"Cigarettes marked in bright colors and painted silver or gold are less harmful, contain less tar and thus would have been easier to give up", was sure majority of the 1300 testers. "This proved to be a false assessment. The truth is that all cigarettes are equally dangerous, no difference on what color the box is or what says on it," says Professor David Hammond, University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Researchers gathered 800 adult smokers and 500 teens from Great Britain and showed them two packs of cigarettes of different colors and requested that they compare them. Which one they prefer, regarding of taste, tar and nicotine levels, estimated health risks (viewed from representing labels)… They also asked them what they think - which would be easier to give up smoking, and which pack would be more attractive for first time smokers?

Gold is less harmful than red?

More than half of adults and adolescents was convinced that from the eight brands they were shown, those with "smooth" label on them are less harmful than conventional varieties. 53% of adults felt that Marlboro cigarettes in gold or silver containers represent less risk to health. 31% claimed it would be easier to give up smoking if they smoke these "light" Marlboro cigarettes, and not ones with a red logo.

Since 2002 the EU banned (and US is still considering) the use of the logo, text or any other markings that would indicate that a particular tobacco product is less harmful than another. Signs that are prohibited are: "low-tar", "light" and "mild". But "Tobacco Lobby is taking a different sales tactics and strategies that give consumers a false assurances simply do not exist," argues David Hammond yet.

As BBC reported in mid September, there is more and more frequent opinion among British, that cigarette makers should be required to have an uniform color and packaging for all cigarettes. But Tobacco industry representatives argue that this would be contrary to the provisions on mandatory consumer information about the product…

As per the American Lung Association, smoking causes around 97.2 billion dollars in both direct and indirect ways: loss of health and thereby productivity. This is the figure for USA alone. At this average imagine the total loss incurred by the world at large.

Most importantly your family, being your primary concern, has to be protected by the side effects of smoking. Many people try to quit smoking and after some days find themselves smoking cigarettes double the number of sticks as soon as they leave the quit smoking aids. This is because there is lack of proper planning. The most tried and tested method to quit smoking is to approach an organization which can show you how to quit smoking.

There are a number of organizations that show you how to quit smoking. Each has its own method of helping you to quit smoking. Some suggest meditations and breathe therapy while others suggest quit smoking aids, including placebos.

These do not help very often, as no soon that you leave these aids, you are back to smoking cigarettes. The best method is to combine two or more methods. This requires a strong determining. Breathe control exercises help a lot to quit smoking.

Whenever you feel like smoking cigarettes, you can take a placebo. Thereafter sit or lay down in a comfortable position.

Start breathing deeply. Continue this for a few minutes until the urge gets lower. Practicing this regularly to quit smoking will automatically tell you many more methods that tell you how to quit smoking.

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Ever since the awareness of the ill effects of smoking increased, people begun concerned with their health. The anti-smoking campaigns got force when it was scientifically established that the person smoking not only affects his own health but also of people around him. Passive smoking, as it has been named, is more dangerous than real smoking. This awareness and stress leads to many people thinking about how to quit smoking.

Smoking cigarettes is a habit that cannot be quit easily. Research provides us with some methods but none of them can claim 100 per cent riddance from the habit. Among the different methods established by scientific researchers are quit smoking aids like placebo, nicotine chocolates, and electronic cigarettes.

The electronic cigarettes do not contain tobacco as such. They use some material mixed with light doses of nicotine. When you smoke these cigarettes, you get a light feeling that you are smoking really. But then, these are costly to maintain. A refill may cost up to 30 pounds. Once filled, the duration of these electronic cigarettes depend on the frequency of your smoking.

Science says that people who get habituated to smoking cigarettes at an early age find it difficult to quit smoking. These people can still use the above mentioned methods, which may help temporarily. As soon as they find these methods not giving them the desired kick, they go back to normal smoking. Same is the case with natural therapy for smoking.

Many researchers attribute the urge of smoking cigarettes to breathing. They provide you alternative guidance on how to quit smoking. Whenever you feel the urge to smoke, they ask you to stop all work and lay down in a comfortable position. Then you need to take several deep breathes. You continue this until you feel that the urge is gone. This does not require any medications whatsoever. But the validity of this method is still to be confirmed.

Among other methods is the ancient Ayurvedic therapy to quit smoking. The Ayurvedic methods are said to be the oldest method of treatments that involve extracts from herbs and trees that have medical qualities. Using these drugs they create an adverse reaction to smoking cigarettes. One such drug, for instance, if taken twice a day, induces vomiting as soon as you smoke your first puff. If your experience this vomiting feeling regularly, eventually you will be sick of smoking and quit smoking cigarettes.