🚀 go-pugleaf

Jon Krueger (jpk@firefly.incog.com) wrote:
: > How did Glantz arrive at his figure of 50,000 NON-smokers killed by ETS
: > caused heart attacks, etc.?

: I'll be happy to provide the info, as is Stan, as have other
: scientists and medical professionals.  It's publicly available
: information.  (BTW, the "etc." is mostly lung cancer.)

: Before I do, please confirm: you assert that this figure is
: not supported by any scientific studies.  Not one.  Correct?

: >> In fact, there's no shortage of data measuring the impact of smoking
: >> on our hearts, lungs, and pocketbooks.  

: > On yours, a nonsmoker?

: Sure.  On all of ours.  Smoking takes its toll of disease, death, and
: $billions of medical costs on both active and passive smokers, on
: taxpayers and insurance premiums, on health care systems and
: individuals.  We all pay.  Some pay with their money, some with their
: health, and some with their lives.  Some get to pay with all three.
: Meanwhile the tobacco industry makes hundreds of billions of dollars.

An interesting question I've had for a while for the 'holier-than-thou' 
non-smokers: If these points are true(and quite frankly, I knew in the 
1960's the dangers of smoking,and could extrapolate by common sense(as a 
pre-teen) the dangers of 2cd hand smoke) 1)Smoking costs society through 
lost productivity and illness;2)Smoking is extremely addictive;3)Smokers 
are highly susceptable to bronchial and other illness of that type, how 
can my insurance company afford to NOT cover the patch or other methods 
to help me quit my addiction(Blue Cross/Blue Shield-the largest ins. org. 
in the country)? Why can I get covered treatment for 
alcoholism(which is not curable) and not nicotine addiction? And is it 
not hippocritical for the non-smoker to scream at me for ruining my 
health, yet force me to either endure the beginnings of withdrawl(and it 
is not pleasant) or go outdoors in rain or snow for my fix? I am, and 
always have been a polite smoker-if asked nicely to move,or temporarily 
refrain from lighting up,I will. I only throw butts on the ground if I am 
entering a no smoking building that hasn't the sense or courtesy to set 
an ashtray by the entrance, and then only if no trash can is convenient. 
I live in a non-smoking household-my S.O. has both allergies and 
athsma.However,I'm given the courtesy of a warning when her smoke 
sensitivity is high, and a lot of leeway outdoors or even on occasion she 
will sit in a smoking section of a restaurant so I can smoke after my 
meal.This does more to keep my cigarette consumption down than all the 
rantings and lectures of the politically correct,bran eating gram 
counters whose crusade for this decade is to take all man's vices and 
pleasures and make them into a source of guilt. All I,and most of the 20% 
of the population who still smoke,really ask is to be granted a social 
status a bit higher than lepers in 1AD, the admission by the crusaders 
that addictions ARE not easy to get over, the same access to 
treatment/medical help to kick our habits that is granted to addicts of 
illegal drugs and alcohol, and until we can quit, SOMEWHERE sheltered 
from the wind and rain (and if its not too much to ask, warm in the 
winter) so we can steal a quick puff-isolate us from the rest of the 
world if you want,we won't care. Most of us would love to quit. Most of 
us have tried. Harping and lecturing only makes me want to light up and 
blow my smoke your way. Its counterproductive and only makes tobacco all 
the more attractive to teen- age rebels. Can we call a compromise on 
smoking-leave us alone for a few years before your next assault,please.
 

: More information is available at http://www.njc.org/MFhtml/PSM_MF.html
: and http://www.cancer.org/costs.html.  Or call your local American Lung
: Assocation, American Cancer Society, or American Heart Assocation.
: Health organizations have provided information on this for years.
: It's not a mystery.

: > All you have to do is accuse anyone who disagrees of taking tobacco money.

: Would that it were so easy.  In reality, those who take tobacco
: money have a habit of concealing the fact, for some reason.
: Sometimes it's not clear for years where the money came from,
: where it went, and what it bought.

: But the truth usually comes out eventually.  The Brown and Williamson
: archives, summarized in the July 19th JAMA, are available at
: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/index.html.  The reading on
: tobacco industry money is perhaps the most interesting.  As Deep
: Throat used to remind us, "follow the money".

: -- Jon