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According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Women who quit smoking cut the biggest risks of death from heart disease “significantly” within five years and have a 20 percent lower chance of dying from related cancers in that time.

The study’s authors, led by Stacey A. Kenfield of Harvard University’s School of Public Health in Boston, analyzed post- 1980 data from the Nurses’ Health Study, a survey of almost 105,000 nurses conducted starting in 1976. The study will be published in the May 7th issue of JAMA

Researchers found that the risk of death was reduced by 13 percent within the first five years after quitting smoking, mostly due to a lower chance of dying from coronary heart disease, and dropped to the level of a person who had never smoked after 20 years.

“Our main message here is that the harms of smoking are reversible,” Kenfield said in a telephone interview from Boston yesterday. “For some causes of death, the reduction is much higher within the first five years. So it’s never too late to quit smoking. But we also saw a reduction in other diseases, so the message is that it’s never too late to stop even though you may have been smoking for many, many years.”

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death across the globe, with more than 5 million people dying from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses annually, according to the World Health Organization. That figure may rise to 10 million a year by 2030.

Follow-Up Studies

The chance of dying from lung cancer dropped 21 percent within five years after quitting when compared with people who continued to smoke, although additional risk didn’t disappear for 30 years, the study said.

Former smokers who had quit 20 to 30 years earlier had an 87 percent lower chance of dying from lung cancer when compared with current smokers, the study said. The risk dropped to the same level as a person who had never smoked after 20 years for all smoking-related cancers, which include lip, mouth and stomach cancers.

The risk of death from respiratory disease dropped 18 percent within a decade after quitting, and approached the same level as a person who had never smoked after 20 years.

Unlike previous studies, the authors followed up with the survey respondents every two years to ask about their smoking status, which Kenfield said made the findings more accurate.

Other studies “did not see a drastic decrease in risk especially with people that had quit smoking for a long time,” Kenfield said. For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, “we saw a very nice decline in risk down to the level of a non-smoker over time.”

As a follow up to a previous article in which the makers of Smoke Away  preached the benefits of quitting smoking and living longer, this article certainly supports that assertion.

As usual Smoke Away wants you to quit smoking. To help you get on the path to stopping smoking, Smoke Away presents to you Smoke Away stop smoking images that you can print or use as screen savers as constant reminders to you to STOP SMOKING!       

Maybe Smoke Away Can Help? It certainly can’t hurt! What are you doing about your smoking addiction now? Are there any stop smoking tools you currently use? If not, then maybe these can help!

Here is some food for thought in your quest to be smoke free.

You do want to cut out the smoking, don’t you?

We’ve got a great idea, why don’t you try and quit smoking with the help of Smoke Away? Actually, how bout if you just quit smoking and leave it at that!

Need to talk to someone? Log onto the Smoke Away support group, they can help!

Despite the well-known dangers of tobacco, more than a billion people worldwide still smoke cigarettes. On Thursday, in its first report on global tobacco use and control efforts, the World Health Organization helped shed light on why the number of smokers remains so high. Though tobacco is the world’s leading preventable cause of death—killing an estimated 5.4 million people a year (more than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined)—the WHO report found that, while 152 countries have pledged to implement recommended tobacco-control policies, only a handful have taken strong action already. Governments around the world still take in, on average, more than 500 times as much from tobacco taxes as they spend on tobacco control.

—can governments help turn the tide?

The makers of Smoke Away would like to drive the point home visually for those of you out there who just don’t get it. So we start by saying, “What the hell is your problem?” Are you the type of person that reads something like this and says,”Hmmm, that’s not a bad idea!”

Or maybe this looks really sexy to you and makes your mouth water at the prospect of puttting another cancer stick in your mouth?

mmmm.. yummy isn’t it? or perhaps you are the type of person where one of these phrases makes sense to you? What is it going to take to get through to you?

Ohhhh ok we get it, you don’t think there’s really anything bad in a cigarette other than the nicotine…OK then don’t worry about the butane, the cadmium, the stearic acid, the industrial solvent, the insecticide and the toilet cleaner, the vinegar, the sewer gas, the arsenic, the carbon monoxide, and the rocket fuel that is in each and every cigarette.

But what are a couple of cigarettes going to do to me? Well lets look at the anatomy of your typical female. Now keep in mind, cigarettes are not choosy, they’ll poison and pounce on anyone who chooses to light up. But lets look shall we?

Starting from the head on down we have wrinkles, the inability to smell properly, bad breath, yellow teeth, the inability to taste correctly, gum disease,  a persistent hacking cough, a nice persistent back ache, more fat, the inability to go to the bathroom properly, lower chance of  having a child, and slower wound healing. Mmm.. makes you want to run right out and smoke doesn’t it?

Lastly lets look at some quick statistics of just what cigarettes and second hand smoke and its ilk do to people. Choose to pick your poison?

Listen, we don’t care HOW you quit smoking. In fact, the makers of Smoke Away would love for you to use our product, but more importantly, we want you to quit smoking using ANY product. Just quit. Not for us, for you, your family and your friends. If you want to talk to some people that have stopped smoking using our product, or people that are still in the throws of quitting, or people who have just plain quit, Try the Smoke Away Support site. Good Luck.

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!

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.

Tobacco companies have marketed their products with well thought out campaigns utilizing all of the media, including print media, the movies, television and musicians. The images of Hollywood stars and musicians smoking have had an influence on people’s decisions to start smoking. People, and especially young people, see these images, and imagine how cool they would look if they smoked. They think it is sexy to smoke. They it is cool? There is absolutely zero “cool” factor to smoking. Here’s a quick question to any teens or college aged readers out there:  How does it taste to “make-out” with someone who smokes? Do you enjoy it in the least bit?

There are other reasons people start smoking, but more often than not, it is because of the image that is created in their minds through the use of movies and media that prtray smoking as a “prop” that makes the scene and the actor more Believable!!!  Could they be any further from the facts or truth?  

In some parts of the world smoking is viewed as a “rite of passage”. Seeing third world youngsters smoking, some of them 10 years and younger, is not unusual. But my question to you and them, what education is going on to teach and explain to them the hazards and dangers of smoking? None. So they smoke.

Most people get started smoking with their first cigarettes given to them by older friends or family members.  Or they sneak it from someone else or they get someone to buy them their first pack of squares. It’s obvious who the new smokers are, because they are trying like hell to look cool. Little do they know what is in store for them if they do not stop. How depressing is it to see Santa smoking? Such was the mentality many years ago!

Part of the reason they smoke is to be a part of the crowd that they admire or people they aspire to emulate. Many times their peers encourage them to start, and even show them how it is done, even how to do things such as blowing smoke rings, etc. Because they are not part of a particular clique, they use smoking as a crutch to support them and give them an identity.

It is about image more than anything else as most people would agree that the first cigarette is certainly not pleasant. If food tasted that bad most of us would never eat again. It becomes a challenge to overcome the coughing, burning throat, the choking, the burning of the eyes. If something is seen to be cool or fashionable then there will be many people who will do it simply to be accepted by their peers.

The majority of people find that smoking tastes bad and makes them feel bad until they become accustomed to the taste then those feelings disappear. By that time they have started to become addicted to the tobacco and nicotine and a new problem presents itself.

Statistics show that the majority of people who smoke wish they had never started, if only they could wind back the clock they would certainly never have started. They fool themselves into thinking that they can quit any time they want. After a few tries at quitting they buy into the notions that quitting is too hard, they do not have the will power, smoking is really not as bad as people say. They begin to justify their habit with comments like;

• I really enjoy smoking,
• It relaxes me,
• It keeps me thin.
• I can quit any time I want.

After a very short time the addictive nature of tobacco and nicotine start to control the smoking habit, which makes so many people continue to smoke long after they realize the many ways it is affecting their health. Knowing that they are shortening their life is generally not enough incentive to quit.

As we ease into 2008, why not let Smoke Away allow you to try and quit smoking. Basically we want you to quit, no mattter which way you go. Just make sure that you make 2007 the last time you even think about smoking.

Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in the United States, and the major cause of death. This lung cancer screening quiz will help you identify any signs and symptoms you may be experiencing; however, it is not intended to diagnose any condition. If you have any signs and symptoms of lung cancer, you should see your doctor immediately.

Q: Do you have a persistent cough?

Yes
No

Q: Do you have a deep, wheezing cough?

Yes
No

Q: Do you cough up mucus?

Yes
No

Q: Do you cough up bloody sputum?

Yes
No

Q: Do you have difficulty breathing?

Yes
No

Q: Have you had reoccurences of pneumonia or bronchitis?

Yes
No

Q: Do you have difficulty swallowing?

Yes
No

Q: Have you had long-term exposure to asbestos, or other dusts, chemicals, or fibers?

Yes
No

Q: Do you smoke or have you smoked in the past?

Yes
No

Q: Have you been feeling unusually fatigued or have you had a loss of appetite?

Yes
No

If you answered yes to the majority or even half of these questions, it would appear that you have many of the signs and symptoms of Lung Cancer. Because Lung Cancer is a slow progressing lung disease, it may take many years before signs and symptoms appear. Therefore, if you are experiencing many of the signs and symptoms of Lung Cancer, you should see your doctor immediately. Only your doctor can make an accurate diagnosis. If you are a smoker, you should quit smoking now. As we head into the new year, you may want to try quitting with Smoke Away. Though not a substitution or a cure for lung cancer, Smoke Away might help you in your quest to quit smoking.

Here are 25 triggers that make you feel like you want to smoke.  But…Here are 18 ways to avoid the triggers.  But first lets look at the acronym, HALT.

HALT = Hunger, Anger, Lonely, Tired

Hunger - It is amazing how our minds will tell us that everything’s wrong when all we really need to do is eat.

Anger - If we are angry, our minds tell us we need a cigarette to cope. Until your mind learns that it doesn’t need a cigarette to cope, try to avoid upsetting situations. Avoid certain people that may bother you. If you can’t get some time off, quit smoking on a long weekend.

Lonely - It is good to know some people who are going through the same thing. (Come to chat!!!!)

Tired - If we are tired, it is easy to become irritated and when we get irritated our minds will tell us that a cigarette will help. Our overall resistance becomes weak and it is easy to say, “Oh well, I guess I’ll have a smoke.”

Other common triggers: 

	After sex
	With alcoholic beverages
	Stressful work situations
	Social functions
	Boredom
	With coffee
	While driving
	End of a workday
	Enjoying a sense of accomplishment
	Facing a family crisis
	Finishing a meal
	Getting out of bed
	Playing cards
	Reading
	Friends who smoke
	Talking on the telephone
	Waiting for someone or something
	Watching TV
	Work breaks
	Out of habit - for no reason whatsoever

Make note of your triggers. When do you smoke? Is it associated with any of the above triggers? Maybe you have others. It is very important for you to prepare for any of your triggers. Know how you will handle them. Those triggers can quickly overwhelm the unprepared quitter, but a good plan of your own will carry you through all of them. As we head into the final days of 2007. Now is the time to set your sites on 2008 as the year that quit smoking. Smoke Away knows that you want to quit. We want you to quit. Best of all, whether you use our product or not, the bottom line is that YOU are making an effort to something about your addiction to nicotine. Below are ways to combat your triggers:

Substitution Suggestions:

Study: Developing countries embracing lifestyle habits linked to disease

About 7.6 million people will die this year worldwide from various types of cancer, with lung cancer — heavily driven by smoking — killing 975,000 men and 376,000 women, the American Cancer Society said Monday.

Cancer also is increasing in developing countries as people embrace habits linked to cancer such as smoking and fattier diets, American Cancer Society epidemiologist Ahmedin Jemal said in a telephone interview.

In all, about 12.3 million people will develop cancer this year, the organization projected, using data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization.

About 20,000 people die of cancer every day worldwide, the report showed. Smoking was heavily responsible for the lung cancer scourge.

Cancer’s burden is on the rise in developing countries as deaths from infectious diseases and child mortality fall and more people live longer, Jemal said. Cancer is more common as people get older, Jemal noted.

Lower survival rates
The report estimated 5.4 million people will get cancer and 2.9 million will die of cancer in developed nations, with 6.7 million cases and 4.7 million deaths in developing nations.

Overall, 75 percent of children with cancer live for five years in Europe and North America, compared to three-year survival rates of only 48 to 62 percent in Central American countries.

Cancers related to infections, such as stomach, liver and cervical cancer, were more common in developing countries, the group said. Fewer people survive cancer in developing countries due to lack of availability of early detection and treatment services, according to the report.

Globally, 15 percent of all cancers are caused by infections. The Helicobacter pylori bacteria causes stomach cancer, human papillomavirus causes cervical cancer and hepatitis can cause liver cancer.

Breast cancer scourge
Among men, the three most commonly diagnosed cancers are prostate, lung and colorectal cancer in developed countries and lung, stomach and liver cancer in developing countries.

Among women, the three most common cancers are lung, breast and colorectal in developed countries and breast, cervical and stomach cancer in developing countries.

About 465,000 women will die of breast cancer this year, making it the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, the group said.

Smoke Away still trusts that you will decide between now and the end of the year to decide to quit smoking. Stopping smoking is hard but the reality of it is, if you don’t stop smoking. bad things will happen. It’s inevitable. Do it today. Either with Smoke Away or without. it’s your choice!

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After you quit smoking, there is no longer a need to go out and light up. Which means that you more productive now that you are not devoting 2 hours of your 8 hour work day to smoking. But did you know:

1. Smokers facing work restrictions on smoking consume 11-15% less than average and quit at a rate that is 84% higher than average… Milder workplace restrictions, such as smoking only in designated areas have much less impact on quitting rates and very little effect on consumption.” —Philip Morris
2. A study conducted by the University California San Francisco reported that entirely smokefree workplaces were associated with a 3.8% reduction in smoking prevalence. Of those employees who continued to smoke, there was an average reduction in consumption of 3.1 fewer cigarettes per day. The combined effects of increased cessation and decreased consumption corresponded to a 29% relative reduction in tobacco use among all employees.
3. A study conducted through the University of Missouri-Columbia investigated whether the rate of smoking cessation was higher among hospital employees than among other community employees not subject to a smokefree workplace policy. Over a period of three years. Hospital employees were found to be almost twice as likely as other community employees to quit smoking and tended to take a shorter time to quit.
4. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco investigated the effect of local workplace smoking laws in California on smoking cessation. The results of the study revealed that smokefree ordinances significantly increased the rate of smoking cessation – the stronger the ordinance, the higher the rate of cessation. While there was only a 19.1% cessation rate in areas with no ordinance, there was a 24.6% cessation rate in areas with weak ordinances, and a 26.4% cessation rate in areas with strong ordinances. Overall, researchers found that smokers who worked in communities with strong ordinances were 38% more likely to quit smoking than smokers in communities with no ordinance.
5. Massachusetts introduced a comprehensive tobacco control program a number of years ago that brought together four elements of tobacco control: a cigarette tax increase; a mass media campaign; services for cessation and educational outreach; and the promotion of local smokefree ordinances. Prior to the program’s implementation, the annual decline in cigarette consumption for Massachusetts adults was comparable to that for the rest of the nation. The year following the program’s implementation  consumption in Massachusetts dropped 12% while it remained steady for the rest of the nation at 4%. After that the annual decline in cigarette consumption leveled off in comparison states (declining less than 1% a year). In Massachusetts, however, consumption continued to decline by more than 4% a year.
6. Workplace smoking restrictions can significantly reduce smoking rates among young adults according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Adolescents who worked in a smokefree workplace were found to be 32% less likely to smoke than adolescents who worked in a workplace with no smoking restrictions. Household smoking restrictions were also found to significantly reduce adolescent cigarette consumption and increase cessation rates.
7. A total of 97,882 indoor workers were questioned regarding their smoking behavior and the smoking policies at their place of work. Researchers found that a 100% smokefree workplace was associated with a 6% reduction in smoking prevalence and a 14% decrease in the average daily cigarette consumption of smokers relative to workplaces with weak or no smoking restrictions. These results were found to be true for all demographic groups and in nearly all industries.
8. The Community Intervention Trial for Smoking Cessation (COMMIT) surveyed the behavior of 8,271 cigarette smokers in 22 North American communities. Participants were questioned regarding their tobacco use behaviors, demographic characteristics, and workplace smoking policies. Employees in smokefree workplaces were found to be 25% more likely to make a serious attempt to quit smoking and 25% more likely to succeed than employees not subject to a smokefree workplace policy. Among continuing smokers, those in smokefree workplaces smoked an average of 2.75 fewer cigarettes a day.
9. A study published through the National Bureau of Economic Research investigated the effect of work area smoking bans on smoking behavior. Data from the National Health Interview Surveys was used to obtain data for over 18,000 workers. Researchers found that workplace smoking bans are associated with a 5% to 6% decline in smoking prevalence and an average reduction in cigarette consumption of 2.3 cigarettes per day per smoker.

What the Tobacco Industry thinks about workplace smoking restrictions…

10. “Smoking bans are the biggest challenge we have ever faced. Quit rate goes fr0m  5% to 21% when smokers work in nonsmoking environments.”

11. “The immediate implication for our business is clear: if our consumers have fewer opportunities to enjoy our products, they will use them less frequently and the result will be an adverse impact on our bottom line.”

12. “Those who say they work under [smoking] restrictions smoked about one-and-one-quarter fewer cigarettes each day than those who don’t. That may sound light but remember we’re talking about light restrictions, too. Those 220 people in our survey who work under smoking restrictions represent some 15 million Americans. That one-and-one-quarter per day cigarette reduction, then, means nearly 7 billion fewer cigarettes smoked each year because of workplace smoking restrictions… At a dollar a pack, even the lightest of workplace smoking restrictions is costing this industry 233 million dollars a year in revenue. How much more will it cost us with far more restrictive laws such as those in Suffolk County and Fort Collins now being enacted?”

With more and more restrictions being placed on where and when you can smoke, isn’t the choice clear? You need to quit smoking. Why work so hard to find a place to smoke, when all you have to do is quit? Why face the scorn of others who frown on you when they see you smoking? The makers of Smoke Away would love for you to use our product, but the bottom line is, we want you to quit smoking regardless of the mechanism.

In Smoke Away’s efforts to push for you to be smoke free and loving it before the new year, whether it’s with our quit smoking product or not, we have found another option for you provided by the American Lung Association. 

Freedom From Smoking® Online
www.ffsonline.org
This online smoking cessation program sponsored by the American Lung Association is an interactive course designed to educate and modify the behavior patterns of a smoker. Freedom From Smoking Online can be accessed day or night, seven days a week, on any schedule the smoker chooses.  It is ready whenever a smoker wants to start the process of quitting and it’s free of charge (registration is required).

What to Expect with Freedom From Smoking®

Module 1:

In Module 1 you will get information about the FFS program, how it works, and what to expect. We help you determine your readiness to quit smoking, and to reduce your ambivalence about quitting. This week we also help you begin believing that you actually can quit smoking.

Module 2:

During Module 2 you will begin to understand your learned habit. You will learn some stress management/relaxation techniques. And you will begin to build you confidence and motivation to quit.

Module 3:

You will come to a deeper understanding of your particular smoking habit. Then we will begin to look at substitute behaviors to smoking. You will make specific plans to cope with you trigger situations. This will help you avoid relapse. We will give you some information on nicotine reduction therapy, and you will make general preparations for quitting. On your chosen Quit Day you will make a firm decision to go smoke free. There will be a special way to say good-bye to your cigarettes on the message boards.

Module 4:

This module covers physical and psychological recovery symptoms. We will look at the medical and non-medical benefits of quitting. You will spend time on the message boards discussing particular problems, fears and successes. And we will cover the dynamics of stress and some options to healthier stress management techniques.

Module 5:

During Module 5 we dive into long term strategies for maintaining a smoke free lifestyle. We will deal specifically with weight control issues, and saying, “No” to cigarettes in social situations.

Module 6:

We will continue with maintenance issues as we offer information about staying smoke free. We will talk about your new, nonsmoking, self image. We’ll cover fitness and exercise, and teach a plan for beginning a walking program. You will also learn some assertive communication techniques.

Module 7:

This is truly a time for celebration! We will cover the effects of secondhand smoke. We will also review your nonsmoking status. We cover how long the recovery process takes, what you can continue to expect, and then we ask you to evaluate the program.

What To Do When the Quit Day Comes

• Do not smoke. Stop smoking the night before and when you wake up the next morning, you will have an 8-hour head start to being smoke-free!
• Keep active - try walking, exercising or doing other activities or hobbies.
• Drink lots of water and juices.
• Start nicotine replacement therapy (if chosen).
• Continue attending a smoking cessation class, following a self-help plan and using computer resources. Call your support system or the quitline when you’re tempted.
• Avoid high-risk situations where the urge to smoke is strong. Sit in non-smoking sections when you go out to eat or frequent smoke-free establishments.
• Reduce or avoid alcohol and caffeine. Why? Alcohol clouds judgment and can make it easier to slip and smoke. Plus, alcohol may be linked to smoking for some people and it’s important to break this connection.
• Use the four “A’s”
  

  Avoid. Certain people and places can tempt you to smoke. Stay away for now. Later on, you’ll be able to cope.

  Alter. Switch to soft drinks or water instead of coffee or alcohol. Take a different route to school or work. Take a walk when you used to take a smoke break!

  Alternatives. Use oral substitutions like sugarless gum, hard candy or sunflower seeds.

  Activities. Exercise or hobbies that keep your hands busy (video games, needlework, woodworking, etc.) can help distract the urge to smoke.

If you’re still having issues with the day of the quit, try talking to some of the people who have quit with the help of Smoke Away. Though we are not saying that this might be the way for you to quit, it is merely a suggestion. If you go to Smoke Away Support, you will be able to talk with both current and past quitters!

If not controlled, later in life it will become a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack. Among young men and women — who are otherwise at very low risk of developing coronary heart disease —cigarette smoking may cause as many as 75 percent of the cases of coronary heart disease. The longer a person smokes, the higher the risk of coronary heart disease. More than 80,000 people die each year from coronary heart diseases caused by smoking.

Most adult smokers started when they were preteens or teenagers; smoking habits in youth seem to determine lifetime cigarette consumption. There’s also evidence that those who begin smoking before they’re 20 have the highest incidence and earliest onset of coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. Autopsy studies of smokers have raised questions about the effects of smoking in childhood and adolescence on the development of fatty buildups in arteries in adulthood.

What about passive or secondhand smoking?About 59 percent of American children ages 4–11 are exposed to secondhand smoke at home. Studies have shown that children (especially infants) of parents who smoke have more lung illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia, and can develop asthma. And because smoking parents are more likely to cough and spread germs, their children are more likely to develop chest illnesses. Exposure to tobacco smoke also increases the risk of heart disease.

With or without the help of Smoke Away, the makers of Smoke Away cannot emphasize enough the importance of education in children as it relates to smoking. Why not set a better example and try to quit smoking in 2008? If you need more help and guidance, why not log onto the Smoke Away Support Group page and talk to people who have been there and done that!

No matter how old you are or how long you’ve smoked, quitting will help you live longer. That’s a fact! People who stop smoking before age 50 cut their risk of dying in the next 15 years in half compared with those who continue to smoke. Ex-smokers enjoy a higher quality of life with fewer illnesses from cold and flu viruses, better self-reported health, and reduced rates of bronchitis and pneumonia.

So the makers of Smoke Away thought you might need a little motivation or “reason” to quit. Below are 20 outstanding reasons why you might want to quit in 2008. 

1. Quitting smoking has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Benefits apply to people with and without smoking-related disease.

2. Former smokers live longer than people who keep smoking.

3. Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.

4. Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low birth-weight baby to that of women who never smoked.

5. The health benefits of quitting smoking are far greater than any risks from the small weight gain (usually less than 10 pounds) or any emotional or psychological problems that may follow quitting.

6.  20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.

7.  12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

8.  2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.

9.  1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

10. 1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

11. 5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.

12. 10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker’s. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.

13. 15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker’s.

Immediate Rewards of Quitting

Kicking the tobacco habit offers some benefits that you’ll notice right away and some that will develop over time. These rewards can improve your day-to-day life a great deal.

14. Your breath smells better 

15. Stained teeth get whiter 

16. Bad smelling clothes and hair go away 

17. Your yellow fingers and fingernails disappear 

18. Food tastes better 

19. Your sense of smell returns to normal 

20. Everyday activities no longer leave you out of breath (for example, climbing stairs or light housework).

Now what seems like more of an attractive option? Continuing to smoke? Finding places to smoke? spending your hard earned dollars on a pack of smokes? Coughing, hacking and smelling like ciggs? It would seem to be an easy choice. If you need more convincing, log on to the Smoke Away Support Group website and talk to people who were just like you. Once you’ve done that, then you might want to sidle over to the Smoke Away site and give it a go. Do you need more convincing?

Nicotine is the psychoactive drug in tobacco products that produces dependence. Most smokers are dependent on nicotine, and smokeless tobacco use can also lead to nicotine dependence. Nicotine dependence is the most common form of chemical dependence in the United States. 

Research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol. Examples of nicotine withdrawal symptoms include irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and increased appetite. Quitting tobacco use is difficult and may require multiple attempts,  as users often relapse because of withdrawal symptoms. Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that often requires repeated intervention. 

Health Benefits of Cessation

• Among current U.S. adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit completely. In 2006, an estimated 19.2 million (44.2%) adult smokers had stopped smoking for at least 1 day during the preceding 12 months because they were trying to quit.
• An estimated 45.7 million adults were former smokers in 2006.
• More than 54% of current high school cigarette smokers in the United States tried to quit smoking within the preceding year.

We know you want to quit. With little more than a month left in 2007, let Smoke Away help you work towards your goal of quitting smoking in the new year!

Nicotine dependence may mean you have these signs and symptoms:

• You can’t stop smoking. You’ve made one or more serious, but unsuccessful, attempts to stop.
• You experience strong withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop. Your attempts at stopping have caused physical signs and symptoms of addiction, such as craving for tobacco, anxiety, irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, headache, drowsiness, stomach upset, even constipation or diarrhea.
• You keep smoking despite health problems. Even though you’ve developed problems with your lungs or your heart, you haven’t stopped or can’t stop.
• You give up social or recreational activities in order to smoke. You may stop going to certain restaurants or stop socializing with certain family members or friends because you can’t smoke in these situations.

Your degree of addiction depends in part on how much you smoke and how long you’ve smoked. But since we are in the business of helping people stop smoking, you have hope. With the new year fast approaching, wouldn’t it make sense to try Smoke Away or some other method to enlist in your efforts to finally quit smoking? What is it going to take for you to wake up and realize that you are killing yourself slowly?  The makers of Smoke Away know what you’re up against. If you need to talk with someone, try our Smoke Away Support Group. they can help.

In the United States, an estimated 25.1 million men (23.4 percent) and 20.9 million women (18.5 percent) are smokers. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. The latest estimates for persons age 18 and older show…*

• Among non-Hispanic whites, 24.1 percent of men and 20.4 percent of women smoke (2004). 
• Among non-Hispanic blacks, 23.9 percent of men and 17.2 percent of women smoke.
• Among Hispanics, 18.9 percent of men and 10.9 percent of women smoke.
• Among Asians (only), 17.8 percent of men and 4.8 percent of women smoke.
• Among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 37.3 percent of men and 28.5 percent of women smoke.
• Studies show that smoking prevalence is higher among those who had earned a GED diploma (39.6 percent) and among those with 9-11 years of education (34.0 percent) compared with those with more than 16 years of education (8.0 percent). It’s highest among persons living below the poverty level (29.1 percent).

* National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2004, National Center for Health Statistics and NHLBI

Do you need any more reason why you need to quit smoking?

Every smoker knows they face an increased risk for serious health problems from cigarettes and cigars. We at Smoke Away, as well as you know smoking causes heart disease, lung cancer and emphysema. None of this is earth-shattering news. If you do not know this, then you have been living under a rock.

As smokers, though,  you have learned to effectively ignore the particulars about smoking-related disease.You gloss over, tune out and otherwise distract yourselves whenever possible. Looking too closely can cause a head-on collision with realities of the damage we’re inflicting on our bodies and turns smoking ‘enjoyment’ into a guilty, fearful experience. But the good news though is that you are here. But let’s look a little more into the reasons why you should quit smoking.

Smoker’s Denial

All smokers harbor the secret hope that they will be spared the disease and death that follows nicotine addiction. You tell yourselves you’ll quit in time and somehow dodge the bullet that smoking is. But with four million people dying every year due to tobacco use around the world, the odds aren’t in your favor. Put another way, a smoking-related death occurs somewhere in the world every eight seconds, 365 days a year.

The sooner you remove the blinders and look carefully at nicotine addiction and the damage it causes, the sooner you can begin pulling away from the lies. For a more one on one look at what others have gone through, try going to our Smoke Away Support Group. With over 3000 registered members, it’s a group that is uniquely qualified to talk with you  about the challenges ahead.

5 Reasons to Quit Smoking

1) Heart Disease

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and the leading cause of death caused by smoking. The toxins in cigarette smoke cause plaques to form in the arteries, which leads to atherosclerosis, otherwise known as hardening of the arteries. Smoking is hard on the heart.

• Smoking and Heart Disease - Statistics

• Smoking and the Risk of Atherosclerosis

2) Stroke

According to the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, killing upwards of 150,000 people each year. For smokers, the risk of stroke is nearly 2-1/2 times that of nonsmokers.

• Are You at Risk for a Stroke?

• How a Stroke Changed My Life - Paul’s Story

3) Lung Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 213,380 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed - and 160,390 deaths will occur - in 2007 from lung cancer in the United States alone.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, and with 87 percent of all lung cancer cases involving tobacco, it is one form of cancer that is preventable.

• All About Lung Cancer

• Diagnosed with Lung Cancer - Cheryl’s Story

4) Emphysema/COPD

Tobacco use is the number one cause of COPD, and quitting smoking is the best way to halt further damage. It’s estimated that as many as 10 million Americans suffer from COPD, with upwards of 14 million others who may have it but are undiagnosed. In the United States, it was the fourth leading cause of death in 2000 and projections place it as the third leading cause by the year 2020.

• Do I Have COPD?

• Why You Don’t Want Emphysema - Christine’s Story

5) Oral Cancer

Oral cancer (mouth cancer) is included in a specific group of cancers called oral and head and neck ca