To honor October as “Fire Prevention Month,” Smokey Bear will visit Delaware schools to teach children that “only you can prevent wildfires.” Nationwide fire data continue to show that human activity causes the largest number of forest fires, which is why Smokey teaches children at a very early age that they should never play with fire or use matches. Last year, the Delaware Forest Service provided 104 fire education programs to 9,410 students - a record number of school programs for the agency.

Smokey Bear will be back in Delaware schools starting this October, visiting first-graders throughout the First State to remind children that "only you can prevent wildfires." The second week of October is National Fire Prevention Week, observed annually in commemoration of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Smokey Bear has become one of the Delaware Forest Service's most successful educational programs. In the past two years, the DFS provided an average of 90 Smokey Bear fire education programs to about 8,250 students per year — representing almost 75% of the first-graders in the entire state. Created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history.

Ashley Melvin, the Delaware Forest Service's education specialist who directs its successful Smokey Bear fire prevention program, received a Gold Smokey Award in Ohio recently at an annual meeting of state foresters. The award was presented to the Mid-Atlantic Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact's education committee, of which Delaware is a member. The compact is comprised of seven states including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. In the world of wildfire prevention, there is no greater honor than to receive a Smokey Bear award, especially the national Gold Smokey award. These special awards are reserved for people or organizations that provide sustained, outstanding service, with significant program impact, in the wildfire prevention arena. Honorees demonstrate innovation, creativity, commitment and passion for wildfire prevention.

The White House’s persistent claim that Covid-19 is a Chinese lab creation is nothing but a calculated move meant to divert Americans’ anger away from how Trump handles the crisis, German spies reportedly believe.  
Read Full Article at RT.com

Philip Morris International became the world's leading tobacco brand by selling...well, cigarettes. Now it's planning on a smoke-free future

Philip Morris International became the world's leading tobacco brand by selling...well, cigarettes. Now it's planning on a smoke-free future

from Bon Appetit. A delicious glaze. Make it often. -- posted by Vicki Kaye

All this was long before the doctor, who smokers and vapers are so angry with, came back from exile.

Prague Daily Monitor

If you were planning on travelling from Kobylisy metro station yesterday morning you may have found yourself disappointed. The station was closed from about 8:30 to 10:00. The western entrance, going towards Kobyliské náměstí will stay closed until Tuesday morning.

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The International Cricket Council has said it is "exploring all options" for the tournament.

Title: Secondhand Smoke Blocks Artery Repair
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2008 2:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2008 12:00:00 AM

Title: Arteries Age Twice as Fast in Smokers
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2010 6:10:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/27/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Secondhand Smoke Permeates Many Apartment Buildings: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2012 10:05:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: Many Asthmatic Kids Harmed by Secondhand Smoke: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 5/1/2012 10:05:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: Menopause: Smokers Have More Hot Flashes
Category: Health News
Created: 5/3/2012 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/3/2012 12:00:00 AM

Title: Women Who Smoke May Have Higher Risk for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Category: Health News
Created: 4/26/2013 12:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/29/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Women Smokers More Likely to Get Colon Cancer Than Men: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2013 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Secondhand Smoke Tied to Lower 'Good' Cholesterol in Teen Girls
Category: Health News
Created: 4/30/2013 2:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 5/1/2013 12:00:00 AM

Title: Smoke-Free Laws May Help Prevent COPD Hospitalizations
Category: Health News
Created: 4/25/2014 2:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/28/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Just a 'Social Smoker'? Toll on Your Health Still High
Category: Health News
Created: 5/5/2017 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/5/2017 12:00:00 AM

Title: Many Smokers Switch to Vaping While Pregnant, But Safety Issues Remain
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2019 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM

Title: E-Cigarettes as Bad for Arteries as Regular Smokes, Study Finds
Category: Health News
Created: 4/29/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: The Sooner Young Smokers Start, The Less Likely They Are to Quit
Category: Health News
Created: 4/13/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/14/2020 12:00:00 AM

Tobacco use is a persistent public health issue. It kills up to half its users and is the cause of nearly 90% of all lung cancers. The main psychoactive component of tobacco is nicotine, primarily responsible for its abuse-related effects. Accordingly, most pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), nicotine’s major site of action in the brain. The goal of the current review is twofold: first, to provide a brief overview of the most commonly used behavioral procedures for evaluating smoking cessation pharmacotherapies and an introduction to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of nicotine important for consideration in the development of new pharmacotherapies; and second, to discuss current and potential future pharmacological interventions aimed at decreasing tobacco use. Attention will focus on the potential for allosteric modulators of nAChRs to offer an improvement over currently approved pharmacotherapies. Additionally, given increasing public concern for the potential health consequences of using electronic nicotine delivery systems, which allow users to inhale aerosolized solutions as an alternative to smoking tobacco, an effort will be made throughout this review to address the implications of this relatively new form of nicotine delivery, specifically as it relates to smoking cessation.

Tobacco smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, driven by the addictive nature of nicotine and the indisputable carcinogenicity of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) as well as other compounds. The integration of lung cancer chemoprevention with smoking cessation is one potential approach to reduce this risk and mitigate lung cancer mortality. Experimental data from our group suggest that kava, commonly consumed in the South Pacific Islands as a beverage to promote relaxation, may reduce lung cancer risk by enhancing NNK detoxification and reducing NNK-derived DNA damage. Building upon these observations, we conducted a pilot clinical trial to evaluate the effects of a 7-day course of kava on NNK metabolism in active smokers. The primary objective was to compare urinary total 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL plus its glucuronides, major metabolites of NNK) before and after kava administration as an indicator of NNK detoxification. Secondary objectives included determining kava's safety, its effects on DNA damage, tobacco use, and cortisol (a biomarker of stress). Kava increased urinary excretion of total NNAL and reduced urinary 3-methyladenine in participants, suggestive of its ability to reduce the carcinogenicity of NNK. Kava also reduced urinary total nicotine equivalents, indicative of its potential to facilitate tobacco cessation. Plasma cortisol and urinary total cortisol equivalents were reduced upon kava use, which may contribute to reductions in tobacco use. These results demonstrate the potential of kava intake to reduce lung cancer risk among smokers.

While smoking is inextricably linked to oral/head and neck cancer (HNSCC), only a small fraction of smokers develop HNSCC. Thus, we have sought to identify other factors, which may influence the development of HNSCC in smokers including microbiology. To determine microbial associations with HNSCC among tobacco users, we characterized oral microbiome composition in smokers with and without HNSCC. 16S rRNA MiSeq sequencing was used to examine the oral mucosa microbiome of 27 smokers with (cases) and 24 without HNSCC (controls). In addition, we correlated previously reported levels of DNA damage with the microbiome data. Smokers with HNSCC showed lower microbiome richness compared with controls (q = 0.012). Beta-diversity analyses, assessed as UniFrac (weighted and unweighted) and Bray–Curtis distances, showed significant differences in oral mucosal microbiome signatures between cases and controls (r² = 0.03; P = 0.03) and higher interindividual microbiome heterogeneity in the former (q ≤ 0.01). Higher relative abundance of Stenotrophomonas and Comamonadaceae and predicted bacterial pathways mainly involved in xenobiotic and amine degradation were found in cases compared with controls. The latter, in contrast, exhibited higher abundance of common oral commensals and predicted sugar degradation pathways. Finally, levels of DNA damage in the oral cavity were correlated with the microbiome profiles above. Oral microbiome traits differ in smokers with and without HNSCC, potentially informing the risk of eventual HNSCC and shedding light into possible microbially mediated mechanisms of disease. These findings present data that may be useful in screening efforts for HNSCC among smokers who are unable to quit.

The star of M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye – and more recently, Friends – talks about drugs, his fiery marriage to Barbra Streisand and getting his best reviews from Groucho Marx and Muhammad Ali

The best review ever received by Elliott Gould – renowned actor and star of M*A*S*H and The Long Goodbye; not to mention, Ross and Monica’s dad on Friends – was from Groucho Marx. The two of them had become close in the comedian’s latter years – so close, Gould says, “he used to let me shave him”. One day Marx asked Gould to change a lightbulb in his bedroom. Gould took off his shoes, stood on the bed and replaced the broken bulb. Marx told him: “That was the best acting I’ve ever seen you do.”

Gould, now 81, has been telling the story for decades – but it is clear even in our pixelated video call that it still delights him. “Isn’t that great?” he says, his distinctive nasal, New York baritone now deepened with age. As we speak he is sitting at a computer at a friend’s house in Los Angeles, relaxed in a blue hoodie, with a seemingly bottomless mug of coffee before him. In isolation on either side of the Atlantic, neither of us has anywhere to be. And after more than half a century in Hollywood, in which he went from leading man to exile and, eventually, fixture – Gould could fill days, not just hours, with his stories. Even without his eight-year marriage to Barbra Streisand.

If I was ever going to ‘come out’, I should have done it when I was younger

If anyone ever offers me a cigarette, I always reply: “No thanks, I don’t smoke.” But I’m lying.

I started smoking at 16. I thought it made me look grown-up, but I was shy so I’d do it on my own. I would go into the woods near my home, or occasionally “bravely” have one in the house if nobody was else in.

MORNING BRIEFING: Eastern suburb residents are particularly at risk after smoke haze blankets Sydney, and a north-bound lane on M1 remains closed after four trucks caught fire after a collision

MORNING BRIEFING: The Metro network is experiencing significant delays after a train breakdown less than 24 hours after yesterday's mechanical problems, while health warnings for poor air quality are issued along the NSW coastline.

Thousands gathered in Sydney to demand climate change action in the midst of a devastating bushfire season.

Four veteran GOP campaign managers gathered—virtually—to predict an unprecedented race that’s been blindsided by a pandemic and an economic collapse.

Pull out the ionization detectors and go photoelectric.

President Trump will unleash America's "vast energy wealth." Just watch.

BioLite refers to its latest product as a "major tune-up" for outdoor fires, boasting that it burns more efficiently and puts out less smoke, while still offering a great view of the fire.