...At least not the good guys!
Films have changed. In the old days, even in children's films everybody smoked. Good guys smoked, bad guys smoked, the "bad" guy who's really the hero smoked....and that goes for the women too.
The way the films would indicate a moody, misunderstood charater
We’re all very familiar with the impact that smoking cigarettes and tobacco has on our personal health.
It’s even well documented now the effect that passive smoking can have on the people around us, with measures being taken in more and more countries to stop smoking in public places.
One
ORAL ALERT!
I've lost count of the number of times that Dentists tell me the damage that smoking does to your gums, your tongue, your lips. All that sensitive flesh inside your mouth is the front line for chemical attack when it comes to smoking.
Bad breath - also known as halitosis - of
Today is International Kissing Day, or World Kiss Day and one of the biggest gripes that non-smokers have about smokers is their smoker's breath.
With Smoking Cited as one of the biggest turn-offs when it comes to getting up close and personal.
Kissing a smoker has been described as "Kissing a
This story of a smoking baby is a really sad one, check out the apparently unfazed adults behind him. What are they thinking?
Yesterday I was training some young people who are to become Smoke Free Ambassadors in their local area and we talked about how quick it is to get hooked on cigarettes. Th
Following the lead of countries such as the US, Canada and Australia, New Zealand has announced that it is to stop smoking in prisons as of next year.
Can you imagine being in an environment where even your cigarettes are taken away from you and you have absolutely no say in the matter? What if y
The government's public health watchdog, NICE (the National Institute of Clinical Excellence) has today discussed the possibility of testing all pregnant smokers for smoking so that they can offer help with quitting.
This would mean that all women registering with a midwife for would have a carbo
....hot!
Wow, wow, wow - I just caught the Serena Williams match against Michelle Larcher de Brito. The woman is a total powerhouse!
She is an amazing example of someone who has a fantastic mindset.
According to today's commentators Serena has vowed to make the history books by pretty much
Trying to stop smoking can be hard enough when smokers are up against the big guns of the tobacco industry. But what if you add to that the problems caused by the black market in tobacco sales?
The BBC's Fake Britain programme last night looked at how much illegal tobacco is coming into the UK fr
Films have changed. In the old days, even in children’s films everybody smoked. Good guys smoked, bad guys smoked, the “bad” guy who’s really the hero smoked….and that goes for the women too.
The way the films would indicate a moody, misunderstood charater is to stick a cigarette in his hand.
Want to show a sultry, sexy vamp or temptress? Give her a lit cigarette to wave and suck on seductively.
To show a thoughtful, poignant moment, they’d have the charater pause, look profound and then blow smoke from their mouth.
Same goes to show a sexy “bad” boy who’s dangerous to be around – the faithful fag used to be used again.
Of course the character under the most stress or pressure – the one who’s child had been kidnapped etc – they would be puffing away, smoke after smoke after smoke.
Not forgetting the rather weak, nervous character, who couldn’t take any kind of news or events or even go 5min without reaching for the cigarettes.
It never seemed to be classed as lazy use of the film maker’s talents to blatently use the good ol’ cigarette in all these cases.
All those subconscious messages film after film, encouraging, supporting and perpetuating smoking as the desired “norm”.
It’s very refreshing that all that has been changed.
Now in the Harry Potter films as well as most other films for children and adults, smoking is no longer portrayed as the thing that is “cool” to do.
The Harry Potter characters may have many weird and wonderful foibles and characteristics,often displayed with a multitude of creativity that does the Harry Potter films credit.
Thankfully, smoking is not among them.
Still I suppose with a wand in one hand, the words of a spell on their lips and a fag in the other hand……. just wouldn’t be magical at all!
We’re all very familiar with the impact that smoking cigarettes and tobacco has on our personal health.
It’s even well documented now the effect that passive smoking can have on the people around us, with measures being taken in more and more countries to stop smoking in public places.
One element about smoking that is less well publicized is the impact that smoking and the chemicals and filters are having on our environment and the damage that they’re doing to our wildlife and waters.
It’s all about the Butt.
Cigarette butts are made up of cellulose acetate, which is a form of plastic. They pose as big a threat to the environment as other forms of plastic and people rarely realise just how environmentally unfriendly the simple cigarette butt is.
The truth about cigarette butt litter can be alarming.
The biggest myth is that cigarette filters are biodegradable. This is completely wrong. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable in the sense that most people think of the word. The acetate (plastic) filters can take an obscene number of years to decompose.
Many smokers don’t even realize that their actions have such a lasting, negative impact on the environment.
Cigarette butts also present a threat to wildlife and have been found in the stomachs of:
Fish
Birds
Whales
Other marine creatures
These innocent creatures had mistaken the toxic filters for food.
Over time, cigarette companies have taken great pains to keep their customers in the dark on this issue. It is very common for highly littered items such as soda cans, snack wrappers, and fast food containers to have a simple “Please Don’t Litter” message.
There’s no such message on cigarette packs.
Cigarette smokers need to become more aware and therefore more responsible in their methods of disposing of these environmental hazards .
Some countries are beginning to encourage this by introducing a heavy fine for smokers who litter with their cigarette butts in the street.
Smoking and littering do not have to be synonymous, as many smokers are not bad people and just don’t understand the negative impact that every thoughtlessly discarded cigarette butt and tobacco filter is having.
But it’s not just about the severe lack of biodegradability of a filter or butt. The filters themselves are designed to capture some of the 4,000 highly toxic chemicals that are present in each cigarette.
What happens after that butt gets casually flicked onto the street, stubbed out on a nature trail, or abandoned on a beach?
Typically wind and rain carry the discarded cigarette into the water supply, there the toxic chemicals that the cigarette filter was designed to trap, start to leak out into our rivers, streams and aquatic ecosystems.
With these harmful substances causing damage to many aquatic life forms and even threatening the quality of the water.
Cigarette butts may seem small and perhaps even insignificant at first, but when you realise that there are several trillion butts littered every year, the impact of these toxic chemicals soon add up!
So what’s the best way to tackle this serious environmental problem?
Of course I’m going to suggest stop smoking!
But if you’re not quite ready to quit yet, if each and every one of us simply takes responsibility for our own litter, including cigarette butts, then our individual environmental impact will pose less of a threat in the ways discussed above.
No Ifs, no Butts, think carefully before you flick that butt.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that Dentists tell me the damage that smoking does to your gums, your tongue, your lips. All that sensitive flesh inside your mouth is the front line for chemical attack when it comes to smoking.
Bad breath – also known as halitosis – of course is a huge factor and often people forget the damage that this foul smell is creating.
If you are a smoker, you are increasing your risk of gum disease which alarmingly leads to teeth falling out and loosing bone tissue from your jaw.
There are so many different risks’ simply associated with your mouth that come with smoking, these are just a few:
* Bad breath
* Tooth discolouration
* Gum discolouration
* Inflammation of the salivary gland openings on the roof of the mouth
* Increased build up of plaque and tartar on the teeth
* Increased loss of bone within the jaw
* Increased risk of leukoplakia, white patches inside the mouth
* Increased risk of developing gum disease, a leading cause of tooth loss
* Delayed healing process following tooth extraction, periodontal treatment, or oral surgery
* Lower success rate of dental implant procedures
* Increased risk of developing oral cancer
Pretty jaw dropping stuff -and that’s not even mentioning the deadening effect on your taste buds!
Now wouldn’t you like to put that fag out for good and start to smile with confidence again?
Today is International Kissing Day, or World Kiss Day and one of the biggest gripes that non-smokers have about smokers is their smoker’s breath.
With Smoking Cited as one of the biggest turn-offs when it comes to getting up close and personal.
Kissing a smoker has been described as “Kissing an ashtray”!
Often when people stop smoking, they are delighted to once again have fresh breath that stays fresh:
“It’s so good to get back that lovely fresh feeling in your mouth when you’ve just brushed your teeth and can run your tongue round your mouth feeling and smelling fresh and delicious.”
So without further ado, to Celebrate today, 6th July, International Kissing Day, lets go straight to the Music and Kiss with Tom Jones!
This story of a smoking baby is a really sad one, check out the apparently unfazed adults behind him. What are they thinking?
Yesterday I was training some young people who are to become Smoke Free Ambassadors in their local area and we talked about how quick it is to get hooked on cigarettes. They were really surprised to know that it can take less than four weeks of relatively irregular smoking (i.e. not daily) to become addicted.
This little boy seems to be some kind of side show, and, according to the accompanying reports, smokes 20 a day. Why is nobody trying to help him stop?
Following the lead of countries such as the US, Canada and Australia, New Zealand has announced that it is to stop smoking in prisons as of next year.
Can you imagine being in an environment where even your cigarettes are taken away from you and you have absolutely no say in the matter? What if you had to quit smoking that way, how would you feel? Relieved that someone else is making the decision for you or annoyed that you’re not being allowed to do it the way you want to do it?
The current inmates are the luckiest as they’ll be given support and Nicotine Replacement Therapy but those who come into the prison after the ban will be expected to give up cigarettes as soon as they walk through the door!
The government’s public health watchdog, NICE (the National Institute of Clinical Excellence) has today discussed the possibility of testing all pregnant smokers for smoking so that they can offer help with quitting.
This would mean that all women registering with a midwife for would have a carbon monoxide test carried out, to see how much of this toxic gas (the same gas as is found in car exhaust fumes) is present.
I agree that there really is a need for pregnant women to get help with quitting but do wonder if this is the best way to go about it.
A pregnant woman is likely already feeling very sensitive about the fact that she is still smoking in pregnancy without feeling like she’s being spot-tested.
And even if someone’s pregnant, they still have to want to stop smoking to have the best chance of success so what would this test do anyway?
I’m presuming that the midwife would ask the smoking status of her patient as a matter of routine so what good will it do, when a woman says she’s not smoking, to whip out a machine to prove her wrong.
I agree that it could provoke a positive conversation regarding smoking and the machine could help in terms of showing the woman evidence of the harm she is doing to her unborn baby (and herself, of course).
But there really would have to be a good level of sensitivity exercised here to make sure the woman doesn’t feel like she’s being judged.
I’m quite surprised by this move but I would hope that it will do what it sets out to achieve and that is to help as many pregnant women to stop smoking as possible.
Wow, wow, wow – I just caught the Serena Williams match against Michelle Larcher de Brito. The woman is a total powerhouse!
She is an amazing example of someone who has a fantastic mindset.
According to today’s commentators Serena has vowed to make the history books by pretty much sweeping up every single Grand Slam title she can get her hands on. There was no stopping the woman today. What an inspiration!
Trying to stop smoking can be hard enough when smokers are up against the big guns of the tobacco industry. But what if you add to that the problems caused by the black market in tobacco sales?
The BBC’s Fake Britain programme last night looked at how much illegal tobacco is coming into the UK from places such as China, where tonnes of packets of fake cigarettes are produced every day.
So, how do you know if the cigarettes you or your friends and family are smoking are contraband goods?
You might think that as long as you’re not buying your cigarettes from the back of a white van or in a dark corner of a pub then you’ll be ok but is that really the case?
Last night’s programme followed Trading Standards officers as they raided shops that were selling illegal tobacco products.
You might wonder why buying these products is such a big deal. Believe it or not, the cigarettes you buy are regulated (the 4000 or so harmful chemicals have been approved for use!). This means that there is a certain level of nicotine, tar etc in the cigarettes.
Contraband products are completely unregulated and made in factories to look exactly like the real thing, even down to the official stamp of approval. So you can’t tell when you’re buying cigarettes that have exceptionally high levels of unregulated chemicals in them. This could be very dangerous (even more dangerous than your average cigarette) and you could be doing yourself even more harm than you think.
The solution? I’m afraid I’ve only got one recommendation, and you know what that is….
