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We all have ‘that friend’ that we love to bits but we wish would stop smoking. Smoking doesn’t make you a bad person but being friends with a smoker can be really frustrating at times. A recent study has revealed what people most think are the top 10 annoying habits of their smoking friends.

Before we have a look at the list I would like to say I know this list does not apply to every smoker out there and there are smokers that are courteous and respectful towards other non smokers.

1. Asking For an Ashtray

Usually the reason an ashtray is not present in a house is because it is a non smoking household. Smokers should not just assume that it is simply ok to light up because they are friends with you. In addition to this it is not ok to try and make someone feel guilty about the fact that you don’t want them to smoke in your home – “But I will have to go outside and it’s raining”.

2. Not Cleaning An Ashtray

On the flip side of the above a smoker can do as they wish in their own home, if they fancy a smoke then as long as there are no children or animals living there then it is no problem. However none smokers might be put off from visiting a smokers home due to the smell which can be intensified by not cleaning a used ashtray. Used, unclean ashtrays can be really potent leaving a foul smell.

3. Smoking Near Children Or Babies

There is probably nothing more annoying then someone else smoking near your children or baby. Evidence has also shown that adults that think they are keeping their own children out of harm by smoking outside the front or back door of the family home are still exposing their children to unacceptable levels of nicotine. If you take the conscious decision to have children then you own it to them to quit smoking as soon as you can, most preferably before they are born to provide them with a clean and healthy environment to grow up in.

The story of Dr James D. Mold and his cancer free cigarette is one that would incense every smoker and every person who has lost a loved one due to the effects of tobacco smoking.  While there have always been rumours that tobacco companies were less than honest about the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, the information that came to light about the pioneering work Mold did and how he was ignored highlights the greed that drove the tobacco industry.

How It All Started

Mold began working in 1955 as a scientist for Liggett & Myers, a tobacco company in North Carolina.  His role was to identify cancer causing ingredients in cigarette smoke that lab mice were exposed to.  Working alongside other scientists, Mold found the materials that caused cancer on the skin of lab mice and started a project to make a safer cigarette that would exclude or minimise these harmful ingredients.

Project XA

Mold’s pioneering work on creating a different cigarette that didn’t give you cancer became known as Project XA.  He had the backing of Liggett to develop such a product, and worked incessantly with the A.D Little Company on the task ahead.

25 years after he started, Mold finally came up with the XA, or the palladium cigarette, that relied on the use of palladium and magnesium nitrate to destroy cancer causing substances in cigarette smoke.  Indeed, in lab tests performed, these cigarettes were shown to have been successful in reducing the incidence of cancer in lab animals.

Litigation Worries

Despite the company’s initial support, Executives withdrew their backing for the project and the palladium cigarette never got to the production stage.  The main reason for this was simple – the company’s lawyers had advised that launching a safer product would lead to endless lawsuits from the public for the less safe products