Australians are drinking and smoking less but putting on weight like never before, a national survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found. Results from the ABS Australian Health Survey, the…
It’s been 100 years since the first medical textbook identified a link between smoking tobacco and lung cancer. So how strange is it that in 2012 we can walk into Coles and Woolworths and buy cigarettes…
The number of people within our community who have survived cancer is increasing. But a recent Victorian study has shown that not all survivors are embracing good health. In the last 20 years, the incidence…
The fixation on potentially cancer-causing chemicals in the air, food and consumer products is diverting attention from the real risks, according to a review of global evidence by an Australian cancer…
New South Wales’ smoke-free outdoors legislation will be one of the most comprehensive in Australia.
Jess J/Flickr
The NSW government will introduce a smoke-free outdoors law this year, making it the sixth state or territory to have some variation of this kind of legislation. The announcement shows that community health…
The chemicals in cigarette smoke trigger genes that kill egg cells in women.
Flickr/Junjan
Young girls who are exposed to cigarette smoke could experience reduced fertility later in life, a three-year study has found. Researchers at the University of Newcastle found that three cigarette toxins…
Patches, gums and sprays don’t increase your chances of quitting.
Alexa Graham
Pharmaceutical companies have aggressively promoted nicotine replacement patches, chewing gums, inhalers and nasal sprays as effective tools to improve smokers’ chances of quitting for more than 20 years…
It appears as though Philip Morris Asia only acquired the Australian companies in order to be able to launch this claim under the Hong Kong BIT.
AAP
You may have missed it, but the stoush between Big Tobacco and the Australian government over the plain packaging legislation took an odd turn late last year. The government’s response to Philip Morris…
You can use all kinds of iPhone apps to track and improve your health.
chunghow33
Want to quit smoking, lose weight, manage your diabetes or get a good night’s sleep? No worries. There’s an app for all of that. But it’s not always clear which medical apps are based on solid evidence…
The legacy of the US Master Settlement Agreement holds significant lessons for policy makers in Australia.
Razvan Caliman
Reports that Nicola Roxon plans to encourage state governments to consider legal action to recover around A$31 billion in smoking-related health-care costs from the tobacco industry highlight the incoming…
The reality of smoking cessation is that between two-thirds and three-quarters of former smokers quit without using any external aids.
weegeebored/Flickr
Quitting smoking is clearly beneficial but a growing push by the pharmaceutical industry to encourage drugs for the purpose should be strongly resisted. Not only do most smokers successfully quit by other…
Many emphysema sufferers cannot breathe without the aid of an oxygen tank.
Flickr/corey.wagehoft
Tests on mice have given German researchers fresh hope that existing drugs could be used to reverse the debilitating effects of emphysema but experts have cautioned that the results may not apply to humans…
Over time, smokers gain as much weight as the rest of the population.
Flickr/Difei Li
One of the few positives put forward by smokers to justify their habit is that it helps keep their weight in check. And while smoking may be harmful to their health, so is obesity. So how does this claim…