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You would have to be living on the moon not to know that smoking cigarettes are bad for your health. However, for some people who continue to smoke or for people who are thinking about smoking the following facts about how this habit can damage your health should help you to change your mind.

Fact 1
Smoking restricts the blood vessels. This can cause the blood to flow less effectively through the body to deliver much needed vitamins and minerals. It as well restricts the amount of oxygen reaching the skin. Long term smokers have bad skin. The damage caused by smoking can make a smoker look ten years older or more compared to a person of the same age who does not smoke.

Fact 2
Smoking damages the lungs. Users can have complexy breathing properly because smoke swells and narrows the airways. It lines them with a sticky mucus and phlegm. That is why it is ordinary to hear a smoker with a wheezy cough.

Fact 3
50 % of long term smokers will die due to using cigarettes.

Fact 4
The tobacco used to make cigarettes contains over 4000 chemicals and over 60 of these chemicals can be linked to causing cancer.

Fact 5
Smoking is an addiction like any treatment. As well as a physical, smoking is a psychological addiction. This is why smokers discover it very complex to give up. To help them they need to rely on nicotine aids that substitute the cravings from smoking cigarettes. Sometimes these help however, for many the cravings become too much and they give in.

Fact 6
90 % of all lung cancers are caused by smoking.

Fact 7
Even though, cigarettes receive the worst press about the damage they do other categories of tobacco are just as bad. Whether it is the tobacco used for rolling cigarettes, the chewing variety or the sweet smelling shag for smoking the pipe, all tobacco can damage your health.

Fact 8
Even though smoking use to look cool it will not help you attract the opposite sex, especially if they are a healthy non smoker. They will be able to smell you a mile off because your clothes will be reeking of smoke. Even if you manage to get close sufficient your bad breath or stained teeth will put the sword to any kind of romantic interlude.

There you go. The next time you feel the need to light up or if you are thinking it must be cool to smoke because all my friends do, then read through these facts and think again. Do you really want to do that to your body?
Revolutionary New Alternative to Smoking – Electronic Cigarette w/many Flavors!

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Common gene variants affect how much a person smokes, whether one becomes a smoker, how hard it is to quit, and risk of lung cancer from smoking, new studies find.

The studies, based on genetic information collected by an international consortium from more than 140,000 people of European descent, expand on a 2008 report linking a specific region of the genome to smoking behavior.

Overall, the effects of the genetic variations are small:

• A single variation in the part of the genome previously linked to smoking behavior affects how much a person smokes. It increases smoking by one cigarette a day for each gene carrying the variant DNA.

• Two newly found gene variants increase smoking by about half a cigarette a day for each gene carrying the variant.

Although the effects on smoking quantity may be small, gene variants appear to play a very large role in whether a smoker gets lung cancer.

In their 2008 study, Thorgeir E. Thorgeirsson of Iceland’s deCODE Genetics and colleagues calculated that gene variants increase a smoker’s risk of lung cancer by 30%.

Now the Thorgeirsson team, in collaboration with University of North Carolina researcher Helena Furberg, PhD, and colleagues, calculate that the newly found gene variants increase a smoker’s odds of getting lung cancer by 10%.

And these aren’t the only genetic effects:

• A variation in a different part of the genome appears to make it 6% more likely that a person will take up smoking.

• Another gene variant gives a smoker a 12% better chance of quitting smoking than a smoker who doesn’t carry the variation.
  Although the findings are interesting, they don’t give smokers any reason to seek genetic testing.

• At this time, testing for these variants will not tell you anything meaningful about your risk of smoking or nicotine dependence,” Furberg says in a news release.That may change in the future.

• Smoking is bad for anyone’s health. It is even worse for some,” deCODE executive chairman Kari Steffansson says in a news release. “Today’s discoveries continue to strengthen our ability to identify who those people are and give them a compelling additional reason to quit.”

Original article  Smoking Genes Identified

Reporting from Washington — Citing his own experience as a teenage smoker, President Obama on Monday predicted that a new law giving the Food and Drug Administration sweeping power to regulate tobacco will help young people avoid the smoking habit he has struggled with for years.

The measure, which Obama signed into law Monday, will ban candy-, fruit- and spice-flavored cigarettes and prohibit use of tobacco-product logos and brand names in sponsoring athletic and entertainment events.

The law also requires that tobacco companies fully disclose ingredients and additives, stop targeting youth with their marketing campaigns, quit using terms such as “light,” “low” and “mild” to market their products, and include warning labels on packaging that dominate the front and rear panels.

Nearly a quarter of high school students in the U.S. smoke cigarettes, according to the National Institutes of Health.

And people who start smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time quitting, the agency reports. About 30% of youth smokers will die early from a smoking-related disease.

At a bill-signing ceremony at the White House, Obama said, “I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.”

He gave up cigarettes as part of a deal with his wife, Michelle, who wanted him to quit before he took on the rigors of a presidential campaign.

But in recent weeks, aides to the president have tacitly acknowledged that his nicotine habit isn’t a thing of the past.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said: “It’s something that he continues to struggle with . . . like millions of Americans have.”

An instruction manual from this Rococo period laid out fourteen steps for the genteel use of snuff, including the manner for extracting snuff from the box and bringing it to the nose. Two of the final steps included “Take in the snuff evenly with both nostrils without making a grimace” and “Sneeze, cough, and expectorate”.

Elegant habitués prided themselves on being able to stuff their noses with snuff without sneezing. An indication of snuff’s popularity can be seen from Marie Antoinette’s wedding presents; there were more than fifty gold snuff boxes, making them an even more popular gift than gold watches.

The preferred forms of smokeless tobacco among Americans of European decent were chewing tobacco and snuff used as a moist dip. To use snuff, a small instrument was needed to deposit moist dip on the gums or to place a pinch inside the cheek. Chewing tobacco needed no instrument and was a favourite of sailors and men who worked outdoors for use while working. Early on, chewing tobacco was sold in loose bulky bags.

Later, sweeteners were added, and it was molded into lumps to fit into a pocket. Chewing, in particular, led to the mouth becoming filled with tobacco juice that could either be swallowed (often causing stomach problems) or, preferably, spat out. When the Catholic pope banned smoking in church in 1642, some prelates sought to maintain their nicotine habit by changing to chewing tobacco.

British writer Sir Compton Mackenzie noted with amazement that he had encountered one particular prelate in Seville who would chew tobacco during his sermon and then “spit over the heads of pious women seated on the floor under his pulpit and each time hit the same flagstone with his tobacco juice” .

NICOTINE REPLACEMENT THERAPY may work for individuals who are addicted to Grizzly tobacco.
To avoid the health-related risks that are associated with tobacco, people should stop smoking cigarettes or using Grizzly smokeless tobacco or any other form of tobacco.

EFFECTS OF DIPPING TOBACCO
The tobacco that makes up dip contains over 3000 chemicals and 28 known carcinogens that can cause cancer if you don’t quit dipping.
Studies have shown that dipping tobacco has a relatively low risk for cancer, but some studies give conflicting results.
Many medical researchers think more so because people are not as aware of the dangers. Cancers of the mouth, lips, tongue and throat can quickly develop in people who use smokeless tobacco and leave grotesque and debilitating – even deadly – results.

Side effects of dipping tobacco are: raises blood pressure, bad breath, mouth sores, receding gums, stained teeth, raises heart rate, anxiety. And it is far not full list of harmful effects of dipping tobacco.
Dipping tobacco may have started out as fun, to bond, or simply to ward off boredom, stress or a long drive or work day. But in the end becomes something they depend on to “feel normal”.
So the time comes when they finally decide it is time to quit dipping tobacco.

• A sore that does not heal

• Difficulty swallowing

• White or red patches in the mouth

• A hoarse voice

• Swelling of the jaw that causes dentures to fit poorly

• Numbness in the tongue or other parts of the mouthDo you need other reasons for quitting smoking? Say  smoking NO forever

In fact, previous generations were completely unaware of the links between smoking and ill health. Unfortunately, many people subsequently became addicted to nicotine. About 25% of the world’s population are smokers. That is about 1 and a half billion people.

Finance facts about tobacco cigarettes

The costs of smoking are very high in terms of finances.
Smoking costs the United States about $160 billion per year which translates to a cost of $3,000 per smoker annually.
In addition, smokers use medical services more than non-smokers and have a lower productivity in the workplace.

Health facts about smoking

• 1 out of 5 deaths that happens is tobacco related.
• Smoking is the major cause of Cancers such as Lung Cancer.
• Smoking raises the risk for diabetes problems. Effects of Smoking on your Skin and Hair
• Smoking dries out the skin.
• Smoking reduces the level of collagen in the skin which leads to loss of elasticity and the quick.
• Formation of lines and wrinkles.
• Smoking causes blood vessel constriction of the top layers of skin which reduces the oxygen levels which leads to a dull complexion.
• Children and adolescents who are active smokers will have increasingly severe respiratory illness, as they grow older.
• Cigarette smoking can also weaken the immune system
• As a matter of fact, smokers have a bigger chance of losing their teeth than non-smokers.

Economic facts about smoking

Tobacco companies are one of the most profitable companies in the world, and the most profitable of those companies that make money by degrading people’s health.

Social facts about smoking

Second hand smoking is often regarded as even worse than smoking itself. Each year, the effects of second hand smoke can result in an estimated 3,500 sufferers from cancer among adults in the U.S
The biggest part of the problem lies in the under developed countries and in the middle to low income groups, even though smoking actually started as a pastime for the rich and wealthy upper class people.
Seen from another angle the smoking facts tells us that the better educated you are, the higher chances are that you are going to quit smoking, provided you ever began off course, and what country you live in has a huge influence too.

Aesthetic facts about smoking

Smoking is also a big turn off because of the odour that clings to the clothes, hair, and skin of smokers. Smoking can cramp your style.

Cigarette additives may produce important changes to the effects of tobacco, altering dependence, toxicity, or use behaviours. Changes to the physiological properties of nicotine could also radically alter the character of tobacco dependence. Additives that enhance the body’s interaction with nicotine or other constituents may increase their addictive or toxicological effects. The addition of bronchodilators to cigarettes may have similar effects by allowing deeper inhalation and deposition of smoke constituents in areas of the respiratory tract where they are more likely to be absorbed. The perception of smoother smoke may facilitate increased or deeper inhalation of tobacco smoke by removing physical barriers. Similarly, reduced irritation may encourage or support increased frequency of use. Candy-like flavours, such as cherry, may also be used to target youth and women.
Tobacco manufacturers emphasize in public statements that the majority of additives have been shown to be safe when eaten in foods.
However, cigarette additives compounds are significantly more toxic when inhaled or absorbed directly into the bloodstream rather than ingested.
In the digestive system, additives and other complex molecules are broken down by enzymes into simpler chemical structures and/or transformed into other compounds. These processes render most substances less toxic to the body. In contrast, tobacco additives escape the metabolic pathways that would help make them less toxic. Although a number of cigarette additives are present in commercial products only in small concentrations, it does not follow that these can be considered harmless