The best policy President Obama can adopt - save lives - help Medicare - improve health of the nation's kids (his own )(and the dog) - QUIT SMOKING

President Obama is a fool. He smokes. He is a lifelong smoker. He damages his health and long life.(Time Dec 20th 2008
Can Barack Obama quit smoking?)

He promised to give up before the campaign ended (BBC)

On top of his reckless disregard for his health he also sneaks off for a drag - a bad role model especially for Afro-American kids.

He also affects the health of those around him - especially his delightful kids, his beautiful wife - and now we know passive smoking can harm your pooch.

Passive smoking puts pets at risk

In 2002 Dr Antony Moore Tufts University in Massachusetts studied 180 cats treated at a Tufts veterinary hospital between 1993 and 2000.

Aadjusting for age and other factors, cats exposed to second-hand smoke were twice as likely to develop feline lymphoma kills,*** see FOOTNOTE which three out of four cats within a year of being diagnosed.The risk tripled if exposed for 5 years and 4 times if both adults smoked.Dr Moore said the findings raise questions about the risks to children of developing lymphoma if their parents smoke.

"I think there are a lot of people who might not quit smoking for themselves or their family," Said Dr Moore in 2002 . "But they might for their cats."

Dr Moore and colleagues plnned a study on dogs."They accumulate a lot on their fur," he said. "In a veterinary clinic if a cat comes in, you can tell if it's in a smoking household because it smells of smoke."

The Guradian today has reports today of another study Don't smoke, it's bad for your pet's health by Ian Sample, their Science Correspendent - see also BBC and AFP "28.4 percent -- said that if they knew that second-hand smoke was bad for their pets, they would give up tobacco."


A VERY brief history of Nicotine

Economically valuable agicultural crops are effectively chemical factories. The most deadly was imported into Europe from coastal USA and the West Indies and was originally chewed (Smoked ?) and called in the native tongue Tobacco said to be after the vilage of Tabak - a village in what is now Dominica.

Jean Nicot, was born, son of a lawyer, in Nimes in Languedoc about 1530. A "colourful" charcater he is cedited with being the Parisian Ambassdor to Lisbon after having been in the service of the Keeper of the Great Seal of France.

In that capacity he attracted the attention of the King, who made him his private secretary. He was then appointed ambassador to Portugal. Among Nicot's friends in Lisbon was the scholar and botanist Damião de Goes. When Damião de Goes had Nicot over for dinner, he showed him a tobacco plant growing in his garden and told him of its marvellous healing properties. The application of the tobacco plant to a cancerous tumor allegedly worked wonders. Nicot tried treating an acquaintance's face wound for 10 days with the plant with excellent results. Nicot became convinced of the healing powers of tobacco.

Nicot obtained cuttings which he planted in the garden of the French Embassy. In 1560 Nicot wrote of tobacco's medicinal properties. He described tobacco as a panacea and sent tobacco plants to the French court. Nicot sent snuff to Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, in 1560 to treat her migraine headaches. Nicot had applied it to his nose and forehead and found it relieved his headaches. Catherine de Medici followed suite and was impressed. She decreed that tobacco was henceforth to be called Herba Regina, the "queen's herb."

Linnaus took up his surname as the genus (Nicotiana) which he described. His surname was later adopted for the active alkaloid, highly addictive and narcotic product Nicotine.

Nicotine soap

Pure nicotine is highly toxic to warm-blooded animals. It is widely marketed as a 40% liquid concentrate of nicotine sulfate, which is diluted in water and applied as a spray. Unlike dusts this does not irritte the skin.

Nicotine is used primarily for piercing sucking-insects such as aphids, whiteflies, leaf hoppers and thrips. Nicotine is more effective when applied during warm weather. It degrades quickly, so can be used on many food plants nearing harvest. It is registered for use on a wide range of vegetable and fruit crops.

Passive smoking / Childen / Cyprus

Evidence of the danger of passive / secondary smoking ae increasing daily. Stella Michaelidou, director of the State Laboratory of Cypus has released the results of a pilot study highlighting passive smoking as a threat to development in children.

The Health Ministry found traces of metabolised nicotine, known as cotinine, in the saliva of 94 % of children from non-smoking households and 97% of all surveyed children.

It is a pilot survey but the results are too significant to ignore," she said.

Cyprus ranks 17th among EU member states for smoking prevalence, according to 2003 figures from the World Health Organisation, but Cypriot males are the bloc's 6th heaviest smokers. About 42% of households contain a smoker.

Greek Cyprus banned smoking in public places in 2002, but is very loosley applied and rude and inconsiderate smokers still puff away in bars and nightclubs. The Greek Cyprus Parliament is debating ways to tighten the law for a blanket ban on smoking in all public places.

*** FOOTNOTE Feline Lymphoma and Leukemias
E. Gregory MacEwen