these programs may vary from almost nothing to hundreds of dollars. A higher cost does not guarantee success. Many health plans and worksites provide free quit-smoking programs and some health plans cover the cost of medications to help you quit. Check with your insurance carrier or employer for more information.

Before investing your time or money in a program, ask questions such as:

• Is there a cost to you?
• Is the program convenient for you?
• Is the staff well trained and professional?
• Does the program meet your needs?
• What is the success rate of this program?

A program representative should be able to answer your questions. If they can’t, keep looking. There are no tricks or magic bullets to make you stop smoking. If a program seems too easy, guarantees you will quit, or claims a success rate that sounds unrealistic, look elsewhere.

Examining Your Options

STEP #1: Preparing to Quit

What You Need to Do

1. Identify your personal reasons for quitting.

2. Set a quit date, usually within 10 days to several weeks. If you smoke mostly at work, try quitting on a weekend. If you smoke mostly when relaxing or socializing, quit on a week day.

3. Identify your barriers to quitting (such as your spouse smokes or you’ve relapsed before due to depression or weight gain). You’ll find sources of help in this booklet to overcome these barriers.

4. Make SPECIFIC plans AHEAD OF TIME for dealing with temptations. Identify two or three coping strategies that work for you (such as taking a walk or calling a friend).

5. Get cooperation from family and friends. They can’t quit for you but they can help by not smoking around you, providing a sympathetic ear and encouragement when you need it and leaving you alone when you need some space.

STEP #2: Using Medications

What You Need To Know

When you smoke a cigarette, a high concentration of nicotine enters your body rapidly and travels to your brain. Nicotine medications provide you with a safer alternative source of nicotine that enters the body less rapidly and in a lower concentration than cigarettes. There is much unfounded concern about the safety of nicotine medications even though they have been extensively tested and used by millions of people. Unlike cigarettes, which contain thousands of harmful chemicals, nicotine medications contain small doses of nicotine alone to combat cravings and urges to smoke.

To optimize your chances of success, generally medications should be a component of your Quit Smoking Action Plan. However, not everyone who decides to quit smoking will want or need to use them. Depending on the medication you use, you may need a prescription. As with any medication, consult the package directions or your pharmacist before using. If you are pregnant, consult your physician; if you are taking other medications, consult the doctor who prescribed them or your pharmacist. The flip side of this would be the use of a product that did not have any medication in it nor tobacco, such as the product Smoke Away

Your goal in using nicotine medication is to stop smoking completely. If you plan to take nicotine medications, begin using them on your quit day. If you continue to have strong urges to smoke or are struggling to stop smoking completely, ask your healthcare provider about additional help.

If you take the non-nicotine medication,  such as Smoke Away, it should be started about 7-10 days before your target quit date.

Other Tips for Using Medications:

• Ask your physician or pharmacist for advice if you are uncertain about which medication to use.
• Learn to use the medication you choose (examples: apply patches properly, use nicotine gum, nasal spray or inhaler as recommended on package labeling).
• Many experts believe nicotine medications are often taken for too short a time to be of full benefit to users. For this reason, your healthcare provider may advise you to use your medication for a longer period of time or in combination with another medication. However, if you take these medications on your own, do not deviate from package directions.

STEP #3: Staying Smoke-Free

What You Need To Remember

After quitting and getting through the first couple of weeks, staying off cigarettes is critical—and not always easy. Research indicates that continued support and encouragement from health providers, family, friends and other sources are extremely helpful. With Smoke Away, we provide a support group that includes people that have already quit, and people who are currently in the process. It is a great resource for support in your quest to quit smoking.

Your friends and family won’t automatically know how to encourage you. Talk to them ahead of time about what they can do. Also, think about who you want to give you encouragement—someone who will stay positive even if you have some problems along the way.

The average person makes two to four attempts at quitting before they are able to stay smoke-free. If you return to smoking, it doesn’t mean you can’t quit. It just means you need to try again by figuring out what caused you to slip and improving your plan for next time.

You may want to use medications this time if you have tried to quit without them in the past. Or you may want to try a different group, individual counselor or other source of help if you’ve been unsuccessful at quitting on your own.

Some smokers wrongly believe they can reduce their health risks and continue to smoke by substituting other forms of tobacco. Low tar/nicotine cigarettes are not safer than cigarettes, nor do they reduce your risk of smoking-related disease. Smokeless tobacco, pipes and cigars also are not safe. Remember in the end, it will be up to you, and your support network that ultimately decides whether this will be your final quit.