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Keep your kids away from third-hand smoke

In a new study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, researchers tested the surfaces in smoking households where children reside and found troubling results, says Ashley Merianos, a tobacco researcher at the University of Cincinnati who led the study. 

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Middle Eastern vices

Middle Eastern vices are not the same that you find in America or Europe. In the Middle East it's about hashish. Americans and Canadians love cannabis now, and everywhere in Canada, and in more than half of the US States, you will have no problem with this vice. It is even being given out as medicine to help epilepsy, anxiety, pain from cancer. 

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Urbin Beirut Crushes Stinky Cigarette Butts in Style

Cigarette butts are gross – whether they drift onto beaches, pollute our waterways, or endanger wildlife. But many cities in the Middle East, where smoking remains common, neglect to provide outlets for residents to discard their stinky stubs. That’s why three Lebanese electrical engineering students designed Urbin – a sleek disposal unit.

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10 Smartphone Apps to Green Up 2013

Did December gifting or a year-end bonus put a new smartphone in your hand?  Check out ten mostly-free apps that will help you live healthier, smarter and more sustainably in 2013. Call It Quits is for smokers wishing to quit and quitters who could use some added support.  It provides cessation tips, motivations and coaching […]

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Saudi Smoking Grounds for Divorce

Smoking can cause cancer, emphysema, birth defects, and – in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – divorce. Saudi Arabian authorities enacted a ban against smoking in government buildings, curbing a habit enjoyed by six million of its people. Smoking’s now banned at all ministries and government facilities in all provinces of the kingdom, according to the […]

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Hooked on Hookah? It’s Worse than Smokes, Says Iran

A 45 minute shisha session is the equivalent of puffing 100 cigarettes. In a new study, Iranian researchers proved tobacco water pipes are as harmful as cigarettes, saying, “Our findings reveal profound effects of water pipe smoking on lung function, similar to the effects observed in deep inhalation cigarette smokers.” A student at Amman’s American Community School […]

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Heavy smokers get textual healing

Want to quit smoking? There’s an app for that. Last week, experts lit up an Israeli conference with new strategies to curb smoking using email, text messages and smartphone apps. Hebrew University’s School for Public Health, in cooperation with The Medical Society for Smoking Prevention and Cessation in Israel and the Hadassah Medical Organization, sponsored a forum focused on using modern communication to help smokers kick the […]

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Shisha: Don’t Read This If You Love Smoking It

This guy may look kind of sexy with his pipe, but the BBC unveils just how toxic smoking shisha really is. It’s always been a source of curiosity to me that even my health-conscious friends in the Middle East rarely pass up an opportunity to suck on a shisha pipe – as though that seductive […]