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A LONG, long time ago, two Martians were sent to planet Earth on a mission. When they returned home, they submitted this report to the committee: “The Earth people have an odd practice. They light a fire at the end of a poisonous substance and then suck the smoke into their body. This results in much sickness and even death. The habit is also very expensive. Strange, those Earth people!” Strange, indeed. Listen to the words of Graham Lee Hemminger: “Tobacco is a dirty weed, but I like it. It satisfies no normal need, still I like it. It makes you thin, it makes you lean. It takes the hair right off your bean. It’s the worst darn stuff I’ve ever seen. I like it

 
Here’s another one from Russell Hoban. “What a weird thing smoking is and I can’t stop it,” he wrote. “I feel cozy, have a sense of well-being when I’m smoking, poisoning myself, killing myself slowly. Not so slowly maybe. I have all kinds of pains I don’t want to know about and I know that’s what they’re from. But when I don’t smoke I scarcely feel as if I’m living. I don’t feel as if I’m living unless I’m killing myself.”The Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) reports that smoking related-diseases kill one in 10 adults globally, or cause four million deaths. “Every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use,” it points out. By 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people

Every year, there are about 20,000 smoking-related deaths in the Philippines, where about 60 percent of men smoke. Studies have shown that tobacco use will drain nearly 20 percent of the household income of smokers’ families.

In a country where laws abound, there are no national laws prohibiting minors from buying cigarettes. In fact, many vendors of cigarettes are children. Small wonder, as many as 40 percent of adolescents boys smoke. Most of them started smoking in their early teens. The majority of these young smokers said peer pressure was one reason why they took up smoking. Most now wish they did not smoke.

Now, here’s something that may have been taken from a movie script: A teenager was sitting beside an old woman in a non-airconditioned bus. Thirty minutes after the bus left the terminal, the young man took a stick of cigarette from his pocket and asked the old woman, “Would you mind if I smoke?”

Hearing those words, the old woman stopped praying her rosary and looked at the young man squarely. “Yes, I mind,” she said. “I don’t want to have cancer.”

Physicians from all over the world agree: cigarette smoking is one of the top causes of cases. In the United States, smoking alone is directly responsible for approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths annually.

According to the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), smoking also causes chronic lung disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cataracts. Smoking during pregnancy can cause stillbirth, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, and other serious pregnancy complications. One British survey found that nearly 99 percent of women did not know of the link between smoking and cervical cancer.

The health risks caused by smoking are not limited to smokers. Exposure to secondhand smoke significantly increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease in nonsmokers, as well as several respiratory illnesses in young children. (Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke that is released from the end of a burning cigarette and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers).

What makes cigarette smoking so deadly? Well, it contains about 4,000 chemical agents, including over 60 cancer-causing chemicals. In addition, many of these substances, such as carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, and lead, are poisonous and toxic to the human body.

Nicotine is a drug that is naturally present in the tobacco plant and is primarily responsible for a person’s addiction to tobacco products, including cigarettes. During smoking, nicotine is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream and travels to the brain in a matter of seconds. Nicotine causes addiction to cigarettes and other tobacco products that are similar to the addiction produced by using heroin and cocaine.

Ready to quit smoking? Here are the benefits, if you do, according to the NCI: “Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung and other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease. The earlier a person quits, the greater the health benefit.”

For example, research has shown that people who quit before age 50 reduce their risk of dying in the next 15 years by half compared with those who continue to smoke. Smoking low-yield cigarettes, as compared to cigarettes with higher tar and nicotine, provides no clear benefit to health

Listen, the fact of the matter is that you need to quit smoking. What more reenforcement do you need? The makers of Smoke Away want you to quit smoking any way possible. With that being said, whether you use Smoke Away or not, we strongly suggest that your goal over the next month is to quit smoking, if not for you, then for who?

I want to thank Henrylito D. Tacio

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.

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.

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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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.

From time to time the makers of Smoke Away come across sites that just blow us away in regards to  their efforts in helping all people try and quit smoking. We all realize that  getting people to stop smoking is the ultimate goal for all sites. So in that vein we present the following website. Become An Ex

What does it take to BECOME AN EX?

Tobacco addiction is complex, and over time it works its way into almost every aspect of your life. Digging it out will take some thinking, a plan and then effort.Being ready to quit means committing to it without any reservations. There can be no loopholes in the agreement with yourself, no rationalizations like “I’ll quit as long as I can keep my temper” or “I’ll quit as long as I don’t gain one pound.” You won’t make it if you hold on to any other thought except that of quitting and by using any means necessary.Being ready means being willing to align a lot of things in your life to achieve success in this one goal. For you, this could mean:

• Trying a nicotine replacement medication like the patch or the gum or a nonnicotine replacement medication
• Studying your smoking behaviors: learning when, where and why you smoke
• Working with a “quitting coach”
• Avoiding things you associate with smoking
• Making some changes in your lifestyle
• Finding ways to relax that don’t involve cigarettes
• Getting some exercise
• Asking friends and family for support
• Making a comprehensive plan that fights the addiction on every front where it can attack you: physical, behavioral, psychological and spiritual

What is EX?

EX is a method of freeing yourself from addiction to tobacco. It was created as a collaborative effort between the American Legacy Foundation and the Mayo Clinic, specifically for people who are really ready to quit and are looking for a better way. If you’re ready to try, you’re in the right place.

What you need is a plan.

Our EX Quit Plan is a comprehensive approach, one that comes at this addiction from all sides: the physical, the behavioral, the psychological and the spiritual. All of these need to be addressed. In fact, we’ve found that the more personalized your plan and the more tools you have to work with, the more likely you are to succeed.

EX offers a variety of tools that will help with your quit attempt – a step by step Online personalized quit plan, a free EX Quit Plan book that you can order and follow on your own, or a toll-free number that will connect to state tobacco quit lines for free cessation information.

You can get started on the Online personalized EX Quit Plan by clicking on the link below.  If you aren’t ready just yet, you can take preview tour of the Online EX Quit Plan program.  We also encourage you to read what former smokers said about their experience with the Online EX Quit Plan

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!

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!

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 cancer. It’s estimated that 70 to 80 percent of all cases of OHNC are due to tobacco use and heavy alcohol consumption.

• Oral Cancer Overview

• Losing My Voice to Oral Cancer - Marlene’s Story

There’s No Time Like The Present…

If you’re thinking about quitting, a good place to start is exactly where you avoided going in the past. Delve into the facts and figures about how destructive tobacco is. Learn exactly what you risk when you light up, day after day, year after year. Whether you use Smoke Away or not, you need to quit.

Don’t be afraid to look at nicotine addiction head-on! It will help you shift your attitude away from thinking of smoking as a friend and allow you to see it for death trap it truly is.