MANILA, Philippines -- Are you one of those smokers who want to quit but can?t?

In a recently held forum, ?Why Quitting Can?t Wait: A Forum on Nicotine Addiction,? Dr. Karl Fagerstrom, known as the father of smoking cessation, said that if the smoker cared for his health, then he should quit.

?They should stop smoking because if they care for their health, it?s [smoking] a very stupid thing to do since smoking kills every second of life of a smoker,? Fagerstrom said.

The Department of Health cited that 70% of smokers wanted to quit but only 30% of them have been serious and successful.

Dr. Edgardo Juan Tolentino, president of the Group for Addiction Psychiatry of the Philippines, said in the same forum that smokers found it hard to kick the habit because they underwent neuro-adaptation, a phenomenon wherein the brain has learned to adapt to substances of abuse due to continuous exposure to these.

Fagerstrom said that the most effective treatments would be to either seek professional help or use some form of nicotine replacement like gum or varenicline, a generic drug in pill form. In the Philippines, Pfizer Inc. has introduced varenicline as Champix.

A statement released by Pfizer said that varenicline was ?one of the more effective treatments available for smoking cessation and was the only non-nicotine, doctor-prescribed pharmacologic treatment for nicotine addiction.?

?Varenicline gives patients a greater chance of quitting,? according to Pfizer, citing clinical studies where ?44 percent of the more than 6,000 patients who used the drug successfully quit smoking in 12 weeks.?

Fagerstrom said that his patients go through a smoking cessation program for a period of at least three months.

Once the patient decides to take the smoking cessation program, the patient should set a timetable indicating when he would stop, Tolentino also said.

With the decision to quit, Tolentino said smokers would go through the following stages:

? Pre-contemplation where smokers become aware of the negative effects of the habit and realize that this is harmful to their health;
? Seek professional help; and
? Take action against the habit.

Tolentino also emphasized how important the families, friends, and co-workers of the smoker would be in his or her desire to change.

Tolentino also said that parents should lead by example. ?If I am the father, and I?m a smoker, I will not have the moral authority to tell my kid to stop smoking.?

Fagerstrom said that a non-smoker surrounded by smokers in the workplace should have the courage to tell the smoker not to do so in front of him.

To those who have not yet tried smoking, Fagerstrom shared this piece of advice: ?Best thing is to never start smoking!?