Smoking


Alarm Clock

The Politics of Cancer

Stephen Lendman
Veteranstoday.com
Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:59 UTC
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© Unknown
University of Illinois School of Public Health and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition Professor Emeritus Samuel S. Epstein chose the above title for his award-winning 1978 book, updated 20 years later in his important work titled, The Politics of Cancer Revisited. More about both books below.

Epstein is an internationally recognized cancer expert and its avoidable causes, especially exposure to industrial carcinogens in air, water, food, consumer products, pesticides, prescription drugs, and workplace environments.

His decades of activities, public advocacy, awards, and distinctions are too numerous to mention. He also authored or co-authored a dozen books, as well as hundreds of peer reviewed articles on public health related issues, ones seldom getting enough mainstream attention if any.

The Politics of Cancer explained how exposure to environmental and occupational carcinogens causes cancer. Yet they're avoidable because safe substitutes exist. Nonetheless, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and American Cancer Society (ACS) - groups Epstein calls "the cancer establishment" - ignore preventable causes, searching for non-existant magic bullet cures. In fact, they allocate minimal budget amounts to prevention while deceiving people to believe they stress it.

As a result, 40 years after Nixon signed the 1971 National Cancer Act, following through on his same year State of the Union promise "to find a cure," cancer rates have soared. In the 1950s, it affected one in four Americans. Today, it's half or more. Three-fourths of families have at least one afflicted member. In 2010, 1.4 million Americans were diagnosed with it. Every minute in the US, it kills someone, claiming about 550,000 annual victims, most of them needlessly.

Comment: For more information regarding smoking and the truth about the American Cancer Society, see these Sott links:

Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco

American Cancer Society Trivializes Cancer Risks: Blatant Conflicts of Interest

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Smoking

Genetics May Determine How Smokers Metabolize Nicotine

Christine Emmick
Ready To Quit!
Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:40 UTC
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© Jeff Schrier | The Saginaw NewsKeith A. Boesnecker, 55, the owner of Frankenmuth Original Cigar Co., 135 S. Franklin in Frankenmuth lights up one of his specialty Fat Rum Tavern cigars.
In a study funded by the American Lung Association researchers studied several hundred metabolites of 19 patients divided into groups of smokers and non-smokers. They found a significant difference in the metabolites in smokers and non-smokers.

"This gives us an idea of how people produce metabolites differently when smoking cigarettes, which is based on their particular genetic profile and other biological and environmental factors," says researcher Ping-Ching Hsu, who is a doctorial student and lead investigator in the study.

The ultimate goal of the research is to define the metabolomic profile or "metabolome" that might predict who may be most likely to develop disease from smoking, as well as more clearly define how smoking causes that disease. "Metabolomics provides a broad picture of what is happening in the body of smokers," Hsu says. In further research Hsu studied how heavy smoking affects the metabolome verses light smoking and found several biological pathways could be changed.
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Smoking

Turning the positive into the negative: more statistical nonsense in the Global Campaign to Eradicate Smoking

Grandad
Smoking Out The Truth
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:52 UTC
I see there has been another so called 'study'.

In this instance, they examined blood pressure levels in children to test the effects of 'second hand smoke' on blood pressure.

The interesting thing is that their results show a drop in blood pressure in girls, but a raise in pressure in the boys. Neither change was significant however.

Overall there is apparently a greater drop amongst the girls compared to the boys. [-1.8 compared to +1.6].

In an honest world, this 'study' would be consigned to the bin where it belongs. In a world where governments wanted to promote smoking, they could announce the 'study' as good news and could trumpet the 'fact' that overall, passive smoking reduces blood pressure in children.
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Smoking

Where is the 'War Against Cell Phones'? WHO guilty of hypocrisy


Smoking Out The Truth
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:44 UTC
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Doomed
I came across a telling item of news the other day.

The WHO has stated that mobile/cell phones are an increased cancer risk.
"A team of 31 scientists from 14 countries, including the United States, made the decision after reviewing peer-reviewed studies on cell phone safety. The team found enough evidence to categorize personal exposure as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
So what is interesting about that?

The above conclusion was reached after a large study, but what's more important is that that study is backed by laboratory experimentation.

Compare that with the 'risks' posed by smoking - many 'studies' which are not peer reviewed and laboratory experiments that have singularly failed to prove anything.

Compare also the attitude of the WHO - it warns phone users that there may be a risk, but has declared an all out war on smoking.

If the WHO was consistent it would have to start a movement banning all mobile/cell phones. Everything points to the phones being more hazardous than smoking but the WHO does nothing. Is that not strange?
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Smoking

Anti-smoking propaganda: Decrease in smoking causes oral cancer?

Grandad
Smoking Out The Truth
Sun, 15 May 2011 09:37 UTC
Here is an interesting example of how a lie appears from nowhere and will doubtless become part of the vast portfolio of lies put around by the Anti-smoking crowd.

At a dentists' conference in Ireland recently, Dr Conor McAlister talked about the alarming rise in oral cancer, instances of which apparently increased by 30% in the last decade. Naturally he stated that the big risk factors are smoking and alcohol.

For years now, virtually every known disease known to man has been blamed on smoking, so adding another one to the list will not raise a single eyebrow. Add to this the logical association of the mouth with smoking and drinking and no one is going to question it.

Now take Dr McAlister's comment that smoking and drinking are risk factors. With a simple stroke of the pen, that will soon be reported as "smoking and drinking cause oral cancer" This is one of the more subtle of the propagandist's tools - taking a supposition and turning it into hard fact.
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Smoking

Nicotine's effect on appetite identified


Press TV
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:59 UTC
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Scientists discover how nicotine affects the pathway in the brain that controls appetite, a discovery that may lead to new obesity treatments and quitting tobacco without gaining weight.

Yale University researchers found a specific subclass of brain receptors which influences nicotine's ability in reducing appetite in rodents.

The lab study carried out on mice showed that a nicotine-like drug, cytisine, specifically activates nicotinic receptors in a part of brain known as hypothalamus that controls appetite.

The attachment of nicotinic molecules or any compound mimicking them to these receptors enhances the activity of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons, which affects obesity in humans and animals.

"We found that nicotine reduced eating and body fat through receptors implicated in nicotine aversion and withdrawal rather than reward and reinforcement," said lead author Marina Picciotto, whose study was published in the journal Science.

Comment: The reason smoking inhibits obesity is because it is anti-inflammatory.

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Smoking

It's in the genes: smoking linked to specific genetic profile


Press TV
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:48 UTC
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New studies suggest that genetic backgrounds may be to blame for smokers that have a hard time quitting or cutting down on their habit.

Several genes can dictate how prone you are to take up smoking or how easily you can quit, based on the studies.

In three separate studies that collected data from 140,000 people, scientists identified that there are three genetic mutations that increase the number of cigarettes people smoke a day.

A common single-letter change was found in the genetic code that lies in parts of the DNA molecule that contain genes that influence nicotine addiction and lung cancer risk.

However, any potential benefits from the research still have a long way in the future, said Amanda Sandford, lead research at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

"Smokers who want to quit should not wait for treatment tailored to their genetic make-up," Sandford said.

Comment: ASH make a good point: why wait to find out whether or not smoking benefits you?

Let's All Light Up!

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Smoking

Lung Cancer a Different Disease in Smokers and Nonsmokers

Amanda Chan
LiveScience
Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:24 UTC
Philadelphia - Lung cancer that develops in smokers is not the same disease as lung cancer that develops in people who've never touched a cigarette, a new study finds.

There are nearly twice as many DNA changes in the tumors of people who have never smoked than in the tumors of people who smoke, which suggests the cancer of "never-smokers" is different from smokers' cancer, said Kelsie Thu, a Ph.D. candidate at the BC Cancer Research Center in Canada.

"We think this finding provides evidence that never-smoker and smoker lung cancers are different, and suggests they arise through different molecular pathways," Thu told MyHealthNewsDaily. "Never-smokers might be exposed to a carcinogen, not from cigarettes, that causes their tumors to have more DNA alterations and promotes lung cancer development."
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Heart

Courageous British Mum Says Smoking During Her Pregnancy Helped Make Her Baby Stronger


Yahoo! News
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Bancroft Media
A young mother who smoked 15 - 20 cigarettes a day during pregnancy claimed it helped to make her baby stronger.

Charlie Wilcox, 20, from Rainham, Kent, was warned that smoking while pregnant restricted the amount of oxygen available to her unborn baby. However, she believed that this would make her unborn baby's heart work harder.

Appearing on BBC3's Misbehaving Mums To Be, she said: It's making the baby use its heart on its own in the first place, so that when it comes out, its going to be able to do those things by itself.

"Where's the proof that it's so bad to smoke?

When pregnant, tests showed that the levels of carbon monoxide in Ms Wilcox's blood were six times higher than those considered safe.

Comment: Notice how the article is loaded with statements of fact. But like Charlie, we find ourselves asking, where's the proof?

Lies, Damned Lies & 400,000 Smoking-related Deaths: Cooking the Data in the Fascists' Anti-Smoking Crusade

Smoking Helps Protect Against Lung Cancer

Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco

Nicotine and Autism: Another study demonstrates nicotine's neurological benefits

Warning: Nicotine Seriously Improves Health

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Smoking

Encroaching Fascism: New York Adds Parks and Beaches to Smoking Ban


The Telegraph, UK
Tue, 24 May 2011 08:52 UTC
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© Getty ImagesNew York's City Council voted in February to broaden the city's smoking prohibitions
New York City has added the city's parks and beaches to the list of places where smoking is banned.

The ban, which officials hope will prevent problems caused by second-hand smoke, adds to the city's 2003 ban on cigarettes in bars and restaurants.

The new law will not be enforced by police but by some 200 parks personnel who watch over the city's 29,000 acres of park land and beaches. Violators face a $50 fine but officials say the ban is meant to be largely self-enforcing.

"We don't think that people should be exposed to those chemicals when they go to a park to enjoy the fresh air," city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told Reuters.


Comment: Oh yeah, like the air in New York City is just pure and toxin-free!

Saleswoman Polonia Jourdain, sitting on a park bench with her eight-month-old nephew, said she was happy with the ban.

"I don't want to smell smoke wherever I go," said Jourdain, 17. "The smell of cigarettes makes me nauseous and gives me headaches."

New York's City Council voted in February to broaden the city's smoking prohibitions to cover its 1,700 parks, beaches, boardwalks and pedestrian plazas, such as Times Square.

Comment: Lies, Damned Lies & 400,000 Smoking-related Deaths: Cooking the Data in the Fascists' Anti-Smoking Crusade

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