Ban on Flavored Cigars

There has been increasing concern over the use of flavored cigars to attract the youth towards tobacco as an alternative to cigarette smoking. They have the same negative effects of smoking cigarettes and cigars, but contain "candy-like flavoring." The main differences between cigars and cigarettes are the size and type of tobacco used to create the products. In response to the flavored cigars, senators Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin, Sherrod Brown, Jeff Merkley, and Richard Blumenthal asked the FDA to ban the sale of flavored cigars, given the FDA's ability to regulate the sale of tobacco from the Family Smoking prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. The cigar industry has fired back against the senators' call for the ban saying it would "devastate local stores."

Smoking and Probiotics?

In the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers discovered that the consumption of probiotics, microorganisms that provide health benefits to its hosts organism, help boost up the immune system of smokers by increasing NK activity. NK, natural killer cells, are lymphocytes that attack and kill harmful cells in the human body, i.e. tumor and virus cells. Although probiotics may assist in improving the immune system of smokers, this does not completely stop or reverse the negative effects of smoking. In fact, this research only emphasizes how much of a negative impact smoking has on the human body by demonstrating how susceptible smokers are to infections and diseases.

Smoking is the Biggest Risk Factor for Cancer

In an epidemiological research study conducted on risk factors for cancer, Professor Parkin from the Centre for Cancer Prevention at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in the UK discovered that smoking is the biggest risk factor for cancer, being a part of approximately 19% new cases for the year. Smoking was followed by diet at 9.2%; weight at 5.5%; and alcohol at 4%.

Menthol vs. "Regular" Cigarettes

Although menthol cigarettes may reduce the irritation and harshness of tobacco smoke, menthol cigarettes still instigate and cause the same negative effects of smoking a regular cigarette. According to the Sacramento Bee, menthol cigarettes may be worse than regular cigarettes because they make it more likely for individuals to become addicted to smoking due to their cooling and anesthetic properties. In other words, there are no substitutes to smoking a "better" or less harmful cigarette.