Tobacco use is down from 42 percent of adults in 1964 to 21 percent of adults now, according to a new study by the Institute of Medicine, but the death toll is still disturbingly high. Tobacco-related illnesses kill an estimated 440,000 U.S. citizens every year. That’s 1,205 people a day.
The institute wants the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products and how much nicotine is in them to help smokers break their addictions. It also suggested raising taxes almost $2 a pack, requiring insurance plans to fund smoking-cessation programs, and banning smoking in most nonresidential, indoor locations.
As our editorial Tuesday noted, the study could also lend support to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ proposal to raise state tobacco taxes by 50 cents to help cover the state’s uninsured.
Considering the number of people who die every day, tobacco is a real weapon of mass destruction — and should be treated as such.
Posted by Andie Clum
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15 Comments
440,000 eh? That dwarfs the number of killed in Iraq.
Has anybody figured out why the Left wants to put people in jail for smoking cigs , but want to legalize smoking various dopes,Marijuana et al.
Is it the usual, Cigs are the Evil Big Corporate, Greed , Money, type leftist crap shoot…and Dope is the good “little man, small farmer, Organic nonsense..??
Tobacco smoke doesn’t cause cancer, junkscience.com tells me so. Why should I believe scientists when a corporate financed website tells me otherwise?
No, Republican, it’s more like how many hundreds of thousands die of the addictive drug delivered in tobacco cigarettes compared with how many potheads die in the same time frame. Tobacco staggeringly weighs in as more deadly.
Nobody is telling anybody that they cannot smoke in the confines of their own home and I would assume the same would apply to marijuana if legalized.
“Has anybody figured out why the Left wants to put people in jail for smoking cigs , but want to legalize smoking various dopes,Marijuana et al.
Is it the usual, Cigs are the Evil Big Corporate, Greed , Money, type leftist crap shoot…and Dope is the good “little man, small farmer, Organic nonsense..??
A pack of cigarettes should be at least $6 and smoking should be banned anywhere indoors at anytime. In addition outdoor drug addicts should be allowed to engage in their filthy habits within 100 feet of a door or entrance to a building so they don’t force the rest of us to have to run a gauntlet of smoke to get in or out of a building. While I agree that insurance should pay for treatement for the addicts, I also think that the addict should have to pay premiums at least 3 times what non addicts pay. And employers who do not wish to employ addicts should not have to do so.
So it’s a weapon of mass destruction. Ok! So raising taxes on it will be the right thing?
How about just ban it completely if it’s so dangerous. There will be a lot of support for it. Sure! Subsidized Tobacco farmers will scream and holler and the Tobacco companies, but if this is the killer and a public burden, then ban it completely.
Sure government will lose the tax revenue, but look at the health cost savings! It would more than outweigh the tax loss.
Ban it!
If Sebelius wants to raise the tax to cover the uninsured and the uninsured actually get covered with something meaningful instead of some hollow legislation that helps no one, then you can make a case for raising the tax. In essence, the legislation should not be a byzantine network of applications and providers to sift through, with pages and pages of fine print for people to interpret so as to make the wise choice.
It keeps coming up in discussion that employers should have the option to get rid of smokers on the payroll. This is one way to proceed, I suppose, but where I work, the smartest guys in the department can be found behind the building at smoke break time, doing some thinking. (No, I’m not a cigarette smoker.)
If employers measure personnel solely in terms of easily identified costs, then they fail to consider value added. Business is not that simple. For instance, you might have a situation in your company where a non-smoking employee, earnest and hard-working, though a bit naive, works, on a daily basis, with a tired old smoker who knows the ins and outs. You could conceive of a scenario where the smoker saves the company millions in liability prevention by catching the non-smoker’s mistakes over a period of time. You might say, “Fine. Then hire a non-smoker to replace the smoker who’s just as smart as the smoker.” Well, easier said than done. In certain businesses, experience and savvy and nuance are not that easily traded.
Or even going further TRT. You can say that smokers actually save health care dollars, medicaid, medicare, social security and etc. by dieing early.
The truth is that the Anti smokers Are LYING To You !They say the EPA found that smoke in a well ventilated bar causes cancer.The reality is the EPA never even LOOKED at such low levels of exposure, but looked instead at very HIGH levels over periods of 40 years straight and STILL failed normal scientific significance standards!They say studies show bans won’t hurt the bar/restaurant business.The reality is those studies gave those results by ignoring noncompliance, overall economic growth, and restaurant degradation to fast food outlets.
They say “tornado winds” are needed to ventilate non-smoking sections.The reality is even mild air movement in a well designed bar moves smoke quite effectively to exhaust vents.
They say “Smoking bans have reduced California’s cancer rate by 14% ”The reality is California’s total smoking bans began in 1998… having NO effect on cancer rates with a 20 year time lag. The REAL causes of the decrease are 1980s air pollution laws and a changing population base.
They say there’s “a strong societal consensus” for total bans.The reality is that such consensus only favors decently ventilated non-smoking areas: NOT total government mandated bans imposed on all.
They say non-smokers are being “poisoned” by smokers in bars.The reality is that NO normal elements of tobacco smoke in a decent bar even approach EPA “Permissible Exposure Limits” of safety.
In 1975 the US and UN were advised that the best way to eliminate smoking was by “fostering an atmosphere where it was perceived that smokers injure those around them, especially their family, infants, and young children”
THE LIE: Cigarette smoke and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or Second Hand Smoke (SHS) Causes cancer.
THE Truth: Simply stated there is no known cause for any type of cancer. With all the testing that has been done with every type of chemical, gas, inert matter, and substances that have been altered through exposure to heat or chemical reaction, nothing has been proven to cause cancer. NOTHING! In some instances specific substances, in massive quantities, have been administered to laboratory rats. In these cases many of the animals might have developed a cancer. These sorts of tests may be considered Junk Science in that they have no relationship to a real life scenario.The World Health Organization ran one of the most exhaustive tests on SHS ever done. After years of meticulous record keeping of all the data, their ultimate findings showed no measurable relationship of SHS to any form of cancer or other illness. The only measurable fact they did discover was that of all adult children who came from homes where both parents smoked had had a 22% better chance of NOT contracting lung cancer than did adult children who came from homes where both parents did not smoke. The W.H. O attempted to hid these facts from the public until several astute reporters forced them to make their facts public.
THE LIE: The desire for smoking bans is a grass roots movement.THE TRUTH: Smoking bans have almost exclusively been started by organizations such as The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, A.S.H., the Heart, Cancer, and Lung Organizations and major pharmaceutical corporations. Over one billion dollars, from the Master Tobacco Settlement has funded the activities of many of these organizations for the past 5 years. Promoting smoking bans is big business for these organizations, especially the drug companies who are reaping huge profits on their almost worthless smoking cessation products.When all sources of money are added together, nearly $1,500,000,000.00 have been squandered in bring about smoking bans in about 155 municipalities across the nation. The average money spent on each of these municipalities equates to about $9,675,000.00 per location. In simpler terms it will take Jerry Lewis’s Muscular Dystrophy Telethon 30 years to collect the same sum of money at the rate of $50,000,000.00 per Telethon. When a properly informed public is given the opportunity to vote on a smoking ban issue, they invariably will vote the ban down. This has already happened on numerous occasions.
THE LIE: Second Hand Smoke is a public health issue.THE TRUTH: It is impossible for SHS to be a public health issue for the simple reason there is NO proof that SHS has hurt anyone. In fact, according the W.H.O. (see above), SHS may have some beneficial effect on children. The smoke haters like to point out that the Health Departments have a right to control smoking issues for the same reason they have the right to check on health conditions in restaurants and bars.This is a specious argument primarily because true health issues in food service establishments relate primarily to microbes and organisms that have an absolute direct effect on heath and sanitation. It is the Health Departments’ sole responsibility to see to it that health standards are maintained. If individuals are concerned about SHS a simple notice stating that smoking is allowed is all that is needed for the public to make a decision about patronizing and establishment. This concept is called, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!
THE LIE: Smoking bans are good for business.THE TRUTH: Of all the nonsense put forth by the smoke haters this concept is nearly the most ridiculous. There was no basis in fact for this idea when originally stated. Now that the financial results of the bans are being felt in many different cities it is becoming painfully obvious that many businesses are being irreparably harmed. Many of the smoke haters who not only are experts on SHS would also have you believe they are experts in the field of accounting. They will site tax records and other data to prove the business of bars and restaurants are up since the bans were imposed. Their numbers however are egregiously manipulated and include figures from establishments that normally wouldn’t be part of such a survey.The fact of the matter is the anecdotal evidence is far more realistic. There is a hardly a restaurant or bar that hasn’t been adversely affected by these bans. Business has dropped off from between 20% and 50%. Many businesses have been forced to close. Jobs have been lost, a life time of work in building a business has been lost, and city tax revenues have been adversely affected.
THE LIE: Restaurants and bars are public businesses.THE TRUTH: All restaurants, bars, and any other businesses that have been set up by an individual or group of individuals are PRIVATE ENTERPRISES! There is no getting around this fact. It is carved in granite. Our Constitution mandates the rights of private property as one of the most important rights we have! The fact that anyone should think they have the right to abrogate the very tenets of our Constitution demonstrates a colossal arrogance that we can not afford to have in this country.When a small group of people attempt to force their own jaundiced views on the citizenry it is called an Oligarchy. Our elected officials are our SERVANTS! They are in office for only one purpose and that is to see to the needs of all the people Henry David Thoreau said in the 19th century, “the government that governs best, governs least”. He was right then—he is right today!
THE LIE: Technology does not workTHE TRUTH: Dr. James Repace, the self appointed expert on second hand smoke, once stated to the effect that a 300 mile per hour hurricane couldn’t clear out the danger of SHS in an enclosed space. In Atlanta, Georgia there is an organization that deals with some of the most dangerous infectious germs and bacteria in the World. Out of very obvious necessity, the filtration system they use must be 100% effective, 100% of the time. The system they use (which does contain several built in redundancies) is not out of “Buck Rogers” but one that is very similar to the type of commercial systems most restaurants or bars use.Several St. Louis Park food service establishments had their air tested by an independent organization. The results of these tests showed favorable results and the overall effectiveness of properly maintained filtration’s systems. If Atlanta, Georgia can have an organization that deals with Anthrax, Small Pox, Bubonic Plague and other organisms that could kill people by the 100’s of thousands with no fear of exposure, common sense dictates that similar filtration’s systems should work on the relatively benign particulates of SHS.
THE LIE: 3000 lives a year are lost due to SHS.THE TRUTH: Originally the number that was first generated by the E.P.A. was 53,000 deaths per year. They published this number before even running their “test”. The “test” is in fact not a test, but rather what is called a META survey. This survey took 31 different reports and compiled all the data to come up with a figure of only 3,000 deaths that were attributed other undefined causes. The first number E.P.A. published was a piece of hypothetical misinformation. The second number of 3,000 they put forth was a deliberate lie. A Federal Judge by the name of Osteen ruled the 3,000 deaths attributed to SHS by the E.P.A. was a deliberate lie foisted on an unsuspecting public. Judge Osteen determined the number of 3,000 deaths was not attributable to SHS and that the E.P.A. told this lie in the expectation to harm the legitimate business pursuits of the tobacco industry. Judge Osteen completely vacated the findings of the E.P.A. So that there is no misunderstanding as to this decision, it should be noted that another court partially overturned Judge’s Osteen decision for purely judicial reasons. THEY DID NOT, in any way, repudiate Judge Osteen’s basic premise concerning his comments about the E.P.A. or their motives.
THE LIE: Most people approve and support smoking bans.THE TRUTH: most people who do not smoke really don’t care one way or the other about the smoking issue. It is only a very small but well funded group of smoke haters who want to see these ban invoked. When these bans are ultimately passed and the true effect of them is fully realized, then people start to speak out against them. In New York a poll was taken to see how the people felt about the ban. 86% of those polled stated the ban went way too far. Canada, one of the most strident nations in attempting to enforce a smoking ban nationwide, is currently facing wide spread rebellion against their Draconian measures. The reports of businesses being financially ruined run rampant. Politicians who supported the bans are being voted out of office. Cigarettes, which are now literally worth their weight in sterling silver, are being stolen with increasing regularity and then sold on the black market. These very same actions will and indeed are occurring in the United States as well. If the bans were truly supported would such occurrences happen?
THE LIE: Smokers and smoking impose a heavy cost on society.THE TRUTH: Of all the lies told by the anti smoke haters this one has to be the most ludicrous. For example, if smoking kills people well before their time, the saving of Social Security and Medicare benefits would be significant. The extra medical costs to the “State” are more than exceeded by the outrageous taxes currently paid by smokers. Contrary to reports that smokers miss more work time than non-smokers is a completely unsubstantiated number. Indeed, there are so many variables as to why people miss work, it would be impossible to determine whether smoking was a significant cause or not.Furthermore, it has been a policy of long standing that insurance companies assess smokers a higher rate for insurance premiums. This has been done in spite of a lack of any definitive proof that smokers, because of smoking, contribute to higher medical costs. It is astounding that an otherwise healthy person who watches his weight, exercises, eats a healthy diet, and drinks only in moderation if at all, has to pay a higher insurance premium than an obese person who eats and drinks to excess and doesn’t know the meaning of the word exercise, but does not smoke.
THE LIE: Smoking statistics do not lie.THE TRUTH: In this World there are lies, and statistics. Never has an argument been won based on statistic alone. They can serve only as a point of departure. In a free and open society people must be allowed to operate as free agents without the fetters of the doomsayers. Life is a risk, but it is that risk which gives it zest. When we allow ourselves to sacrifice our freedoms for the sake of safety, we deserve neither safety nor freedom. Accepting statistics at face value will lead us down that garden path. There are many statistics that can be cited that make the danger of smoking seem mild by comparison.For example, the use of cell phones, hair dryers, and electric blankets have higher risks that SHS. About half of the smoking population has quit over the past 30 years, yet there has been no comparable increase in life expectancy. The smoke haters will quickly tell you this is because of the effects of second hand smoke. The fallacy of their argument is that if there has been smoking there has also been second hand smoke. In spite of the decline of smoking, childhood illnesses such as asthma, ear infections and A.D.D are rapidly increasing. Cigarettes and/or smoke have about 4,000 identifiable chemicals. Your daily diet has about 10,000 such chemicals. Arsenic which is considered a leading cause of lung cancer is found in significantly larger quantities in a glass of water than in a cigarette.
Here’s a few facts.Due to constant repetition, a lot of what people accept as fact the numbers, statistics and effects of smoking and secondary smoke is so twisted that it’s little more than an outright lie.
The 400,000 “Deaths Due to Smoking” is just a number derived from a computer model called SAMMEC specifically designed to produce such a number. If the input data or formulas had less Anti smoking bias, and cofounders were corrected for, that number would be far lower. If SAMMEC focused on eating related deaths it would give a figure as high as 900,000 “Deaths Due to Eating!”
Smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, but 3,950 of them are measurable only in nanograms and picograms. Know how big a picogram is? A single grain of salt weighs 100 MILLION picograms. A lot of those smoke “chemicals” are present as only a few SINGLE picograms or less. Our diet subjected to the same level of analysis yields TEN thousand chemicals!Secondhand smoke IS worse than firsthand smoke, but only if you snort it through a straw right from the burning end of a cigarette. A nonsmoker in a decently ventilated area with smokers will usually inhale far less than 1/100th or even 1/1000th of a cigarette per hour. The Class A carcinogen alcohol as evaporated vapor from drinks is over 500 times as concentrated in an average bar as Class A smoke carcinogens.
I read that study by the EPA and later CDC, it’s true there is no evidence about second hand smoke causing irrevocable harm.
They did find it affected the ill or those with conditions like asthma.
I don’t know the numbers, but the conclusion was that second hand smoke only stinks up the joint, puts a coat of tar on objects, but causes little else.
I was going to read how it affects employees, but never got around to that report.
I lost BOTH of my parents to cigarette smoking. They BOTH had COPD. (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
COPD is a horrible disease. It did not just take their lives, it stole the quality of their lives the last several years they lived.
Neither could walk across a room without getting winded. Both required oxygen and multiple medications.
Both needed a wheelchair to leave their home due to being winded.
The weather (hot/cold/humid) played daily havoc with their breathing ability.
Smokers who want the right to smoke, don’t let me stop you but PLEASE do not make me breathe your second-hand smoke ANYWHERE in public – inside or outside!
I don’t fault my parents for starting to smoke or having so much trouble stopping. When they started, it was the cool thing to do and the dangers weren’t confirmed. As for attempting to stop, nicotine is more addictive than heroin.
I can’t understand why anyone under the age of 40 today starts smoking!
The message from my mom as she lay dying from her umpteenth and final hospitalization was she wished she had never started smoking.
Their suffering, illness, multiple hospitalizations, painful procedures, medications, oxygen tanks, the oxygen line, my loss of my parents due to smoking was all preventable – if they had simply never started smoking.
“Has anybody figured out why the Left wants to put people in jail for smoking cigs , but want to legalize smoking various dopes,Marijuana et al.”
Mrbill – I have NEVER met anyone on the left who wants to jail people for smoking cigs. That is simply a lie and you know it.
I favor similar regulations concerning smoking ALL drugs – basically keep it away from me. As far as I am concerned you can smoke your dope (cigarettes) all you want.
We would be remiss if we did not point out that the illustrious Surgeon General whom a few months ago got on TV and spouted off that we were all going to die if you knew or walked by someone smoking, and prompty got the WE board panties in a wad.
Quietly resigned about a month later after people actually read the report and found it actully said NOTHING of the sort and was full of shit. Didnt see that in the paper or on TV though did you…after it was spouted all over here to CNN.
So he suddenly needed the proverbial “Time with family” which he now has.
And yes, the stuff in the very long post above is correct about the EPA and the SHS. It was thrown out of court after the court found the EPA was fudging their own standard data sets to get the result they wanted.
Of course writing the report BEFORE they get the results…may have been a clue.
Joe, smokers may die younger, but Medicaid and Medicare pay billons in treatment for them before they die.I think raising the taxes to pay for treatment of COPD and lung cancer is a good idea and so is the idea that tobacco companies must reduce the amount of tar and nicotine in their cigarettes.I heard an interesting report on NPR the other day. They say that the ads put out by Phillip Morris to prevent teen smoking by encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the danger of cigarettes may actually increase a kid’s chance of picking up the habit…because it’s normal for teenagers to want to rebel against mom and dad, they may take it up the more parents try to discourage it.The “Truth” ads that show corporations who scheme against kids to get them to smoke are more effective. Makes sense.