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HWN Suggests

Pity the Poor Cigarette Smoker

The world has become a colder, harsher place for the once proud puffer as the bastions of second hand smoke prohibition, perhaps better described as “second mouth smoke,” have tightened the noose around his neck. The descent to complete and total marginalization has been sudden and mercurial. Marlborough Man has had to ride down into the canyon, dismount, and watch helplessly while his noble steed has been trucked off to the pet food factory. Nowadays, a smoker has to walk at least a mile just so he is far enough away from any other living human before he is allowed to take a drag off his Camel.

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Articles of Interest

Sept. 25, 1878: Yes, Smoking Is a Health Hazard

1878: Eighty-six years before the U.S. surgeon general issues a report confirming the dangers of smoking tobacco, a letter from English physician Charles R. Drysdale condemning its use appears in The Times of London.

The unfortunate tenacity of the most common piece of litter

Cigarette butts have the proud distinction of being the most common form of litter on America's beaches. Some 6 trillion cigarettes are manufactured on Earth each year, and between 750 million to 1,500 million pounds of cigarette butt waste — largely made of a plastic-like material called cellulose acetate — are ultimately flung to the ground annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Why Quitting Smoking Could Be The Key To Better Health

Smoking cessation can also uplift mental health. Nicotine addiction from smoking cigarettes often results in stress and anxiety in those attempting to quit. Quitting smoking can enhance self-esteem, by allowing individuals to break free from the constrains of addiction and providing more control of overall health.

100 Years Of Smoking Studies In Popular Science

Popular Science has reported on tobacco smoking throughout its history. There are some fun anachronisms, like a 1910 declaration that "there is no scientific evidence that the moderate use of tobacco by healthy mature men produces any beneficial or injurious physical effects that can be measured." Health organizations now say there is no healthy level of smoking, nor of exposure to secondhand smoke.

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Resources

Flavors Hooks Kids

The tobacco industry uses fun flavors and tech devices to hook kids on nicotine. Why kids? A developing brain is easier to addict.

Smoke Free Paso del Norte

Smoke Free Paso del Norte uses a comprehensive and coordinated approach to eliminating tobacco use utilizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention best practices. These approaches include eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke, promoting and assisting tobacco users to quit, preventing the initiation of tobacco use, and identifying and eliminating tobacco-related disparities among population groups. The initiative also regularly monitors tobacco product use and sale in the community.

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on May 31. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe.

American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation

Our goals include educating the public about the health effects of secondhand smoke and the benefits of smokefree environments. Ultimately, our efforts are intended to create a smokefree generation of Americans that rejects tobacco use and is savvy to tobacco industry tactics.

NeverJustSmoke

Social smoking hurts more than you think.

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada

Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC) is a national health organization, founded in 1985 as a registered charity. We are a unique organization of Canadian physicians who share one goal: the reduction of tobacco-caused illness through reduced smoking and reduced exposure to second-hand smoke.

CDC

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death...

Lung.org

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., killing close to half a million people each year. The American Lung Association is committed to ending the death and disease caused by tobacco use. Our tobacco control policy efforts include advocating for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight over tobacco products, coverage of tobacco cessation treatments under health insurance plans, smokefree workplace laws, increased tobacco taxes and other legislative measures and community programs that are crucial to reducing tobacco use and eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke.

MedicineNet

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MedlinePlus

There's no way around it. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. It is also responsible for many other cancers and health problems. These include lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke and cataracts.