Oxford University won’t take funding from tobacco companies. But Shell’s OK

Those in the strongest position to challenge climate change are instead lending it their ‘moral prestige’. Illustration by Daniel Pudles

In 1927 the French philosopher Julien Benda published a piercing attack on the intellectuals of his day. They should, he argued in La Trahison des Clercs (the treason of the scholars), act as a check on popular passions. Civilisation, he claimed, is possible only if intellectuals stand in opposition to the demands of political “realism” by upholding universal principles. “Thanks to the scholars,” he said, “humanity did evil for two thousand years, but honoured good.” Europe might have been lying in the gutter, but it was looking at the stars.
Marlboro Red cigarette, Marlboro Gold cigarette best types in demand by most of the smokers worldwide.

But those ideals, Benda argued, had been lost. Europe was now lying in

Help Curb Your Smokers Cough by Switching to a Chemical Free Cigarette

If you're a smoker, the word cough can mean something entirely different to you that it does to others. For you, a cough is no simple "ahem." You can feel it start deep in your chest, and while you cough, it shakes your entire upper body. You sound something like a cross between a garbage disposal and a misfiring engine. If you've smoking for some time, the wet, wheezing noise of your own cough has probably given you cause for concern more than once. If that doesn't worry you, the chunks of diseased looking phlegm certainly should. Many smokers can tire their diaphragms by coughing too much. Some have even reported giving themselves pounding headaches, because they shake so violently when they cough. Truly, the smoker's cough is probably one of the most obvious and unavoidable signs that smoking is definitely having a negative effect on your health. After all, no matter how well you can turn a blind eye to the constant barrage of warning labels and anti-smoking ads, your own body is much harder to ignore.

Think of the children – but not just the children

One of ASH Scotland’s priorities is to raise awareness of the harm that tobacco smoke causes to others, and to find the best ways of protecting people from that harm.
Now that we have smoke-free enclosed public spaces, children’s exposure to second hand smoke most often happens in the car or at home. The health risks from second hand smoke, particularly to children, are well known – so the question is what are we going to do about it?
Ideally we would create a smoke-free “bubble” around our children – starting with a smoke-free house and smoke-free car. We know from our involvement in the REFRESH project that parents who smoke want to protect their children but often don’t know enough about the harm caused by second hand smoke or what they can do about it. The REFRESH “How To” guide provides a wealth of information on this. We do not want to see legislation regarding how parents or carers smoke in the house, but we do believe that a strong and ongoing public awareness campaign about smoke free homes could reap real benefits. The Scottish Government has recently announced that it will set a target for reducing children’s exposure to second hand smoke, and it is difficult to see how such a target could be achieved otherwise.
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The evidence for plain, standardised packaging

Japan Tobacco International (makers of Silk Cut and Benson and Hedges) are up to their old tricks again. Just weeks after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled their last advertising campaign to be misleading and in breach of the advertising code of practice, they are throwing money at a (no doubt grateful) newspaper industry again.

Over the weekend rumours started to spread of a new tobacco industry advertising campaign, trailed in the Scotsman and Independent. To the great excitement of tobacco industry supporters on Twitter we heard this would reveal civil servants admitting there is “no hard evidence” for plain packs. But when it arrived it was a bit of damp squib.Marlboro Red cigarette, Marlboro Gold cigarette best types in demand by most of the smokers worldwide.

Use economic incentives to help people quit smoking

While I recommend we stop providing taxpayer-funded health care services for people who smoke, I think we should also offer health care service incentives to help people quit smoking. For example, stop-smoking seminars, hypnosis programs, and other educational efforts should be offered for free (paid for with taxpayer dollars), and anyone who quits smoking should be openly accepted back onto government-funded health care programs. (There are blood tests that can easily detect nicotine and other cigarette chemicals in the blood...)

We should provide economic incentives for people to stop smoking while putting in place severe economic penalties for those who continue to smoke. That's the smarter way to keep individual liberty intact while encouraging consumers to take responsibility for their own behaviors. Education programs combined with appropriately-structured economic incentives will drive millions of Americans away from cigarettes without taking away consumer freedoms.

Should the FDA Regulate Tobacco? Health Freedom Advocate Says Criminalizing Cigarettes is a Mistake

The U.S. Congress has just voted to categorize tobacco as a drug, handing the FDA regulatory authority to control the advertising, marketing and sales of cigarettes. This hilarious move, if approved by the Senate and signed by the President, would put the FDA in the position of approving the sale of a "drug" that the entire medical community openly admits kills millions of people. According to the CDC, tobacco kills 438,000 people each year in the United States alone (1). Now, thanks to the U.S. Congress, the FDA could soon be the government office responsible for allowing these 438,000 deaths each year!

Think about it: Right now, FDA-approved drugs kill around 100,000 Americans a year, and that's if you believe the conservative figures from the American Medical Association (the real numbers are at least double that). Add tobacco deaths to that list, and you come to the startling realization that if tobacco is considered an FDA-approved "drug," then FDA-approved drugs will kill well over half a million Americans each year! (538,000 fatalities a year due to FDA-approved drugs, using government statistics.)

That's a level of fatalities that terrorists haven't even come close to approaching.

Why the FDA doesn't want to regulate tobacco
Obviously, the FDA does not want to find itself in this position, because if regulatory authority over tobacco is shoved onto the FDA, it would be forced to declare tobacco an unapproved, unsafe drug and ban its sale.

Why? Because there have been no clinical

Despite all the anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette taxes, novel smoking alternatives, and even smoking bans in some areas, millions of people still smoke cigarettes both out of habit and for pleasure. Sadly, many these people, if asked, would say they do not actually like smoking cigarettes

but feel as though they are hopelessly addicted with no effective way to quit. But if you or someone you know is serious about quitting smoking, there is hope apart from trying to quit cold turkey, wearing nicotine patches, and taking anti-smoking drugs. Here are five natural approaches to kicking the smoking habit for good:

1) Lobelia. Also known as "Indian tobacco," Lobelia inflata has long been used as a folk remedy to treat asthma and certain bronchial disorders. In fact, American Indians actually smoked lobelia in pipes for the purpose of healing these and other respiratory conditions. But lobelia can also be taken in the form of a tincture or supplement to discourage the smoking habit. Lobelia contains 14 unique alkaloids including lobeline, which has been shown to stimulate the nerve cells that would normally respond to nicotine. This mode of action not only reduces nicotine cravings, but also minimizes the effect of nicotine when it is smoked, which has helped many people kick the habit.