Tag Archives: smoking

Things Parents Should Know About Vaping

The results of a national survey about teens and vaping was published on The New England Journal of Medicine on December 17, 2018. Here are some things parents should know about vaping. What is vaping? The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has a good explanation of vaping: “E-cigarettes are nicotine delivery devices that have a battery, a heating element and a container for liquid. When liquid is heated, users inhale the vapor. The liquids are usually flavored and contain nicotine, so users experience a taste sensation as well as a hit of the same addictive stimulant found in … Continue reading →

Does it Make Sense to Charge Smokers More?

Health insurance companies tend to charge a higher premium for people who smoke. Employers may impose a higher premium on workers who are smokers than they do for workers who are non-smokers. Does this make sense? This is a question many are asking right now. It is a rather controversial concept. Should people who smoke, or people who are obese, pay more for their health insurance premium than people who are healthier? Is it fair to impose a higher rate on a group of people who are less healthy than the others? Does the penalty really influence people to change … Continue reading →

The Problem with Teenagers and Smoking

I think we all know that smoking is bad. It really bothers me when I see teenagers lighting up a smoke. Little do they know how gripping that kind of habit can be on their life. They do it because others are doing it. They do it because they think they look cool. A recent report from “Science Daily” indicated that 80% of smokers became addicted before they are 18 years old. While that is disheartening, we also know that teens that never start up smoking are not very likely to begin smoking later on. While it’s great that there … Continue reading →

Secondhand Smoke and Pets

There’s a lot of evidence out there that secondhand smoke is bad for you. It can cause issues with fertility, your heart, your lungs, and more. But it’s not just people who are in danger — secondhand smoke is also bad for your pets. When you inhale secondhand smoke, you’re getting all the bad stuff that’s in cigarettes… without the benefit of the cigarette’s filter. The same goes for your pets! Their lungs are in danger from the same stuff, for the same reason. But there’s a secondary danger with pets and secondhand smoke. Many animals groom themselves — and … Continue reading →

Great American Smokeout 2009: Measuring Success

I read a very interesting thing on the American Cancer Society website about quitting smoking and how you measure success. Many people look at the success rates of a particular quitting smoking program before they decide whether or not to try it. But the ACS points out a few problems with that. For one thing: not all programs define success in the same way. Some may measure a “success” as a person not smoking for six months, while another may call reaching the one year mark a “success”. So before you even start, you need to figure out how YOU … Continue reading →

Great American Smokeout 2009: November 19

It’s Smokeout season again: the American Cancer Society celebrates the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November each year. On a smaller scale, Smokeouts began in the 1970s. In 1971, a guidance counselor in Massachusetts asked people to give up smoking for a day — and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. A Minnesota newspaper editor organized the first D-Day (Don’t Smoke Day) in 1974. Just two years after Minnesota’s D-Day, the American Cancer Society in California got close to one million smokers to commit to not smoking for … Continue reading →

Parent Role Reversal

Reading about a parent punishing a child for doing drugs is nothing out of the ordinary, but when a teen calls the cops on her own mother for smoking pot, it makes front-page news. At least it did in Waverly, Nebraska. That’s where a 15-year-old girl turned in her mom for allegedly smoking marijuana in front of her. According to police reports, the high school freshman called the sheriff’s office after she got fed up with her mom’s pot habit. Authorities executed a search warrant of the girl’s home last week and took the teen’s mom into custody. The 32-year-old … Continue reading →

Smoking in Pregnancy and SIDS

Canadian researchers have examined the link between smoking during pregnancy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in premature babies. The study was conducted at the University of Calvary in Alberta, Canada. A double risk was found among women who smoke during pregnancy. The researchers studied the breathing reflexes in two groups of preterm babies, those with mothers who smoked during pregnancy and babies of non smoking mothers. They found the breathing reflexes in the group of preterm babies with smoking mothers to be consistent with a higher risk of SIDS. For the study, researchers took a baseline reading of all … Continue reading →

Link Between Second-Hand Smoke and Allergies

Here is another warning against exposing your baby to second-hand smoke. A recent study took a look at infants who are exposed to second-hand smoke and found a link between that exposure and the risk of developing allergies, both indoor inhalant allergies and food allergies. Since food allergies can easily be deadly and inhalant allergies can lead to asthma, the results of this study are important to note. The study took place in Sweden. There were 2,534 children in the study, and each child was followed from birth through the age of four years old. The study found the following … Continue reading →

Protect Your Baby from Second Hand Smoke

Recent research has found that second hand smoke is far more dangerous to babies and young children than we all originally thought. In fact, the second hand smoke that they are exposed to now can shorten their lives later. Read on to find out about this new study and how you can protect your child. I have never been a big fan of smoking in public. As a person who has a child with asthma, you can believe that I have done my best to protect that child from breathing in second hand smoke. But, it seems that asthma shouldn’t … Continue reading →