The makers of Smoke Away realize that the smoking cessation is very crowded. As well it should be, with an average of 400,000 people year dying from smokng related ilnesses and Big Tobacco continuing to manufacture cancer sticks, there is ample room for plenty of companies who want to help people quit smoking.

When Smoke Away was first created almost 10 years ago, it was with one thing in mind, and one thing only. That was, to help as many people as we could to quit smoking.  Over that period of time, we have learned a lot on what it takes to help keep people nicotine free. As much as Smoke Away helps, there is also a healthy dose of reality involved in helping you keep the quit. The reality being, if you don’t quit smoking now, today, this week, whatever, you will die eventually, that is the sad fact.

It has been written over and over and over. Smoking cigarettes will stunt your life. It will cause you to die sooner than if you did not smoke. Period. The sooner you get this thru to your thick skull, the sooner the makers of Smoke Away can help YOU quit smoking.

Sure you can try other smoking cessation methods and products. But chances are, the success that you have had is one of the reasons why your are reading this now. The reality? it didn’t work. That’s why you are here. You are looking for answers. Generally what we do is tell people who want to quit smoking, go visit Smoke Away Support and talk regular people just like you. It’s a forum with almost 3,000 people who have quit smoking, or are in the process of stopping smoking. Find out why Smoke Away worked for them, or maybe why it didn’t. The important thing is, start the dialogue now and find out why you need to ask yourself, Why not Smoke Away?

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!

Smokers with lung disease require more than brief smoking cessation interventions to successfully quit, researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center report.

Quitting smoking can be difficult for some and almost impossible for others. The reason — your genes — New research has found that a certain gene can make the difference as to whether or not someone will start smoking and then become addicted to the nicotine. In two studies featured in this month’s American Psychological Association’s journal of Health Psychology, researchers discovered that people carrying a particular version of the dopamine transporter gene are less likely to start smoking before the age of 16 and are more likely to be able to quit smoking if they start.In their article, ”Evidence Suggesting the Role of Specific Genetic Factors in Cigarette Smoking,” psychologist Caryn Lerman, Ph.D., of the Georgetown University Medical Center and her co-authors demonstrated for the first time that a link exists between smoking behavior and the dopamine transporter gene. In their study of 289 smokers and 233 nonsmokers, they found that individuals with a that specific genotype were less likely to be smokers than individuals without that gene. Furthermore, those with that gene started smoking later and were able to quit for longer periods oftime than other smokers.

Although many smokers attempt to quit at some point in their lives, only 20 percent actually succeed in quitting, say researchers. In their article, ”A Genetic Association for Cigarette Smoking Behavior,’‘ Dean H. Hamer, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues found from examining 1,107 nonsmokers, current smokers and former smokers that the above mentioned gene was associated with certain personality characteristics that influenced a person’s susceptibility of being able to start and stop smoking.

A person with that genotype was found to have lower novelty seeking traits than a person without this genotype, according to the study. And because novelty seeking has been associated with a desire to smoke, said Dr. Hamer, ”a low level of novelty seeking could be a predictor of smoking cessation. Indeed, average novelty seeking scores were found to be significantly lower in former smokers than in current smokers. Those with low levels of novelty seeking have an easier time giving up cigarettes than those with high levels of novelty seeking.”

”We found that individuals who have the SLC6A3-9 gene were one and a half times more likely to have quit smoking than individuals lacking this gene,” said Dr. Hamer. ”However,” he cautioned that, ”the SLC6A3-9 gene is not a strict determinant of the ability to quit smoking, but rather an influence on an individual’s general need and responsiveness to external stimuli, of which cigarette smoking is but one example. Hopefully, with more of an understanding of the genetics of cigarette smoking behavior, we can develop more effective, targeted pharmacological and psychoeducational cessation strategies that will take these individual differences into account.”

The bottom line is if you smoke you need to quit. The makers of Smoke Away do not care how you do it, you just need to do it. Today!

In our quest to make the world smoke free, the makers of Smoke Away provide you with a nother visual reminder of why you really need to quit smoking, today!

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?

Here’s another stop smoking video to motivate you to quit smoking. The makers of Smoke Away don’t care how you do it, just do it! 

How to Quit Smoking With the Help of Smoke Away

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
When trying to quit smoking its important to realize you will need more than just a commercially available product such as Smoke Away. Here is a list of steps and tips to help you with your quit. Remember that quitting smoking is the goal here, so make sure that you have buy in from your family and friends.

Steps

1. Make an honest list of all the things you like about smoking.
2. Make another list of why quitting won’t be easy.
3. Set a quit date.
4. Write all your reasons for quitting on an index card
5. Stop buying cartons of cigarettes as you’re getting ready to quit.
6. Keep a list of when you smoke, what you’re doing at the time, and how bad the craving is
7. Prepare a list of things to do when a craving hits.
8. Throw out anything that reminds you of smoking when your quit date arrives.
9. Play a game of solitaire on your computer instead of a cigarette break at work.

Tips

• Switch to a cup of herbal tea whenever you usually have a cigarette
• Switch your cigarette habit for a nut habit
• Carry some cinnamon-flavored toothpicks with you
• Make an appointment with an acupuncturist
• Swing by the health food store for some Avena sativa (oat) extract
• Think of difficult things you have done in the past
• To minimize cravings, change your routine
• Tell your friends, coworkers, boss, partner, kids, etc
• If you relapse, just start again
• Put all the money you’re saving on cigarettes in a large glass jar
• Switch to decaf until you’ve been cigarette-free for two months
• Create a smoke-free zone.
• Find a healthy snack food you
• Quit when you’re in a good mood
• Post this list in a visible location in your house

Warnings

Whenever you’re tempted to light up, take a look at all the ways smoking can damage your health:

• Increases risk of lung, bladder, pancreatic, mouth, esophageal, and other cancers, including leukemia
• Reduces fertility
• Contributes to thin bones
• Affects mental capacity and memory
• Reduces levels of folate, low levels of which can increase the risk of heart disease, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease
• Increases likelihood of impotence
• Affects ability to smell and taste
• Results in low-birth-weight, premature babies
• Increases risk of depression in adolescents
• Increases risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure
• Increases risk of diabetes
• Increases your child’s risk of obesity and diabetes later in life if you smoked while pregnant

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Quit Smoking With the Help of Smoke Away. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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!

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!

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.

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:

34 Tips to Help You Quit Smoking Successfully

1.Wake up! We all know that smoking is bad for us, but if you’re like most smokers, you avoid looking at the destruction smoking causes whenever possible. Take the blinders off and read everything you can get your hands on about smoking. It will help you start to make the mental shift necessary to quit smoking.

2. Write it down.  Writing down what you’re going through is a useful tool for anyone trying to quit smoking. Start with your list of reasons for quitting. Include everything from big to small, and leave room to add to it. Think about the pros and cons of smoking and make your list as detailed as possible. Be honest with yourself.

3. Reaffirmation We have a way of believing what we tell ourselves over and over. Your journal will help you cement these goals. Prompt yourself with present-tense messages like: “I am a nonsmoker” or “I am strong and healthy”, and commit them to paper. Daily affirmations will plant the seeds of change in your mind, and it won’t be long before your actions are following your thoughts.

4. Lean on Someone  Having others who are interested in your success is very important. The Smoking Cessation Forum here at Smoke Away is a thriving, active group of people who can give you the help and encouragement you need. Sign in as a guest to browse and read posts from other quitters, or register(free) to post messages of your own.

5. Start taking your body back. Smoking cessation throws our bodies into shock initially. If you take care to give your body the fuel it needs to run properly, you’ll find that you’re better able to cope with the discomforts of nicotine withdrawal. Have the right foods within easy reach and you’ll minimize weight gain due to quitting.

6. Listen to your body. When you’re tired, cravings to smoke will seem stronger while you feel less able to manage them. Fit a full 8 hours of sleep in every night, and a nap here and there if you need it. If you have trouble sleeping when you first quit smoking, try taking a long walk a couple of hours before bed. Most importantly, you have been abusing your body with nicotine for so long, it’s time to repair it.

7. Water You’d be surprised what water can do. It will help to flush residual toxins out of your system, and beat back cravings to smoke. When you’re well-hydrated, you’ll feel better in general, which is a plus when you’re going through nicotine withdrawal.

8. Get back in the groove. If you already have a daily exercise regimen, good for you! If not, start now. Choose something you enjoy doing, and you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Aim for a half hour of exercise every day. Walking is a great way to move and it’s a quick fix for the urge to smoke. Get out for a 15 minute walk around the block and you’ll come back refreshed and relaxed.  Chances are if you start seeing an impvovement, you’ll want to keep it going. But you have to start.

9. Be Determined. Your determination to quit smoking is built one day at a time. Every smoke free day makes you stronger, and when you consciously take time to reflect and rejoice in the value of what you’re doing, you’re working to fortify your will to make this the quit that lasts you a lifetime.

10. Be grateful that you still have a chance to change things.Think about the blessings in your life. We all have them. Be thankful for the freedom you’re creating for yourself today. Remember that you’ve wanted to quit smoking for a long time and you’re finally doing something about it. List out the benefits you see in your health and overall being due to quitting tobacco. Make gratitude a daily conscious part of your life.

11. Know that it’s hard and accept the challenge. Relax into your quit and embrace cravings to smoke as they come. Don’t fight - lean into urges and ride them out. Most cravings last 3-5 minutes. Think of them as signs that your body is healing - that is just what they are.

12. Don’t long for the old you. Quitting tobacco is a gift, not a sacrifice. Don’t sabatoge yourself by feeling sorry that you can’t smoke. You are choosing not to smoke because you want to be free of this killer of an addiction. Keep your perspective!

13. It doesn’t happen overnight. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, people don’t quit smoking in a day either. Most of us had 20 y