The risks of smoking are greatly exaggerated

TheRecord.com ^ | 20 November 2002 | ERIC BOYD

[SheLion]

Too much is made of the 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke. We're told these chemicals are so harmful that they are responsible for the deaths of millions worldwide. Untold in this "war on tobacco" is that each of the plants we consume consists of an equally daunting thousands of chemicals many of which are recognized poisons or suspected cancer-causing agents.

Cayenne peppers, carrots and strawberries each contain six suspected carcinogens; onions, grapefruit and tomato each contain five -- some the same as the seven suspected carcinogens found in tobacco.

High-heat cooking creates yet more dietary carcinogens from otherwise harmless chemical constituents.

Sure, these plant chemicals are measured in infinitesimal amounts. An independent study calculated 222,000 smoking cigarettes would be needed to reach unacceptable levels of benzo(a)pyrene. One million smoking cigarettes would be needed to produce unacceptable levels of toluene. To reach these estimated danger levels, the cigarettes must be smoked simultaneously and completely in a sealed 20-square-foot room with a nine-foot ceiling.

Many other chemicals in tobacco smoke can also be found in normal diets. Smoking 3,000 packages of cigarettes would supply the same amount of arsenic as a nutritious 200 gram serving of sole.

Half a bottle of now healthy wine can supply 32 times the amount of lead as one pack of cigarettes. The same amount of cadmium obtained from smoking eight packs of cigarettes can be enjoyed in half a pound of crab.

That's one problem with the anti-smoking crusade. The risks of smoking are greatly exaggerated. So are the costs.

An in-depth analysis of 400,000 U.S. smoking-related deaths by National Institute of Health mathematician Rosalind Marimont and senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute Robert Levy identified a disturbing number of flaws in the methodology used to estimate these deaths. Incorrectly classifying some diseases as smoking-related and choosing the wrong standard of comparison each overstated deaths by more than 65 per cent.

Failure to control for confounding variables such as diet and exercise turned estimates more into a computerized shell game than reliable estimates of deaths.

Marimont and Levy also found no adjustments were made to the costs of smoking resulting from the benefits of smoking -- reduced Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, less obesity, depression and breast cancer.

If it were possible to estimate 45,000 smoking-related Canadian deaths as some health activists imagine -- and Marimont, Levy and other respected researchers think it is not -- then applying an identical methodology to other lifestyle choices would yield 57,000 Canadian deaths due to lack of exercise and 73,000 Canadian deaths blamed on poor diets.

If both the chemical constituents of tobacco smoke and the numbers of smoking-related deaths are overstated -- and clearly they are -- how can we trust the claim that tobacco smoke is harmful to non-smokers?

The 1993 bellwether study by the Environmental Protection Agency that selectively combined the results of a number of previous studies and found a small increase in lung cancer risk in those exposed to environmental tobacco smoke has been roundly criticized as severely flawed by fellow researchers and ultimately found invalid in a court of law.

In 1998, the World Health Organization reported a small, but not statistically significant, increase in the risk of lung cancer in non-smoking women married to smokers.

Despite these invalidating deficiencies, the Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization both concluded tobacco smoke causes lung cancer in non-smokers.

One wonders whether the same conclusions would have been announced if scientific fraud were a criminal offence.

When confronted with the scientific uncertainty, the inconsistency of results and the incredible misrepresentation of present-day knowledge, those seeking to abolish tobacco invoke a radical interpretation of the Precautionary Principle: "Where potential adverse effects are not fully understood, the activity should not proceed."

This unreasonable exploitation of the ever-present risks of living infiltrates our schools to indoctrinate trusting and eager minds with the irrational fears of today. Instead of opening minds to the wondrous complexities of living, it opens the door to peer ridicule and intolerance while cultivating the trendy cynics of tomorrow.

If we continue down this dangerous path of control and prohibition based on an unreliable or remote chance of harm, how many personal freedoms will remain seven generations from now?

Eric Boyd of Waterloo has management experience across a wide range of sectors.

[VRWC_minion]

I pay about 8 CENTS per cigarette, since I roll my own.

Based on the recent press, don't expect this tobacco to continue to go taxed as low as it has been.

[VRWC_minion]

You can wash off the smell of smoke.

Not really. Your fingers still stink even after washing.

[Dr. Luv]

"Don't have to tell me, I smoked for 25 years, quit 10 years ago and was told this morning I have lung cancer and there is little that can be done. I don't blame the companies, I blame myself for being so arogant and "knew better" than what everyone and my own body was telling me."

I am terribly sorry to hear this news - I have some small inkling of what you are going through - don't give up, don't blame yourself and most importantly, be positive (and ALWAYS get a second opinion)

I would advise you against participating in threads like this one - delusional people who spout nonsense like "The risks of smoking are greatly exaggerated" are not interested in discourse...

[Bogey]

My mother in law developed lung cancer. She ran 2 miles a day well into her 60's.Never smoked.
Lost a friend to lung cancer at 44. Thought she was cancer free after removing her ovaries. Came back in her lungs 4 years later. She died 3 weeks after diagnosis. Didn't smoke.
If you are a doctor, I wouldn't go to you.
You aren't honest.

[VRWC_minion]

Dishonest professionals don't say "...(and ALWAYS get a second opinion)".

[verity]

Are you a smoker?

[BornOnTheFourth]

Thanks. I'm sorry for yours, too. It is so difficult to loose someone you love. If it weren't for smoking, my Dad would still be here and that is what is maddening. That said, he chose to smoke and I have to live with that decision, or more to the point, live without him.

[Dr. Luv]

"If you are a doctor, I wouldn't go to you. You aren't honest."

Precisely how have you determined that I am not honest?

[Madame Dufarge]

Yes.

[Ditter]

Bogey for every non smoking relative that you name, I & every non smoker or former smoker can name 10 of our relatives who were smokers & were killed by it. My mother-in-law smoked unfiltered camels for 45 years & developed oat seed (or oat cell) carcinoma & was dead in 3 months. I'm sure you don't want to hear about the others, but I can go on & on.

[ggekko]

The important issue that the article highlights is the politically motivated use of junk science. Ralph Nader has established a series of innocuous sounding "consumer interest" lobbying entitities (e.g.: The Center for Science in the Public Interest ) that often commission "scientific" studies designed to butress some left-wing cuase or another.

This "research" is then used by the Plaintiff's bar to sue the pants off of effected industries. After successfully shaking down an industry with the threat of lawsuits, the trail attorneys kick back some of the money to Nader's organizations.

[Madame Dufarge]

I & every non smoker or former smoker can name 10 of our relatives who were smokers & were killed by it.

When you're "embellishing" to make your case, you should at least make it plausible.

[Ditter]

Sorry Madame I don't lie.

[Madame Dufarge]

Sorry Madame I don't lie.

Could you give us an accounting of the 10 relatives (just relationships, not names) who died?

Just yours, not the myriad of other former and non-smokers' whose relatives you cited.

Was "smoking" cited as the cause of death on their death certificates, each and every one (or even one)?

[blackdog]

I hold Nader to two beginning points in his nonsensical existence. The first is the ending of the production of the Corvair. The second is the ending of the VW Bug in the United States. Funny how all the nutty leftists run out and buy the new version, paying $25,000 for a car that in it's purest form could be made today for about $5,000. Both those vehicles were genius. Complete engine teardown and rebuild in a weekend in your driveway. Cheap parts. Simple design. Killed by Ralph Nader.

His early shakedown victories over Detroit fueled an insatiable desire to build an extortion empire. Jesse Jackson is not the pioneer in that racket.

[Great Dane]

I don't know what 'shs' is. As far as the 'benefits' of smoking are concerned... I've been in Europe several times this year and, one thing you can't miss is how many people smoke there. The second thing that's hard to miss is how much fatter the Americans are. I don't know if it's smoking that's keeping the Euros thin or it's the lack of it or maybe that PLUS television that makes our compatriots fat but... it's only an observation. I would suspect that lots of people who don't die of lung cancer in the U.S. because they no longer smoke may be heading to an early grave courtesy of various obesity-related diseases.

Shs= second hand smoke.

You are right about Europe, they smoke more, they eat rich food, they are not obese, and in general they have a longer life span. I don't think smoking is keeping them from obesity, rather it is a more active life style, and that wasn't something they had to work on....... it's their culture.

[VRWC_minion]

Gary Bain

Update 9/3/00
Since I last sent the below message, I have been approved for a Lung Transplant.  I also am now on full time oxygen where I have to have tubing around my ears and placed in my nose from an oxygen tank so I can breathe in more oxygen than what is in the normal air because my lungs do not work well enough.  When I go outside, I have to wear or carry a tank that has oxygen in it so I can breathe better when I walk.  I also now have to sleep with what they call  a CPAP.  It is like a hat that goes over your head and then hoses blow air into my nose so I can breathe better while I sleep.  This is not me, but it looks like this;

My name is Gary Bain, I am 58 and a grandfather to a 12 year old boy, a 12 year old girl, an 11 year old girl, 2- 7 year old girls, a 6 year old girl, a 5 year old girl, a 4 year old boy, and a brand new 4 week old little boy. They all call me Paw Paw, except for the little guy and he just grins.
I started smoking when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I kept right on smoking and smoking until it got where I was having a hard time breathing. I went to the doctor and he told me that I had to quit smoking because I had Emphysema. Emphysema is mostly caused by smoking after a long time and you don't know you have it until it is too late. I could still breathe pretty good but couldn't walk as far as I used to but kept on smoking anyway because I did not believe the doctor. I still didn't quit until my 58th birthday which was just last February 28th. I can breathe better , as a matter of fact, if you will follow the instructions I have typed out below, you can tell how I can breathe now.
Sit down somewhere and relax a little and when you feel comfortable, take your right or left hand and with your thumb and forefinger, hold your nose shut. While holding your nose shut, cover your mouth tightly with the rest of your hand so you can just barely breathe through your fingers.  Now,  walk for about 40 steps and turn around and come back while still breathing through your hand.  
Now, do you see how hard it is to breathe? Especially when you try to walk around? That is what Emphysema is and that is what smoking can do to you. Not for awhile, but when you are older and it is too late to do anything about it. Please don't even think about smoking.
If you have questions, you can email me at 1efforts@emphysema.net

[VRWC_minion]

Marlene

Hi, my name is Marlene.
I am 49 and have 17-year old twin daughters.  I started smoking when I was 18 years old.  And, right away, was a 2 to 3 pack-a-day smoker.  In the last 31 years, I have quit smoking only once, and that was when I had my wisdom teeth chipped out, one week at a time.  So, for 4 weeks I could not smoke.  But, because a person that I was near to smoked, I started up again.

Some of you may say, "I'm young, I can smoke for a few years, and then quit." But, you can't, really.  If your parents smoked, and a lot of parents have smoked around their children, then you have been breathing second-hand smoke for 12 or 15 years already.  And, you may be showing early signs -- do you start coughing when you run, roller blade, play basketball, baseball, tennis, or do some other sport?  Do you have a lot of phlegm that you cough up? Do you get colds or the flu often?  How about allergies -- do you sniffle, sneeze, do your eyes get goopy or red?  If you do, then you are probably showing early signs of Emphysema already.

Is smoking addictive?  You just bet it is.  I have tried to stop smoking so many times that I can't count.  I have tried using the nicotine gum, the patch, the aerosol nasal spray, hypnosis, stop smoking classes, support groups, and everything under the sun.  Stopping smoking is worse than dieting, stopping the use of alcohol or biting you nails, and, from what I've read, worse than stopping a drug addiction.  But, nicotine is a drug.  The MOST addictive drug of all.

When you first stop smoking, all you can think about is -- I want a cigarette..... over, and over, and over, and over .....  You put your arms around yourself, and hug yourself tight, tears roll down your face, your hands tremble, you can't breath (ha, you can't breath anyway when you have Emphysema or chronic bronchitis--but it gets worse), you start shaking.  And you bite
your tongue -- to keep from begging someone to buy you just one more pack, or get you just one more cigarette.

And, after many, many, tries, and you finally succeed, you can never just have one cigarette!!!  That just one cigarette will start the vicious cycle all over again.

So, the best course of action, is to "JUST SAY NO!" when friends hold out a cigarette for you to try.  In fact, that first cigarette makes you feel pretty sick -- nauseous, light headed.  But, if you get past that feeling, then you are hooked.!  And, it's been proven that you're hooked almost for life.

Now, there is just one more thing I want to tell you.  And that's what my life is like now.  I have had to quit work, because I can't breath.  And because I can't breath I am taking 33 pills and 5 inhalers a day.  While these medicines help me, they don't cure me.  THERE IS NO CURE FOR EMPHYSEMA!!!  And another side-effect of these medicines and of not having enough air to breath is that my memory is gone.  When my teen-age girls tell me something, I don't remember it the next day.  Also, I cannot go to their school performances, award ceremonies, nor can I go clothes shopping with them, nor shopping with them for groceries.  Instead of me helping them, they have to help me -- get me something to drink, water, snacks.  They have to do the cleaning, dish and clothes washing, help with the cooking.  OK, I can hear you.  You have chores, too.  But, you are not the primary person -- you are helping your parent.

I hope this has helped to make you more aware.  Having Emphysema is NO picnic.  Thanks, for reading/listening.
hmsboston@aol.com

[Great Dane]

Okay, we'll concede that fact on one condition. Break those figures down in health cost per year of life attained and see how smokers and non-smokers compare....

LOL, You might wish you never asked that, our doctor nearly filed us in the basement, because he hadn't seen us for 7 years, we know a lot of smokers who seldom sees a doctor.

[engrpat]

Thank you for your kind words and no I have not nor will I give up....I have a great sense of humor that keeps me going. I have had some rough spots in my life and over came them and will do the same here.
I just can't believe the people who refuse to believe that smoking is anything but a killer. You don't know you have a problem until something happens and a pulminary function test is done or an x-ray. My breathing sucks big time (35% of expected) but you couldn't tell it by watching me, I (like so many others) compensate for the lack of breath. You can't draw in smoke and not feel what it is doing but it is easy to rationalize, "hey I am going to die anyway, might as well go happy"...happy hell, there is no happy not having enough wind to walk more than a few feet, be forced to have others do for you what you once did or have your family all but cry everytime they think of what you are going through....no, there is NO HAPPY there!