Smoking

[CharLit]

To answer the OP: I'm on the european continent so I guess we're not seeing the same anti-smoking ads, but over here the anti-smoking advertising is geared at smokers, and also intended to prevent teenagers from starting - surely you're not against that? I smoked until three years ago and loved it and would probably start again today if they invented a cigarette with no health risks. However, I do regret the day I started and wish I never had! I also hope teens will be smarter than I was and that the anti-smoking advertising will contribute to that.

 

For everyone's info, these are the most recent (2002) WHO data on second hand smoking, the risk percentages for non-smokers exposed to smoke are higher than came out of the 1998 study:

 

"Carcinogenic effects of SHS

In June 2002, a scientific working group of 29 experts from 12 countries convened by the Monographs Programme of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization, Lyon, France, reviewed all significant published evidence related to tobacco smoking and cancer, both active and involuntary. Its conclusions confirmed the cancer-causing effects of active smoking. It also concluded its evaluation of the carcinogenic risks associated with involuntary smoking and classified second-hand smoke as carcinogenic to humans(1).

There is clear scientific evidence of an increased risk of lung cancer in non-smokers exposed to SHS. This increased risk is estimated at 20% in women and 30% in men who live with a smoker (2). Similarly, it has been shown that non-smokers exposed to SHS in the workplace have a 16 to 19% increased risk of developing lung cancer (3). The risk of presenting lung cancer increases with the degree of exposure. The Californian Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA) estimates that SHS causes 3000 deaths each year due to lung cancer in non-smokers.

Other health effects of SHS

It has also been shown that non-smokers exposed to SHS have a 25 to 35% increased risk of suffering acute coronary diseases (4). Chronic respiratory conditions are also more frequent in non-smokers exposed to SHS (5). There is evidence linking SHS to other adverse effects in adults including exacerbation of asthma and reduced lung function."

 

 

found here: link removed

 

 

Nope, I will not lecture smokers about what they're doing to their own health, but I will ask them to think of MY health when appropriate (i.e. not in bars etc. because smoking is unfortunately still allowed there in the country I live in, but certainly if they try to light up in my house!)

[RayKay]

Oh yeah, up here the cigarette packs have pictures and slogans against smoking - the impotence one with the droopy cigarette, pictures of lungs filled with cancer, etc.

 

It was supposed to deter people - I think it just made a market for "designer cigarette covers" that you can slide over them...I also see people just black them out with permanent markers...lol.

[mrsmarvl]

I am a non-smoker and I have never smoked a day in my life! But I work in an office of 40 employees and they all smoke except 3 of us. And there isnt a month that goes buy that I have a chest cold or something upper respitory that I have to go to the docs about, and its all because of 2nd hand smoke!!! and they dont give a c-r-a-p , only about that they need there nicotine!!! NO! I dont feel sorry for people that smoke let them kill themselves! Just keep it away from us that dont!!!

[Dako]

Arizona does have some catching up to do. No smoking indoors here in Socal.

[RayKay]

Arizona does have some catching up to do. No smoking indoors here in Socal.

 

No kidding! Not allowed here either.

[mrsmarvl]

Yeah this state has always been behing the times! And if you call and complain you cant just be an unknown caller ...You have to leave all your info, and then you are found out and loose your job. Which is bull!!! So what do people like us do! The non-killers?

[becallamjr]

I encourage anyone who wants to try smoking to go ahead and do so, but I also inform them of what it does to the body and that I just frankly don't care.

[Dako]

Yeah this state has always been behing the times! And if you call and complain you cant just be an unknown caller ...You have to leave all your info, and then you are found out and loose your job. Which is bull!!! So what do people like us do! The non-killers?

 

Well, it's one side effect of living in a red state. No sissy laws to regulate people's freedoms. No gummint interference.

[novaseeker]

All cultural.

 

Europeans, f ex, still smoke way, way more than North Americans do. It's gradually changing, but still not nearly the same atitude as in NA. The same holds true for East Asia and Latin America. North America is a paradox ... it's at once the most health conscious in terms of smoking and the like, whilst also being the least healthy (highest obesity rates in the West, etc.).

 

To be honest I think the government should just ban cigarettes. They've done everything short of that in many places, and it's kind of dishonest to allow cigarettes to continue to be made and sold when the government clearly considers the manufacturers to be like something out of the Heart of Darkness ...

 

I don't smoke. I also don't like the smell of smoke in my clothes when I've been around smokers. But I do think consider the way smokers are viewed by many North Americans ... almost as demonic beings ... to be laughable.

[HappyDaisy]

A majority of the ads on television in the US are targetting children. The Truth project and anything funded by American Legacy Foundation are targetting youth around 8 to 10 years old.

 

Why? Because that is the age group most at risk to begin smoking. The intent is to educate children about tobacco use and try to prevent them from ever starting.

 

And, even with all of the education and information available out there, in my experience there are a lot of adults who do not know the health risks involved iwth tobacco use.

 

I used to work in public health education and tobacco education and prevention among youth was one of my projects. I found it disturbing how many parents and teachers would approach us after educational sessions with little kids and ask us questions about the material or comment about how little they realized about the possible health risks from smoking.

 

Grown ups can do what they want. I prefer not to be around smoke. I don't let people smoke in my house and I frequent non smoking establishments. However, I will always do my best to try to prevent children I know from ever starting smoking.

[Kyoshiro Ogari]

If they ever found a cure to cancer, I'm putting stock in every single cigarette company out there.

 

becallamjr is right, you only live once, why not do what you enjoy since death is inevitable. Some would feel that way, but a scenario would make them think otherwise. If they're in the middle of treatment for cancer that was brought on because of smoking, would they regret it? After all, there will be plenty of time to think, reflect, and wonder if it was all worth sacrificing 10 or so years just to live life to the fullest.

[KweenofDenyl]

I'm also really sick of seeing all these non-smoking ads on t.v. We took away the cigarette companies right to advertise, so why should these people against smoking get to advertise too? I wanna hear what you people have to say about this.

 

Because smokers cost the United States $167 billion dollars a year.

[KweenofDenyl]

ha I used to hate when my friend's would always jump down my back about it. Finally they gave up cause they knew I wasn't going to quit.

 

Even though I should really quit now.

 

Yes, you should. Who is paying for the cost of your pregnancy? Who will be footing the bill when you deliver a premature baby that spends 6 weeks in NICU? What about the costs after that? Unless you are independently wealthy at 16, I'm betting it's Medicaid, which is funded through tax dollars.

[Jorus Cbaoth]

Smoke away! If that's something that calms your nerves and keeps you from going insane, then I'll buy you a pack. We all need some kind of escape, as long as it's not drugs. I'm not a smoker myself (except for the occasional Cuban) but I have nothing against the habit. If someone blows smoke my way in a public place, I'll take the initiative to get up and move. Burns calories that way too.

[Dako]

Nicotine is a drug.

[shyanne]

my yongest daughter gives me a hard time about smoking. so does her dad and my oldest but i really feel bad when she tells me. i think those ads are good because i really don't want my kids to smoke. i tell them it's bad and i have to stop.. now only if i could

[yeawutever]

But you can shyanne, nothing is impossible. And that "Oh, but I'm an addict' but "Oh it's the nicotine, the substance, I can't help it". That's all BS, you have a brain don't you? And with that you can make your decision, it's either yes or no.