The New Year is a time for reflection. This year, we met everyday New Zealanders who have suffered heartbreaking moments in their lives.

New Zealand researchers have shown that a low-cost, Soviet-era quit-smoking pill is more effective than nicotine-replacement therapy.

Adult smokers in the UK who light up with children in the car will be fined £50 ($101), under new Government plans.

Electronic cigarettes are more effective at helping smokers to quit tobacco when they contain nicotine, a review of studies has found.

The Cancer Society wants smoking banned by next year at Auckland's publicly owned outdoor dining areas.

It's ten years today since smoking was banned in bars, but Maori are still more likely to smoke than Europeans. We map where the ethnic smoking gap lies.

Doctors question if an already stretched workforce can cope with the govt's ambitious target to treat every cancer patient within two months.

Hundreds of smokers around New Zealand participated in the Stoptober campaign to quit smoking.

I know a slab of young people who find smoking abhorrent, and a total turn-off. But there is also sizeable chunk of people like me, who are wracked with guilt at finding it attractive.

Laurie Holmes has patches, Champix and lozenges to help him quit - but he's gone cold turkey without a hiccup.

Hundreds of smokers have joined a Stoptober campaign to give up the habit, and many more will try to quit on their own - with little chance of success.

France is on the verge of introducing some of the most stringent anti-smoking legislation in the world, following Australia's lead - and it could work.

Matt Heath writes: Soon parents will get in as much trouble for putting sugar in their coffee as I did for a tasty little cigarette.

Cigarette-style warnings should be placed on wine showing its health risks and the number of calories it contains, a group of British MPs has said.

Cigarette consumption has long been in decline in the US. But some states and demographics still seem to be clinging on to the habit - and keeping tobacco companies afloat.

Plain packaging makes cigarettes taste worse than branded cigarettes and makes all cigarettes taste the same, new research suggests.

Kiwi diners are being exposed to large amounts of secondhand smoke even when they choose to sit inside restaurants, a study shows.

A barber was "genuinely fearful" of remaining in the presence of an employer who regularly made fun of him and told him "I hate white people".

Women who smoke and are overweight are more likely to suffer a stillbirth than non-smoking women of a healthy weight, a report has found.

Why anyone would want to bring anything but fresh air into their lungs now that tobacco's damage has been well documented, is a mystery.

With appealing fruity flavours and an A-list celebrity fanbase, electronic cigarettes could lead young people into lifelong tobacco addiction, it's increasingly feared.

E-cigarettes with sweet flavours are being targeted at school children and could get them hooked on nicotine, it has been claimed.

Public health researchers say the Government's next step after introducing plain packaging for tobacco should be to make cigarettes ugly.

New Zealand's wine and dairy producers will be forced to export their products without branding in retaliation for Government's introduction of plain packaging of cigarettes.

Is the tobacco plain packaging bill amendment worthwhile? Honestly, I'm on the fence, writes Lee Suckling.

A photo of a young boy with a cigarette in his mouth and a can of pre-mix spirits in his hand has been slammed by the Children's Commissioner.

The days of bulk-buying cigarettes at the border are over after the Govt revealed its latest anti-smoking policy would cut the duty-free allowance.