Smoking remains potent risk factor for death from heart disease, cancer

Study highlights:

• Smoking more than doubles the risk of death in adults with established heart disease.
• The increased risk of death for smokers develops within three years.
• Clopidogrel was more effective in smokers compared to those who do not smoke, however smokers had a greater risk of bleeding.

DALLAS, Nov. 23, 2009 — Smoking persists as a major risk factor for death from heart disease and cancer in adults who already have heart disease and receive good medical therapy, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers analyzed 12,152 men and women who participated in an international study based on their smoking status: current smokers, former smokers and nonsmokers.

Current smokers more than doubled their risk of death from heart disease and cancer and all causes in the three-year study period. Current smokers also were at increased risk of heart attack and stroke compared to former smokers and nonsmokers.

“The analysis provides further strong evidence that people with heart disease who continue to smoke take a very high risk of increasing their chances of death in the short term,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., principal investigator of Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilization, Management and Avoidance (the CHARISMA trial) and chief of cardiology at V.A. Boston Healthcare System in Massachusetts.

“The study provides impetus for a smoker to stop,” he said. “The benefits of risk reduction accrue relatively quickly when someone stops smoking, although the lingering cancer risk is still there.”

Of the study participants, about 20 percent were current smokers; about 51 percent were former smokers; and about 29 percent never smoked. The average age ranged from 60 years in the smoking group to 66 years in the group of nonsmokers. All groups were predominantly Caucasian and included Americans and Europeans.

Researchers found no difference in risk between men and women by smoking status. Researchers also found no significant difference between former smokers and nonsmokers in risk of death from heart disease or from all causes. However, former smokers had a higher risk of death from cancer than those who never smoked.

Current smokers had a 2.58 times increased risk of death from all causes and a 2.26 times increased risk of death from heart disease compared with those who never smoked. They had a 3.56 times increased risk of cancer death.

“You’re much better off being a former smoker than a current smoker,” Bhatt said. “It’s a good idea to stop now rather than taking your chances or considering stopping when you are older and sicker.”

In another aspect of the study, researchers examined the impact of smoking on the treatment effect of the widely used medication clopidogrel, an anti-platelet agent.

The medication benefits smokers more than former smokers and nonsmokers, researchers said. Clopidogrel significantly reduced death from all causes and death from heart disease in current smokers. The benefit was less in former smokers and nonsmokers. While clopidogrel therapy was more effective in current smokers they also had a greater risk of bleeding compared to those who did not smoke.

Co-authors are: Jeffrey S. Berger, M.D.; Steven Steinhubl, M.D.; Mingyuan Shao, M.D.; P. Gabriel Steg, M.D.; Gilles Montalescot, M.D.; Werner Hacke, M.D.; Keith A. Fox, M.B.Ch.B.; A. Michael Lincoff, M.D.; Eric J. Topol, M.D. and Peter B. Berger, M.D. Individual author disclosures are on the manuscript.
Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi Aventis funded the study.

Quotations about Smoking and Tobacco

I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day.  I haven't had time for tobacco since.  ~Arturo Toscanini


To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did.  I ought to know because I've done it a thousand times.  ~Mark Twain, attributed


I thought I couldn't afford to take her out and smoke as well.  So I gave up cigarettes.  Then I took her out and one day I looked at her and thought:  "Oh well," and I went back to smoking again, and that was better.  ~Benny Hill


One thousand Americans stop smoking every day - by dying.  ~Author Unknown


There's something luxurious about having a girl light your cigarette.  In fact, I got married once on account of that.  ~Harold Robbins


Remember, if you smoke after sex you're doing it too fast.  ~Woody Allen


Thank you for Not Smoking.  Cigarette smoke is the residue of your pleasure.  It contaminates the air, pollutes my hair and clothes, not to mention my lungs.  This takes place without my consent.  I have a pleasure, also.  I like a beer now and then.  The residue of my pleasure is urine.  Would you be annoyed if I stood on a chair and pissed on your head and your clothes without your consent?  ~Sign from Ken's Magic Shop


If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.  ~Douglas Adams


It has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain when awake.  ~Mark Twain


If you must smoke, take your butt outside.  ~Author Unknown


Smoke your pipe and be silent; there's only wind and smoke in the world.  ~Irish Proverb


Little tube of mighty pow'r,
Charmer of an idle hour,
Object of my warm desire.
~Isaac Hawkins Browne, "A Pipe of Tobacco"


A good cigar is like a beautiful chick with a great body who also knows the American League box scores.  ~M*A*S*H, Klinger, "Bug-Out," 1976


Much smoking kills live men and cures dead swine.  ~George D. Prentice


If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction.  There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism.  The dead drug leaves a ghost behind.  At certain hours it haunts the house.  ~Jean Cocteau


The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


There are some circles in America where it seems to be more socially acceptable to carry a hand-gun than a packet of cigarettes.  ~Katharine Whitehorn


Tobacco is a dirty weed.  I like it.
It satisfies no normal need.  I like it.
It makes you thin, it makes you lean,
It takes the hair right off your bean
It's the worst darn stuff I've ever seen.
I like it.
~Graham Lee Hemminger, Tobacco


For the first time in history, sex is more dangerous than the cigarette afterward.  ~Jay Leno


Tobacco.  Tumor causing, teeth staining, smelly, puking habit.  ~Arizona Department of Health Services Tobacco Education and Prevention Program ad campaign, created by Riester-Robb Advertising


Nicotine patches are great.  Stick one over each eye and you can't find your cigarettes.  ~Author Unknown


To smoke or not to smoke:  I can make of either a life-work.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960


A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure.  It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied.  What more can one want?  ~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray


On CBS Radio the news of [Ed Murrow's] death, reportedly from lung cancer, was followed by a cigarette commercial.  ~Alexander Kendrick


The best way to stop smoking is to just stop - no ifs, ands or butts.  ~Edith Zittler


The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide.  ~Kurt Vonnegut


It's all one thing - both tend into one scope -
To live upon Tobacco and on Hope,
The one's but smoke, the other is but wind.
~Sir Robert Aytoun of Kincaldie, "Sonnet on Tobacco"


A nonsmoker is forced to find food, but for a smoker breakfast can be a cigarette and a cup of bad coffee.  ~Brock Fiant

Stop Smoking

Smoking is one of the things which has caused a lot of problems and harm these days and it has spread like wild fire. Before we discuss this topic in detail, we should know that Allaah the Almighty has divided things in the world into two types, good or permissible (al-tayyibaat, al-halaal) and evil or prohibited (al-khabaa'ith, al-haraam), and there is no third type. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning) in surat al-A'raaf (7:157):

"And He makes good things halaal for them and bad things haraam."

Considering this fact, smoking can either be permissible and good or prohibited and evil.

Thus, we present some of its characteristics and let the person asking the question see himself in which type lies smoking.

1. There is no disagreement among the physicians and sane people that smoking is harmful for health. It is one of the major causes of lung cancer and other diseases. It is also one of the major causes of death. Since, it is known that the Islamic law prohibits everything that is harmful for a human being. Allah said (interpretation of meaning):

"Do not kill yourself. Allah is Merciful unto you." (Surat al-Nisaa' 4:29)

In addition, His Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said:

"There is no harm or causing of harm (in Islaam)." (Arabic "laa darar wa laa diraar")

He SAWS (peace be upon him) also said:

"A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ... his body as to what he engaged it in."

Smoking also goes against the saying of the Prophet SAWS:

"Your body has a right on you."

2. There is no disagreement among the physicians and sane people that smoking is harmful for the health of others who inhale the polluted breath of the smoker. Medical research has proven the harmful effects of smoking mothers on their children.

3. The offensive smell caused by smoking is a source of pain to the worshippers of Allah among humans and angels. The angels are offended and suffer from the same things that the human beings suffer from. Allah said (interpretation of the meaning):

"Those who cause harm to believing men and women without any reason do a great sin." (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:58)

4. The money that is spent on cigarettes is used on buying a harmful thing and is therefore an extravagance. Allah said (interpretation of the meaning):

"� and do not be extravagant wasters. Those who are extravagant are kinsmen of Satan." (Surat al-Israa' 17:26-27)

Extravagance (in Islam) means spending on something haraam.

Spending money on cigarettes is a waste of resources as well. The Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said:

"A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ..... what he owned as to how he spent it."

Considering all that has been presented, it can be clearly seen that smoking is an evil among many others. It is not permissible to indulge in it, or buy and sell it, or even to offer it to others. It is incumbent on a person who is addicted to it that he must make all efforts and get whatever necessary treatment to stop it. If the unbelievers have understood the harm caused by smoking and made laws regarding it, the Muslims should be even more eager to stop it and treat those who are addicted to it.

Stop Smoking

Smoking is one of the things which has caused a lot of problems and harm these days and it has spread like wild fire. Before we discuss this topic in detail, we should know that Allaah the Almighty has divided things in the world into two types, good or permissible (al-tayyibaat, al-halaal) and evil or prohibited (al-khabaa'ith, al-haraam), and there is no third type. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning) in surat al-A'raaf (7:157):

"And He makes good things halaal for them and bad things haraam."

Considering this fact, smoking can either be permissible and good or prohibited and evil.

Thus, we present some of its characteristics and let the person asking the question see himself in which type lies smoking.

1. There is no disagreement among the physicians and sane people that smoking is harmful for health. It is one of the major causes of lung cancer and other diseases. It is also one of the major causes of death. Since, it is known that the Islamic law prohibits everything that is harmful for a human being. Allah said (interpretation of meaning):

"Do not kill yourself. Allah is Merciful unto you." (Surat al-Nisaa' 4:29)

In addition, His Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said:

"There is no harm or causing of harm (in Islaam)." (Arabic "laa darar wa laa diraar")

He SAWS (peace be upon him) also said:

"A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ... his body as to what he engaged it in."

Smoking also goes against the saying of the Prophet SAWS:

"Your body has a right on you."

2. There is no disagreement among the physicians and sane people that smoking is harmful for the health of others who inhale the polluted breath of the smoker. Medical research has proven the harmful effects of smoking mothers on their children.

3. The offensive smell caused by smoking is a source of pain to the worshippers of Allah among humans and angels. The angels are offended and suffer from the same things that the human beings suffer from. Allah said (interpretation of the meaning):

"Those who cause harm to believing men and women without any reason do a great sin." (Surat al-Ahzaab, 33:58)

4. The money that is spent on cigarettes is used on buying a harmful thing and is therefore an extravagance. Allah said (interpretation of the meaning):

"� and do not be extravagant wasters. Those who are extravagant are kinsmen of Satan." (Surat al-Israa' 17:26-27)

Extravagance (in Islam) means spending on something haraam.

Spending money on cigarettes is a waste of resources as well. The Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him) said:

"A person will not be able to move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about ..... what he owned as to how he spent it."

Considering all that has been presented, it can be clearly seen that smoking is an evil among many others. It is not permissible to indulge in it, or buy and sell it, or even to offer it to others. It is incumbent on a person who is addicted to it that he must make all efforts and get whatever necessary treatment to stop it. If the unbelievers have understood the harm caused by smoking and made laws regarding it, the Muslims should be even more eager to stop it and treat those who are addicted to it.

Stop Smoking

It is a universally accepted and indisputable fact that smoking has many serious health and life hazards, for example, lung cancer, etc. to the smoker as well as those (non-smokers) in his (smokers) environment, therefore, not permissible. Shari'ah has explained in great length the importance and virtue of good health to the extent that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) even advised to maintain a balance in eating and drinking as an imbalance could be harmful to health. He advised having dates, being hot in nature with cucumber, as it (cucumber) has a cooling effect. (Shamaail). On one occasion, Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) even stopped Hadhrat Ali (Radhiallaahu Anhu) from eating dates upon recovering from his illness and advised him to have vegetables instead.

Although dates is not only nutritious but also a means of obtaining blessing, but in certain conditions, since it could be harmful, Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) advised against it. From that, one can gauge the extent of abstaining from cigarettes which contain many harmful ingredients, for example, carbon monoxide, nicotine, tar and benzene vapour.

Therefore, smoking is harmful to the smoker as well as those around him. Consider the following: Muhammad Abdul Ghaffaar al-Afghan in his book, 'Ninety nine harms of smoking' has said that smoking results in many sicknesses which doctors have explained and they all amount to ninety nine.

Doctor Salahuddeen Abdur-Rabbi Nabiy, a neuro surgeon in Cairo says, 'When a person becomes enslaved to the habit of smoking, it has a very harmful effect on the smoker's health, especially to his heart. As a result his heart beat and blood circulation becomes unstable and he experiences drowsiness from time to time due to the shrinkin of his brain arteries.

Sometimes during old age, he suffers from high blood pressure and angina. Similarly, his digestive and respiratory systems are harmed and the smoker loses his appetite. He is also afflicted by a cough which is known as the smoker's cough. When his nervous system is affected the smoker feels a prickly sensation, a numbness in his limbs and also a pain in the nerves.'

In the annual conference of the American Doctors Council which took place in Chicago in 1966, the main topic discussed was the harms of smoking. Doctors, who were aware of the role that smoking played in lung cancer, became alarmed when they heard that the least harm smoking causes is that at arouses anxiety. Doctor Edward Kweller Hammond, head of statistics in the Cancer Association of America said, "Verily lung cancer which is caused by smoking cigarettes is not so serious in comparison to the injury caused by smoking with other means." It is stated in the ninth edition of "World of Knowledge" magazine that the time has come wherein it has become necessary to expose all the harms of smoking. It should also be realised that these dispecable substances even cause death.

It is also necessary to elucidate the harms of smoking in the hope of saving many intelligent and educated youth, who will be astonished on how much has been written regarding this topic. It is also stated in the above-mentioned magazine under the following heading, "Cancer Caused by Smoking":

This fatal illness is the culmination of many illnesses which are the result of thin blood and other sicknesses which are related to the blood vessels. All these are connected to this loathsome substances. However, lung cancer is the most likely outcome of smoking.

Lung cancer was a very rare disease but the end of this century witnessed a high rise in its occurance, primarily in men and thereafter in women. In the beginning of the sixties, the death rate due to lung cancer increased compared to before. Smoking also yields other health hazards besides its general and specific economic harms.

PROOF FOR THE PROHIBITION OF SMOKING

Smoking did not exist in the time of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu �layhi Wasallam), but our magnificent Deen has laid down general principles from which many laws are derived. From these principles, the Ulama (Allah's mercy be upon them) have come to the conclusion that smoking is Haraam.

An Aayaat of the Noble Qur'aan states, 'And do not throw yourself into destruction with your own hands.' (Baqarah 195). Smoking causes fatal sicknesses, for example, lung cancer, tuberculosis, etc.

In another Aayat, Allah Ta'ala says, 'And do not kill yourselves'. (Nisaa 29). Nabi Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam said, 'Whomsoever drinks poison, thereby killing himself, will sip this poison forever and ever in the fire of Jahannum.'

Cigarettes consist of many poisonous substances and furthermore, the smoker indulges in a slow suicidal act by smoking this poison.