Cigarettes, Smoking | featured news

Cigarette smoke causes immediate damage to the lungs and to DNA, and President Barack Obama's administration will make stop-smoking efforts a priority, federal health officials said on Thursday.

Secondhand smoke sickens millions and kills more than 600,000 people worldwide each year, including more than 165,000 children under 5.

The federal government unveiled new proposed regulations Wednesday mandating "bolder health warnings" on cigarette advertisements and packages, according to a news release from the Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. smoking rates continue to hold steady, at about one in five adults lighting up regularly, frustrated health officials reported Tuesday.

Twenty-five states ban all tobacco products in prisons.

A Florida jury ordered R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris on Wednesday to pay $26.6 million to the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer, the latest verdict against cigarette makers in the "Engle progeny" lawsuits.

The agency uses its new authority to impose a nationwide ban on selling cigarettes and other products to those under 18 and to put new restrictions on sales methods.

Taking aim at the tobacco industry's youth marketing machinery, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday outlawed free samples of cigarettes and banned the use of tobacco brand names on promotional gear and in the sponsorship of concerts and sporting events.

California lawmakers on Thursday will consider what is believed to be the nation's most far-reaching smoking ban in state parks as a way to get unsightly cigarette butts off the beach, eliminate second-hand smoke and reduce the threat of wildfires....

Tobacco use kills at least 5 million people every year, a figure that could rise if countries don't take stronger measures to ...