Sep 29
2007

At first reading, there isn’t much extremely shocking in this report. But with a little research, in my opinion it becomes alarming.

This information comes from the Asthma Society of Canada:

“Doctors define asthma as a ‘chronic inflammatory disease of the airways’ . It is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions affecting Canadians. Asthma can be diagnosed at any age, but often starts in childhood. Its prevalence in Canada has been increasing over the last 20 years and it is estimated that currently over 3 million Canadians have asthma.

“The three strongest risk factors for developing asthma are family history, exposure in infancy to high levels of antigens such as house dust mites, and exposure to tobacco smoke and/or chemical irritants.

“We’re all pretty familiar with allergic triggers of asthmatic symptoms, such as mould, animal dander, pollen, dust mites, etc., but perhaps less familiar with non-allergic triggers such as certain drugs, chemicals, fumes and odours, respiratory viral infections, certain weather conditions, strenuous physical exercise, tobacco smoke, and air pollution.

“Urbanization appears to be correlated with an increase in asthma. The nature of the risk is unclear because studies have not taken into account indoor allergens although these have been identified as significant risk factors.

“Experts are struggling to understand why prevalence rates world-wide are, on average, rising by 50% every decade.”

Alarming? Yes. Why?

First of all, the report was updated in April of 2005, yet most of the footnoted references are from the mid to late 90′s. So the report is about “Canadians” in general; children are still not identified as a unique segment of the population, their needs, habits and susceptibilities are not taken into special consideration, even though the studies all concur that asthma often starts in childhood.

Next, approximately 3 million Canadians have asthma. You have to put that into the context of how many Canadians there are, which in the year 2000 was about 31 million, with an annual growth rate of approximately 1%. So about 9.6% of all Canadians have asthma. Almost one out of 10. If one out of 10 Canadians were in a wheelchair, or wearing a cast, we would take notice. Alarming, since we treat it so casually. It’s a chronic disease, which means lifelong constant management and medication.

The world’s current (overall as well as natural) growth rate is about 1.3% per year, while prevalence rates of asthma world-wide are, on average, rising by 50% every decade. So asthma is occuring over 3 times more than can be attributed to population growth. These are rough figures, just to give us an idea of what we’re looking at.

And this is only about asthma. It isn’t about illness from chemical poisoning, or deaths from poisoning, or lung cancer, or…

So it’s time to take steps to prevent asthma and other chronic environmental illnesses and diseases. At the very least, search for and buy the least toxic cleansers for household use. Get educated! Then, store all chemicals safely and securely away from children and pets.

Don’t allow smoking in your home, and be aware of and avoid air pollution, both inside and out. Air out your home completely three times a day. Did you know that cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s National Toxicology Program, and the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have all classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen–a category reserved for agents for which there is sufficient scientific evidence that they cause cancer.

The U.S. EPA has estimated that exposure to secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers and is responsible for up to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in children up to 18 months of age in the United States each year. If you have to smoke, just dig your own grave, don’t drag others with you!

So, become aware and clean up your home environment.

About the author:

Kathryn Beach is a writer and wellness businesswoman at home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Find out more about the healing properties of tea tree oil at Learn About the Tea Tree Oil Phenomenon!

Written By: Kathryn Beach

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Sep 26
2007

Did you know that the indoor air is at least six times more contaminated than the outdoor air? Unfortunately, you cannot clean the outdoor air but what you can do is to improve the quality of the indoor air. The only device that could help you do this is an air purifier. It eliminates the indoor air from various contaminants, such as simple dust, volatile gases, pollen, pet dander and dust mites. More sophisticated air cleaning devices can even rid of dangerous bacteria and viruses leaving your house a healthy place to live at.

You might be asking yourself why you should waste your money on an air purifier. And you would be surprised what indoor air contaminants do to your health. They irritate your respiratory system and with time may cause a lot of disorders. So, buying an air purifier that would clean the indoor air of your house is not a waste of money. On the contrary, preventing serious health disorders from occurring can actually save your money and time.

Those, who suffer from allergies or asthma and other respiratory diseases, know how poor indoor air quality affects their health. Indoor air pollutants may aggravate the symptoms of these diseases. It is not true that closing all the windows and doors helps the indoor air keeping clean and healthy. All the contaminants from the outdoor are brought to your home by heating and cooling systems. All of these contaminants accumulate in your living environment putting you and your family in danger. The only way to change that is to buy a residential air purifier.

A lot of trials have been made in order to find out whether air purifiers can reduce health effects or not. The trials have showed that the use of air purifiers definitely reduces certain health effects. These include minor effects, such as eye and lung irritation. In addition, air cleaning devices may reduce the risk for some serious disorders, such as cancer and decreased lung function. Those who cannot bear the tobacco smoke in their living environment should also consider buying an air purifier. Most air purifiers eliminate cigarette smoke from the indoor air, reducing not only disgusting smell but also serious health effects.

Children are extremely sensitive to airborne pollutants therefore those, who care about their children’s health, should seriously consider using an air purifier in their environment. Pet danders, pollen, volatile organic compounds, cigarette smoke are only few mentioned contaminants that may affect children’s health and cause serious illnesses. Since children are exposed to dangerous airborne compounds from the early childhood, they may get serious diseases, such as asthma, various allergies, lung irritation and even lung cancer in the end.

Anyone who cares to breathe the air that is clean, healthy, and free of various pollutants and allergens should buy an air purifier for their homes. It may be either portable or non-portable, depending on the area coverage. Especially those, who are extremely sensitive to the indoor air pollution, should consider having an air purification system. Such are asthma sufferers, people who have allergies, children, youth and the elderly people. Poor quality of the indoor air affects these people the most. In the end, it is of course your individual decision you have to make on the use of air purifiers. Most health organizations recommend people to use air purification systems to improve their indoor air quality. There are various factors one should consider before making one’s decision on an air purifier. But what really matters the most is what you cannot see or feel – the indoor air quality. You shouldn’t take it for granted.

Use of this article is permitted as long as there are clickable links back to us at: The best air purifiers and all credits are given to the author.

About the author:

Written By: Diana Valo

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Dec 27
2006

Lung cancer kills more women every year than breast cancer. In fact, lung Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of death among both men and women with statistics showing it is an increasing problem for women especially as they have a proven susceptibility to developing lung cancer.

However, lung cancer poses additional risks and issues for women, and these can be generalised in one major way, and that is to do with smoking.

About 90% of all lung cancer deaths among women are as a direct result of smoking or breathing in someone else’s second-hand smoke. (This is known as Passive smoking).

Even though research has proven that smoking cause a wide range of very serious health effects, 1 out of every 5 women in the U.S. and other western countries still smoke with this number rising with a disturbing regularity every year despite widespread advertising to show how dangerous it is.

Various research studies which have been completed indicate that women who are former smokers may still have a significantly elevated risk of developing lung cancer even 20 years after they have quit smoking. However it is only fair to say that once they do stop smoking, the overall risk of developing lung cancer does drop.

According to an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2005:

Female smokers are more likely than male smokers to develop lung cancer,

Women who have never smoked are more likely to develop lung cancer than men who have never smoked.

These differences are due to hormonal, hereditary, and metabolic differences between the sexes.

Female smokers are 13 times more likely to die of lung cancer than women who have never smoked, and female former smokers are 5 times as likely to die of lung cancer as women who have never smoked.

Women, even if they have never smoked, should be aware of their higher risks. Because of the elevated risks that smoking causes for lung cancer and a range of other serious diseases, female smokers in particular should think very carefully about quitting smoking as soon as possible, as even though their past history of smoking does make them more liable to developing lung cancer, at least the overall risk decreases once they quit.

About the author:

Isabelle Boulay writes for www.Medopedia.com, where you can read about exercise induced asthma , anti-snori ng devices and other health topics.

Written By: Isabelle Boulay

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Nov 15
2006

In approximately 25% of people with lung cancer, there are no symptoms and the cancer is detected during screening or a routine physical examination. However, in three-quarters of lung cancer patients there are warning symptoms and signs that can alert the patient or their physician.

Most commonly, lung cancer patients experience respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, hoarseness and a persistent cough. These symptoms are very common among smokers, and are also present in a number of other conditions such as asthma, emphysema and chest infections. A new cough should always be evaluated, as it may be a symptom of lung cancer. Lung cancer may spread to the chest wall, causing chest, shoulder and back pain. If cancer cells erode lung blood vessels, the patient may cough up blood. There may also be other generalized effects that occur with most cancers, such as fever, fatigue, appetite loss and weight loss.

As a lung cancer grows, it increasingly compromises the normal functioning of an affected lung. Secondary complications may occur, such as collection of fluid in the tissue lining the lungs (pleural effusion), lung collapse, airway obstruction, and repeated lung infections. Lung cancer may also spread or metastasize to other parts of the body such as the lymph nodes, bones, liver and brain. Bone pain and abnormal liver or brain function may result.

The absence of symptoms does not necessarily indicate early disease, and the presence of non-specific chest symptoms can often go unheeded. Both these factors contribute to the fact that only about 15 percent of lung cancer patients are diagnosed in the early stages of disease. The later lung cancer is diagnosed, the less effective treatment options are. Delays in diagnosing lung cancer patients result in an overall survival rate of only 15 percent at five years after diagnosis.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Asbestos Lung Cancer provides detailed information on Asbestos Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Stages, Lung Cancer Survival Rate and more. Asbestos Lung Cancer is affiliated with Asbestos Exposure.

Written By: Steve Valentino

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Nov 3
2006

Tobacco intake is the single most preventable cause of premature death in todays times. Tobacco or nicotine is the chemical that narrows our blood vessels thereby reducing the life giving air that we intake, which in turn forces us to fight for that extra air.

Why we are drawn towards smoking
The younger generation of todays times is the one, which is the most stricken by this deadly disease. The biggest reason for which is they are in a haste to prove them selves to be grownups and mature.
A 13 yr old boy standing in the streets with his friends puffing the circles of smoke in air, feels he is mature and big enough to take his decisions and thinks that now it is that he has broken free from the shackles of his parents boundations which say that smoking is injurious to health. He does so in pure enjoyment and fun, not realizing that he is indeed letting the shackles of a deadly disease trap him and is not in fact breaking free from any.
Hey! Boy, QUIT SMOKING, or else soon you will be in the clutches of the deadly disease.

Ill effects of smoking
It is smoking that triples the risk of dying from various heart diseases, bronchitis and emphysema. It is smoking that leads to asthma and lung cancer in many people. It is smoking that makes a person baffle for air 3 times more that a non-smoker. Smoking makes you weak and unfit for athletics and various other sports. Smoking makes people avoid you because it makes your hair and clothes stink. It stains your teeth and you have bad breath. Your lips are often cracked and you look pale.

Is that what you call looking mature. No. So quit smoking because it will do no good to you.

Smoking is a contagious disease because it not only weakens it victim but also those who are around him. This is better known as passive smoking where the smoke puffed out by a smoker does harm to the lungs and chest of the person who inhales that air.

It is thus the need of the hour that we should take up the matter seriously and do something constructive to free our society from the grips of this deadly disease.

About the author:

Rob Mellor owns the number one website that helps people quit smoking in only 7 days, Guaranteed, http://www.quit-smoking-expert.com

Written By: Rob Mellor

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