Tobacco Kills 6 Million People Ever Year.

[theoldgit]

Now whilst I'm a non smoker I believe that people who wish to do so should be allowed to do so, life is all about being responsible for your own actions. Of course the majority of smokers are considerate but there are a few who are not and insist on allowing their second hand smoke spoiling the lives of others, but they are in the minority.

That said the following quote from the WHO was something of a shock to me:

Tobacco already kills around 6 million people a year worldwide, including more than 600,000 non-smokers who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.

By 2030, if current trends continue, it predicts tobacco could kill 8 million people a year.

I realise probably just as many people die in traffic accidents, alcohol and drug abuse but it's a hell of a lot of deaths every year.

[Pseudolus]

That is about one quarter of the amount of people in the world who die of hunger each year. However, the acrid smell of their decay does not blow into the faces of the morally outraged so therefore it does not enter into their consciousness. How about each time someone complains about smokers, they put 20 baht into a charity box.

[robblok]

It sure is a hell of a lot of people, i still try to get my mom to quit but im pretty sure that the only way for her to quit is to become one of those statistics. Dad used to smoke to but just gave it up years back after a heart attack.

Anyone should be able to smoke when they want to as long as they do it away from other people. I feel it is wrong to ban smoking in people's own houses and cars but public places (and i find it strange its banned in parks) must be ok as long as they take their buts with them.

[robblok]

That is about one quarter of the amount of people in the world who die of hunger each year. However, the acrid smell of their decay does not blow into the faces of the morally outraged so therefore it does not enter into their consciousness. How about each time someone complains about smokers, they put 20 baht into a charity box.

True.. but most of those who die of hunger are not our loved ones. Smoking kills a lot closer to home and that is why it gets more attention.

[GreenSnapper]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

[giddyup]

Waiting for the anti-smoking crusaders to strap on their steel-capped boots. It appears the deaths of millions via hunger and preventable diseases is of no consequence, but drop a butt in the street and prepare to encounter their wrath!

[theoldgit]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

You could well be right I really don't know, but the World Health Organisation isn't some two bit organisation and surely they didn't just pluck the figures out of the sky.

Interestingly the article was about an increase in smoking in poorer countries, especially given the comparison to hunger related deaths.

[travelmann]

It sure is a hell of a lot of people, i still try to get my mom to quit but im pretty sure that the only way for her to quit is to become one of those statistics. Dad used to smoke to but just gave it up years back after a heart attack.

Anyone should be able to smoke when they want to as long as they do it away from other people. I feel it is wrong to ban smoking in people's own houses and cars but public places (and i find it strange its banned in parks) must be ok as long as they take their buts with them.

Theres a problem with condos I know, when they smoke even in their own rooms as you get out of the lift the whole corridor reeks of dirty smoke and spoils the whole area, so even when done in their own rooms it reeks for others.

[Gary A]

Not long ago we had a strapping strong younger guy, early fifties, die from cancer. He didn't smoke but he made a living spraying herbicides and pesticides on people's fields.

I lived in Bangkok for a number of years and could often see the layer of air pollution. Figures don't lie but liars figure.

[travelmann]

That is about one quarter of the amount of people in the world who die of hunger each year. However, the acrid smell of their decay does not blow into the faces of the morally outraged so therefore it does not enter into their consciousness. How about each time someone complains about smokers, they put 20 baht into a charity box.

You choose to smoke, Im sure they dont choose to starve to death although I would say the parents often dont paln for kids but once born the kids dont choose to starve to death.

Edited August 18, 2012 by travelmann

[robblok]

Not long ago we had a strapping strong younger guy, early fifties, die from cancer. He didn't smoke but he made a living spraying herbicides and pesticides on people's fields.

I lived in Bangkok for a number of years and could often see the layer of air pollution. Figures don't lie but liars figure.

Nobody ever said that smoking is the only reason for dying of cancer. You are one of those guys with examples like.. my grand father smoked a package a day all his life and he go to 95 in good health.

I trust these figures even if they are a bit high and you take of 20-40% they they are still real high.

That being said.. smoker should be allowed to smoke.

Edited August 18, 2012 by robblok

[Pseudolus]

That is about one quarter of the amount of people in the world who die of hunger each year. However, the acrid smell of their decay does not blow into the faces of the morally outraged so therefore it does not enter into their consciousness. How about each time someone complains about smokers, they put 20 baht into a charity box.

You choose to smoke, Im sure they dont choose to starve to death although I would say the parents often dont paln for kids but once born the kids dont choose to starve to death.

Very true. But in reality its not about that, it's about what people chose to bitch and moan about. I even 10% of the investment and publicity in anti smoking was given to one of the worlds true crimes then a real impact can be made. Hunger is not addictive so in many ways it is easier to defeat hunger. People just can not be bothered about it because it is something that happens to little black kids in a continent they will not go to, so they don't care.

[GreenSnapper]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

You could well be right I really don't know, but the World Health Organisation isn't some two bit organisation and surely they didn't just pluck the figures out of the sky.

A lot of the big international organisations actually do pluck figures out of the sky.

Look, in 90% of the world there are just no reliable figures available about diseases and death reasons. So how can you make a reliable statistic about the world?

If an African or Bangladeshi farmer dies, who knows it was due to his smoking, due to malnutrition, or whatever? Nobody knows and nobody cares.

[h90]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

Beside you have say a 75 year that dies because of smoking, but he would die without smoking at 78. They would even count the 95 year old with lung cancer as dead from smoking.....

The 600.000 second hand smoke dead are of course just a made up number without any base.

[h90]

That is about one quarter of the amount of people in the world who die of hunger each year. However, the acrid smell of their decay does not blow into the faces of the morally outraged so therefore it does not enter into their consciousness. How about each time someone complains about smokers, they put 20 baht into a charity box.

You choose to smoke, Im sure they dont choose to starve to death although I would say the parents often dont paln for kids but once born the kids dont choose to starve to death.

Very true. But in reality its not about that, it's about what people chose to bitch and moan about. I even 10% of the investment and publicity in anti smoking was given to one of the worlds true crimes then a real impact can be made. Hunger is not addictive so in many ways it is easier to defeat hunger. People just can not be bothered about it because it is something that happens to little black kids in a continent they will not go to, so they don't care.

I would say eating is a lot more addictive than smoking. I know a lot people who stopped smoking, but I don't know any that stopped eating.....including myself....very addicted to food....only a few hours and I get lots of problems.....

[swissie]

Every time I meet a strict non smoker, that voluntarily lives in a big city somewhwere in the "third world" and does not realise that he is probably inhaling more poisonous fumes than a sheppard in Scottland that smokes 2 packs of filterless cigarettes a day, amazes me. There seem to be little hesitation by non-smokers to sit in outdoor street cafes/bars that resemble veritable gas-chambers during rush-hour.

The general opinion must therefore be: As long as I don't smoke and I eat my daily salad, this gives me (and my lungs) immunity to the poisonous fumes that surround me 24 hours a day.

Cheers.

[Jingthing]

That number sounds really, really low. I find it hard to believe. I reckon it kills than many in China alone.

[F1fanatic]

That number sounds really, really low. I find it hard to believe. I reckon it kills than many in China alone.

But there's no way to know for sure.

Roy Castle's death was put down as 'passive cigarette smoke' from donkey's years earlier. Possibly it was, but it strikes me as unlikely.

[loong]

My Father smoked from a very early age. Mostly unfiltered roll-ups.

He got cancer in his liver. The cancer spread to his lungs and it was lung cancer that killed him at age 79.

I wonder what his death was attributed to in the official figures. ??

If 6 million die from smoking every year, that's not so bad odds. 1 in 1000 chance of dieing from smoking. Much better that the risk of travelling on the roads in Thailand.

Moral of the story - stay at home and smoke, you'll live longer

[Naam]

Every time I meet a strict non smoker, that voluntarily lives in a big city somewhwere in the "third world" and does not realise that he is probably inhaling more poisonous fumes than a sheppard in Scottland that smokes 2 packs of filterless cigarettes a day, amazes me. There seem to be little hesitation by non-smokers to sit in outdoor street cafes/bars that resemble veritable gas-chambers during rush-hour.

The general opinion must therefore be: As long as I don't smoke and I eat my daily salad, this gives me (and my lungs) immunity to the poisonous fumes that surround me 24 hours a day.

Cheers.

some years ago i saw a study which equated "city living = number of daily Marlboros". i only remember "Mexico City = 45, Sao Paulo = 40, Los Angeles = 36".

[Naam]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

Beside you have say a 75 year that dies because of smoking, but he would die without smoking at 78. They would even count the 95 year old with lung cancer as dead from smoking.....

The 600.000 second hand smoke dead are of course just a made up number without any base.

our former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, age 93, smokes up to 100 a day. he's the only one allowed chain smoking on TV talkshows irritating the non-smoking brigade who even tried to sue various TV stations. i saw him last week on Deutsche Welle where he lit up only a minute after extinguishing one.

[JSixpack]

Dam_n! This thread makes me wanna light up a good stogie!

George Burns: "Twenty years ago my doctor told me that these cigars were going to kill me"

Interviewer: "What does he say now?"

George Burns: "I don't know. He's dead"

Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.

--George Burns

[tropo]

I'm a non-smoker and certainly smoking is not good for health.

But such numbers have no scientific base, but are just made up for scaring. Even more the numbers on secondary deaths.

It's all bullshit.

I agree, but 6 million people out of a population of over 7 billion is not scary at all. Overpopulation is the biggest killer, and if a very small percentage of educated people from wealthy countries want to speed up their departure by smoking, that's fine by me.

Let's save our sympathy for the "have-nots" of this world. At the current rate of population growth, 6 million people can be replaced with newer versions in less than a month.

I put people who smoke in the same category as skydivers, race drivers/riders and mountaineers. If you play with fire you're gonna get burned. In Australia they have nasty photos of cancer on every cigarette packet. You'd have to mentally retarded not to know the risks.

(Note to Roblok: Just in case my post seems a bit callous, my father died of his 2nd heart attack at age 49. He didn't quit smoking after his first attack 5 years earlier. He was also well aware of the risks.)

Edited August 19, 2012 by tropo

[JRinger]

Whether or not the statistics are correct doesn't matter much if you're the one with lung cancer and your family has to readjust their lives because of your selfishness. Over the past few months I've read horrible, tear-jerking stories of families who didn't have insurance had to pay for cancer treatments, lost their house, car, etc.....the other aspect is the pain and suffering if you have lung cancer that has spread to the bones....it's worse than a nightmare......now is the first time I'm able to sit up for more than five minutes so I can write this. I was diagnosed with lung cancer, stage IV in June. Since then I've have three chemotherapy treatments and have lost about 35-40 pounds.

I wouldn't wish chemo on my worst enemy. I was having to take 30mg of morphine every two hours to help with the incredible pain all over my body & head and the morphine locked up my bowels so I sometimes could not evacuate for four days so I started doing enemas that helped a great deal. I also changed my diet considerably. Actually, before deciding on chemotherapy I started the Gerson Therapy where you eat only organic veggies, no salt, no meat, fish, etc. only veggie juice for the first couple weeks (have to be a special juicer) then some fruit is ok but not pineapple. Then after getting a bone scan and finding out the cancer had spread to my bones I reluctantly agreed to chemotherapy at KKN University hospital. I chose to do smaller doses than the normal ones hopefully decreasing the side effect from the chem drugs.

Well, I can tell you now, I'm not going through that again. I can't imagine what the full doses would have done to me. Just after the four-hour IV drip I felt pretty good, because they also give you steroids in the mix. But the next day, wham....flat on my back, couldn't hardly move the pain was so bad so I was eating morphine every two hours and it only helped about half the pain. For the past couple days I'm able to be 70% painless eating only aspirin every four to six hours. The organic coffee enemas do work in helping to diminish the pain as well as detoxing the liver and other organs, etc.

Bottom line is, it's the worse thing I've ever experienced in my life and it's still not over. If not for my loving and caring wife who has to do pretty much everything for me, I would be dead already. I owe my life to her.

I hope with my short story I have reached at least one person who puts down the cigarettes before it's too late. I've read that it can take five to ten years for the cancer to grow enough where you start feeling symptoms, pain, etc. I first started to feel pain in my lower back and I thought it was kidney problems so I had blood and urine tests, ultrasound, etc., and nothing showed up. It wasn't until I had a chest xray that revealed some cloudy stuff around my lungs, then a biopsy which proved positive....I smoked for forty years and always thought I was too tough to get cancer being a vegetarian for most of my life and always in very good shape.....well, I was wrong and am paying the price now and it's not fair to my lovely wife, family & friends.....IT SUCKS.....

Edited August 22, 2012 by JRinger