Yes it can harm it in several ways. Here are more reasons to quit smoking now.

Skin is fed from within. The foods we eat are broken down into nutrients and waste. The nutrients are absorbed by the bloodstream which transports them around the body to the various organs, the largest of which is the skin. Oxygen is also transported and delivered in the same way. The cells absorb the oxygen and this is vital for the health of the organs and the life process itself. This whole process takes place automatically when we breathe……..

Except when we are breathing in smoke!

When we inhale the  cigarette smoke the carbon monoxide from the smoke is absorbed by the hemoglobin in the blood. Carbon monoxide is a colorless odorless highly toxic gas also found in the smoke from car exhausts. The blood can absorb carbon monoxide 200 times as fast as oxygen so a lot of the oxygen is displaced by carbon monoxide. The organs including the skin are starved of life giving oxygen and slowly poisoned by the carbon monoxide.

But that’s not the end of it. Cigarette smoke also contains the following deadly cocktail of chemicals. Ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, butane, nicotine, carbolic acid, collidine, formic aldehyde, lutidine, parvoline, prussic acid, pyridine, arsenic and cadmium. This list is by no means complete.

The affect on the skin of all these is catastrophic. The liver goes into overdrive trying to expel these chemicals from the body and cannot perform its normal functions properly. The skin loses its healthy glow and takes on a yellowish-grey cast. The more cigarettes smoked, the worse your skin will look.

Smoking also causes premature aging in two ways. It uses up vitamin C in the body, about 35 mg for each cigarette. Vitamin C is an unstable vitamin and cannot be manufactured by the body. One of its functions is the preservation of the collagen in the skin, the substance that gives skin its plump and youthful appearance. The collagen beaks down causing premature wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.

The physical act of smoking causes us to squint, exaggerating the wrinkles around the eyes. Every time we purse our lips we deepen the wrinkles around our mouth as well.

Do yourself a favor! Stop poisoning yourself. Qit smoking now. Save the money you spend on these toxic weeds and go out and treat yourself to a facial or a new skin cream instead.

Your skin will thank you for it!

Topics covered include sociology of cigarette use, social shaping of health scares, industrial structure and political influence, advertising, cultural images, gender and age issues etc.

Phones have replaced cigarettes as the thing people fiddle with

* When nervous, waiting for a to meet or hear from someone, or trying not to look out of place.
* They are a distraction from loneliness, insecurity, nervousness,

They are used to fill time waiting

* smoking cigarette  or calling when waiting for the bus

We often have to go outside a building or room to use them.

* We cannot get reception, or, as with cigarettes, we are not allow by explicit or implicit rules to use them indoors.
* The little crowd of smokers and phoners is a common sight. However smokers are united by their activity, phoners separated.

They are displayed in public places

* When put on the table in a pub or café they have brand and model status
* They must be near at hand – for the next call or next smoke.
* A group of smokers all get out their cigarette packs and put them of the table when the sit down. Phoners do the same thing.

They are associated with certain stereotypes

* The socially successful – the peron everyone wants to know.
* E.g. the sophisticated business person/socialite (advertisers preferred)
* E.g. beautiful people having fun
* Actually used by: many people
* The spotty teenager on the bus

They are used in characteristic ways by different people

* Discretely, hidden in hand, back turned
* Elbow stuck out the side – characteristic of overweight lorry drivers, to use a blatant stereotype!
* If you use two at the same time you probably have a problem.

They are lent and borrowed

* Friends think nothing of letting each other make calls or take a cigarettes.
* Except when there are hardly any left.
* One person with a phone or pack is enough for a whole group on an outing.

They are seen as antisocial in many public or social contexts

* They both annoy other people around the user.
* There are social codes about when it is appropriate to use
* Those that control social spaces make rules to restrict anti-social behavior, especially banning use, or restricting to certain areas. See below.

They are highly social

* They are an essential part of flirtation
* They are a point to start conversation
* They are used to note phone numbers.

Teenagers want them
* Use them to show off/build identity
* They are often one of the few personal possessions of young people.
* Starting smoking and getting a mobile phone, were/are important boundary markers in growing up
* They make/made up a key part of youth culture.
* They can be subversive.
* They are banned in schools (phones), smoke
* Catch ‘em young

Their use is banned in many of the same places because of social interference or technical interference, or danger of fire.

* Theatre
* Hospital
* Railway carriages (smoke, phones)
* Petrol stations
* Parliament

They can cause fires – (phones by explosion)

Actually there is no evidence for this with phones, but that does not put off certain ‘licensing authorities’ from banning them on these grounds, such as in European filling stations.
They have highly disputed health issues,

* There are government studies
* Corporate denials
* Hidden patents and research
* There is a whole range a device to make them ’safer’
* Companies do not like to advertise ’safer’ versions as that implies existing versions are dangerous
* Heavy users and children are most at risk

They are dangerous to use when driving

* One takes ones eyes and mind off the road to initiate use, and to hold them
* They both use the in car power socket
* Arkansas has banned smoking in cars with young children

There are important ‘class’ issues over use,

* Different parts of the population prefer different brands,
* Nokia – teen, young, more female
* Ericsson – company people, engineers, boring men
* Motorola – more sophisticated

Smaller versions are

* More feminine (packs of cigarettes)
* More discrete
* Are for lighter users (number of cigarettes, battery size, functions)

Gender differentiating in branding and design
They both are associated with small pictures of popular culture
- Logos, cigarette cards
You go to the newsagent/tobacconist to buy them

They have similar industrial characteristics

* The industries both have huge political lobbies
* They contribute lots of revenue to governments though tax
* The industries are both highly regulated
* The industry is made of multinationals
* The growth markets are in the developing world
* In developing countries tobacco and telecoms have often been state enterpri

Legislators did not back his call for a bipartisan panel to redraw the state’s election districts, or to pay for Medicaid deficits by doubling the state tax on a pack of cigarettes.

But lawmakers did give Kaine a significant victory — the chance to sign a bill that will ban smoking in virtually every restaurant in the state.

Next to the mental-health reforms after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and his efforts to preserve open space, it is arguably the most significant public policy achievement of Kaine’s four-year term, which also is notable for Virginia Democrats’ political gains in state and federal elected offices.

Thanks to an infusion of cash from the man he helped elect president, Kaine on Saturday received a revised two-year, $77 billion budget from state lawmakers that was not radically different from the austere spending plan he proposed in December.

It is a budget that spares him from slashing 7,100 more state jobs and making even deeper, recession-driven cuts to health care, education and public safety.

Perhaps that’s why Kaine seemed satisfied during an interview when asked to assess the success of his agenda in the final General Assembly session of his term, which ends in 10 months.

“The straw that I drew as governor was to have a modestly OK first year on the revenue side, then three very bad years and as tough a time as the nation has seen since the Depression,” Kaine said. “To be able to get through that, there were painful choices. . . . ”

Kaine, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a close ally of President Barack Obama, said crafting a budget late last year that did not incorporate stimulus funds put Virginia in a better position than other states. He said it prepared the state to use $1.5 billion of its estimated $4.8 billion in federal stimulus money to fill budget gaps and soften the blow of the recession.

“I think we’re doing well,” Kaine said. “We made very tough decisions in October, November and December. . . . A lot of governors have not been willing to make tough decisions and they’re in very difficult situations. We made them,” said Kaine.

“And so most of our tough decisions are in the rear-view mirror now, not on the windshield.”

With the ink barely dry on the state’s 2009-2010 budget, lawmakers left Richmond yesterday, not due to return until April 8, when they will review Kaine’s response to the bills they just passed. Kaine has 30 days to sign, revise or veto legislation.

The governor can’t be happy with some of his initiatives that hit the proverbial windshield like bugs on a summer night, in some cases with his fellow Democrats behind the wheel.

Still, Kaine said he had expected most of the legislative casualties.

“I knew the tobacco tax was a non-starter in the House [of Delegates],” said the governor, who proposed doubling the state cigarette tax to 60 cents per pack to raise $150 million to offset Medicaid cuts.

Lawmakers also rejected Kaine’s cost-savings and policy proposal to let the state’s jailers release nonviolent inmates 90 days early, up from the current 30 days.

A bid to require all purchasers of firearms at gun shows to submit to background checks was defeated again, as was Kaine’s proposal for a bipartisan panel to redraw the state’s legislative and congressional districts after the 2010 census.

“Perennial battles I love to fight,” he said. “That’s [among] those few things where I’ve tried it every year and had a hard time getting it over the goal line, but I understand they’re politically tough,” Kaine added. “I don’t mind taking on the tough issues.”

Kaine was turned back on legislation meant to increase turnout by allowing early voting and absentee voting without an excuse. Lawmakers did approve an easing of the restrictions for military and overseas voters to cast absentee ballots.

The governor had modest success in advancing “Renew Virginia” — his much-ballyhooed “green” jobs and energy initiative.

Measures including bills to require green building standards in local governments, and grants to manufacturers of green energy equipment, were largely tossed into the legislative wastebasket, casualties of the recession and spending-wary lawmakers facing re-election this fall.

But legislators passed bills providing financial incentives for power companies to work with consumers to reduce electricity demand, and bills offering greater incentives for the use of biofuels.

Then there is the smoking ban. Starting Dec. 9, it will prohibit lighting up in any bar or restaurant that does not have an independent and separately ventilated area for smokers.

“I’m thrilled with the smoking ban,” the governor said, almost with relief in his voice.

legal cigarettes to have a special SDPC (Singapore Duty-Paid Cigarettes) marking. The law came into effect on January 1.

In its annual enforcement report, Singapore Customs said the number of cigarette offenders has gone down for the first time since 2005.

Last year, over 20,300 people were caught with contraband cigarettes, down 13 per cent from 2007.

Singapore Customs said the drop is due to its enforcement and public outreach efforts.

But more illegal cigarettes were seized – 4.6 million packets, involving S$35.5 million in evaded taxes. That was 5 per cent more than the quantity seized in 2007.

More people have also been charged for dealing in contraband cigarettes – 1,382 in 2008, compared to 1,314 in 2007 and 1,186 in 2006.

Over 6,300 people were caught last year for buying and smoking contraband cigarettes – up 6 per cent from 2007.

Montour’s company, Native Wholesale Supply Co., located on the Cattaraugus Reservation, is the exclusive American distributor for Seneca and Opal brand cigarettes manufactured in Canada by Grand River Enterprises, a Native American company.

Justice Department attorneys representing the U. S. Department of Agriculture allege that Native Wholesale Supply has failed to pay federal assessments for 2006 through 2008, as required under the tobacco master settlement agreement.

Native Wholesale Supply is closed through Jan. 5. Its New York City attorney did not return a call.

Seneca brand cigarettes are one of the best-selling Native American brands, and Grand River Enterprises has faced legal action by 30 state attorneys general, alleging the company has skirted requirements to comply with the agreement reached with the major U. S. tobacco companies.

Grand River, in turn, has filed a lawsuit against the state attorneys general in U. S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, as well as an action against the United States in an international tribunal, claiming damages under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

To learn the sales figures for Seneca brand cigarettes, the state attorneys general filed suit in U. S. District Court in Buffalo, trying to force Native Wholesale to divulge its cigarette purchases.

U. S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara agreed with the states on Nov. 20, ordering Native Wholesale to turn over its sales figures. Native Wholesale has appealed the order.

The separate lawsuit seeking payments from Native Wholesale Supply said it was incorporated under the laws of the Sac and Fox Indian Nations and has its principal address at 10955 Logan Road, Perrysburg.

Wendy M. Ertmer, a trial attorney with the Justice Department, said in the suit that Native Wholesale partially paid its 2005 assessment but since then has not paid anything or complied with reporting requirements since January 2007.

“As of its Sept. 1, 2008, statement,” the suit alleges, “[National Wholesale Supply's] outstanding balance, with late payment interest, was $18,451,475.96.”

The lawsuit demands that Native Wholesale pay the owed amount and provide the government the information required by the settlement act.

Seneca brand cigarettes, available at $16 a carton tax-free from Native American sellers, are said to be the leading Indian brand of cigarettes.

“Looking for a high-quality cigarette without all the chemicals and preservatives?” reads an ad on a Seneca merchant’s Web site. “Seneca Premium Brand Cigarettes are all natural and chemical free. These cigarettes are made by Native Americans using the highest quality, Grade ‘A’ tobaccos.”

Federal agents in 2004, at a time when Montour was a Seneca councillor, seized 90,000 cartons of his cigarettes under the federal Cigarette Contraband Trafficking Act.

Global cigarette consumption has been rising steadily since James Bonsack invented the first cigarette-rolling machine in 1881. But the 1960s, the incontrovertible health consequences of smoking had become apparent and, in some countries, consumption began leveling off and even decreasing. Worldwide, however, more people are smoking cigarette, and each smoker is consuming a greater number of cigarettes. Cigarettes account for the largest share of manufactured tobacco products ( 96 percent of total value sales) but widespread consumption of chewing tobacco and bids is also escalating, especially in South Asia.

The total number of smokers is increasing mainly due to expansion of the world’s population; by 2030, there will be at least another 2 billion people. Unless smoking prevalence rates decline dramatically, the absolute number of smokers will increase. The expected continuing decrease in male smoking prevalence also may be offset, in part,by a potentially dangerous increase in female smoking rates, especially in developing countries.
Tobacco companies are producing 5.6 trillions cigarettes per year – nearly 900 cigarettes per year for every man, woman, and child on the planet. The escalating consumption of these tobacco products has created an unprecedented global public health emergency, a pandemic of epic proportions.

Marlboro is the best selling cigarette of this world and it is so ever since. If you aren’t in agreement , spare a moment and search for the simple keyword ‘cheap cigarettes’ in google.com search for instance and I am sure you will find cheap Marlboro cigarettes sites prominently displayed, about 259,000 relative sites.

Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It is famous for its flavor, billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man. In 2001 it was the most popular cigarette brand in the U.S.

Philip Morris, a London-based cigarette manufacturer, created a New York subsidiary in 1902 to sell several of its cigarette brands, including Marlboro. By 1924 they were advertising Marlboro as a woman’s cigarette based on the slogan “Mild As May”.

The brand was sold in this capacity until World War II when the brand faltered and was temporarily removed from the market. At the end of the war, three brands emerged that would establish a firm hold on the cigarette market: Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield. These brands were supplied to US soldiers during the war, creating an instant market upon their return. But Marlboro, when reintroduced with marketing that tapped into the new popularity of the romanticized cowboy in the 1950s, was able to increase sales by 5000%, returning as a formidable market force.

During the same era Reader’s Digest magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Philip Morris and the other cigarette companies took notice and each began to market filtered cigarettes. The new Marlboro with a filtered tip was launched in 1955.

The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory. Richmond, Virginia, is now the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.

It is also pertinent to know why a cowboy is a hero, especially, in America and the rest of the Americanized world. Cowboy is the first hero and the much romanticized symbol of Americanism. They are always perceived and looked down upon as the pioneers of enterprising nature and fearlessness which are major reasons for what America is today. They are the ultimate men made from tougher material. Think tanks at Philip Morris had the challenge of carefully grooming this symbolic nationalism further and weave their cigarettes into it.

Switch over to Marlboro advertisements and TV commercials now. They focus on more on the virility, masculinity, the brevity with which they capture horses, glorification of their friendship etc with one hidden message that everyone should emulate them. Cowboys are strong guys and you will want to make a connection between this and hardness of the cigarettes.

And then there is this worldwide magic created by Hollywood, which, during the formative years of Marlboro from being cheap, has produced some of the history’s biggest block busters like ‘Magnificent Seven’, ‘Mc Cana’s Gold’ have immortalized the cowboy. Smoking was instantaneously equated with heroics which is evident from the 5000% jump in sales figures.

Millions of Americans smoke “low-tar,” “mild,” or “light” cigarettes, believing those cigarettes to be less harmful than other cigarettes. However people who switch to low-tar or light cigarettes from regular cigarettes are likely to inhale the same amount of cancer-causing toxins and they remain at high risk for developing smoking-related cancers and other disease.

Epidemiologic studies (studies that examine the relationship of risk factors to health and disease) in the late 1960s and 1970s found that smokers of lower-tar or filtered cigarettes had somewhat lower lung cancer risks than smokers of other cigarettes. This finding was particularly noteworthy because smokers in these studies had been smoking the reduced-yield cigarettes for only a relatively short period of time. It was predicted that as more smokers used lower yield products for longer periods of time, a greater benefit would occur and national lung cancer death rates would fall.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stated that “smoking ‘low tar’ or ‘light’ cigarettes does not eliminate the health risks of smoking. If you’re concerned about the health risks of smoking, stop smoking … There’s no such thing as a safe smoke.” As of today, there is no cigarette on the market which public health organizations endorse as offering “reduced risk.” If smokers are concerned about the risks of cigarette smoking, quitting is by far their best alternative for reducing those risks.

Because cigarette smokers have varying preferences, PM USA offers products with differing yields of tar and nicotine, as measured by machine methods. We believe that it is appropriate to differentiate our brands on this basis and that descriptors such as “light,” “ultra light,” “medium” and “mild” help communicate these differences to adult cigarette smokers.