In conjunction with the upcoming 2008 Great American Smokeout (November 20), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a status report of the national effort to reduce smoking to no more than 12% of the population…

Presidential campaigns aside, the campaign against smoking has a sure winner.  Every smoker with a desire to quit, said to be 70% of all American smokers, is a winner but most will require medical intervention to see success at the…

Not everybody who smokes cigarettes lights up every day.  Almost one in five smokers only smoke during social occasions, such as on weekends or at social events during the week.  Some of these social smokers say they indulge in smoking…

San Francisco recently passed a city-wide ordinance that bans the sale of all tobacco-based products in pharmacies, such as Walgreens. The ban, scheduled to take effect October 1, has stirred up a fire at the nationwide pharmacy chain, Walgreens leading…

In an announcement made Thursday, Pfizer Inc, defended its drug, Chantix, prescribed to help smokers break the desire for nicotine. Chantix has been linked lately to thoughts of suicide and depression when taken by people who suffer from mental illness.

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Within just five years of quitting cigarette smoking, women enjoy a reduced risk of coronary heart disease and a lowered risk of death from cancers related to smoking by about 20%. These are the findings from an extensive observational study,…

The New York Times released a recent report regarding a connection between a tobacco company and a funded lung cancer study. In 2006, Dr. Claudia Henschke of Weill Cornell Medical College stunned the cancer world with her research suggesting that…

Researchers have found a link between smoking and diabetic neuropathy. A study found that 62 percent of patients with diabetic neuropathy smoked cigarettes compared with 33 percent of patients who didn’t smoke.

Patients were entered into the study if they scored…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested Pfizer to change its safety and precautions information regarding the use of Chantix (varenicline). The agency has evaluated reports on adverse effects of the drug since November 20, 2007. It now…