Posts from — October 2007

From tomorrow all licensed venues in South Australia will see the smoking ban come into effect for inside areas. Anyone found smoking in these areas will risk getting a $95 fine. Similar to our laws over in the UK, licensees can see fines of $1200 or more for smoking breaches. What, however, isn’t the same as the UK is that outside areas are almost actively encouraged to be used. This puts across a false message that it’s OK to smoke as long as it’s outside.

Spotted this popular but somewhat unscientific demonstration of the effects of one cigarette on the lungs.

Do You Smoke? U Got To Watch This…

Certainly doesn’t look very nice but was anyone expecting it to?

Smoking is the single biggest cause of cancer in the world. These words are emboldened on the Cancer Research UK site and for good reason. In this post i thought i’d spend some time looking into the statistics surrounding lung cancer related deaths in the UK.

Lung Cancer
In 2005 there were 33,500 lives claimed by lung cancer making it the most common cause of cancer death in the UK. The carcinogens from smoking over time cause your DNA in your lungs to mutate and divide. This then forms a tumour. The good(!) news is however that lung cancer is also one of the most treatable cancers. 90% of lung cancer is, yes you guessed it, caused by Tobacco.

What are the symptoms of lung cancer?

• Persistent cough
• Coughing up blood or phlegm
• Breathlessness
• Prolonged tiredness
• Weight loss
• Loss of appetite

How is lung cancer diagnosed?

• X-rays
• Scans
• Bronchoscopy – narrow tube camera via the throat
• Biopsy – sample tissue

How is lung cancer treated?
There are two medical types of lung cancer. Small-cell which accounts for 20% of diagnoses and non small-cell which is 80%. There are various treatments for lung cancer listed below:

• Surgery – This is used primary for the treatment of small-cell
• Radiotherapy – This is use of x-rays to destroy the cancer cells. It can be given externally and internally.
• Chemotherapy – This is the use of chemicals to kill cancers and stop them spreading.

In future posts i’ll go into more details regarding the treatments above.

Another step in the right direction happened today. The legal smoking age has been raised to 18 years old from 16. The horrifying figures from the Department of Health state that a smoker that starts at 15 is twice more likely of being killed by their lifelong addiction.

I’m hoping that this will make a difference to the amount of kids starting smoking at a young age. If it doesn’t we’re going to see a lot more teenagers outside shop-fronts asking adults to ‘buy us some ciggies’.

The Department of Health have created a dedicated website, how nice of them, which explains the Tobacco Age Change. It includes information about the law, faq and downloads.