Giving up the smokes a step towards a healthier new year

New Year's resolutions do not come bigger or more challenging than ''give up smoking''. It is a pledge that has been honoured by many former smokers, who now live happier and healthier lives without the dreaded gaspers.
But the results of the latest global study on the popularity of smoking, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are a cause for alarm.
The United States study, compiled from analysis in 187 countries, shows the number of men and women who smoke daily rose from 721 million in 1980 to 967 million in 2012, with the average smoker consuming 18 cigarettes each day.
Around the world, this means three in 10 men and one in 20 women smoke daily. Smoking continues to gain popularity in developing countries, especially in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Russia.

Australia has a better record than most. About 17 per cent of Australians smoked in 2012, compared with 35 per cent in 1980. But the bald figures don't lie - more than 3 million Australians still choose to smoke cigarettes. This is despite a public education campaign that has run for decades and an acknowledgement that smoking is public-health enemy No.1.Lucky Strike Click&Roll
The facts are in, the debate is over. Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease. The Australian Medical Association says smoking is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, renal disease and eye disease.
This does not include the effect of passive smoking, which increases the risk of health problems for those who do not smoke. The victims tend to be the families of smokers, who live with the threat every day.
Overall, smoking is likely to kill 1 billion people this century, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The federal government has spent a great deal of taxpayers' money trying to get Australians to stop smoking. No longer will you find advertising for tobacco products. No longer do smokers and non-smokers mingle in planes, pubs and clubs. No longer is it cheap to buy a packets of fags, with the government collecting millions of dollars in excise fees every year. No longer do tobacco companies even have the right to promote themselves on their own products, because of plain-packaging laws.
Leading anti-smoking advocate Simon Chapman, a professor at the school of public health at the University of Sydney, has pointed out that the NSW government was one of the first to ban smoking in its own offices in the 1980s. NSW was also the first state to ban smoking in restaurants, just before the 2000 Olympic Games.
He says Australia's vigilance and relatively small population have helped us turn the tide on smoking rates, but still 3 million Australians light up.
Whether you smoke comes down to choice. If you smoke, you put yourself and those around you at risk. This thought may steel those who have resolved to make 2014 the year to finally give the smokes away.