Smoking 3rd Most Risky Factor Behind Deaths In Thailand, After Unsafe Sex And Drinking

[ESB7]

Have these people never been on a Thai road?

And how many of the accidents are caused by drinking..............so drink related road deaths would be included in the equation

[bedouin1990]

Products like Nicorette gum and patches work far better than Nortryptiline, and have no significant side effects. They merely add pure nicotine to the body, which is the addictive chemical in tobacco. This way the pangs of withdrawal are lessened as one gradually reduces the amount used each day. I am new here, and I do not know if Nicorette is available in Thailand, but it is not all that expensive in the US. It is available in generic forms. The product was the only thing I ever tried that helped me quit cigs. I am NOT preaching here-just because I gave up the habit does not mean anything about how others behave. In my own life I have climbed Fool's Hill more than most, so I do not judge others.

BTW-I am a physician.

[Gers1873]

Well, there is humor here for sure. But I for one give an E for effort. Look how many years the so-called developed countries have been trying to reduce smoking. I am from the USA and they spend billions of dollars to sell smoking products and billions more on health issues because of smoking. It is definitly a huge business.

There is also the fact of political correctness. This means that it is ok for governments to state that smoking is bad for you, but they can't say that obesity is much much worse. In Australia the obesity rate has sky rocketed, so has the total medical expenditure wasted to provide medical to these special needs patients. However, because it is deemed politically incorrect to comment on a persons weight, nothing can be said about it.

obesity, now there is a good subject. in many places people are getting fatter, more are obese but alarmingly they seem to be living longer as well. amazingly the concept of normal ranges and distribution curves does not seem to apply to the definition of obese. could it have been wrong in the first place?

The obesity issue in Asia, especially amongst the young, is huge (sic). This is noticeable in Thailand, Malaysia, China, & Vietnam to name a few. Just look around - particularly around city areas of Thailand and you will observe an increasing number of obese children on their way to a life of diabetes or other weight related issues.

This increase in the number of 'fat kids' parallels the increase in the number of 'junk food' outlets (McSh1t, KFC, Pizza..... and so on). If the government wants to get serious on health issues ban these places especially around schools. Junk food = fat kids = increased health costs and premature deaths.

[khaowong1]

Sounds like the preamble to a tax duty increase, to 'save us from ourselves'. Same old BS in every country in the world.

Also they don't mention the tax revenue when talking about expenses. OK so they allegedly spend 51.5 bn on 'smoking related illnesses' (impossible to define but there you go).

Judging by global prices, the tax take per pack of cigarettes must be somewhere between 30-40 baht.

11 mn smokers, lets assume average consumption of 1 pack per day.....

11,000,000 x 30 baht (erring on caution) x 365 days = 120,450,000,000 (120 bn).

So if we all gave up tomorrow the government would lose 69 Bn per annum net revenue ($2.3 bn), the classic double edged sword faced by governments worldwide.

Someone calculated a few years ago if everyone in the UK stopped smoking the health service would collapse, as the average smoker pays 3-4 times in tax on their cigarettes than what it costs to treat them. Yet they are still villified as a burden on the National Health Service - go figure.

Same in the U.S. And do you think they keep all that cigerette tax seperate to pay for health costs? oh no my friends, congress robs that piggy bank whenever they feel the urge to put a new 13 mile highway that starts nowhere and ends nowhere just to say they are helping keep the highways in tip top shape. of course that new 13 mile highway just happens to run by some congressmans home out in the country.

[WyattEarp]

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

The moral brigade again!

Of course they never mention that the anti-smoking laws are never enforced. Big signs all over stating 2,000 THB fines and people (including policemen, military officers and monks)smoking in front of those signs. What about the people who don't smoke, but are forced to breathe in second hand smoke in restaurants and other public facilities? If people want to continue smoking tobacco and don't mind committing suicide on the installment plan, no one should stop them. It is natural selection in progress. However, their death wish should not be forced upon the rest of the population, including innocent children who are the most vulnerable.

For smokers, there appears to be "...the FALSE notion that..."my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." - Isaac Asimov

+1

[ROMANOBA]

i agree.Unsafe sex could ' kill' maybe 10 people a year ( and I think I overestimate). From unsafe sex you can get a STD, of all STD only ONE can kill you on the long run, and this is HIV.

Today the new antiviral medicines allow people to cope with this sickness, so it's quite unlikely you will die of HIV - the quality of life will be less, this for sure, but that's all.

Furthermore, statistically if you have unprotected sex ONCE with a HIV infected man or woman, the chance of getting infected is about 1 percent.

If you smoke the chance of getting a smoke-related sickness which will kill you is much higher than 1 percent.

AND your sex life will be killed on the long run, because of the clotting of veins and arteries.

So, eventually: smoke will kill your sex life and probably kill you, whereas unprotected sex will not kill you and will give you a lot of joy and pleasure, and all you will risk is to catch a STD which will be cured within a couple of days with an antibiotic.

So, this article is ridiculous indeed...

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

[newermonkey]

Wow I am totaly shocked, I thought smoking was good for you. and I mistakenly thought OLD AGE was the #ONE killer

[SICHONSTEVE]

Have these people never been on a Thai road?

I agree that Thai roads are, lets say, not the safest place to be compared to the roads in other countries on account of the fact that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of laws and rules here in Thailand (not those that are strictly enforced or adhered to, anyway).

However, if you were to visit hospitals or study the general health of those smokers (coughing and spluttering their way through life) then you would see that deaths and injuries from road accidents would pale into insignificance compared to the number of deaths and illnesses caused by smoking. There's secondary smoking issues as well don't forget!!! Fortunately, this has improved a great deal as smoking in public places (and areas) is largely banned throughout the civilised world now.

Cigarette manufacturers are not the only ones losing out because of these bans in public spaces as washing detergent and shampoo manufacturers sales must have dropped also because it is unneccesary to wash your hair and clothes after every night out at the pub. You could say "eureka that you don't wreaka" now after a nights enjoyment chatting to your mates and downing a few pints (also accumatively more endangering to your life than driving in Thailand) - unless you do BOTH one after the other that is, whereby the danger is multiplied several times!!!

You have probably guessed that I am, and always have been a NON-smoker due to the risk that it poses to my health and life whereas getting into a car in Thailand doesn't cause me an anxiety attack relating to concerns of whether I'm going to get back home in one piece after a long (or even relatively short) journey - that's the difference!!

pale into insignificance? do we have data here? what is a smoking related illness? if a person who has never smoked or been close to a smoke environment develops lung cancer is that smoking related?

You don't need raw data, it is obvious and a well known fact that this is the case the whole world over. Just look at what percentage of the National health budget is afforded to lung cancer and smoking related diseases (don't forget - smoking damages the heart causing heart attacks, causes strokes, and puts other vital organs also such as the liver and kidneys under unneccesary stress and duress, as cigarrettes are essentially nothing more than little sticks of toxins that you set fire to and breath in the poisonous chemicals that are emmitted) - now put this figure besides that of treating road accidents and compare, and you will see that "it DOES pale into insignificance"!!!

I assume that all you smokers out there are aware of the dangers and social consequences of smoking on your health so it puzzles me in the extreme as to why you do it. Not only is it so obviously BAD for your body but it costs a small fortune to satisfy your cravings in order to poison your own (and others) bodies. You are in effect indirectly supplementing our social taxes through the heavy taxation of tobacco products that you must pay every time you purchase one of those boxes of death - at the expense to your own health!!! Very noble and admirable of you to do this but does it make sense for you to do this??? A great proportion of this tax revenue does go towards the treatments of causaural diseases of tobacco smoking as well - in the form of the health funding of hospitals to cope with your own admission's of course so you are indirectly paying for your own treatment "when it comes to get you" and plants you in the local hospital. Wouldn't it be a healthier option to spend this money (used for buying cigarettes) on things like out door pursuits rather than indoor ones such as lying in a bed in hospital??? People die all the time in hospitals don't forget.

Anyway, I shouldn't lecture as I know that it is difficult for people to admit their problems and failings as they have no defence really set against the 'oh so many' unrelated negative aspects that smoking inflicts on t them.

It also shows what a complete red herring the "look how cool and manly I am with this cigarrette pointing at the ground through puckered lips" is. This is supposedly the reason for people taking up smoking 60 years ago, you know, to be part of the in crowd, in the good old days. What is your given reason now?? as smoking is seen (and probably felt) by smokers and non-smokers alike as being a very anti-social thing to partake in????

But for some inexplicable reason many of you will still cough up the money (excuse the pun) and choose to carry on this disgusting personal habit - I look forward to retorts supporting smoking and the benefits thereof - if anyone is BRAVE enough to attempt this!!!

I'm not sure that I need to answer your last point as to whether non-smokers that get ill through being in close proximity or in the vicinity of smokers is smoking related - OF COURSE IT IS!!!!!!!!! and just who is to blame for that!! How selfish is that!! Think about it - and don't light up while you are doing this.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Wow I am totaly shocked, I thought smoking was good for you. and I mistakenly thought OLD AGE was the #ONE killer

Maybe, but "old age" for a smoker is not usually as old as that for a non-smoker. If your spouse smokes then that figure for YOU will probably lie somewhere in the middle of the two.

[FOODLOVER]

Have these people never been on a Thai road?

I agree that Thai roads are, lets say, not the safest place to be compared to the roads in other countries on account of the fact that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of laws and rules here in Thailand (not those that are strictly enforced or adhered to, anyway).

However, if you were to visit hospitals or study the general health of those smokers (coughing and spluttering their way through life) then you would see that deaths and injuries from road accidents would pale into insignificance compared to the number of deaths and illnesses caused by smoking. There's secondary smoking issues as well don't forget!!! Fortunately, this has improved a great deal as smoking in public places (and areas) is largely banned throughout the civilised world now.

Cigarette manufacturers are not the only ones losing out because of these bans in public spaces as washing detergent and shampoo manufacturers sales must have dropped also because it is unneccesary to wash your hair and clothes after every night out at the pub. You could say "eureka that you don't wreaka" now after a nights enjoyment chatting to your mates and downing a few pints (also accumatively more endangering to your life than driving in Thailand) - unless you do BOTH one after the other that is, whereby the danger is multiplied several times!!!

You have probably guessed that I am, and always have been a NON-smoker due to the risk that it poses to my health and life whereas getting into a car in Thailand doesn't cause me an anxiety attack relating to concerns of whether I'm going to get back home in one piece after a long (or even relatively short) journey - that's the difference!!

pale into insignificance? do we have data here? what is a smoking related illness? if a person who has never smoked or been close to a smoke environment develops lung cancer is that smoking related?

You don't need raw data, it is obvious and a well known fact that this is the case the whole world over. Just look at what percentage of the National health budget is afforded to lung cancer and smoking related diseases (don't forget - smoking damages the heart causing heart attacks, causes strokes, and puts other vital organs also such as the liver and kidneys under unneccesary stress and duress, as cigarrettes are essentially nothing more than little sticks of toxins that you set fire to and breath in the poisonous chemicals that are emmitted) - now put this figure besides that of treating road accidents and compare, and you will see that "it DOES pale into insignificance"!!!

I assume that all you smokers out there are aware of the dangers and social consequences of smoking on your health so it puzzles me in the extreme as to why you do it. Not only is it so obviously BAD for your body but it costs a small fortune to satisfy your cravings in order to poison your own (and others) bodies. You are in effect indirectly supplementing our social taxes through the heavy taxation of tobacco products that you must pay every time you purchase one of those boxes of death - at the expense to your own health!!! Very noble and admirable of you to do this but does it make sense for you to do this??? A great proportion of this tax revenue does go towards the treatments of causaural diseases of tobacco smoking as well - in the form of the health funding of hospitals to cope with your own admission's of course so you are indirectly paying for your own treatment "when it comes to get you" and plants you in the local hospital. Wouldn't it be a healthier option to spend this money (used for buying cigarettes) on things like out door pursuits rather than indoor ones such as lying in a bed in hospital??? People die all the time in hospitals don't forget.

Anyway, I shouldn't lecture as I know that it is difficult for people to admit their problems and failings as they have no defence really set against the 'oh so many' unrelated negative aspects that smoking inflicts on t them.

It also shows what a complete red herring the "look how cool and manly I am with this cigarrette pointing at the ground through puckered lips" is. This is supposedly the reason for people taking up smoking 60 years ago, you know, to be part of the in crowd, in the good old days. What is your given reason now?? as smoking is seen (and probably felt) by smokers and non-smokers alike as being a very anti-social thing to partake in????

But for some inexplicable reason many of you will still cough up the money (excuse the pun) and choose to carry on this disgusting personal habit - I look forward to retorts supporting smoking and the benefits thereof - if anyone is BRAVE enough to attempt this!!!

I'm not sure that I need to answer your last point as to whether non-smokers that get ill through being in close proximity or in the vicinity of smokers is smoking related - OF COURSE IT IS!!!!!!!!! and just who is to blame for that!! How selfish is that!! Think about it - and don't light up while you are doing this.

Word!

[jaltsc]

Well, there is humor here for sure. But I for one give an E for effort. Look how many years the so-called developed countries have been trying to reduce smoking. I am from the USA and they spend billions of dollars to sell smoking products and billions more on health issues because of smoking. It is definitly a huge business.

There is also the fact of political correctness. This means that it is ok for governments to state that smoking is bad for you, but they can't say that obesity is much much worse. In Australia the obesity rate has sky rocketed, so has the total medical expenditure wasted to provide medical to these special needs patients. However, because it is deemed politically incorrect to comment on a persons weight, nothing can be said about it.

obesity, now there is a good subject. in many places people are getting fatter, more are obese but alarmingly they seem to be living longer as well. amazingly the concept of normal ranges and distribution curves does not seem to apply to the definition of obese. could it have been wrong in the first place?

If you call spending more years in pain and discomfort supported by mega doses of pharmaceuticals, and a few years in intensive care "living longer"...OK. I don't call that "living longer" I call that prolonging the dying.

[personchester]

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

I'm not sure about that. Unsafe sex causes unsafe births, which eventually leads to death (usually about 75 years later). Therefore the leading cause of death is sex. QED.

Drink also can lead to sex, by the way

Those would be "accidental" births ... (births not planned, nor indented,) and not unsafe births, unsafe births, indented or not, result pro-rata from negative surroundings and circumstances, and that is not a common occurrence.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Well, there is humor here for sure. But I for one give an E for effort. Look how many years the so-called developed countries have been trying to reduce smoking. I am from the USA and they spend billions of dollars to sell smoking products and billions more on health issues because of smoking. It is definitly a huge business.

There is also the fact of political correctness. This means that it is ok for governments to state that smoking is bad for you, but they can't say that obesity is much much worse. In Australia the obesity rate has sky rocketed, so has the total medical expenditure wasted to provide medical to these special needs patients. However, because it is deemed politically incorrect to comment on a persons weight, nothing can be said about it.

obesity, now there is a good subject. in many places people are getting fatter, more are obese but alarmingly they seem to be living longer as well. amazingly the concept of normal ranges and distribution curves does not seem to apply to the definition of obese. could it have been wrong in the first place?

If you call spending more years in pain and discomfort supported by mega doses of pharmaceuticals, and a few years in intensive care "living longer"...OK. I don't call that "living longer" I call that prolonging the dying.

In reply to 'alant' - FACT - people in general are living longer due to technological health advances and improved medications and treatments.

FACT - an unhealthy lifestyle of eating cholesterol and 'bad fat' laden foods that create obesity will appreciably lower life expectancy through suffering heart attacks and incidences of cancer.

Thats all you need to know and recognise on this point!!!

[dude007]

'...A cigarette after unprotected sex followed by a motorcycle ride home after drinking Thai whiskey. Thailand's life on the edge.'

That's too much to survive...

[atyclb]

This debate will always bring out the ardent smoker, who despite the heavily proven fact that smoking is very dangerous to their and other peoples health, they always claim that it is not against the law for them to smoke, so why is it dangerous.

This kind of attitude really stinks. When I was a smoker, I knew that non smokers felt unpleasant when around smokers, so I never did it. Why is it so hard for so many smokers to know this simple truth.

The facts are that many things that we humans do is bad for our total health, however there are many things that have a proven bad ending, smoking drink driving, excessive drinking and unsafe sex with unknown partners rate pretty high.

The writing has been on the wall for ages, time to read it people.

Although I have dear friends that smoke, I have never done so myself. Clearly cigarettes cause disease and/or death for smokers and also for second hand inhalers Recent evidence showed that even second hand smoke screws with DNA. I understand some posters will joke about it or rationalize it no problem. Some smokers of course are also in denial. Businesses including pubs in non smoking developed countries continue to thrive or have even been shown to do better with a no smoking policy. This benefits customers and employees, both smoking and non smoking.

Something that bothers me is how some people from developed countries simply "light up" in places with no smoking signs, without any regard for others that do not smoke/not like the smell, not like their clothes and hair to stink, not like irritated burning eyes, etc etc. I will not play loud music in my apartment because I do not want to disturb my neighbors., yet this very simple courtesy does not apply to some G8 smokers. Often the very same G8 ones boasting about educational levels in their home countries while mocking Thai educational standards.

I'd rather have someone injecting heroin sitting near me than someone smoking in that the heroin user does not force me to share the drug.

Regarding alcohol and unsafe sex;

# Valid stats from USA show alcohol kills 5X as many people as all illegal drugs combined. Disease and accidents including road fatalities are factored in, as they likely are in thailand, therefore, "driving hazards" is already causally related to drinking.

# I do not know Thai stats include alcohol as a risk factor for unsafe sex, although it is.

# there's no lack of people dying from hepatitis acquired via unsafe sex. fulminant hepatitis can kill a person fast and easily, unlike treated AIDS nowadays.

# cervical cancer kills women and is related to a virus acquired from unprotected sex. not sure if Thai stats factor it.

Happy Birthday to Robert Zimmerman

Edited May 27, 2011 by atyclb

[Billmont]

Like the vast majority I tried cigarettes when I was young but hated them and the taste. I declined peer pressure who said keep smoking you will soon begin to like it. The same with alcohol, I did not like it initially but perserved until I did like it. I like driving or did when I was much younger. I like to eat and probably I am considered to be well overweight. I also have a bit of high blood pressure but controlled by medicine. My wise Doctor said I should not worry too much about my health as cancer will probably get me in the end. Where does this leave me. Well live and let live, I don't smoke but smokers do not bother me. The say the real biggest killer is stress because it is the cause of so many illnesses that are listed as the cause of death. If you worry about smoking and about giving it up and worry about the road trip and also worry that you are drinking too much and the family and the dog and the garden and so on maybe its time to say goodby to this world. To coin a phrase you will not live longer by abstaining from all that it enjoyable, it will just seem that way. We are all going to die and in the end the cause is not really preventable, your genes are the biggest factor in how long you will live and for the pessimist how soon you will die. So to hell with statistics, I'm off for a beer and something to eat and my Thai wife will drive.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Sounds like the preamble to a tax duty increase, to 'save us from ourselves'. Same old BS in every country in the world.

Also they don't mention the tax revenue when talking about expenses. OK so they allegedly spend 51.5 bn on 'smoking related illnesses' (impossible to define but there you go).

Judging by global prices, the tax take per pack of cigarettes must be somewhere between 30-40 baht.

11 mn smokers, lets assume average consumption of 1 pack per day.....

11,000,000 x 30 baht (erring on caution) x 365 days = 120,450,000,000 (120 bn).

So if we all gave up tomorrow the government would lose 69 Bn per annum net revenue ($2.3 bn), the classic double edged sword faced by governments worldwide.

Someone calculated a few years ago if everyone in the UK stopped smoking the health service would collapse, as the average smoker pays 3-4 times in tax on their cigarettes than what it costs to treat them. Yet they are still villified as a burden on the National Health Service - go figure.

Same in the U.S. And do you think they keep all that cigerette tax seperate to pay for health costs? oh no my friends, congress robs that piggy bank whenever they feel the urge to put a new 13 mile highway that starts nowhere and ends nowhere just to say they are helping keep the highways in tip top shape. of course that new 13 mile highway just happens to run by some congressmans home out in the country.

I have figured it out 'QED' - you clearly fail to realise that all of the taxes that cigarette smokers pay for their death quest (and more) goes to fund hospitals just for the purpose of receiving the likes of YOU at some stage of your self-inflicted shortened life.

A financial shortful problem is being created on account of people living to an older age than previously, however, and this will be accentuated if enough people choose to kick this disgusting habit into touch and in doing so extend their lives.

Affording all of those EXTRA pension payments now THAT really is a massive problem for all governments on account of longer lifespans meaning paying considerably more money to 'old age pensioners' over the greater period of time. If those smokers were to quit, this will rise inexorably making it even more of a crisis to service.

So you can smoke your lives away merrily and save the governments some money in the long run by dying young!!!

[newermonkey]

Wow I am totaly shocked, I thought smoking was good for you. and I mistakenly thought OLD AGE was the #ONE killer

Maybe, but "old age" for a smoker is not usually as old as that for a non-smoker. If your spouse smokes then that figure for YOU will probably lie somewhere in the middle of the two.

Yes I am being facetious regarding the smoking problem but old age has to be the biggest killer and not many people think about it, perhaps people are in denial regarding death, somehow people think they might cheat it some how. but there is one thing for sure in our present time, every one will die sooner or later until researchers find a cure.

Edited May 27, 2011 by newermonkey

[SICHONSTEVE]

This debate will always bring out the ardent smoker, who despite the heavily proven fact that smoking is very dangerous to their and other peoples health, they always claim that it is not against the law for them to smoke, so why is it dangerous.

This kind of attitude really stinks. When I was a smoker, I knew that non smokers felt unpleasant when around smokers, so I never did it. Why is it so hard for so many smokers to know this simple truth.

The facts are that many things that we humans do is bad for our total health, however there are many things that have a proven bad ending, smoking drink driving, excessive drinking and unsafe sex with unknown partners rate pretty high.

The writing has been on the wall for ages, time to read it people.

Although I have dear friends that smoke, I have never done so myself. Clearly cigarettes cause disease and/or death for smokers and also for second hand inhalers Recent evidence showed that even second hand smoke screws with DNA. I understand some posters will joke about it or rationalize it no problem. Some smokers of course are also in denial. Businesses including pubs in non smoking developed countries continue to thrive or have even been shown to do better with a no smoking policy. This benefits customers and employees, both smoking and non smoking.

Something that bothers me is how some people from developed countries simply "light up" in places with no smoking signs, without any regard for others that do not smoke/not like the smell, not like their clothes and hair to stink, not like irritated burning eyes, etc etc. I will not play loud music in my apartment because I do not want to disturb my neighbors., yet this very simple courtesy does not apply to some G8 smokers. Often the very same G8 ones boasting about educational levels in their home countries while mocking Thai educational standards.

I'd rather have someone injecting heroin sitting near me than someone smoking in that the heroin user does not force me to share the drug.

Regarding alcohol and unsafe sex;

# Valid stats from USA show alcohol kills 5X as many people as all illegal drugs combined. Disease and accidents including road fatalities are factored in, as they likely are in thailand, therefore, "driving hazards" is already causally related to drinking.

# I do not know Thai stats include alcohol as a risk factor for unsafe sex, although it is.

# there's no lack of people dying from hepatitis acquired via unsafe sex. fulminant hepatitis can kill a person fast and easily, unlike treated AIDS nowadays.

# cervical cancer kills women and is related to a virus acquired from unprotected sex. not sure if Thai stats factor it.

Happy Birthday to Robert Zimmerman

Happy birthday Mr Dylan from me also (I must admit I didn't know that it was his birthday).

Bravo!!! - yet more facts and reasons to persuade/convince people to give up, or more pertinently maybe, dissuade those from starting!!! It's a bit of a no-brainer essentially as not getting addicted works wonders for your health and gives you purchasing power for those things that you want in, and from, your long and happy life!! You have to work on the last aspect but the others come free (more than free really as you don't have to pay out for them in the first place).

I'm convinced that when people say affording something that will relieve you of a sizeable amount of your cash will "cost you a packet" refers to buying a pack of cigarettes!!! If it doesn't - IT SHOULD, given the amount they set you back now!!!

[Thaddeus]

all lies... but maybe the president did not know.

Please see the REAL causes of death in http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf

have fun

Great link, data is from 2007 and not Thailand specific but still, at least some hard facts.

Interesting, for both middle and low income countries HIV/AIDS kills more than traffic accidents. I would of never thought of that. I always feel more in danger on the road than banging girls.

Also worth noting that many of the big killers like heart disease, respiratory issues, stroke, so on are all linked to smoking.

It would be great to see what numbers the government went by, but regardless, looks like both TV members and Thai officials don't let facts get in they way of truth.

Some more figures, focused on Thailand.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2885317/

Most of the numbers smack of some credibility, but I have great difficulty in believing one of them.

/edit/forgot the link

Edited May 27, 2011 by Thaddeus

[SICHONSTEVE]

Wow I am totaly shocked, I thought smoking was good for you. and I mistakenly thought OLD AGE was the #ONE killer

Maybe, but "old age" for a smoker is not usually as old as that for a non-smoker. If your spouse smokes then that figure for YOU will probably lie somewhere in the middle of the two.

Yes I am being facetious regarding the smoking problem but old age has to be the biggest killer and not many people think about it, perhaps people are in denial regarding death, somehow people think they might cheat it some how. but there is one thing for sure in our present time, every one will die sooner or later until researchers find a cure.

Dying of old age is dying through natural causes of which we can do nothing about. But dying young through smoking all your (sadly shortened) life most definitely isn't. I say that we can do nothing about dying of old age but this is not entirely the case as this is often predetermined by your lifestyle choices or forced existence. Has it not escaped you that our 'super elite' royals kick the bucket when reaching 3 digit ages (queen mum for example and everything points to the queen achieving this ripe old age as well). Whereas those delving into drugs and drinking excessively whilst shivering in their hell-holes and consuming whatever food they can get their hands on (not chosen by the head chef of the household incidentally) will be lucky if they pass 30. Sure, everybody, me and you included will leave the earth someday - but what we do and how we can live our lives will have a big bearing on when!!!

[merlen10002]

Well, there is humor here for sure. But I for one give an E for effort. Look how many years the so-called developed countries have been trying to reduce smoking. I am from the USA and they spend billions of dollars to sell smoking products and billions more on health issues because of smoking. It is definitly a huge business.

There is also the fact of political correctness. This means that it is ok for governments to state that smoking is bad for you, but they can't say that obesity is much much worse. In Australia the obesity rate has sky rocketed, so has the total medical expenditure wasted to provide medical to these special needs patients. However, because it is deemed politically incorrect to comment on a persons weight, nothing can be said about it.

obesity, now there is a good subject. in many places people are getting fatter, more are obese but alarmingly they seem to be living longer as well. amazingly the concept of normal ranges and distribution curves does not seem to apply to the definition of obese. could it have been wrong in the first place?

I have never seen an obese hundered year old, seen a lot of non obese people 100 and over, I wonder why ?

[Bakseedaa]

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

Not if you count abortion as premature death, and really, you dont get much more premature that abortion..!! Now it way outnumbers smoking...

[Humphrey Bear]

I donot quite see many ( any ) country welcoming Thai workers. It's not only a matter of smoking or is it ?

I have had thousands of Thai workers through my hands - in Saudi (before the ban), in Libya, UAE, Nigeria and elsewhere.

They may not be the most skilled, but if you show them what you want, then they'll work hard at it until that task is completed (properly).

For low-cost labour they are, on the whole, better than most.

Pakistanis are better at digging a trench, Philippines supply the supervision and skilled technicians, but the Thais are excellent as overseas workers. It is only when they are at home that most forget the discipline and work ethic that they exhibit when working for real money.

[Chopperboy]

The FIRST cause of death is ageing ...

When will there be a campaign against AGEING ?

Correct - 20 year old smokers don't get smoking related diseases. Its the factor of aging that causes health problems. Low testosterone and high estrogen levels in men is far more deadly. Short telomeres (protective end caps on chromosones) is the primary reason for most aging diseases including, if you live long enough, a collapse of the immune system.

[FOODLOVER]

I would think that smoking causes far more premature deaths than unsafe sex - that's a ridiculous article.

Not if you count abortion as premature death, and really, you dont get much more premature that abortion..!! Now it way outnumbers smoking...

I think you need a birth certificate to get a death certificate and then there is the old when does life start? Zygote?

Edited May 27, 2011 by FOODLOVER

[Maxxamum]

I am not quite sure if smokers really like smoking and have no desire to quit or are addicted so strongly that they cannot quit thus assert their right to smoke more fervently. In today's info-world, information about the perils of smoking is everywhere. A friend of mine sells heart valves etc to heart surgeons and says the symptoms are classic. Immune system failures, chronic disease, plumbing all going downhill, major organ deterioration all leading to death because of the many years of immune suppression. People who smoke look older on the outside, can you wonder what they look like on the inside? Although the lungs are pretty resilient and can recover after a few years of non-smoking, the rest of the body pretty much stays messed up. I have a family of doctors and nurses and I hear that a lot. But when you look at the production numbers from Big Tobacco, they are on a steep increase. Their new target is under-developed countries. Sure why not? Hook the stupid, the ignorant, and the poor and kill thousands more in the interest of stock holder dividends.

The history channel did a small video that is now on YouTube about cigarette manufacturing. 1/3 of the content of a cigarette is old tobacco that has passed the shelf life and is returned and ground up again and added to the mix. 1/3 is new tobacco. And 1/3 is the junk they sweep up off the floor. They mix the old tobacco and the floor-sweepings into a slurry with a bunch of chemicals then spread the liquid onto thin paper. It passes through a dryer and the dried slurry and paper is chopped up and mixed into the blend. And in 1990 when slow-burn cigarette paper was mandated here in the USA to keep people from falling asleep and burning themselves up, many more chemicals (around 60 as I read it) were added to the already hundreds of chemicals that are smoked with every cigarette. I read there are 4,000 chemicals from tobacco. Some you naturally get when you burn organic material and the rest are added in by Big Tobacco. And they are not required by FDA to list the chemicals either.

Hell, if you want to get a buzz, just suck on a tuk tuk exhaust pipe, there are probably fewer chemicals to deal with!

[atyclb]

The FIRST cause of death is ageing ...

When will there be a campaign against AGEING ?

Correct - 20 year old smokers don't get smoking related diseases. Its the factor of aging that causes health problems. Low testosterone and high estrogen levels in men is far more deadly. Short telomeres (protective end caps on chromosones) is the primary reason for most aging diseases including, if you live long enough, a collapse of the immune system.

Not actually correct, and surprising you missed very basic stuff for someone that speaks about chromosomal morphology ie; telomeres.

# Teens who smoke cough and wheeze three times more than teens who don't smoke; this is essentially asthma or asthma equivalent, RAD (reactive airway disease) in addition, prone to more upper respiratory infections (one example bronchitis) since smoke harms the normal protective mechanisms of the respiratory system

# Smokers as young as 18 years old have shown evidence of developing heart disease; atherosclerotic heart disease in a teenager is no joking matter.

# Nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine.

Entire list is below

1. Nearly 70% of people who smoke say they wish they could quit.
2. Teens who smoke cough and wheeze three times more than teens who don't smoke.
3. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, lung disease and strokes.
4. Smokers as young as 18 years old have shown evidence of developing heart disease.
5. More than 70% of young people who smoke said they wish they hadn't started doing it.
6. Smoking a pack of cigarettes each day costs about $1,500 per year -- enough money to buy a new computer or Xbox.
7. Studies show that 43% of people who smoke three or fewer cigarettes a day become addicted to nicotine.
8. More than 434,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related diseases.
9. One-third of all new smokers will eventually die from a smoking-related disease.
10. Nicotine -- one of the main ingredients in cigarettes -- is a poison.
11. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine.
12. All tobacco products -- that includes cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco -- have nicotine in them.
13. Smoking makes you feel weaker and more tired because it prevents oxygen from reaching your heart.
14. Smoking decreases your sense of taste and smell, making you enjoy things like flowers and ice cream a little bit less.
15. Smoking hurts the people around you: More than 53,000 people die each year from secondhand smoke.
16. Cigarettes have tons of harmful chemicals in them, including ammonia (found in toilet cleaner), carbon monoxide (found in car exhaust) and arsenic (found in rat poison).
17. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health.
18. Just days after quitting smoking, a person's sense of taste and smell returns to normal.
19. Ten years after quiting smoking, a person's risk of lung cancer and heart disease returns to that of a non-smoker.
20. Most teens (about 70%) don't smoke. Plus, if you make it through your teen years without becoming a smoker, chances are you'll never become a smoker.

[lukeskywalker]

all lies... but maybe the president did not know.

Please see the REAL causes of death in http://www.who.int/m...heets/fs310.pdf

have fun

Excellent post and link.

So here is the question. Do we count ourselves (Thailand's expats) in the middle-income (low?) section, or, because we come from high-income countries, count ourselves in the high-income stats?

[lungmi]

My informations from local Health Stations:

1.Lao Khao

2. Cholesterol (palm oil, greasy meat together with

3. diabetes (sugar, sugar, sugar)