Mayo Clinics researchers reveal that smoking and gender have impact over the effectiveness of various pain treatments.

The study, which was presented at the annual meet of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in Orlando, Florida, said that a patient's gender indicates the differences in functional status of those going through treatment for chronic pain

More U.S. campuses have joined the bandwagon to promote health and wellness by banning smoking in universities and colleges.

According to the Americans for Nonsmokers' rights, over 140 schools are totally smoke-free, over thrice the number which prohibited lighting up by March 2007. The boost in numbers was partly due to the total smoking ban last month by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on all state-owned universities. The 14 institutions of higher learning in the state have over 110,000 students

A rigid smoking ban proposed by Boston city officials has sparked public debates in the capital city of Massachusetts.

The Boston Public Health Commission is set to implement soon a sweeping tobacco prohibition to cover bars, which were exempt from the 2004 smoking ban

The U.S. Supreme Court started its new term Monday, with the deceptive advertising case against light cigarette manufacturers among the first lawsuits it tackled.

The case involved a Maine lawsuit filed by three smokers against Philip Morris USA and parent company Altria Group that the cigarette firm was engaged in deceptive marketing because it advertised its light cigarette as less harmful than regular ones. Philip Morris said it should be protected for state law claims by federal regulation

More than 80 million people in China will die in the next 25 years from lung disease, a new study confirms. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health say the deaths would be attributed to smoking habits and the common practice of burning coal and wood for cooking and heating.

The study, which is published online on Saturday by the British journal The Lancet looked at a 30-year period, spanning the last five and the next 25. More than half of Chinese men population smoke and more than 70 percent of Chinese households use solid fuels that are a major source of indoor air pollution, the study says