The Political (In)correctness of smoking cigarettes

J

jmpet

Valued Senior Member
Even One Cigarette Can Prove Lethal, U.S. Surgeon General Says
THURSDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- As little as one cigarette a day, or even just inhaling smoke from someone else's cigarette, could be enough to cause a heart attack and even death, warns a report released Thursday by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina M. Benjamin.

"The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale, causing damage immediately," Benjamin said in a statement. "Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer."

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/647245.html?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

This is a far cry from Fred Flintstone lighting up smokes on TV ads telling us how good cigarettes are.

Have we become too politically correct? I smoke and the news for us smokers has only been getting worse and worse. Are cigarettes really that bad, or are we overcompensating for 50 years of ignorance?
 
I think it is part and parcel of the increasing tendency of "The State" to take not only an extreme interest in the "welfare" of the populace, but to scare people into submitting to more control over food, medicine, and social health.
Notice how media latches onto some new health trend, or anti-health trend? Notice their tendency to make a huge deal of one incident as if it has set some new, totally unexpected precedent.

BTW, just ONE sex act can kill you. People have had heart attacks from exerting themselves during sex. Or shoveling a side walk. Which is why global warming should be encouraged, so those 12 people who would have died can be spared.

People can have a heart attack from being frightened by something. This "one cigarette, one heart attack" propaganda might just contribute to stress-induced cardiovascular fatigue!

I think, statistically, there is a very good case for calling the anti-smoking zealots to answer for themselves. The so-called smoking related health problems in Japan are lower on average than in the US, despite having a much higher (nearly 100%) rate of cigarette smoking for the last 50 years and beyond.

All this "just one smoke WILL KILL YOU" garbage is just that: GARBAGE. But don't think that inconvenient fact slow down those control freaks who would love to require a government license to grow some lettuce in your backyard.
It's for the children, you understand.
 
Giambattista said:
All this "just one smoke WILL KILL YOU" garbage is just that: GARBAGE. But don't think that inconvenient fact slow down those control freaks who would love to require a government license to grow some lettuce in your backyard.
It's for the children, you understand.
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I was seeing shades of this in the article.
 
jmpet said:
I was seeing shades of this in the article.
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Just started reading it.

How bout this? Zero tolerance...

"It's a really good thing when the Surgeon General comes out and gives a wide scope to the dangers of smoking," said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "They're looking at very small amounts of smoke and this is dramatic. It's showing the effect is immediate and doesn't take very much concentration. In other words, there's no safe level of smoking. It's a zero-tolerance issue."
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I wonder if he's related to Dr. Len Horowitz?

Cigarettes are also getting more addictive, the report stated, with newer formulations getting the nicotine more quickly and efficiently from the lungs -- where it first enters the body -- to the heart and brain. Compounds other than nicotine that are added to cigarettes also help hook people in, the report said.
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But let me guess, making cigarette makers get rid of "light" or "ultralight" labeling (because it's "misleading") and go with color codes instead of marketing ORGANIC tobacco with NO ADDITIVES is the way to combat these addictive additives?

I suppose I shouldn't bother telling you about how tobacco smoke is a major cause of global warming..:rolleyes:
 
Have we become too politically correct?
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Well lets look back as to when the tobacco companies were lying to everyone trying to sell their products to children and adults. They didn't seem to have any problems over saturating the media with their adds showing how good smoking was for everyone did they? Now you ask this question today, do you have stock in the tobacco companies? :shrug:
 
cosmictraveler said:
Well lets look back as to when the tobacco companies were lying to everyone trying to sell their products to children and adults. They didn't seem to have any problems over saturating the media with their adds showing how good smoking was for everyone did they? Now you ask this question today, do you have stock in the tobacco companies? :shrug:
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Well... my point is... who drank the Kool-Aid- them for selling it to us or us for drinking it all these years?
 
jmpet said:
Well... my point is... who drank the Kool-Aid- them for selling it to us or us for drinking it all these years?
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You are changing the subject from a product that can and does kill people that was falsly advertised as something benifical for you to a product that is only plesant tasting and refreshing that cannot kill people. Why do you try to show everyone that you have very little common sense with this product? :shrug:
 
cosmictraveler said:
You are changing the subject from a product that can and does kill people that was falsly advertised as something benifical for you to a product that is only plesant tasting and refreshing that cannot kill people. Why do you try to show everyone that you have very little common sense with this product? :shrug:
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You are off topic.
 
One thing I find ridiculous is the furor over special enclosed or partially enclosed smoking rooms or porches since smoking is banned in both restaurants and bars, and in some places, even within a certain zone around buildings.

Oh, can't let a bunch of smokers have a closed in addition where they can smoke without having to go stand in the unprotected environment during the winter! Because what if a non-smoker accidentally walks in there and has a heart attack?
 
cosmictraveler said:
Well lets look back as to when the tobacco companies were lying to everyone trying to sell their products to children and adults. They didn't seem to have any problems over saturating the media with their adds showing how good smoking was for everyone did they? Now you ask this question today, do you have stock in the tobacco companies? :shrug:
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Tobacco use didn't start or end with Philip Morris.

You can say the same thing about fast food advertising. Ever wonder why America is #1 in obesity? Did cigarettes do that?

Or how bout pharma advertising? America is practically the only country that allows advertising in regular media for their overpriced poisons, and the powers that be seem to want to keep people from buying cheaper equivalents across the border.
America also has some of the costliest, if not THE costliest, healthcare in the world, but does not rank anywhere near first place for life expectancy.

And the FDA and EPA are SO concerned with our health, that Corexit 9500 (banned in BP's own home country) can be sprayed liberally around the gulf, and the same agencies encourage the gulf fishing industry to get back out there and sell that tainted seafood!

Yep, that's our government looking out for us by selectively choosing a health scapegoat and hammering away at it.
 
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