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Making smoking history

Health experts warn against second-hand and now third-hand smoke

Smoking
It’s better to never start
than stop

Q & A

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Lung Cancer
A Deadly Transformation
Healthy Lungs
Smoker’s Lungs


The major purpose of the lungs is the exchange of gas. We breathe in oxygen from the air and breathe out carbon dioxide, a waste product. Oxygen is essential to the body; it provides the fuel our cells and organs require to function. The average adult takes 15 to 20 breaths a minute.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, even occasional smoking causes immediate damage to the lungs. Inhaling a small amount of tobacco smoke can damage a person’s DNA, which can lead to cancer. Tobacco also destroys the tiny air sacs of the lungs, which results in emphysema.
While healthy lung tissue is pink in color, lungs with emphysema or cancer are black.

Take a deep breath

Lung Cancer
A Deadly Transformation

Signs and symptoms

Risk factors

Need help to kick the habit?

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
• Persistent cough

• Blood-streaked sputum

• Constant chest pain

• Repeated bouts of pneumonia or bronchitis

 • Shortness of breath, wheezing
or hoarseness

• Fatigue

• Loss of weight or appetite for no known cause
RISK FACTORS

  • Smoking
    Smoking is responsible for almost 90 percent of all cases of lung cancer.

  • Second-hand smoke
    The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

  • Industrial and environmental exposure
    Exposure to certain substances, such as radon, a colorless gas often found in the home, asbestos and arsenic, may increase the risk, especially in smokers.

  • Personal or family history
    A person who has had lung cancer or has a parent or sibling with lung cancer may be at increased risk.

  • Radiation to the chest
    Radiation to the chest to treat other cancers may increase the incidence of lung cancer, especially in those who smoke.

Oral, Head and Neck Cancer
Awareness Week is May 8 – 14.


Photo by Vannessa Carrington/Mass. Eye and Ear

Get screened for head and neck
cancer. It’s free, quick and painless.

Boston Medical Center
Moakley Building Lobby
830 Harrison Avenue
Date: April 2
Time: 8 a.m. - noon
617-638-8260
Tufts Medical Center
860 Washington Street
Date: May 12
Time: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
617-636-1664
Mass Eye and Ear
243 Charles Street
Date: May 13
Time: TBA
617-573-3340
Dedham Family Dental
Dr. Helaine Smith
30 Milton Street, Dedham
Date: May 11
Time: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
781-326-4600
Mass General Hospital
Voice Center
One Bowdoin Square,
11th Floor
Date: May 13
Time: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
617-726-0218
Remember to call ahead to confirm
time and date
of screenings.

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Need help to kick the habit?

It’s a call or click away

Organization Method Availability Contact Information
Massachusetts
Smokers’ Helpline		 Telephone M-Th 9am–7pm
F 9am – 5pm		 800-QUIT-NOW
800 – 784-8669
www.trytostop.org Interactive website 24 hours 800-879-8678
QuitWorks Interactive website 24 hours www.quitworks.org
National Cancer Institute      
Smoking Quitline Telephone M-F 8am–8pm 877-44U-QUIT
(877-448-7848)
LiveHelp Online Chat Instant messaging M-F 8am–11pm https://livehelp.cancer.gov/
app/chat/chat_launch
Internet Interactive website M-F 8am–11pm Smokefree.gov
Boston Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Educational material M-F 9am–5pm 617-534-4718
tobaccocontrol@bphc.org

Anatomy of nicotine addiction
Source Mayo Clinic

November 15, 2012 is the

Great American Smokeout

November is
Lung Cancer Awareness Month

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, even occasional smoking causes immediate damage to the lungs. More

Risk Factors

Smoking
Smoking is responsible for almost 90 percent of all cases of lung cancer.

Second-hand smoke
The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke. More

Quitting now is the best cure despite recent medical advances

Kim McNeill was 21 years old when she tried her first cigarette and learned to blow smoke rings. “I was trying to be cute,” she remembered.

After a while, McNeill said she would find any excuse to light up — after meals, talking on the phone, waiting for a bus — and thought her habit of four or five cigarettes a day was relatively harmless. More


Health experts warn against second-hand and now third-hand smoke

It took a while before 70-year-old Meena Carr figured out that her scratchy throat and persistent cough was attributable to her husband’s second-hand smoke. “You have a problem, but you live with it so long, you’re not aware of it,” she explained.

But it was the plight of her grandson who had asthma that triggered Carr to take action. “You wouldn’t understand until your child wakes you up in the middle of the night saying ‘I can’t breathe,’ ” she said. More



Smoking -
It’s better to never start than stop

Trying to pick the best time to quit tobacco? Whether this is your first or fifth attempt, today is the perfect day to launch a new plan. More