Smokers are influenced by package color

PACKAGING colour, slim cigarettes, a smooth taste. Many smokers believe these three factors each represent a safer smoke cigarette packageA study published in the journal Addiction reveals that one-in-five smokers believe “some cigarette brands could be less harmful than others”, with many basing their idea of risk on the colour of the packaging.In fact all conventional brands of cigarettes present the same risk to smokers, regardless of whether they are ‘mild’ or ‘low-tar’.The belief may stem from old branding of cigarettes as ‘mild’ or ‘light’.Tobbacco companies are no longer allowed to describe their brand with these terms because they are...

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Electronic cigarettes and vaping

Electronic cigarettes are battery powered drug delivery machines that allow a consumer to breathe in a high dose nicotine aerosol. (See previous article “Electronic cigarettes, nicotine and antifreeze?” with research source citations in the comments section at Examiner.com/Roanoke Longevity Examiner.) No tobacco is used in the plastic machine cartridges, just pure nicotine in an artificially flavored liquid. Many scary questions have arisen about e-cigs:Just how much nicotine gets in your brain when you vape one cartridge? Without extensive animal testing this question is not answerable. Extensive animal testing has not been done on e-cigs. The...

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Smoking ban a limit on freedom but a big step forward for Springfield

As members of civilized society, we all accept limits on our freedom.We know we can’t drive 60 mph in a school zone.We understand we shouldn’t dump raw sewage into a lake.We know it’s wrong to yell “fire” in a crowded theater.On April 5, we strongly urge city voters — smokers and nonsmokers alike — to accept another limit on freedom: Vote “yes” on the proposed ordinance to ban smoking in all indoor places accessible to workers or the public.It is the right thing to do for public health: Despite the protestations of opponents, it is clear that secondhand smoke, as much as smoking, is hazardous to your health, not just a nuisance to be tolerated.The...

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