There was no room for doubt about the hazards of tobacco use in Grand Island on Friday.

That's because a presenter at schools there has lost his jaw and half his tongue as consequences of tobacco use.

Gruen Von Behrens is a 34-year-old man who first used dip as a 13-year-old. Four years later he noticed a white spot on his tongue where he held dip in his lip. 
Since that time, he has had 34 surgeries in 17 years to reconstruct his lower face. He says he looks a little "like a monster."

Read more about Von Behrens visit to Grand Island and his warning about the consequences of tobacco use at the Grand Island Independent.

The risk of a pregnant woman having a stroke has gone up, according to a North Platte physician, because of the lifestyles we lead, and that includes smoking cigarettes.

Dr. Jose Cardenas, director of the stroke program at the Great Plains Regional Medical Center, told the North Platte Telegraph that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and other conditions are triggered by obesity and lack of physical activity.

Contraceptives and smoking also increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, the doctor said.

Quitting smoking provides health benefits to everyone who smokes. Reducing the risk of stroke is just one of many benefits pregnant women can receive by quitting smoking.

In the wake of Tuesday's unveiling by the FDA of cigarette pack warnings that highlight the health cost of cigarettes, the Omaha World Herald has posted an editorial cartoon that highlights another cost of cigarettes.

The Jeff Koterba cartoon asks, "A more effective way to curb smoking?" The answer, depicted as a cigarette pack warning, says, "WARNING: Cigarettes are harmful to your bank account."

Pictured above the warning is a smoker sitting by the side of a building with his hand out and a sign that reads, "I'm broke cuz I smoke. Please help!"

Tuesday the FDA unveiled cigarette pack warnings that will be required to be displayed on every pack of cigarettes beginning September 2012. The warnings show pictures that highlight the health impact of smoking.

Every 10 percent increase in the real price of cigarettes reduces overall cigarette consumption by about three to five percent. It reduces the number of young-adult smokers by 3.5 percent. And it reduces the number of kids who smoke by about six or seven percent.

Would you like to learn more about what works to reduce tobacco use ?

Children, whose parents smoke, are sick more often, according to an article posted in the Ord Quiz. These children have:

• More coughs, colds, and sore throats
  
• More earaches and ear infections
  
• More asthma and allergies
  
• Slower lung development
  
• A greater risk of pneumonia
  
• Breathing second-hand smoke as a child can affect the lungs for life.
  

The article includes other tips on child development from VCHS.