New Report Urges Legislators to Pass Stricter No-Smoking Laws

Back in the 1920's, Camel cigarettes launched the biggest ad campaign in the history of the United States. Up until that point, most smokers rolled their own cigarettes. For the next 30 years, cigarettes were represented as being healthful to smoke, very relaxing and soothing to the nerves.

People from all walks of life were in the cigarette ads. Doctors and movie stars like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan graced the pages of all of the magazines and billboards as well as some of the first TV commercials.

But then something insidious began to happen. Doctors and researchers began to see hints that smoking cigarettes all of your life may cause a problem, even kill you. But most all of the research at that time was done by the tobacco companies themselves, so they kept their findings under wraps.

Before the Revolutionary War, most tobacco was smoked in cigars and pipes. But it seems the biggest catalyst for the production of cigarettes was war. Cigarette consumption jumped during all of the wars including World War II. Soldiers needed a form of tobacco they could smoke on the run. There was no time to stop and fill a pipe when someone was shooting at you.

Cigarette smoking was once considered sophisticated and suave. It still is in some parts of the world. But I think that here in the United States, the tide is turning. Cigarette smokers are made to go outside in the weather and do their damage. Some places, like hospitals and baseball stadiums, don't even allow it outside anymore and many municipalities have outlawed it in public places.

Recently, the government started putting stricter warnings on packs of cigarettes. Pretty soon there will be gruesome pictures of dead lung cancer victims on every pack you buy. But is this really enough? Cigarettes are so addictive that all putting on the pictures might do is make a lot of disgusted cigarette smokers.

According to Medical News Today:

" Today's release of, "How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking Attributable Disease" by U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin focuses attention on tobacco use and its devastating effects,"

The report also showed that so-called "casual smokers" or "social smokers" are also at risk of developing serious disease. Smoking has a negative effect on the cardiovascular system from the first cigarette that you smoke. It's not the amount of cigarettes that you smoke, but rather how long you have been smoking.

The researchers hope that the new report will spur legislators to pass laws that are proven to reduce smoking among the general population.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/211104.php