Smoke-less Tobacco
 
More than 5 million adults and over 750,000 teens use smokeless or spit tobacco products. In a recent double blind research study of young men at the Mayo Clinic, doctors investigated the effects of spit tobacco on the human body. Use of tobacco increased their heart rate by about 15 beats per minute (25 %) and their systolic blood pressure by 12 mmHg (10%), and blood adrenalin levels increased by more than 50%. These measurements were taken 30 minutes after using tobacco products and compared to results in the same participants 30 minutes after using an identical, non-tobacco product. These findings indicate that using chew tobacco has serious adverse effects on the nervous system and heart that could cause significant problems over time. Moreover, the immediate effects of chewing tobacco could cause complications in a person with other issues of the nervous and/or cardiovascular system. The article was published in the March 15th edition of the Journal of American College of Cardiology. A summary of the study can be found at the below link:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2005-rst/2712.html

Environmental
 
Second hand smoke gets in people’s eyes, hair and lungs. What else remains after a cigarette has been smoked? A little “cotton” filter full of all the chemicals that didn’t make it into the lungs. The filters have been found in the intestines of dead sea turtles and ocean birds. Nicotine is a natural pesticide and has been noted to affect the functioning of various small animals like coquina clams and Daphnia fleas. The toxin makes clams groggy, not allowing them to escape their predators and kills the fleas, which are an important link in the food chain. As more smokers are having to go outside to smoke, cigarette butts are often disposed of on the streets and then get washed into drainage systems that flow into streams and rivers. Full article at:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/nation/0502/15/A06-90476.htm

International
 
Belgian companies have been given the right to require employees who take smoking breaks to work longer hours. Companies will be able to decide if breaks are included as part of their defined hours or not. Source and other information on Belgium available at:
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id
=18502&name=Smokers%20face%20longer%20working%20hours

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