Are we smokers causing our own extinction?

[doublebassmusician]

I was reading another post in here a few pages back where some guy got a letter back from his senator about tobacco taxes. He didn't actually answer it, just gave a standard reply. In that letter he said...
"Today, five million of today's children will die a premature death due to smoking."

Assuming we're talking about second hand smoke here, when you do the math, at the end of one year, 1.825 billion children would be dead.
Every website I looked at said the current U.S. population is around 306 million. And the world population is around 6-7 billion. Where are all the dead children?
I doubt that he meant "today and only today".


Is it just me, or do the anti-smokers (whoever they are) keep on revising their statistics to make them more shocking? I seem to remember hearing years ago that each year only a hundred thousand people die from second hand smoke.
Perhaps people should start smoking if they don't want to die of second hand smoker. Because me and everyone else hear should have died long ago.

[Firerat]

Originally Posted by doublebassmusician

Is it just me, or do the anti-smokers (whoever they are) keep on revising their statistics to make them more shocking?

Wow imagine that. A lobbyist with an agenda twisting facts to get people to look their way.

It's the same BS they pull with statistics involvong firearms. Dumb statements like "If you own a gun, you are 100 times more likely to be accidentally shot." No kidding.

It's amazing, with the right forum, and the right amount of money, what people get away with putting out there.

[longburn]

It's not what is right but what is spoken most correctly. For instance,seat belts.They say they save lives....well ok,great....then why don't school busses have them? Maybe so the gov can collect revenue on one end and save money on school busses on the other?

The outlawed alcohol once due to lobbiests (of a sort) declared it immoral and dangerous then when they realized they were losing money all of a sudden it seemed pretty moral again

[golfermd]

There are liars, damned liars, and statisticians... Nice thing about politics, you can use statistics to make both sides of the argument look right, and both of them be wrong. And another saying, "How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips are moving..." Substitute "her" as appropriate.

[slyder]

well if they succeed and get rid of tabacco products the government is gonna be hurtin for money!! All this tax is doing is making people quit. I know of 6 people that have quit this week where I work! These are long long time smokers too. These politicians are only hurtin themselves. This whole second hand smoke thing is a load of crap too. In IA you cant even smoke at OUTDOOR events!! Umm......ur outside and still cant smoke because somebody might get cancer and die. Its just dumb. We are living longer than we ever have and they just keep inventing things that might possibly keep you from living to see 106. Nebraska smoking ban goes into effect in June i think. Its just gonna suck for alot of businesses. There is only one bar in town that has built an indoor smoking area type thing so they will get alot of the business in the winter. I forgot my point.

[bluti]

Thank God we have the CHiP tax now. Meant to help children's health needs. SMOKE A CIGAR: SAVE A CHILD.

[SmokeyJoe]

You do a good job of illustrating the hysterical and inflated numbers thrown out to demonize smokers as baby-killers. In the current political climate, it is open season on tobacco and tobacco enthusiasts.

[strider72]

Too bad it ain't liberal dowsing season. "Have you dowsed your liberal today?" "Throw some holy water on their lying asses" That or baptize them, just be sure not to hold them under too long.

[Frinkiac7]

As you may be aware, there is a group of people called the "anti-tobacco lobby" that wants to restrict, or even take away your adult right to enjoy tobacco. Their evil tentacles are spreading throughout society, and in some states and countries they have successfully banned smoking in all bars and taverns, despite the wishes of the adults that own and frequent these establishments.

The self-righteous shit-heads in the anti-tobacco lobby do not think you are smart enough to make your own decisions regarding your own health. Their main strategy is to sue the tobacco companies on behalf of people that are too stupid to realize that cigarettes are bad for them (more on that later), in an attempt to put the companies out of business, thus eliminating the livelihood that many hard-working Americans depend on. The best way to oppose the anti-tobacco lobby is by using tobacco, and using it proudly.

Yeah, pretty much.

[Quasimoto]

Originally Posted by longburn

The outlawed alcohol once due to lobbiests (of a sort) declared it immoral and dangerous then when they realized they were losing money all of a sudden it seemed pretty moral again

That is probably the more ignorant summary of the american phrobition i've seen. I don't mean to insult you but there were tons of reasons for the prohibtion and the ending of the prohibtion.

And on topic, the science behind such claims are dubious at best and is an insult to real toxicology.

[doublebassmusician]

Where can one find a history of reports, claims, statistics on smoking? I'd like to see how they've changed over the years.

[Delsana]

While statistics have always been "exaggerated" they still are severe.