A poll carried out on behalf of the Co-operative Pharmacy has revealed a climb in the number of smokers who attempt to hide their habit from loved ones. The poll of 2,000 individuals conducted by One Poll has found that since the public smoking ban was introduced, 57 per cent of smoking respondents admitted to read more »

From the beginning of March 2012, cigarettes will no longer be available from vending machines in Northern Ireland. According to health minister Edwin Poots, removing cigarette vending machines is an important milestone towards achieving a tobacco-free society and will bring Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK. Poots is hoping that the read more »

The beginning of October sees the launch of a new ban on vending machines selling cigarettes in England. The ban was encouraged by UK heart charity The British Heart Foundation after it emerged that 1 out of every 10 underage smokers will obtain their cigarettes from a vending machine. Betty McBride, policy director at the read more »

As Wales considers bringing in new legislation to prevent adults from smoking in cars when children are present, Scotland is urged to follow suit. The smoking ban which was introduced in 2006 prevents people from smoking indoors, but at the moment, this does not include vehicles. A recent survey which took place in Scotland, found read more »

There are a host of health problems associated with smoking, and one of the hardest to treat is problems with the lungs. If you smoke, you instantly increase the risk of getting lung cancer. Statistics from Cancer Research UK show that 40,800 people were diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK in 2008, and 35,260 read more »

According to a US study published in health journal The Lancet, the risk of heart disease caused by smoking is 25% higher among females than it is among males. The study, which was conducted by experts from the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland involved pooling data on approximately 4 million individuals from read more »

A US study recently published in the journal Cancer has revealed that individuals who light up first thing in the morning stand a higher risk of developing cancer than those who have their first cigarette later on in the day. The study in question looked at 7,610 smokers, 4,776 of whom had lung cancer and read more »

In a bid to save £20 billion over the next four years, the NHS have ruled that obese patients and smokers must attempt to lose weight or quit smoking independently before being considered for surgery. Doctors from 50 surgeries in the Hertfordshire area are to turn away obese patients and smokers seeking a routine hip read more »

A recent study published in The Lancet revealed that smokers wishing to quit were more likely to succeed if they received encouraging text messages. The study in question involved 5,800 smokers, 2,915 of whom were sent supportive texts to help them quit over a six month period. The remainder of the participants only received messages read more »

Each year on the 31st May The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrate World No Tobacco Day, a day which intends to educate the public on the dangers of tobacco, encouraging a 24 hour tobacco free period. Each year WHO select a different theme on which they base the day and this year the theme is read more »