smoking

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Bad Habits: It's Who You Know
 Bad Habits: It's Who You Know 
May 26, 2008 4:48 PM CDT

Bad Habits: It's Who You Know

Study says social networks strongly influence behavior

(Newser) - If your friends all jumped off a bridge, you'd probably listen to your mom and not follow them, but how about if they started exercising? New research into social networks—in 3D, not on MySpace or Facebook—shows people are more likely to quit smoking or lose weight if someone...

Peer Pressure Helps Snuff Habit

Researchers see group ripple effect for people trying to stop smoking

(Newser) - New research shows people quit smoking not as individuals but in complex social clusters, each strongly influencing the others. Friends, spouses, relatives, and other social contacts all exercise an overwhelming sway over individual decisions to quit. The study covered 58,000 people from 1971 to 2003, the New York Times ...

Watchdogs Say Hollywood Going to Pot

Anti-drug advocates fret over 420-friendly new releases

(Newser) - Production of cannabis-centric films is hitting a high, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Once pigeonholed with Cheech and Chong and low-budget cult films such as The Big Lebowski, movies that feature pot-smoking characters now tend toward mainstream frat-house humor. This summer alone will see four marijuana-tinged releases, including the Judd...

Erratic Sleepers Have More Health Problems: Study

Short, long hours of shuteye increase odds of smoking, obesity

(Newser) - Irregular sleep habits increase the likelihood of obesity and smoking, the AP reports. The CDC surveyed 87,000 Americans over 2 years and found that individuals who sleep fewer than 6 hours a night or more than 9 were 5% to 10% more likely to smoke and 4% to 11%...

Quit Sooner, Live Longer
Quit Sooner, Live Longer
May 7, 2008 2:59 PM CDT

Quit Sooner, Live Longer

Newly minted nonsmokers see benefits almost immediately

(Newser) - Smokers who kick the habit see their risk of dying drop drastically after 5 years, and their risk level nears that of nonsmokers within 20 years, new research finds. In a study that followed 100,000 women over 3 decades, researchers recorded a 13% drop in death from all causes...

Bans Keep Teens From Lighting Up

Restaurant prohibitions seen to influence how youngsters see smoking: study

(Newser) - Restaurant smoking bans are effective at discouraging teen smoking, the AP reports. Studying Massachusetts because of its patchwork of local smoking restrictions, researchers found that teens living in places with strict bans were 40% less likely to become smokers. Local laws didn’t change how many experimented with cigarettes, but...

Closet Smokers Might Get Canned
Closet Smokers Might Get Canned
Apr 23, 2008 4:42 PM CDT

Closet Smokers Might Get Canned

Factory workers who lied on insurance forms may lose jobs

(Newser) - A group of factory workers who lied about their smoking habits could be fired. The Whirlpool company charges lower premiums for health insurance to nonsmoking workers—and relies on the honor code when employees sign up. Now 39 workers at an Indiana factory have been suspended and face losing their...

Life Grows Shorter for America's Poor

Smoking, obesity blamed for spread of 'death gap'

(Newser) - Life is getting shorter for many of America's poorest people, USA Today reports. Life expectancy has risen in most of the nation since 1960 but in some areas—including the Deep South and Appalachia—life expectancy has dropped significantly, according to a study published in The Public Library of Science....

In Video, Teens Force Toddler to Smoke Pot

Two Ohioans charged after camcorder ends up in a pawnshop

(Newser) - Two Ohio teens have been arrested after police acquired a video in which they forced a toddler to smoke pot, NBC reports. The video, in which the smoking babysitters pass the pipe to the 18-month-old, was recovered after it was left inside a camcorder sold to a pawnshop. The teens...

Predicting Cancer Is All in Your Head

Test on smokers' mouths shows link to disease in lungs

(Newser) - A simple test on cells from the mouth could help doctors predict which smokers will develop lung cancer, Reuters reports. In a test group, 95% of subjects with the genetic damage associated with cancer in their lungs had the same damage in their mouths.

New York City Woman Sued for Smoking—at Home

Neighbors allege health risk from smoke that seeped into hallway

(Newser) - Forget bans in bars and restaurants—Galila Huff’s neighbors want to stop her from smoking in her own apartment. The New York restaurateur smokes up to two packs a day, and lawyers who live 50 feet down the hall say the smoke seeps into their 10x100-foot common hallway. They...

Genetics May Play Role in Smokers' Cancer Risk

Those who inherit variation from both parents are at greater danger

(Newser) - Three new studies have found a genetic variation that may increase smokers' chances of getting lung cancer. A smoker who inherits the variations from both parents has a 70% to 80% greater risk of developing the cancer. The findings could shed light on why some  smokers get cancer and some...

Upbeat Cancer Research Funded by Big Tobacco

Cigarette bucks paid for controversial lung cancer study

(Newser) - Tobacco money paid for research that said CT scans could prevent 80% of lung cancer deaths, the New York Times reports. The news has shocked cancer researchers, who are generally loathe to have anything to do with cigarette companies. “If you’re using blood money, you need to tell...

Smoking May Be Harmful to Your Wii

Nintendo cleans lenses damaged by cigarettes

(Newser) - Here's another reason to stop smoking: It damages your Wii. Some cigarette-wielding users in Japan last month noticed that the much anticipated "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" wasn't working properly, prompting Nintendo to provide free shipping and cleanup of tar-covered disc readers, the Boston Herald reports. Nintendo says the issue...

'Actors' Beat Smoking Ban in Minn. Bars

Owners exploit loophole that lets thespians light up

(Newser) - Stage performers are the only exception to the new smoking ban in Minnesota bars, so patrons are turning temporarily thespian and lighting up. The only props required at some of the 30 bars working the loophole are cigarettes and ashtrays—though some get more creative. "They're playing themselves before...

German Soldiers Too Fat: Study
German Soldiers Too Fat: Study
Mar 6, 2008 12:19 PM CST

German Soldiers Too Fat: Study

'Compared to the British, we're viewed as pathetic,' soldier complains

(Newser) - The German army is fat. It’s also unfit, smokes too much, and eats badly, according to a recent parliamentary update, the Guardian reports. About 40% of German soldiers are overweight—8.5% seriously so—and 70% smoke. “This has much to do with poor equipment and lack of...

Hotel Pays Staff to Sniff Out Smoking Guests

Chicago's Swissotel turns its housekeepers into detectives

(Newser) - That chocolate on your pillow may be a bit of a Judas kiss: Chicago's Swissotel isn't the first hotel to fine sneaky smokers who break its puff-free policy, but it is the nation's first to pay staff to sniff out offending guests, reports the Chicago Tribune. Spraying air freshener won't...

Supreme Court Denies Tobacco Industry Appeal

Justices won't intervene in W. Va. case involving hundreds of lawsuits

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today handed the tobacco industry a setback, rejecting without comment an appeal contending that West Virginia’s two-tiered system of consolidating cases is unconstitutional. In their appeal, industry lawyers called the process “deeply and fundamentally flawed,” the Wall Street Journal reports, but the plaintiffs' lawyers...

Your Boyfriend Does Mind If You Smoke
Your Boyfriend Does Mind
If You Smoke
Feb 19, 2008 12:09 PM CST

Your Boyfriend Does Mind If You Smoke

German man turns fire extinguisher on girlfriend, cigarette

(Newser) - A German man was so sick of his girlfriend's smoking that he turned a fire extinguisher on her, Der Spiegel reports. The 42-year-old gave a few warning shouts before spraying the apartment the two share, and he hadn't stopped yelling by the time police arrived to escort him to the...

'Toxic Sperm' Linked to Child Ills
'Toxic Sperm' Linked to
Child Ills
Feb 19, 2008 2:50 AM CST

'Toxic Sperm' Linked to Child Ills

Gene material in sperm may be hurt by heavy drinking, smoking: study

(Newser) - Men who smoke or drink heavily may transmit genetic abnormalities through their damaged sperm, leading to child health complications, miscarriages or stillbirth, researchers have found. The effects of environmental toxins on paternal health—long held to be far less important than that of mothers—may play a crucial role in...

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