MTV Smoke Screen & quit because...

One of our quit because... presenters - Alison Walsh - is Miss Quit for the next month as she helps out some guys and girls from all over Europe to stop smoking.

She's working with MTV on Smoke Screen. It's a website following their attempts to quit through video diaries, which Miss Quit comments on and gives them her expert advice!
















Here's one of the Brits - Rachel, who's from London and studying in Manchester:


























Visit the MTV Smoke Screen website

Doctors Were Worried About Smoking 400 Years Ago

Even 400 years ago, doctors were concerned about young people smoking. A doctor's letter from 1606 was found at a college library in Edinburgh.

The letter, which was published at the time by Dr Duncon's employer, concluded that tobacco "is so hurtful and dangerous to youth...

Read more @ BBC.co.uk

Asthma Risk for Smoking Teens

A study was done on teenagers who smoke and it showed that there's more risk of your lungs not working as well, and developing asthma symptoms.

Here the most important points from the study:

15.2% of the teen smokers they studied reported wheezing.

20.4% were wheezing after exercising.

Compare this to 8.5% and 10.7%, respectively, of non-smoking teens.

...

Smokers had poorer lung function than non-smokers

Patrick Swayze's Cancer Related to Smoking

The quit because... team was very sad to see the passing of Patrick Swayze (Roadhouse, Dirty Dancing, Donnie Darko). He's said in the past that:

"I will go so far as to say probably smoking had something to do with my pancreatic cancer..."

An American doctor gave a similar warning the other day:

"We do know, however, that we see more pancreatic cancers in people who smoke and we see more pancreatic cancers in people who are overweight.

...

But there is no question that if you want to do all you can to avoid developing a malignancy in the pancreas, do not smoke," Dr. Brown emphasized.

Read more

A Smoker's Tale

Okay, so the NHS were just a little bit behind our Sexiness In A Stick video, but their short film about Megan - a 16 year old smoker - is also pretty cool!

10 Things You Should Know About Shisha

When we go out into schools, a lot of you ask about shisha (also known as hookah, among other things). It's a regular, family practice in some cultures and it's also becoming cool with more young people too. This is partly because it's seen as being safer than smoking cigarettes.

A lot of information has been coming out in the last few weeks to show how shisha is actually way more dangerous than cigarettes.

We've got a video that shows you the dangers of shisha, so take a look!

Ex-Smoker Casts Cigs Away

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about the guy who decided to strand himself on an island in Scotland in order to quit.

Well, really strong winds have made him decide to leave the island as soon as he can. The good news is that he's been smoke-free for the longest time since he started the habit.

“This whole venture has cost me £800 and if I remain off smoking it will be the best £800 I have ever spent. I would have spent that money in a few months on fags.”

Read more @ The Scottish Sun.co.uk

African Children Poisoned by Nicotine

Here are some shocking facts from an article about how the tobacco industry is poisoning children in Africa.


Children in Malawi who are forced to work as tobacco pickers are exposed to nicotine poisoning equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, an investigation has found.

It is estimated that more than 78,000 children work on tobacco estates – some up to 12 hours a day, many for less than 1p an hour and without protective clothing.

The children reported common symptoms of green tobacco sickness (GTS), or nicotine poisoning, including severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, coughing and breathlessness.

Everyday symptoms of GTS are more severe in children than adults as they have not built up a tolerance to nicotine through smoking and because of their physical size.

These children are risking their health for 11p a day.

Full article @ The Guardian.co.uk

Green tobacco sickness is a kind of poisoning that happens when you come into contact with wet tobacco leaves. Your skin absorbs the nicotine from the leaves. Think how at risk these kids are with no protective clothing on.

See also: 'Up In Smoke' documentary @ YouTube