But it's been demonstrated that a persistent ad campaign directed at teenagers is effective in lowering teen smoking rates. Few people start smoking after they reach adulthood. So it's not surprising that a high priority for the tobacco companies is to shut down these public ad campaigns, which tobacco companies are sometimes able to do using their often substantial influence on state legislatures.
According to the New York Times this morning, Surgeon General Dr. Carmona said that smokers typically lose 12 to 13 years of their life. By comparison, a recent study indicated that an average 20 year old homosexual male will lose 8 to 20 years of his life due to his sexual practices.
But the articles do not explain,nor does the SG, where that number comes from. For decades the figure has been set at about 7 years.
IMO, the SG deserves to lose his job over that so-called report. No, not because I am a smoker, but because of blatant lies in it. It states smoking causes cervical cancer....wrong. Even non-physicians know that 98-99% of cervical cancer cases are caused by a virus or STD. Smoking is neither.