ASH Australia: 
information for smokers

Call the Quit Line on 137 848  (13 QUIT). 
The call is free. Advice, support and kits are available. 

We support better-funded quit campaigns and cessation services; better consumer protection and more tobacco industry accountability for harming and deceiving smokers. We do not support criminalising possession of tobacco, or penalising smokers for smoking where they are not harming others.

See below for  HELP WITH QUITTING,  LATEST NEWS AND RESEARCH,  MORE INFO AND RESOURCES  and a discussion of  SMOKERS' RIGHTS.

See also our  smokers' memorial  and  smokers' stories 

Latest quit ads  -  at  Cancer Institute NSW website

HELP WITH QUITTING

Quitline
Call the Quit Line on 137 848  (13 QUIT). The call is free. Advice, support and kits available. 

Quit because you can 
Now on its own revamped site, this is the complete online guide to everything you need to know about flicking the stick. Run by Quit, who really know their stuff.

Quit coach
An interactive program to help you give the flick to the cancer stick! A free computer program which asks you questions and gives you useful ideas for quitting.   

Australian national quit campaign
You can find help in several languages here. 

The Day I Quit
This is where to take the pledge, quit smoking and share your story with others via a connected Facebook page. Launched by the Cancer Institute NSW for World No Tobacco Day, 31/5/10, the project will also include radio segments and interactive live readings. 

Put on weight while quitting? Go the next step and "Get Healthy" 
Smoking doesn't make you thin (see research above) but some people do put on weight while quitting. NSW Health Dept campaign offers this free, confidential service. Register for Get Healthy by calling 1300 806 258 or by visiting the  Get Healthy website

LATEST NEWS AND RESEARCH    
Read the latest research on smoking and health harm. Some recent findings:

A single puff may trigger addiction: tobacco-funded study
25/3/10: A study sponsored by tobacco giant Philip Morris in Psychopharmacology  has found nicotine concentration in the brain after just one puff is enough to trigger mechanisms related to addiction.  See  abstract and preview  and  full study pdf

Laser quit clinics must withdraw misleading claims after ASH complaint
2009: Laser therapy clinics will withdraw misleading claims of quit-smoking effectiveness after investigation of ASH complaints by the ACCC.   See  ACCC media release 24/9/09 

Pfizer accused of "nonsense" campaign to "drug" smokers

2009: Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is running a campaign "to drug as many smokers as possible" says tobacco control expert and ASH Board member Prof Simon Chapman in crikey.com. See  Crikey article 18/9/09   under POLITICS, THE UNIVERSE ETC... "Pfizer's..."

Heavy smoking linked with prostate cancer
2009:  Heavier smoking increases the risk of prostate cancer - and the likelihood of dying from it, says a meta-analysis of 24 studies published online in the American Journal of Public Health.  See  study abstract

Smoking linked with "Swine Flu" and other influenza
2009: Research from US Centers for Disease Control  suggests smoking is linked with incidence of, and death rate from, influenza strains.  2006 study  on links with swine influenza viruses concluded "workers who... smoked ... most frequently had evidence of previous H1N1 swine virus."

Kate's model face suffers the ravages of smoking
2009: Chain-smoking is robbing top model Kate Moss of her good looks, friends claim.  See story with pic in  Sydney Morning Herald Life&Style feature 17/6/09

Health insurers invest in tobacco, then slug smokers
2009: Research on investments by UK and North American-based health insurance companies shows they invest billions in tobacco companies - then slug smokers with higher premiums.  See letter in  New England Journal of Medicine 4/6/09 

AND MORE GOOD REASONS TO QUIT...

Effects of tobacco on your body
See Tobacco Atlas comprehensive graphic on  How tobacco harms you

10 overlooked reasons to quit smoking
OK, so you know it causes cancer, heart disease, emphysema.... but here are ten impacts you might not have been aware of - including Alzheimer's, Lupus, SIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, snoring and heartburn!  

Powerful anti-smoking ads on YouTube 
Have a look at some of these moving and sad videos from around the world about tobacco and its impact on smokers and their families.

Deborah, 38, faces death from smoking
2007: Having lost both parents to smoking, this young American mother now has late-stage lung cancer and prepares to say goodbye to her children.  See  whyquit release Sept 2007 

Thanks tobacco, you killed my mom 
9-minute US video on YouTube - showing the painful death at just 57 of the film-maker's mother, from lung cancer. She wanted it filmed to deter kids from taking up smoking. Sad and honest.

Smoking and strokes ads

Smoking Is Bad for Your Wealth 
Of course smoking is bad for the heart, lungs, and the rest of the body. But do you realise what smoking does to savings? The cold, hard numbers appeared this 2005 article in Tobacco Control.

Ghetto Science on smoking
Check this 3 minute  YouTube video  shot in Sydney in which a young American conducts a simple but powerful experiment. Doesn't talk down to you - though it's a bit thoughtless how he flicks the cigarette away. And we DON'T recommend you try it for yourself - unless you want to get that stuff in YOUR lungs.

MORE INFO AND RESOURCES

Quit smoking media campaigns from Cancer Institute NSW 
Latest hard-hitting campaigns - both brand new and repackaged from previous classics.  

And see these other award- winning Australian campaign adverts from Quit

What happens if I quit now?
Have a look at this "Smoker's Risk" site from the US National Cancer Institute - check your (or friend/relative's) current risk level and how it would be lowered if you quit now.

Is "chop chop" more natural and healthier than shop cigarettes?
No - in fact, mould and fungi are commonly found in chop-chop (rough rolled tobacco sold illegally under the counter) - and smokers are inhaling mould spores directly into their lungs.  See  Chop chop factsheet

SMOKERS' RIGHTS... or Wrongs?

Smokers, like all consumers, have rights. Five fundamental consumer rights were enshrined in a Consumer’s Bill of Rights in 1962 by US President J.F. Kennedy; and since then, the world consumer movement has added two more.

“Smokers Rights" Groups however, often funded by tobacco interests, are more about protecting the commercial interests of tobacco companies than championing the “rights” of smokers. Use this checklist of rights to reveal how Big Tobacco continues to ignore the consumer rights of smokers. (Our comments are in italics).

1. Right to Safety
Tobacco products are inherently dangerous. When used as intended they cause disease, disability and premature death.   Passive smoking by other people, including children and workmates, also is unsafe and causes harm. 

2. Right to Honesty
The tobacco industry for decades has covered up and denied the truth about their product’s addictiveness and lethalness; and about the industry’s marketing tactics, especially targeting children.

3. Right to Fairness
The price of cigarettes paid by consumers covers cost, profits and taxes. But the costs of compensation for harm caused by the product are not covered. These are additional, hidden costs which come out of the consumer’s pocket later. Tobacco companies pocket huge profits but take no responsibility for these direct costs to the consumer.

4. Right to Know
Dangerous, poisonous ingredients in tobacco have been deliberately concealed by the industry.

5. Right to Choose
The tobacco industry has continued to sell a product whose addictiveness, hidden and downplayed by the industry, compromises consumers’ capacity to choose freely. Most smokers begin as children  – becoming addicted when they are too young to make a fully informed decision.

6. Right to be Heard
Tobacco companies are accused of blocking court cases and using intimidatory tactics and intrusive surveillance to delay and deter action. Tobacco companies and their lawyers have been found to have destroyed documents to stop the public learning the embarrassing truth.

7. Right to Relief
All claims against tobacco companies are defended vigorously by legions of lawyers who use financial power to outspend and outlast plaintiffs debilitated by tobacco diseases and loss of income.      

More on Human Rights - the UN Declaration. How does the tobacco industry measure up to these principles?

Page last updated 17/5/10