It’s hard to believe that it has nearly been a whole year since we last blogged about World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).  So many things have happened since then, and yet it feels like just a few weeks ago, and I’m sure that your lives have been busy in the past year too.  But have you taken the plunge and begun a new, healthier way of life?  If not, May 31^st might just be the perfect time to quit smoking cigarettes for good!

Ash trays with fresh flowers are a common symbol of World No Tobacco Day

When The Whole World Says No

One thing that can help you in taking on a major change in your life (such as quitting smoking and cleaning up your lungs), is knowing that you are not alone.  Knowing that there are thousands of people all over the world doing the same thing you are.  That is the beauty and the benefit of WNTD for the individual; that it can give you that final kick of motivation that gets you exchanging a destructive, dangerous habit for healthier, better ones.

World No Tobacco Day was created in 1987 by the World Health Organization (WHO), and 2011 is WNTD’s 23^rd year (actual observance of WNTD began in 1988).  Each year has a theme that follows through press releases, to promotional flyers, pamphlets and other media materials.  In 2011, the theme is “The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).” Now you might just be saying ‘wha?’ to this.  This year’s theme is not a particularly personal one (as it has been in past years), but rather, an important WHO agreement that attempts to persuade governments and corporations to agree on reducing the production of tobacco, and tobacco products, and to replace tobacco farming with other, healthier crops.  To quote the WHO:

“The world needs the WHO FCTC as much as, if not more than, it did in 1996 when the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an international framework convention on tobacco control. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death. This year, more than 5 million people will die from a tobacco-related heart attack, stroke, cancer, lung ailment or other disease. That does not include the more than 600,000 people – more than a quarter of them children – who will die from exposure to second-hand smoke. The annual death toll from the global epidemic of tobacco use could rise to 8 million by 2030. Having killed 100 million people during the 20th century, tobacco use could kill 1 billion during the 21st century.”

If you’d like to know more about this years WHO World No Tobacco Day theme, please follow this link.

World No Tobacco Day Can Be YOUR No Tobacco Day Too!

On a more personal level, WNTD is, at its core, a day where people that have a tobacco habit can forgo tobacco and tobacco related products for a whole day (Tuesday, 31^st May), knowing that tens of thousands of others all round the world are doing the same thing.  It is in this sharing that you gain power and motivation to do something positive for yourself, just as the WHO is working for positive change in the world.  By observing World No Tobacco Day, you are being a part of that, and if you can do it for one day, perhaps you can go for longer… and make not smoking a part of a new, healthier life for yourself and for your lungs.

And don’t feel left out if you are a reformed smoker, now living healthy and free of nicotine!  This is your day to celebrate the effort you have gone to in making your life healthier. One way to really celebrate this is to start something designed to improve your health even further.  I can think of nothing better than building on a day of no tobacco by consider our flagship product, ‘The Complete Lung Detoxification Guide’ Series.  Whether you have already quit, or in the planning stage of saying goodbye to nicotine for good, our Lung Cleansing Guide has all the advice you need to turn one day free of nicotine into a lifetime of better health, and to speeding up the removal of tar and mucus that clogs up a recently reformed smoker’s lungs.  Trust me; you want this stuff out of your lungs, and your life.

So consider quitting smoking on World No Tobacco Day 2012, you could be feeling a whole lot better and having a cleaner set of lungs as well!

Until next time,

stay well, stay quit, and lung-toxin free.

William Renolds

WNTD stands for World No Tobacco Day, which is celebrated around the world on May 31^st every year.  It was first suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1987, when the World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA40.38 calling for April 7, 1988, the 40^th anniversary of the WHO, to be “a world no-smoking day.”  In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, every year on May 31^st.  Since then, the WHO has supported WNTD every year, with each year linked to a different ‘ills of tobacco’ related theme. This year, the theme is ‘Gender and tobacco with an emphasis of marketing to women.’

Women Are Being Targeted By Tobacco Companies!

According to the WHO, women constitute one of the biggest ‘targets of opportunity’ for cigarette companies today.  The tobacco industry is constantly and aggressively looking to replace lost users – be they lost due to quitting or the half of all smokers alive today who will die from smoking related diseases.  Currently fewer woman than men smoke or chew tobacco.  Of the world’s over 1 billion smokers, only about 200 million are women!  With women, the industry simply has more room to expand.  And while tobacco use amongst men in some countries is slowly decreasing, use amongst women is similarly increasing.

The following are some frightening statistics.  Currently, over five million people a year die from tobacco related illnesses (but that won’t be you, because you’re doing something about it, right?).  Of that five million, currently one and a half million are women. Worldwide, of the roughly 430 000 adult deaths caused yearly by second-hand smoke, about 64% occur in women.   With less than 9% of the world’s population being covered by comprehensive tobacco advertising bans, and only 5.4% covered by comprehensive national smoke-free laws, that leaves a lot of young women to be bombarded by tobacco advertising, without the benefit of equivalent awareness campaigns on the damage and harmful effects of tobacco products.

To quote the WHO:  “World No Tobacco Day 2010 focuses on the harm which tobacco marketing and smoke do to women. At the same time, it seeks to make men more aware of their responsibility to avoid smoking around the women with whom they live and work.”

So what does this mean for you?  Well I make the presumption that if you are reading this blog post, you’re either are smoker, and ex-smoker looking to reverse damage done to your lungs, or perhaps you are a family member or a friend of a smoker or ex-smoker you are wishing to help.  Tobacco and its ills have affected all our lives. World No Tobacco Day seeks to promote a possible future where every day is a no tobacco day. That what we here at lundetoxification.com want for everyone who visits this site with the aim to give up and get their lungs clean; a long, happy lifetime of no tobacco.

Now the WHO suggests that you abstain from smoking on May 31^st.  I think this is a laudable goal.  Even choosing WNTD as your quit day is very symbolic, but seeing it’s less than 24 hrs away for most of us, and as good preparation is key to a successful quit attempt, let me suggest and alternative.  If you are a smoker, wishing to quit and stay free of the ills of tobacco, why not spend a few hours on WNTD looking for ways to support your quit program.  You can abstain from smoking too, but you need to prepare, possibly for weeks before quitting, so keep that in mind before going cold turkey tomorrow.  And for those of you who have quit and are looking to help repair damage to their lungs, do your research on how to help this course of action on WNTD.  Wherever you are on your journey to better health, pass on what you have learned to those that are likewise working towards better health.  By supporting each other on the lung health trail, we’ll all get to where we want to be sooner, and all live longer, healthier lives.

One great resource for not only quitting, but making every day a ‘no tobacco day’ is The Complete Lung Detoxification Guide. We have information on the physical and the psychological sides of tobacco dependence, the importance of stress management, using positive forward projection to keep the goal of optimal lung health in mind at those weak moments, and a plethora of tips and methods to get your lungs free of the ills of tar far quicker than your body can manage on its own.  You owe it to yourself, on World No Tobacco Day, to check it out.

Until next time,

stay well, stay quit, and lung-toxin free,

oh and happy World No Tobacco Day!

William Renolds