Examiners shouldn't give commercial motor vehicle license clearance to anyone currently using the anti-smoking drug Chantix, says the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the interstate trucking and bus industries.

The FMCSA announcement Thursday came a day after the Federal Aviation Administration banned the use of the drug by pilots and air traffic controllers.

By Serena Gordon
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- When one person quits smoking, that health triumph doesn't occur in isolation, new research shows.

Instead, it appears that one person quitting can cause a ripple effect, making others more likely to kick the habit.

By Ed Edelson
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking marijuana increases the body's production of a protein that raises levels of blood fats associated with heart attack and stroke, government researchers report.

TUESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that women who quit smoking have a 47 percent lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease within five years of extinguishing their last cigarette.

The risks of dying from other conditions also decline after quitting, although the time frame varies depending on the disease.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that women who quit smoking have a 21 percent lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease within five years of extinguishing their last cigarette.

BOSTON - A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers. Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

When asked about the effects of smoking, the question usually refers to how smoking is detrimental to our lungs, throat or mouth. Did you know that cigarettes effect every organ, nerve, muscle, brain receptor site, artery, vein and tissue in our bodies! When we smoke, the drug nicotine, tar and other additives travel through our blood stream throughout our entire body. We have heard that smoking causes lung cancer...did you know that it also causes bladder cancer and harms our reproductive systems? However, perhaps the most significant organ effected is our brain.

In a country where cigarettes are so popular that more than half of all male doctors smoke, China has put the kibosh on public smoking in the capital city of Beijing, USA Today reports.

The crackdown, in advance of the Olympic Games that begin in August, affects most public buildings. But restaurants, bars, and hotels will still allow smoking, assuming they also provide areas that are smoke-free.

Second-hand smoke kills some 100,000 Chinese annually, according to government estimates cited by the newspaper.

By Alan Mozes
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Although smoking is well-established as an independent risk factor for lung cancer, two new studies suggest that two different viral infections might boost a smoker's already substantial risk for developing the disease.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- The factors behind cancer death rates seem to have leveled off, a new report shows. The effectiveness of smoking prevention and mammography screening that fueled recent declines in cancer deaths appears to have reached its limit.