Simon Cowell urged to stop smoking

Simon Cowell has been put under pressure to quit smoking ahead of the birth of his first child. The music mogul has been warned he could be putting the unborn child's health at risk if he lights a cigarette in front of pregnant lover Lauren Silverman. Concern was raised after the pair was caught strolling in St Tropez, in the south of France, with Lauren, who has given up smoking, carrying a packet of cigarettes as Cowell held her hand. A spokeswoman for U.K. campaign group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) tells Britain's Daily Star, "Tobacco smoke contains at least 60 cancer-causing substances as well as other toxins. There is no safe level of exposure so it's important that pregnant women avoid breathing in other people's smoke wherever possible to protect their own health and that of their baby."

Greater Victoria smoking ban doesn't go far enough

Smokers shouldn’t even need to be told not to smoke in elevators, at bus stops and in doorways, yet they do anyways.
Electronic cigs don’t bother me one bit and maybe should be permitted everywhere, but cigarettes are extremely annoying.
I carry a bandanna to hold over my mouth at all times to avoid the smoke of the dozens of smokers who will pass me everyday.
I watch everyone approaching me, particularly their fingers, but still often smokers sneak up behind me. One huff can leave a nasty taste in your mouth for 20 minutes. I care about my health, I have suffered 20 years exposure to concrete dust and 10 years exposure to pesticide.
As a poor wage slave, my ability to survive absolutely depends on my physical health. Even smokers hate secondhand smoke.
If smokers want total rights and freedoms, go to China, where every household also burns coal.
As deaths from smoking and air pollution mount in China, eventually they will impose smoking bans in public spaces.
Smoking within a 40-foot radius of non-smokers is a hostile act.

Scary pictures put off Russians from smoking

A poll of Russian smokers shows that 9% have cut down on their puffs after seeing scary anti-smoking pictures on their cigarette packages.

The poll was conducted by the Superjob.ru web portal. It took in 1,600 smokers in 175 Russian cities, towns and villages.

Last June, President Putin enacted tough anti-smoking legislation which includes obligatory graphic health warnings in cigarette packaging.

Risk of early death from smoking more severe than thought, Australian study reveals

The risk of premature death from smoking is much more severe than previously thought for both light and heavy smokers, a large Australian study has revealed.

The study found that two thirds of deaths in current smokers can be attributed to tobacco use.
Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University led the study, which followed 200,000 people over four years.
"The international rule of thumb is that half of all smoker deaths are directly caused by tobacco," she said.
"We found that [over the four years] people who are current smokers were three times more likely to die than people who had never smoked, and their life expectancy within that four-year period was diminished by 10 years compared to the never-smokers."
Professor Banks is also the scientific director of the Sax Institute's 45 and Up study, which collected the data on the health of 10 per cent of New South Wales residents.
International research has long confirmed the connection between tobacco smoking and premature death from heart problems and lung cancer.
Tobacco smoking is estimated to be responsible for 9.7 per cent of the total disease burden, but until now large-scale Australian data has not been available.
Professor Banks says the effect that smoking has on the population depends on the intensity of smoking and how long people have been smoking.
"So in a way we need our data for our epidemic, and this is the first time that we have had data from the Australian population," she said.
She says the death rate matches patterns in the Britain and the United States.
"When people have been smoking for decades having started smoking in their late teens, and actually smoking heavily ... it's the pattern you see with a mature epidemic," she said.
News also bad for 'light' smokers
Similarly, the news is not good for people who think of themselves as light smokers.
"The risk associated with smoking 10 cigarettes a day are similar to the risks of death associated with being morbidly obese, so with having a body mass index of 35 or more," Professor Banks said
"Most light smokers wouldn't think of themselves as having a risk that is similar to someone who is morbidly obese."Â
While the study did find it is better to be a light smoker than a heavy smoker, it did confirm that giving up improves health.
"On average smokers reduce their life expectancy by 10 years," Professor Banks said.
"Quitting at any age reduces the risks and the earlier, the younger you quit the better."
People who had cancer and heart disease were eliminated at the start and there were adjustments for alcohol, socio-economic factors, weight and age.
The preliminary data is to be presented to the 10th annual 45 and Up Collaborators meeting in Sydney on Friday
Professor Banks says the next step in the research is the basic building block to apply to the general Australian population to find more exactly how many deaths can be attributed to smoking.