Smoking special #2, covering articles from 4-10/6/12

A report has exposed the underhand tactics employed by the tobacco industry:
Directly lobbying politicians and civil servants is a key tactic of theirs.
Indirect lobbying, done through tobacco farmers, suppliers, and distributors, as well as trade organisations, is another.
The three main fallacies they employ are:
- not in the EU's jurisdiction; breach of free trade agreements
- threat to jobs; exaggerating job losses; ignoring health benefits
- they exploit EC lack of expertise to bypass the science, and gain direct access to officials
"While the industry’s tactics have not changed in the last 12 years, support for tobacco control has definitely increased"
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-smokescreen-tobacco-industry-tactics.html
TobaccoTactics.org has been set up monitor the unscrupulous behaviour of tobacco industry advocates, propagandists, and front groups
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-website-tobacco-industry.html
TobaccoTactics.org
http://tobaccotactics.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

The Canadian province of Quebec is suing Imperial Tobacco Canada for a prospected $60 billion, to retrospectively cover the health deficit that the industry has caused
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-quebec-sues-tobacco-industry-can60.html

A study has found that State attempts to curtail the damage done by tobacco smoking are successful
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-higher-taxes-smoke-free-policies-moms-to-be.html

Smoking has been found to inhibit medications from helping against rheumatoid arthritis
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-negatively-affects-response-anti-tnf-treatment.html

Cannabis is not harmless if you smoke it, regardless of the THC content
I'm not so sure about twenty times; but the general rule is this: *inhaling* burning plant is *not* good for you!
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/06june/Pages/cannabis-lung-health-risks-underestimated.aspx

Smoking special, covering articles from 28/5 - 3/6/12

There's been quite a lot of news on medicalxpress, recently, covering the extensive effects of combusted tobacco plant inhalation. This is, of course, nowhere near concise evidence, damning what can only be considered, post-scrutiny, to be an incredibly stupid pursuit, perpetuated purely by nicotine addiction and puerile cultural habits.

- Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes severe asthma in children
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes children to suffer more asthma, lung infections, and a general lack of lung function
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy causes babies to be born ~200 grammes lighter than their healthier counterparts

A great video, made by Cancer Research UK, supporting the campaign to enforce blank cigarette packets:
http://mumbrella.com.au/plain-and-simple-93990

The petition:
https://action.cancerresearchuk.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=149&ea.campaign.id=13114&ea.tracking.id=d88eee9c

The studies:
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-pregnancy-linked-severe-asthma-teen.html
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-maternal-disrupts-retinoid-pathways-fetal.html
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-babies-mothers-grams-birth.html