is smoking really so bad?

Question

my grandfather lived till he was 102 in perfect health and he smoked like a chimney! the people who eat healthy and live 'right' get cancer! whats the deal....

Answer 1

I smoke and I think its bad but so is overeating and drinking and a lot of other things. I also think it is the scapegoat for a lot of other cancer causing agents such as car emissions and environmental concerns. I also think it's amusing that they dont mind taxing you for it but then they tell you how lousy you are for doing it. And if they really wanted people to stop smoking why dont they spend the money wasted on advertisements etc and make the stop smoking aids such as patches etc free instead of costing more than the smoking itself. It is just a money making scheme for the pharmaseutical companies and the cancer charities etc. How many years and BILLIONS of dollars have they had and they still cant stop people getting cancer. And you know why? Because as one doctor told me long ago...people usually die of either cancer or heart disease. It's called getting old and your body breaking down. So all their research is bogus...what will people die of if they 'cure' all these things?

Answer 2

The thing about any lifestyle...healthy or unhealthy...is that there will always be people who are the exception to the rule. When "science" says some activity increases (or decreases) your risk for a disease that is based on studies of many, many people.

Have you ever heard of a "bell curve?" Basically, if you lined up all the people in the world on a line that rose up in the middle then curved back to the baseline (the bell), the people in the middle are those that are the most likely to get the "disease." Those are typically the people who practice the unhealthiest habits, have a family history of the disease, have environmental or work-related risks, etc. On one end of that same line, you have the people who practice the best possible health practices, have the best family history, minimal environmental risks, etc., and are least likely to get the "disease." On the other end you have people who do everything wrong in their lifestyle but still don't get the disease. Usually, that is due to genetics, but sometimes science just doesn't know why...they are the exception to the rule.

It happens in every aspect of medical science. In the case of your grandfather, sounds like he has good genes. Of course, we don't know what other lifestyle factors influence his health. Maybe he did everything else right. And yes there are people who seem to have a healthy lifestyle but still get cancer (or whatever). Again, it could be BAD genes or it could be lifestyle. I have a friend's wife who died at a young age of breast cancer. She had a very healthy lifestyle and for a long time no one could figure out why she got the cancer, until they learned that she was an avid rose gardener and used pesticides...a lot! In this case, you have an environmental risk that tipped the scales against her.

It's really like gambling at a casino. For every healthy lifestyle or risk factor, you increase your odds of "winning," i.e., living a long healthy life. You could "gamble" and practice one or two unhealthy lifestyles and hope you beat the odds. Maybe you will...but then again...maybe you won't.

Answer 3

Smoking is bad even though it seems to prevent diabetes and Parkinson (or is it Alzheimer?). But the smokes and fumes from oil products have many more cancer substances and nobody seems to care a lot. Plus it's expensive and it's destroying the economy because of the rise in prices. Shouldn't there be some other form of much cheaper, less poluent energy already? Or maybe the oil companies/car companies are stronger than the tobbaco companies?

Answer 4

The deal is that for 85 of those 102 years, other people were forced to breath in that crappy smoke.

Those people who eat healthy and get cancer - are probably the ones forced to breathe that gross stuff your grandfather exhales with every breath. I dont care if your grandfather wants to die, but I do care that he is killing other people - especially those who live with him.

Second hand smoke kills.

Answer 5

Smoking is of course very bad but there are another facts that tell us whether it will effect our health badly or not that facts are GENES .
genes that make the body ready to damage or not if a man smoke
(and that is why your grand father healthy also he smoke a lot and
some other people also they eat healthy get cancer)

Answer 6

In your grandfathers day they did not put all the additives in tobacco like they do now. This is some of the problems. Some people have it in their genes so they are more immune than others. Smoking constricts small blood vessels in your body this is not good, and it gives you bad breath.

Answer 7

Yes, I realize that some people who are smokers have better genes that other people who are smokers. Some smokers live to be a 100 and some non-smoker die of lung cancer, etc.at a relative young age. It is a proven fact that cigarettes have properties in them that help onset cancer, heart, and lung troubles in people who have the genes that pre-dispose them to these kinds of diseases. Most of the people who smoke that get cancer, heart disease and lung problems would have had these problems anyway; however, cigarette smoking causes the diseases much younger in life. Cancer do you want to smoke and get the disease in middle age or not smoke and get the disease in late old age? Heart disease--50years old or 90 years old. COPD and other lung disease--late 50s or late 80s? I, myself, use to be a chain smoker, I quit in my 30's. My sister continued to smoke and she, in her middle 50s, developed COPD. She had to take her choice of never again smoking or risk dieing, she no longer smokes.

Answer 8

That's like saying a guy put one bullet in the chamber, spun it, pointed it at his head and is still alive today....

Smoking isn't going to guarantee an early death, it only raises the chance of dying early....

Healthy living doesn't guarantee a longer life, it only increases the chance that you will live longer...

Answer 9

Yes its bad...just do a search on any search engine for "lung cancer death rate". Eating right and healthily is not a guarantee against cancer but it can help. Youe grandfathger was incredibly lucky, but an exception!

Answer 10

If smoking isn't so bad then why is tobacco smoking the LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE WESTERN WORLD.

Your grandfather was one of the lucky few who could handle the thousands of chemicals he was inhaling every time he lit up a lung-******.