Everyone sees you as a risk, expense, or questionably productive.

It's no secret that insurance rates are lower for non-smokers. In 1983 health-care coverage was modestly estimated at $300 less per year less for those who opted for the hale and hearty route not to light up. Some insurance companies even offer up to a 45% discount on term-life coverage premiums too. Many American citizens receive insurance coverage from their employers and these companies have begun to notice this and several other ways that smokers are costing them big bucks each year.

The health-care cost is an obvious elevated expense but who would have thought that smokers could have a negative impact on workplace morale also? On average, smokers miss about 50% more work than nonsmokers, leaving the healthy workers to pick up their slack. The Dow Chemical Company found that, in 1974, smokers were absent 5.5 days more per year. Not only did this mean that temporary replacements were needed on these days but productivity shows a decline as well. Continue Reading

Continuing our series of entries received in our contest, What Prompted You to Try an Electronic Cigarette.

Entry 11 from Lori

The reason I tried to quite smoking with electronic cigarettes is because I like to smoke more than I have an addiction to nicotine.  Using the Safecig gives me the calming feeling I like when smoking a cigarette.  I have tried other electronic cigarettes in the past, but none of them last as long or taste as real to me as the Safecig does.  I have tried to quite smoking many different times through the years without being able to continue not smoking until I found Safecig.  The main reason for quiting for me is my mother is in a respiratory care clinic at this time with severe COPD and EMPHYSEMA because of many years of smoking.  It is very hard to go to the hospital everyday and see her on a ventilator because of smoking.  I have a son who is 18 years old who I do not want to have to visit me like I am having to visit my mother, also I do not want to cause harm to my husband or child with second hand smoke because of my nasty habit.  I hope to continue my success with Safecig in the future. Continue Reading

In the United States, tobacco companies have been required to pay settlements to 46 states to help off-set the cost tobacco-related medical-costs. Tobacco companies agreed to cease certain marketing practices and pay annual payments to states. The question is not if those funds should be paid, but where they should go.

In a report recently released, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that most states are not spending the recommended amount of settlement funds and tobacco taxes on programs and marketing to prevent tobacco use.

In Kentucky an estimated $389 million of the state's income derived from these sources in 2011. The CDC recommends $57.2 million be allocated to fund anti-tobacco programs. Kentucky falls short of that amount, noting they are slated so spend a mere $2.2 million on preventative programs in 2012. That is a hair under 4 percent of the recommended figure. Continue Reading

A recent study conducted and released Thursday by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reported that just under 26 percent of Ohioans are smokers; matching the smoking rates of Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Only one state topped the 26 percent mark - Kentucky reflects that 29 percent of the state's population lights up.

What makes Ohio notable is that it is the only state with a comprehensive smoking ban, yet according to those surveyed reflects more than one-in-four adults lighting up. Officials at the Ohio Department of Health said the report's findings were no consistent with their own survey conducted and released in 2010 that noted 22.5 percent of the state's population Continue Reading

According to a study released by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), cigarette smoking has declined just over 42 percent since 1965, but the number of smokers still remains above the targeted Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) goal of 12 percent.

The JAMA reviews a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes National Health Interview Survey data including:

• Smoking prevalence among working adults is 19.6 percent
• The smoking rate of those with less than a high school education is 28.4 percent
• The smoking rate of those who have no medical insurance is 28.6 percent
• For smokers living below the poverty level, the rate is 27.7 percent
• For the youngest group, aged 18 to 24 years, smoking prevalence is 23.8 percent

The report also looks at the various industries and occupations to determine which areas still remained high in terms of percentage of smokers. Education services represented the lowest number of smokers while the mining industry was the highest; 9.7 percent and 30 percent respectively. The report states that further cessation program availability is needed in some industries to assist in reducing the high-percentage of smokers. Continue Reading

According to the CDC's November 11 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68.8 percent of current smokers say they want to quit and 52.4 percent tried to quit during the past year. No matter how many people want to quit or attempt to quit, tobacco cigarettes are still creating an immense risk of many types of cancer including lung cancer.

Nancy Meenan shared her experience with losing her husband to lung cancer in a letter to the Editor at phillyBlurbs.com. The following is her statement:

My husband passed away in July of small-cell lung cancer. He was told by the oncologist that small-cell is directly caused by smoking and is a very aggressive cancer. By the time he showed symptoms, it was too late. The doctor also said there has been no progress in finding a way to cure small-cell lung cancer in the last 20 years.

Continue Reading

The common practice at Winnipeg Health Sciences Center and University of Alberta Hospital is non-compliance. Both facilities maintain a campus-wide smoking ban that has been in effect for over three years.

Researchers from the University of Manitoba, University of Alberta and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority decided to look at the consequences. They interviewed patients and held focus groups with staff. The study of continued smoking was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.