Stories tagged cigarettes

A climb in quitting: Minnesota's recent smoking ban has led to increases in several measures of ways that people try to stop smoking.
Courtesy Saudi...I had some fun on the eve of the start of the state smoking ban in October with a post about how Ireland’s accordions are cleaner now that the smoking is not allowed in public places.

That post generated a lot of debate on if a state should be involved in regulating people’s health habits. Now comes this headline in today’s Star-Tribune: Since the smoking ban started, efforts by people to quit smoking in Minnesota have jumped significantly.

How do we know this? There’s a lot more action on the stop-smoking efforts.

Blue Cross-Blue Shield reports a 43 percent jump in traffic on its telephone hotline used for people wanting immediate support in their effort to quit. And during the month of the start of the smoking ban, there was a tripling in the sales of nicotine patches and other quitting aids by members of the same health plan.

Blue Cross is not alone -- insurer Medica has seen a 40 percent climb in its members wanting to use smoking cessation counseling programs.

What’s going on with all of this? It may be too early to tell yet, but cessation advocates say that the smoking ban especially targets younger people. The ban doesn’t allow for smoking in bars or nightclubs, and younger people often like to smoke when they’re out partying. Now, if young smokers want to be out on the nightlife scene, they have to divide their time with inside reveling and outdoor smoking, experts surmise. Non-smokers get to stay inside where the action is.

And they’re careful to note that quitting smoking is a long, hard process. Successful quitters usually have to try quitting a number of times before they’re unhooked. But the advocates say that it’s a nice, early, unintended consequence so early in the smoking ban’s life.

Here are some tips on how to stop smoking from another recent Science Buzz posting.

Tags : smoking, health, cigarettes, smoking cessation, smoking ban

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Butt out: Can laser treatments be an effective way for people to stop smoking? There are divergent viewpoints among those providing the treatments and traditional medical personnel.Is it is a technological trick to stop smoking or just newer form of medical quackery?

That’s the question being thrown around by low-level laser treatments that proponents say can help you stop smoking.

One of the local TV stations this week did a report about the treatments. The practitioners claim that two or three 30-minute treatments of the laser therapy will take away the tobacco urges of most smokers. Medical professionals think it’s just a bunch of high-tech hooey.

Video footage showed people being treated with a laser pen device. During one treatment, the pen is put on the forehead, in the ears, in the nostrils and on the chin of the smoker. The local company doing the procedure claims that almost everyone stops smoking after two or three treatments. A package of treatments costs about $300. And the proponents say that similar treatments have been available and effective in Canada and Europe for decades.

People doing the procedure contend that the energy from the laser releases endorphins in the body, which trick body into thinking it’s getting the same chemicals it gets from a cigarette.

A doctor from the Mayo Clinic, however, said that there’s no credible medical evidence that shows that the treatments actually work. He contended that the percentage of people stopping smoking after the treatment is about the same as people who would stop smoking after receiving placebo drugs.

Upon further pushing, the treatment company said that around 20 percent of the people it treats don’t stop smoking after the treatments, and that some people take more than a handful of treatments.

So far, the Food and Drug Administration has yet to take any action on the matter. What do you think about this? Is it a revolutionary way to quick smoking or just another medical hoax? Share your thoughts here with other Science Buzz readers.

Tags : cigarettes, laser treatment, stop smoking

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