After it has been proven that smoking ruins human body, many scientists started studying the ways to help smokers to avoid cancer and other smoking related diseases. A new approach has been offered at the American Association for Cancer Research 2008. It showed the benefits of healthy way of life on smokers.

Almost every person now who can read and hear knows that smoking causes cancer, so when people get diagnosed with it their reaction is double-sides. One group of people starts caring more about health, leading a physically active and healthy life a part of which is quitting smoking. The others say they do not want to quit because cancer is already there and nothing worse can happen.

Many people know the harmful effects of smoking, but they are not aware of the benefits of smoking cessation. There are more than 10 million cancer survivors in the U.S. now, many of which achieved their goal by quitting smoking. It has been noticed that cancer patients who have given up cigarettes improved survival and treatment complications.

While trying to quit the patients faced other problems, so called nicotine withdrawal symptoms: they felt hungry and thirst, had troubles falling asleep, felt uncomfortable around other smokers. However, if the patient desired, the doctors advised the best smoking cessation ways for the specific cases.

Both smoking and exercise affect the same body organs, but in opposite ways. Smoking increases blood pressure, affects lungs and pushes up heart rate. Exercises do the same thing, but they bring benefits from it while cigarettes damage the body. Smoking decreases lung capacity, increases the chances to have a heart attack, produces phlegm which clogs lung pipes. Exercises improve the work of lungs, break up the phlegm and reduce the risk of heart diseases.

The researches from Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, have proven that physically active smokers have 20% less chance to develop pulmonary disease (problems to breathe) than the smokers which do not exercise. However, it is still preferable to give up smoking before starting exercises because of several reasons.

First of all, having the same effect on the organs, smoking and exercises make heart work twice as hard wearing it out with unnecessary efforts. Secondly, smoking limits the body’s ability to absorb oxygen. As a result, smokers run out of breath while doing workouts. And finally, the people with the bad habit get tired quicker than others because of the two above mentioned reasons and due to the fact that cigarettes reduce endurance and physical performance.

A good diet helps to minimize the effect of nicotine on the body. Some nutrients clean it from tar and negative elements which have covered many organs. As it has been noticed with exercises, it is better to quit smoking and then start cleaning the body and restoring health.

Some studies show that healthy food like milk, juices, vegetables and fruits help to quit smoking because their flavor does not work well with the taste of cigarettes. They also say in attempt to quit, smokers should give up coffee, alcohol beverages and meat.

After quitting the person should increase the intake of Vitamins C and E which become very deficient during smoking. Since these vitamins improve the immune system and helps fight cancers, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, smokers should take twice as much Vitamins C and E as non-smokers. Vitamin C is high in guavas, citrus fruits and melons. Vitamin E can be found in sunflower seeds and oil, nuts, sweet potato, avocado and spinach.

Selenium is important for body restoration and protection from cell damages. It helps the body to fight infections. Selenium is found in nuts, raisins, shrimps and white rice. Manganese controls blood sugar and improves bone strength. Good sources of it are nuts, soy beans, tea and brown rice. Niacinamide improves lung condition and strengthens heart work. The products rich in it are eggs, chicken, pork, beef, cheddar cheese.

Elisa Jackson

University of California in Los Angeles has made a unique and interesting research. Although it has been proven before that smokers are in big danger of lung cancer, the UCLA scientists claim that regular eating of vegetables and fruit reduces this danger.

The journal Cancer has published the data of the research which says that tobacco smokers can protect themselves from danger of lung cancer by consuming three servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Drinking black or green tea has the same effect. The scientists explain it by the high level of flavonoids in this kind of diet which plays a big role in cancer control.

Bioflavonoids have been found by a Hungarian researcher, Albert Szent-Gyorgy in 1938. They are explained as water-soluble pigment in plants. The study of them showed that they increase the intake of Vitamin C pushing it directly to the liver, kidneys and adrenal glands. Later researches have shown that deeply colored fruits and vegetables provide protection from many diseases including cancer and bad effect of pesticides and herbicides.

Later bioflavonoids were shortened to flavonoids. Many researches were done on them which proved only good points of the deep colors in fruits and vegetables. By now we know that flavonoids prevent strokes, heart attacks, initiation and development of cancerous cells. They work well as detoxifiers eliminating dead cells.

It is easy to determine flavonoid rich foods by color, no wonder that the best ones happen to be blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, dark cherries, kiwi, beets, all herbs and green vegetables like parsley, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers.

UCLA researchers have studies 558 people with lung cancer and 837 people who did not have the disease. The results showed that the participants which ate certain flavonoids have been protected from the cancer. The leader of the research, professor of public health and epidemiology, Cr. Zuo-Feng Zhang noticed that the most protective flavonoids included catechin (it is found in strawberries, green and black teas), kaempferol (Brussels sprouts and apples) and quercetin (beans, onions, apples).

Flavonoids block angiogenesis, the process when new blood vessels grow from the existing ones which is the fundamental step for tumor transitions. Flavonoids also stop the growth of cancer cells initializing their apoptosis, the process of programmed cell death.

The researchers say that tobacco smoking has a bad effect on the human’s DNA and antioxidant features in the flavonoids help to heal this damage. Non-smokers do not have this problem and this is why eating dark vegetables and fruits did not affect them as well as the smokers. This does not mean that smoking is all right as long as the body receives flavonoids. Giving up the bad habit is still the best choice, but eating vegetables and fruits have never hurt anybody and, in fact, are proven to have even more beneficial effect than ever.

The group of UCLA plans to keep working on the studies to have even better picture of the beneficial effects of flavonoids. They say that their main goal is to find the relationship between flavonoids and other smoking-related cancers, like neck, kidney and bladder cancers. The scientists would also like to find out which fruits and vegetables have the highest concentration of flavonoids, and their amount needed in the daily meals to give the best protection.

Tom Graham

American government decided to help people quit smoking by controlling the amount of tobacco in cigarettes, limiting the work of the tobacco companies, letting FDA control everything and making some extra laws. Besides, in order for tobacco companies not to be slick and wiggle out of the legislation like they did for forty years, the administration has had a brilliant idea to give President Obama unprecedented power over the tobacco industry. Before this time the tobacco industry work was regulated by state administrations, court work and some U.S. Agencies like Federal Trade Commission.

Everything worked together really quickly: the Senate has securely approved the bill on June 11th, 2009 and the next day the U.S. House of Representatives has already passed it with 307/97 votes.

Thanks to the new law U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a right to put new limits on the manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products, but it cannot ban cigarettes or their addictive nicotine. All the tobacco companies will be inspected and checked which will cost them millions of dollars in fees. They will also have to present the list of all the products. Cigarette packets will have to contain larger warnings; vending machine sales will be restricted. Later, FDA plans to stop the production of the most flavored cigarettes and other tobacco products. The law gives it the final decision on the quality of the products to FDA too, letting them decide whether the new cigarettes are “light”, “low tar”, etc. Legal age for purchase of tobacco products was raised from 18 to 21 and the rules for selling tobacco in some stores are now stricter than they were bringing it to the level of the alcohol by the amount of restrictions.

President Obama was delighted to know that the bill was passed, saying, “This legislation will protect our kids and improve our public health. So I look forward to signing it.” He admits that he used to smoke himself and haf several tries to quit the habit.

Although smoking is not as bad and popular in the U.S. as in some other countries, still nearly 20 percent of Americans smoke. The bad habit kills about 440,000 people a year bringing them cancer, heart diseases, emphysema and other health problems. If the new law will really work out reducing the number of smokers, health advocates say that many diseases will be prevented and overall healthcare costs will significantly reduce.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman who was one of the main promoters of the law, says, “We are today at the last gasp of the tobacco industry’s efforts to protect their profits at the expense of the health and lives of the American people and to get children to take up this habit.”

The cigarette companies are very upset with the current situation. They are saying that the new rules will keep them from development and production of new safer products to the market. Altria Group Inc., controlled by Philip Morris is the only one that did not express the worries, because the law only helped them to become the leader and maybe the only survivor on the tobacco market.

The only problem the government might face, the experts think, is that their finances will go low. Cigarette tax is one of the major sources for federal pockets, but if people quit smoking and stop buying the tobacco products the cigarette tax will not be paid any more.

Larry Fox

Sometimes smokers notice that certain food influences on the taste of cigarettes: some products improve the taste of cigarettes, the others make a smoker want to give up because of bad aftertaste with the smoke. Duke University psychologist F Joseph McClernon has decided this was a good basis for a new research and started his studies.

The idea is that smoking is about various senses: as a rule a smoker enjoys inhaling warm air with smoke, feels fine about the tobacco flavor, and feels relaxed with the cigarette in his or her hand. If taste buds are “tuned” in the same direction with nicotine, smoking becomes more pleasurable. It is common to see a person who has a cigarette while enjoying a cup of coffee, however there are no smokers who decide to have a milk shake or a glass of orange juice in this situation.

Dr. McClernon kept hearing from old-time smokers about the influence of food on the taste of cigarettes and came up with the idea if he singled out a group of products that make the process of smoking unpleasant, he could come up with a quit-smoking diet.

Only old-time smokers which had the habit for more than 20 years were considered in the research. Each of them used to smoke a pack a day or more. The scientists wanted to compare race and sex differences as well, this is why among 209 participants half were women, two-thirds were white, one forth were Afro-American, and almost all of them were high-school or college graduates.

All of the participants were asked to make a list of foods which improved or worsened cigarette taste. It is interesting that not all of them had connection between food and smoking: only 70% admitted certain products made cigarettes taste better. They were meat, caffeinated and alcoholic beverages.

Even fewer people have experienced worsened taste: 45% participants said they would prefer not to smoke while or after eating fruits, vegetables and dairy products or drinking water, juices or milk.

The situation was a little different with menthol-cigarette smokers. Due to added flavor to the tobacco the participants did not worry about food because menthol overcame it anyway.

To those who decide to quit smoking, Dr. McClernon recommends to eat carrots and celery sticks and drink a lot of water. First of all this will make the hands and mouth of the smoker busy when he craves for cigarettes and secondly they ruin the cigarette flavor which makes people stay away from the habit at least while the vegetable flavor is strong in the mouth.

The researchers were surprised that the majority (90%) of Afro-American participants were menthol-cigarette smokers. Some scientists say they were probably targeted to do so by TV commercials. Menthol cigarettes are not as good, one of the researchers says, “This study suggests that menthol lessens the effect of taste deadening or enhancing. And you are more likely to be addicted if you are not affected by variations in taste and pleasure.”

At the present moment the scientists have not figured out yet why certain products influence of cigarette flavor, but they plan to keep working on the research deeper and find out. McClernon says, “We are going to do research to try to understand why drinking water and eating fruits and vegetables worsens the taste of cigarettes. We don’t have a lot of super good ideas about that right now. But if we understood the mechanisms, we could maybe use them to develop new treatments.”

Even though the study is not complete, it definitely will not hurt and harm anybody to eat more vegetables and fruit and substitute morning coffee to a glass of milk.

Tom Graham

The question on which one is more harmful a cigar or a cigarette is strongly debated. While some people believe one cigar contains as much tobacco as a whole pack of cigarettes and is therefore twenty times as harmful as one cigarette, the others claim there is nothing bad in cigars because the tobacco is processed differently, so it contains no addictive chemicals as cigarettes, besides, cigar smokers do not usually inhale the smoke.

In fact, it is hard to answer the question unambiguously. The way and the degree of smoking are different, so what is worse on one hand, does not do as bad on the other. We can definitely say, none of them is harmless and they affect human’s health as any other tobacco product despite of the way they are made. Cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and even nicotine patches are bad for health, can cause addiction and lead to various types of cancer.

National Cancer Institute shows that health problems connected with smoking both cigarettes and cigars depend on how often and regular smoking occurs. As a rule cigarettes are smoked every day while cigars are an occasional event which would make cigarette smoking more harmful. However, it is important to mention that cigars contain more carcinogens (the particles causing cancer) because they are larger and the concentration of tobacco in them is higher.

As it has been mentioned above, many cigar protectors say they do not inhale the smoke, but just puff, so they do not breathe in the addictive nicotine. It is true that cigarette smokers breathe in the smoke which makes them more exposed to harmful effects of direct smoking, but… National Cancer Institute has proven with the researches that both cigar and cigarette smokers are vulnerable to carcinogens irrespective of the inhaling the smoke.

By holding a cigar or cigarette between lips the smoker breathes the smoke in, endangering tongue, throat, larynx and mouth to the smoke chemicals. Besides, saliva produced during this period is swallowed pushing the carcinogens deeper into the body. Studies have shown that both cigar and cigarette smokers swallow similar quantities of toxic materials, therefore being affected similarly by oral and esophageal cancers.

Except these two types there are other kinds of cancer which can occur in smokers. Laryngeal cancer is more possible for those who inhale the smoke. In this case the cigarette smokers are in greater danger than others because they inhale more and smoke more regularly.

As for lung cancer which is closely connected to smoking, National Cancer Institute states that the risk of it is the same for the ones who smoke one pack of cigarettes a day and the people who smoke five cigars a day.

Secondhand smoking is another aspect that is worthy attention. Both smokers and non-smokers in the same room where a cigar or a cigarette is lit are exposed to secondhand smoking. It is clear that cigars put out more toxic particles in the air than cigarettes do because of the way cigars are made. A lit cigar lets out more gas particles and carbon monoxide in particular. Environmental Protection Agency has tested the air in cigar bars and restaurants where every course in a meal is served with a cigar and many tables are smoking cigars. The results have shown that the level of toxins and carbon monoxide in one room where many people smoke exceeds human safety limits set by EPA.

So, it is obvious, both cigars and cigarettes are harmful and there is no advantage in any of them. However, there will always be those who give preference to one or another.

Andrew Johnson

While it is known that smoking damages people’s health, many believe that smokeless or chewing tobacco is not as bad. One does not have to smoke it, inhale bad particles or swallow the chemicals; however, it still affects the body in the same way as cigarettes.

Smokeless tobacco comes in two forms: snuff and chewing tobacco. Snuff is a fine-grain tobacco that is packed in little pouches which should be “dipped” between the lower lip and gum. Chewing tobacco represents bigger pieces of leaves which have to be “pinched” between gum and cheek. Regardless of a kind of tobacco, it should stay in mouth for a while where it softens and starts making juices. The user sucks this juice and spits out every few seconds to get rid of the saliva that is building up. This process releases nicotine which is absorbed through the tissues in the mouth.

According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 12 to 14 million Americans chew tobacco. One third of them are under the age of 21. For those who think that smokeless tobacco does not cause addiction, it will be interesting to know that more than half of the tobacco chewers started the habit when they were 13 years old. With time the users need to increase the doses of nicotine to receive the same effect, this is why they have to move from one brand to the other that has stronger concentration of the chemical.

There are many negative sides of tobacco chewing. It would be simple to say that it just kills those who use it, but simple words like these do not usually impress the users. Well, the results of tobacco chewing can be as little as bad breath and yellow teeth. About 70 percent of chewers have mouth sores. With time, if one wants to keep the habit it develops in more serious damage: cracking and bleeding gums and lips, receding gums which will no longer be strong to hold teeth and they will fall out, and common smoker’s symptoms like increased and irregular heart rate, high blood pressure, and risk of heart attack. The worst end of this habit is cancer.

Although smokers are most likely to get lung cancer, the users of smokeless tobacco tend to get mouth and throat cancers. Every year 30,000 Americans find out they have this disease and only half of them actually live more than 5 years with it. Oral or mouth cancer usually affects lips, tongue, floor of the mouth, roof of the mouth, cheeks or gums. One famous baseball player had it developed so severely due to the tobacco chewing habit that the doctors had to take his jawbone, right cheekbone, a lot of teeth, gum line and taste buds in order to give him a few more years to live.

Mouth and throat cancers are not all. The scientific researches show that the use of smokeless tobacco can lead to stomach, esophagus and bladder cancers.

It is very important to realize the harmful effect of tobacco chewing in the early stages before it brought significant damage to health. The same as with smoking there are organizations that help to quit, if the habit is strong and the user cannot do it on his/her own. It is always good to have supporters who understand the problem and encourage quitting. Specialists could advise the best choice of replacement therapy such as nicotine gum or patch. There are also some tobacco-free substitutes which could be useful: mint-leaf snuff, beef jerky, sugarless gum, hard candy, dried fruit, etc.

It is hard to give up the habit from the first try, especially without supporters. If it happened, one should not give up that easily and start all over again. Healthy future is the primary goal here that should be achieved no matter what.

Thomas Neal

Although smoking has been a habit of thousands of people centuries ago, passive, environmental or secondhand smoking became a matter of concern only four decades ago. Since 1970’s tobacco manufacturers started talking about harmful effects caused by involuntary inhalation of tobacco smoke.

Scientific researches claimed that passive smoking caused heart and lung diseases, various kinds of cancer and even death. Although some facts are not completely proven, many studies show that secondhand smoking is no “healthier” than direct smoking being the reason of all kind of health problems. The statistics says that 53,000 people die from passive smoking in the U.S. every year which makes it the third leading cause of preventable death in both adults and children.

There have been several authoritative organizations concluding that environmental smoking causes cancer: in 2004 International Agency for Research of Cancer stated: “Involuntary smoking (exposure to secondhand or “environmental” tobacco smoke) is carcinogenic to humans”. Various scientists from the USA, UK and Australia in 1986-2004 have come to the conclusion that passive smoking increases lung cancer risk. California Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2005 that secondhand smoking adds to the risk of breast cancer by 70%.

Tobacco is not only harmful for those who smoke cigarettes directly, sidestream smoke which comes from lighted tobacco product or is exhaled by a smoker contains 4000 chemicals, 69 of which have been determined as carcinogens (formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, benzene, polonium). Some studies even proved that such air is more filled up with bad particles than direct smoke inhaled by a smoker. No wonder why some studies showed passive smoking caused greater damage to human’s health than active one.

Adults do not realize that passive smoking brings great harm to children. It starts before a baby is born because a smoking mother poisons him or her which becomes a result of low birth weight or premature birth. Later involuntary inhalation of tobacco smoke results in sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, various lung infections including bronchiolitis and tuberculosis, development problems and learning difficulties.

In the 21st century authorities of many countries started working against passive smoking. On June 1, 2004, Norwegian government put a smoking ban on smoking in all the places that serve food and drink, such as restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, etc. The same law came to effect in Italy on January 10, 2005, in Sweden on June 1, 2005, and in Denmark on August 15, 2007. Similar rules were accepted by several other European countries and U.S.

Later they grew, putting even more restriction on smoking, for example, the laws prohibit smoking inside all public buildings. Hawaiian legislation went even further: it is illegal to smoke in any public place or within 20 feet of an entrance or ventilation shaft intake of the building. Although there have been established smoking rooms in many facilities, the laws do not allow smoking even there. There are also rules prohibiting smoking at any workplaces: this law is especially important since not all people work in the buildings: it is illegal to smoke in taxicabs, at the road reconstruction areas, etc.

Bill Murray

It is a known fact that smoking is bad for one’s health. Various sources remind smokers every day about the danger they put themselves through. Every cigarette pack they take states that smoking causes lung cancer. However, millions of people choose to smoke regardless of all these warnings. But what about those who do not smoke, but have to breathe in the smoke? What about children who have no idea about harmful effect of the smoke and have to inhale the smoke from their parents’ cigarettes?

Secondhand smoke is cigarette smoke inhaled by non-smokers. It is also called passive smoking. There is not much said about it, however, it is as harmful as active smoking. When a non-smoker decides to join a smoker while the he or she is taking a cigarette, it is important to know that the smoke contains a great number of harmful elements which can cause cancer, heart diseases and other health problems.

As a rule smoke comes from two sources: from a burning cigarette and from a smoker who exhales the smoke. It has been discovered that it contains about 4000 toxic and carcinogenic substances. The primary enemy is nicotine which is a source of addiction. Besides, it clogs blood vessels making it hard for the blood to travel.

Environmental Protection Agency has listed secondhand smoking as a carcinogen, i.e. the substance that causes cancer or propagates its development. As much as a regular smoker, passive one can obtain lung, oral, cervical, bladder and other types of cancer. The main toxins which cause cancer are Arsenic, Polonium, Benzene and Cadmium.

Several other toxins are not less harmful: Ammonia is corrosive and harms lungs, hydrogen cyanide works as poison too. Carbon monoxide reacts with the oxygen and kills tissues. Methanol works as the poison for the whole body.

Passive smoking is especially harmful for children. They suffer the most without even knowing to what risk their parents bring them. A pregnant woman should not smoke or be at the presence of smoking people because it affects her fetus: the least possible side-effect is low birth weight, but she should not forget that even baby’s death can be a result of her smoking. Infants are very vulnerable to secondhand smoking too: it has been proven that one of the reasons for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is passive smoking.

When they get older children experience eye watering, eye irritation, coughing and asthma while inhaling the smoke. Sometimes ear infections and dental cavities have been noticed in children who were exposed to secondhand smoking a lot.

Usually adults think if they just smoke “to the side”, or when a driver smokes, he opens a window thinking this way the others will not inhale bad air. Unfortunately it is not so. Even cleaning air and ventilating buildings is not 100% effective. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the organization that sets standards on ventilation issues, reports that modern “ventilation technology cannot be relied on to completely control health risks from secondhand smoke exposure”. Besides, heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems can push the air through the whole building, so even in their bedroom children might inhale smoke while their parent smokes at the kitchen.

In order to protect your family and friends from secondhand smoking, consider following advice:

•    Do not smoke in your home and do not allow other people do so.
•    Chose smoke-free places: day-cares, schools, restaurants, etc.
•    Teach children to stay away from secondhand smoking and do not tolerate smoke in their presence.
•    Help those who are trying to quit.

Steven Cook

When the scientists started their studies on tobacco in general and its connection with cancer in particular the sales on tobacco products dropped immediately. People were alarmed, they did not want to poison their bodies and many of them gave up smoking. Tobacco industry panicked because the profits were quickly moving to zero. In 1954, tobacco giant, Philip Morris created the Council for Tobacco Research.

This organization was established to show that people can get cancer and in particular lung cancer from other sources, not only smoking. It became a shield for tobacco industry although there have been more money invested in advertising than in actual scientific research. This campaign was called the “costliest, longest-running and most successful PR”.

Instead of finding good scientists on the first place, cigarette makers came to John Hill, the founder of a huge PR company, Hill and Knowlton who created a wonderful but expensive campaign plan that has been on for more than 50 years and tobacco giants are still using it.

According to Hill’s plan the Tobacco Institute Research Committee (TIRC) was founded. It immediately ran an advertisement in more than 400 newspapers all over the U.S. with “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers”. In this article tobacco companies apologized to the smokers and admitted their “special responsibility” to the public, promising to learn more about the effect of tobacco on people’s health.

However, these were false illusions given to public to stop talks about harmful influence of tobacco, in fact, as long as TIRC existed it cared only about tobacco industry interests.

The first director of the Committee became Dr. Clarence Cook Little who used to be a managing director of American Society for the Control of Cancer, the predecessor of American Cancer Society. This was a good maneuver to cover people’s eyes on the work of the TIRC. Dr. Little believed in genetic susceptibility to cancer and denied outside influence like smoking.

The effect was immediate: 65% of all the newspapers supported the position of the Tobacco Institute saying, “The case for and against tobacco consumption as a cause of cancer may be settled by the Tobacco Industry’s Research Committee”. Dr. Little appeared everywhere claiming there were no cancer causing products found in cigarettes. When he was asked in a courtroom in 1960 to describe the TIRC research under testimony, the director admitted there has been no study on tobacco smoke because its harmful effect on human’s organism has not been proven and such a study would only be a waste of time and money. As for animal studies, Little said they were not true because tobacco can affect animals in a different way than humans.

Ten years after its creation, in 1964, TIRC was renamed to the Council of Tobacco Research (CTR). At this time came out the first U.S. Surgeon General’s report that proved the connection of tobacco smoking and cancer. The tobacco industry invested $20 million in CTR and hired 120 sceintists to work on the studies.

In 1996 a secret division, Special Projects, was established to created the data that could protect tobacco companies in court.

CTR worked had to find a way of breaking smoking-lung cancer link, but it did not have much success. The scientists asked whether hand-writing had something to do with lung cancer, or both smoking and lung cancer are caused by the same third party as psychological identity, genetic susceptibility, religion, or hard world situation like war time. When they failed with these, CTR made research on acceptable tobacco amount that will not cause cancer, so called “tobacco threashold”.

After unsuccessful battle, CTR turned away from the diseases closely related to tobacco smoking. Instead, all of its grands are connected to something absolutely distant from smoking or cancer: cell biology, immunology, pharmacology, development biology, etc.

In 1999 the Council for Tobacco Research closed its doors. Although it existed for a long time and proved itself as a powerful PR project, many PR professionals consider it an embarassment. No matter how hard their day may be, they can always say, “At least I don’t work for Tobacco Institute”.

Thomas Neal

While traditional methods of quitting smoking are popular and available almost everywhere, there are some exotic ways of quitting that might be of interest to some smokers. There has not been any scientific proof or research proving these methods are effective, but people tend to trust them. Before trying one, a person is strongly recommended to consult a doctor and find an experienced specialist.

Acupuncture

This is a technique of inserting fine needles into certain points of person’s body to control or fix various processes: relieve pain, treat allergies, lose weight, and help with indigestion. This practice came from China, where even as long ago as 3000 B.C., before needles, sharpened stones were used instead. Although Chinese specialists can treat almost everything with acupuncture, there is not much evidence of it helping with smoking.

For treating smoking, cessation specialists apply needles to certain parts of the ears. The complete cycle is done within a few visits (four or five). The acupuncture specialists claim that this method helps even those who tried other techniques and did not succeed.

Hypnosis

Individuals are affected by hypnosis differently, which is why this method might help one person and be absolutely useless for another. This is why it is impossible to say whether or not hypnosis is effective in treating smoking cessation.

However, some people claim that it works well, even after only one session. The followers of hypnosis say it has an advantage over all other methods. It uses the power of positive suggestion to help stop smoking, so besides helping one to quit, hypnosis develops and strengthens one’s will and assurance, in order to come to the right result.

Herbal Supplements

As a rule, herbal preparations are marked as dietary supplements and do not need FDA approval as ordinary drugs do. In addition, manufacturers do not have to prove their effectiveness. Such herbal mixtures usually contain Lobelia (Indian tobacco), Mimosa tea, Chinese CaoSu, Kava, Chamomile, Oak, or Willow.

A participant should keep in mind that even though there are a lot of articles telling how good herbs are in assisting smoking cessation, there have been no studies about this because dietary supplements do not need them in order to be sold.

Atropine and Scopolamine Combination Therapy

If nicotine withdrawal symptoms are too hard to handle, some clinics offer various programs. Sometimes atropine and scopolamine are combined with other medications. These mixtures were created for other reasons, being called anticholinergics, they are given to patients with digestive problems, motion sickness and Parkinson’s disease, but since smoking withdrawal symptoms are similar, the programs may just be helpful.

The medication should be given only by a doctor who knows the patient’s current health situation. Pregnant women are allowed to take atropine and scopolamine, nor are people with heart problems, glaucoma or high blood pressure.

As a rule, a participant goes through several stages of the program: on the first day, the doctor will give a shot of drugs, which is followed by a few weeks of pills. After the symptoms are not as strong, the pills are replaced by a patch behind the ear. If side-effects occur, doctors may prescribe medications to fight them as well.

Although smoking cessation clinics speak about the high success rates of these programs, there have not been enough studies to prove it. Both atropine and scopolamine are approved by FDA for other purposes, therefore the clinics do not need additional studies in order to use the drugs.

Lynn Potter