Do you think it would be a good idea to sell cigarettes in plain white packets?

BBC News article considers whether plain white packets for cigarettes would be a good idea to help to reduce smoking. I would favour this. I think it would reduce the numbers of children tempted to start smoking, and therefore save a lot of avoidable illness and suffering.

One good thing: from today it is "a legal requirement for all packs of cigarettes to carry a graphic health warning, showing such images as diseased lungs and deeply yellowed teeth."

Pregnant women who find it difficult to stop smoking will be targeted in a new government campaign.

Campaign to help pregnant women stop smoking
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The advertising campaign, from NHS Smokefree, will highlight how every smoked cigarette restricts essential oxygen to the baby.

A baby's heart has to beat harder every time a pregnant woman smokes, it will show.

Around one in five pregnant women in England smoke during their pregnancy – equal to about 100,000 women at any one time.

A poll of 224 pregnant women for the campaign revealed 28 per cent would seek help to stop smoking but were worried about being judged."

The NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline number is 0800 1699 169.

Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England.

Cigarette sales drop nearly 7% - Guardian

Extract:

"Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England.

Smokers bought 6.9% fewer cigarettes in the four weeks to July 28 than in the same period last year, according to figures from consumer research group AC Nielsen. Sales were down 1.2% in June, ahead of the ban.

Anti-smoking campaigners ASH welcomed the news. "This is a good sign," a spokeswoman said. "As expected, smokers appear to be cutting back on the number of cigarettes they smoke. We also expect many will use the smoking ban as a trigger to help them quit altogether.""

A bit of welcome good news amid the general gloom...(o;

If you have given up/intend to give up smoking and fear that you will put on weight as a result, here is some further good news for you. - It is easy to lose excess weight by cutting down on salt and salty food. - Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! - How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Smoking while pregnant increases the likelihood of having a girl baby rather than a boy.

Smoking while pregnant raises the likelihood of having a girl - Independent

Extracts:

"Parents who are smokers when they conceive a child are far more likely to have girls than boys, an extensive study by paediatricians has found. The chance of having a male baby drops by almost half if both parents smoke during early pregnancy, amid fresh evidence that smoking could "kill" male foetuses in the womb.

Smoking not only reduces the chances of conceiving a male child, but could stop male embryos implanting in the womb and cause miscarriages.

While almost 52 per cent of all new-born babies are male in the western world, the proportion of female offspring rises dramatically among smokers. The study into 9,000 pregnancies in Liverpool found a startling imbalance in the number of girl babies among parents who smoke.

Mothers who smoked during pregnancy were one-third less likely to have male children than mothers who did not smoke. If the father also smoked, and if factors such as the health and age of the mother were accounted for, the chances of having a male child reduces by almost half.

The research by paediatricians at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has caused excitement in the international scientific community, which says it raises serious questions about the effect of smoking on population balance."

"The research, by a team of paediatricians led by Professor Bernard Brabin, found that substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilising eggs."


If you are pregnant, reducing your salt intake is good for your own health and also that of your baby-to-be. - See pregnant mothers

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)