A lot of changes have taken place in New York over the past few decades, most importantly that the air has been "cleared" - no more smoking in bars, clubs and restaurants.
Along with these changes, the sales of Febreze stopped, and photographer Susanna Howe has noticed another change - that no one wants their photograph being taken while smoking. She says: "Even those people who you wouldn't think would be all squeamish about it dash to put the cigarette out when you raise the camera to your face."
She had to move quickly to take photographs of her friends while they were still smoking. These pictures will be featured in the "Smokers" exhibition and video installation at Bird in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The photographs are both stylish and funny images of the last Mohicans of smoking, those who are not yet ready to butt out.
The world certainly is going to be a strange place without smokers…
[Via: NY Times Blogs]
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Reports have recently surfaced that Reynolds American - the second largest tobacco company, manufacturer of Camel, Kool and Winston - is taking part in talks to purchase Niconovum.
Niconovum is a company that produces nicotine gum and nicotine replacement products, helping smokers stay off cigarettes. The company is based in Sweden and was founded by Karl Olov Fagerstrom, who is hailed as "one of the world's leading experts on smoking cessation and nicotine dependence."
Harvard School of Public Health professor Gregory Conolly researches tobacco products and is totally shocked by this report. He says that this type of purchase of the company "runs totally counter to the mission statement of (Reynolds American subsidiary) R.J. Reynolds."
All commentary on the R.J. Reynolds purchase was declined by the company, the spokeswoman said, "We have a longstanding policy of not commenting on stories based on rumors or speculation."
[Via: ABC News]
Smokers who suffer from bi-polar disorder might have an increased risk of experiencing suicidal behavior. According to a new study, this could be due to the fact that they are more at risk of acting impulsively.
Better known as manic depression, bipolar disorder causes large changes in mood, from depression to euphoria. It has already been proven that patients with bipolar disorder who smoke are more prone to suicidal thoughts, but the reason has not been known.
New findings show that one of the symptoms of bipolar disorder is impulsivity and that this is what leads to both smoking and suicidal behavior.
Though smoking is not an absolute marker of risk of suicide, this type of information will be used to make patient assessment more comprehensive, suggest researchers.
Though most smokers do not face this type of risk, it goes to show how many aspects a smoking addiction can have and that smokers should be given more of a break…
[Via: ABC News]
According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though a lot of progress has been made in reducing the number of smokers in the United States over the past few decades, during the past few years this decline has stopped.
Between 1998 to 2008, in the United States the percentage of smokers has dropped from 24.1 to 20.6 percent.
The report states that, "during the past five years, rates have shown virtually no change." The smoking rate has actually risen slightly from 19.8% in 2007 to 20.6% in 2008.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director said, "Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and we know what to do. We want to provide support to states and localities to implement proven programs, and if we do that, we can save literally millions of lives in the decades to come."
Smoking levels are higher among those who do not have a college education. The director of CDC claims that the lack of funding for smoking cessation programs is the main cause of this problem…
[Via: usnews.com]
Researchers say that smokers who try to quit by smoking a milder cigarette or one with low tar levels, will not see much success. In fact, it has been found that smokers who have chosen this method have 50% lower chance of kicking the habit.
Dr Hilary Tindle from the University of Pittsburgh said, "It may be that smokers thing that a lighter brand is better for their health and is therefore an acceptable alternative to giving up completely."
Dr Tindle did a study on 31,000 smokers and found that 38% decided to switch to a lighter brand, with the logic that they wanted to smoke something that was less harmful, but nearly 60% did not succeed in quitting.
It was found that even though those who chose to switch to a lighter brand had a great will to quit, they were ironically less likely to quit.
So if you want to quit smoking this is really not the way to go. Smoking is a multi-layered addiction and just because the nicotine levels of a cigarette are low, that does not mean you can get rid of the force of habit.
[Via: dailymail.co.uk]
