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April 13, 2012 / Bloomberg Businessweek / – With the U.S. surgeon general returning to her home state of Alabama to talk about the dangers of smoking, some legislators are pushing an increase in the state cigarette tax, but they say it doesn’t have much chance of passing the Legislature.Regina Benjamin is scheduled to join the president of the state medical association, the state health officer and others in Birmingham on Friday to talk about smoking-related illnesses.Benjamin ran a medical clinic in Bayou La Batre before being picked by President Barack Obama. She and state medical leaders plan to talk about smoking causing $96 million in medical costs annually, according to an announcement from the medical association. LINK TO... Read More

April 3, 2012 / Fox News / – Women tend to find it harder to quit smoking than men, and a new study suggests why – women’s brains respond differently to nicotine, the researchers say….Elements of smoking not related to nicotine, such as the smell and act of holding a cigarette, may play a greater role in fueling the habit of women smokers, compared with men,” said study researcher Kelly Cosgrove, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. LINK TO ARTICLE Read More

ROSEMONT, Ill., April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Orthopaedic surgeons outline steps to help patients stop smoking, ideally before surgery.  Tobacco and nicotine use are known to impair the body’s ability to heal bones and wounds. Two new studies presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons looked at the effects of smoking on total joint replacement. A separate Smoking Cessation Forum featured expert testimony on how orthopaedic surgeons may successfully encourage and aid patients in quitting smoking, optimally before surgery. [READ FULL ARTICLE] Read More

(HealthDay News), March 23, 2012 — Offering smokers free nicotine patches and telephone counseling does not improve their chances of quitting, according to a new study.The study included nearly 2,600 smokers who called the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) smoking helpline over the course of a year. LINK TO ARTICLE Read More

January 9, 2012 / NY Times /  – The nicotine gum and patches that millions of smokers use to help kick their habit have no lasting benefit and may backfire in some cases, according to the most rigorous long-term study to date of so-called nicotine replacement therapy. The study, published Monday in the journal Tobacco Control, including nearly 800 people trying to quit smoking over a period of several years, and is likely to inflame a long-running debate about the value of nicotine alternatives. LINK TO ARTICLE The study referred to in the New York Times article is located at:  http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/10/tobaccocontrol-2011-050129.abstract Read More