This is crucially important information for women who are pregenant - and their smoking partners (the secondhand smoke). Find out why both should stop smoking at the first indication of a pregnancy.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

In research that might have implications for human reproduction, U.S. and Chinese scientists have found that cigarette smoke damages mouse eggs and embryos.

The study was designed to examine whether cigarette smoke causes oxidative stress, cell death and dysfunction, and the shortening of telomeres (DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degradation). Two groups of female mice were exposed to cigarette smoke or cigarette smoke condensate for four weeks and compared to a control group of mice.

The mice exposed to cigarette smoke or the condensate were more likely than the unexposed mice to show increased fragmentation and delayed fertilization, resulting in impaired embryo development, the study found.

The fragmented eggs also showed oxidative stress, and embryos from mice exposed to cigarette smoke or condensate for four weeks before fertilization were more likely to contain dead cells and altered expression of the protein Oct4, which plays an important role in the formation of viable blastocysts (a stage of embryonic development).

The study was published in the November issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.

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Reasons to stop smoking: Smoking, drinking may cause throat, stomach cancer

Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes appear to increase the risk of certain common throat and stomach cancers, Dutch researchers say.

The findings, presented at an American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington, underline other health recommendations for people to follow a healthy lifestyle.

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Reasons To Stop Smoking: Massachusetts Smoking Ban Saves 600 Lives So Far

Today, I have great news to report:

The Harvard School of Public Health and the Massachusetts Public Health Department say that almost 600 less heart attack deaths occurred since their statewide smoking ban started in 2004!

Dr. Michael Siegel, a Boston University School of Public Health specialist in tobacco control, used to be very critical of smoking bans, and even of Harvard’s previous research. He now has this to say:

"This is the strongest study yet done of the effect of smoking bans on heart attacks. You can no longer argue that these declines would have occured simpy due to medical treatment."

I could not agree any stronger, Dr. Siegel!

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

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Reason To Stop Smoking: Cigarettes Are Unreasonably Dangerous, Tobacco Lawyer Admits

While Alvin Davis, lawyer for Ligget Group Inc (maker of Chesterfield cigarettes) admits that "cigarettes are unreasonable dagerous", he also believes that "the question is whether that alone is a sufficient basis to hold the manufacturer liable"!

Reason enough for Davis to ask the Florida Supreme Court to reverse a $545,000 product liability verdict Thursday because the ailing smoker who won the judgment wasn’t required to prove the company could have made a safer cigarette!!!

WHAT???

Find the whole unbelievable story below.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

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Reasons To Stop Smoking: San Francisco - Judge Denies Bid To Stop Ban On Cigarette Sales In Drug Stores

A federal judge denied a motion by Philip Morris USA Inc. for a preliminary injunction that would have put on hold San Francisco’s ban on tobacco sales by pharmacies until the cigarette company’s lawsuit against the city is resolved.

The ordinance is the first of its kind in the nation. It was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in July, signed by Mayor Gavin Newsom in August and went into effect Oct. 1. Read my post on that.

Philip Morris, the nation’s largest cigarette company, argued in court filings that the city’s regulation violates the First Amendment because it effectively forces tobacco companies to pull the advertising that accompanies its products in drug stores.

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Another city in Los Angeles county says ‘Stop Smoking here’! After Santa Monica, Burbank, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Baldwin Park, and most recently Pasadena, Glendale now also has a strict citywide smoking ban - and it is effective immediately!

To protect people from secondhand smoke, smoking is prohibited in parks, all city property, publicly accessible private property, common areas of apartment complexes, hotel rooms, and outdoor dining patios (unless there is a 10-foot separation between smokers and non-smokers).

A task force to enforce these strategies will be formed, and repeat offenders will have to pay fines of up to $500.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

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No end in sight for the negative and extremely disturbing news about Pfizer’s alleged stop smoking drug Chantix (Champix in Europe):

The blood thinner Heparin as well as the alleged smoking cessation drug Chantix accounted for the major share of 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions that the Food And Drug Administration received in the first 3 months of this year alone!

This was concluded after an analysis by the Institute For Safe Medications Pratices.

Please also refer to the "Chantix / Champix" section of this blog for more information and the history on this topic.

For detailed information on a completely safe and highly effective way to quit smoking with my breakthrough hypnosis technique browse the pages of this website.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

The number of serious drug reactions and deaths reported to the government shot up in the first three months of this year to set a new record, a health industry watchdog group said Wednesday.

The Food and Drug Administration received nearly 21,000 reports of serious drug reactions, including more than 4,800 deaths, said an analysis of federal data by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.

Two drugs accounted for a large share of the latest reports. One was the blood thinner heparin. The other was Chantix, a new kind of anti-smoking drug from Pfizer.

Earlier this year, the FDA warned that Chantix may be linked to psychiatric problems, including suicidal behavior and vivid dreams. Pfizer said Wednesday it stands by Chantix, and that the volume of reports might be linked to publicity about the side effects.

”The FDA is aware of the increasing number of reports, and we take them seriously,” said spokesman Christopher DiFrancesco. But officials are not sure whether reports are up because problems are getting worse, or simply due to greater awareness about drug safety issues.

The watchdog group that prepared the analysis has served hospitals and pharmacists for years as a clearinghouse for information on medication errors. Known as ISMP, the organization is now trying to reach consumers with regular reports on drug safety trends.

”We believe that one of the most important tools to promote is to monitor trends on a regular basis,” said Thomas J. Moore, a senior scientist with ISMP. ”Knowing which drugs are causing injuries and how many people are being hurt is the raw material we need to fashion sound measures to promote patient safety.”

The FDA defines serious drug reactions as ones that cause hospitalization, require medical intervention, or place a life in jeopardy. The agency’s monitoring system relies on voluntary reports from doctors and is only believed to capture a fraction of overall problems.

The 20,745 cases reported from January through March was 38 percent higher than the average for the previous four calendar quarters, and the highest for any quarter, the report said.

The number of deaths, 4,824, was a nearly threefold increase from the last calendar quarter of 2007. The FDA said heparin was largely to blame.

The ISMP study found that heparin accounted for 779 reports of serious problems, including 102 deaths.

Heparin ”illustrates an example of a significant drug safety problem that was promptly and effectively resolved by the drug manufacturers and the FDA once the issue was detected and understood,” the report said.

Not so with Chantix, it concluded.

The FDA should forcefully warn patients taking Chantix that they may have blackouts that could lead to accidents, the report said. Current warnings say patients may be too impaired to drive or operate heavy machinery, but such language is standard for many medications. The government has banned the drug for pilots.

The report found 15 cases of Chantix patients who appeared to have been involved in traffic accidents, and 52 additional cases involving blackouts or loss of consciousness. The FDA said it taking a second look at the Chantix warnings.

The agency received 1,001 reports of serious injuries linked to Chantix, more than for the 10 best-selling brand name drugs combined.

Chantix ”continued to provide a striking signal of safety issues that require investigation and action,” the report said. The authors acknowledged Pfizer’s concern that publicity may be driving up the number of reports, but concluded there’s enough evidence to warrant stronger FDA action.

[Click below for the entire article]

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If you are a smoker in the Los Angeles area you may as well decide to quit smoking now - before the government will make that decision for you. Ignore this and find yourself paying up to $500 in fines:

After Thousand Oaks, Baldwin Park, and South Pasadena, the city of Pasadena is set to be the next place in Southern California that may enforce a smoking ban that will make it extremely hard to find a place in public to light up. The ordinance could take effect in 30 days.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

The City Council voted Monday to enact a smoking ban that would put extensive restrictions on smoking outdoors in non-residential areas of the city.

The new rules will prohibit smoking in outdoor shopping and dining areas, in ATM and movie ticket lines, within 20 feet of building entrances and at outdoor events like the Rose Parade. That would make it nearly impossible to smoke in Old Pasadena, and other commercial districts of the city.

Violators would be fined $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for third or subsequent violations, according to staff reports. Smoking in parks is already prohibited in the city.

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A person who recently quit smoking will not be triggered into a relapse because they smell cigarette smoke! A study further revealed that this is even the case if the ex-smoker considers that smell to be pleasant.

Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

A regression analysis showed that a return to smoking was a function of general urges, not smoke-related cravings, Hayden McRobbie, M.B.Ch.B., of Auckland University of Technology, and colleagues reported in the November issue of Addiction.

And reporting that the smell of smoke was pleasant had no relationship to the risk of relapse.

"Recent quitters can be reassured that finding the smell of cigarette smoke pleasant is not likely to lead them back to smoking," Dr. McRobbie said.

Patients in smoking cessation programs have a variety of reactions to the smell of other people’s smoke, ranging from disgust to temptation, according to the researchers.

To investigate whether these reactions affect the risk of relapse shortly after quitting, they analyzed data from 1,110 patients (mean age 47; 55% female) attending a smoking cessation treatment center in London.

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This quote from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg on quitting smoking is just too good to pass it up… Bloomberg is a former smoker himself, by the way.

- Franc Tausch, PhD, CCHT

“It’s relatively easy to stop, and once you stop, you’re going to feel so much superior to those who do smoke that there’s instant gratification.”

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