Victorian Smoking Rates

Cancer Council Victoria chief executive Todd Harper says tough tobacco reforms and advertising campaigns are responsible for the record low smoking rates highlighted in its latest research. The figures show the state's overall smoking rate has dropped below 15 per cent for the first time, and 70 per cent of Victorians aged 18-29 have never smoked.

Teen Smoking Rate Increased in Alberta

More young Albertans are taking up the smoking habit, Alberta Health said in its annual report released Thursday, particularly those aged 20 to 24. While the smoking rate for that age group declined between 2003 and 2009, it started to trend upward in 2010.

American Smokers Could be Vaccinated, Smoking Habit

American research says that one day smokers could be immunized against nicotine so they gain no pleasure from it - possibly killing off smoking forever. Scientists in the US have devised a vaccine that floods the body with an antibody which stops nicotine having any effect. Nicotine levels in the brains of mice injected with the antibody reduced by 85%, the study published in Science Translational Medicine found.

Smoking Rates in Canada, Secodhand Smoking

If there weren't already compelling enough reasons for you to quit smoking, think about the risk to your vision. While it's well-known that smoking can cause cancer, heart disease and stroke, up until recently there has been little awareness about the fact that smoking can also cause serious and permanent vision loss. Cigarette packaging in other countries - like Australia, for example - has carried the message "smoking causes blindness" for some time. Now, Canada will finally follow suit. New Health Canada regulations for tobacco products labelling mean that, as of June 19, retailers can only legally sell cigarettes that display new health warnings, including the fact that smoking increases your risk of blindness.

Smoking Addiction in Namibia

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi, says his ministry is prepared to fight against entities that want to derail the implementation of the legislation on tobacco control in the country. Speaking in Rundu last week during the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day, Kamwi said many Namibians continue to become dependent on the harmful substance. A survey conducted by the health ministry in 2009, shockingly revealed that 17 percent of school-going children between the ages of 10 and 12 had experienced smoking. This year’s theme for World No Tobacco day was ‘‘Tobacco industry interference’ - with a slogan, ‘Tobacco industry tactics to undermine tobacco control must be exposed and resisted.’