Ardi Rizal, from Musi Bayuasin, South Sumatra, Indonesia was smoking two packets of cigarettes per day. He became addicted to nicotine in tobacco after his father had given him a cigarette. According to his parents, his addiction became so bad that he would throw violent tantrums if they did not give him a cigarette...

San Francisco Chronicle: "A report released Wednesday found foreclosures have not only economic consequences, but create health problems for the people and families involved -- and those effects can ripple throughout a community...

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is working in partnership with the charity No Smoking Day to help thousands of smokers to kick the habit and stop smoking on Wednesday, 9th March 2011. This year's "Time to Quit?" campaign will encourage and support smokers across the UK to start counting down to the 9th March, to quit smoking and start a healthier and wealthier life...

Two studies reveal that smokers may have a significantly lower risk of developing lung cancer and colorectal cancer with the drug metformin, which is commonly prescribed for diabetes type 2 treatment, the medical journal Cancer Prevention Research informs...

The Fiscal Times: A Medicare program that has agreed to pay for counseling for seniors who smoke but are not yet sick could help the program, and America's health system, lower costs. "Smoking costs the U.S. economy $97 billion annually in lost productivity, in addition to the $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, according to [the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services]...

Metformin, a drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes, shows potential in the prevention of tobacco-induced lung tumors, according to early research conducted at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Results of this study will be published in the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Scott Lippman, M.D...

Michael Douglas told a US television audience on Tuesday night that he has been diagnosed with and is receiving treatment for stage four throat cancer. Speaking on David Letterman's "Late Show" to promote the release of his new film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", the 65- year old American actor and producer said his doctors had told him he has an 80 per cent chance of survival...

Hispanic middle school students may be more likely to smoke, drink or use marijuana than their peers of other races and ethnicities, whereas Asian students seem to have the lowest risk, according to new research in the September issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs...

People who consume a variety of vegetables tend to have a lower risk of developing lung cancer compared to those who don't, according to a study published in the medical journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research...

Adding a variety of vegetables to one's diet may help decrease the chance of getting lung cancer, and adding a variety of fruits and vegetables may decrease the risk of squamous cell lung cancer, especially among smokers. Study results are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research...

Canada should follow the lead of Quebec, Australia and the United Kingdom by publicly funding smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Some 5.5 million Canadians (19% of the population) currently use tobacco, a number that has not decreased in recent years...

People who want to give up smoking may be entitled to Medicare cover for evidence-based cessation counseling, the HSS (Department of Health and Human Services, USA) announced. Before this announcement, only individuals with a tobacco-related disease were entitled to Medicare cover for counseling to give up smoking...

According to a recent sub-study, part of long-term Nicotine Dependence in Teens (NDIT) study based at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, University of Toronto and the University of Montreal, professionals discovered that smoking can increase depressive symptoms in teens...

The number of middle and high school children who use tobacco products has dropped since 2000, but the decline has been slowing down in recent years, says a CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report...

Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA) announced that it has licensed its Staccato nicotine technology to Cypress Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYPB). The Staccato nicotine technology is a novel electronic multidose delivery system designed to help people stop smoking...

A test for one of the thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke has the potential for more accurately estimating smokers' mouth level exposure and may have applications for developing custom-tailored quitting approaches for the more than 43 million people in the United States who still smoke, and hundreds of millions elsewhere, scientists said...

The American Lung Association welcomes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) decision to expand coverage for tobacco cessation counseling to all smokers covered by Medicare, but is disappointed that these smokers will still not be provided a comprehensive tobacco cessation benefit...

The Hill: "The Obama administration on Wednesday expanded Medicare to cover more seniors hoping to kick their tobacco habits." Previously, Medicare rules allowed the program to cover tobacco-related counseling only for beneficiaries who already suffered from a tobacco-related disease...

Second-hand smoke is associated with a number of diseases and conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and emphysema. It is an irritant to lung tissue and blood vessels, but the processes through which the body reacts to second-hand smoke comprise a mystery scientists are only beginning to unravel...

Meconium, the dark and tarry stools passed by a baby during the first few days after birth, can be used to determine how much the mother smoked, or if she was exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy...