The cultural perception surrounding smoking has varied over time and from one place to another; holy and sinful, sophisticated and general, a panacea and deadly health hazard. Only recently, and primarily in industrialized Western countries, has stop smoking come to be viewed in a decidedly negative light. Today medical studies have proven that smoking is among the leading causes of diseases such as lung cancer, heart attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and can also lead to birth defects. The well-proven hale condition hazards of smoking have caused many countries to institute high taxes on tobacco products and anti-smoking campaigns are launched every year in an attempt to curb smoking. Several countries, states and cities have also imposed smoking bans in most public places.