Smoking kills - a myth?

Question

If indeed this were true, why have so many of the so called "baby boomers" (for whom smoking was "the thing to do") survived in such numbers?
Doesn't anyone EVER question the "facts" we are presented with?

Answer 1

So the fact that 90% of people who get lung or throat cancer are smokers is coincidence is it?

Fine smoke if you must but don't complain when you get told you have cancer and are going to have an unpleasent death.

Answer 2

Yes smoking does kill and so does passive smoking. The problem is that for some people it takes more time than others, why it should be is not understood yet. However be under no illusions, the carcinogenic effect will appear and get you. But before then the chances are you will suffer from chronic lung disease in one or a few of the many forms. Just look about you and listen to the breathing or watch the smoker when they laugh and then go into fits of coughing because the damaged lungs can not cope. When anyone who smokes says it does not affect me they just haven't lived long enough. And finally if you are not interested in the effect on you lungs, try this for size ---- it will affect your sex life, the main problem for a man is impotence and for a woman infertility and sometimes the lack of desire for sex. So if you choose to ignore the known problems don't whinge and whine when they come knocking on your door.

Answer 3

Oh, the joy of lies, damned lies and statistics. Smoking as 'the thing to do' has been the case from approx 1800 when tobacco became more freely and cheaply available, until about 1980 when the real effects of smoking became transparently obvious. Yes, a lot of baby boomers have survived. A lot have died of lung cancer due to smoking. A lot are alive only because the research demonstrating smoking as incredibly harmful got them to stop. And a further percentage are alive merely because of the advances in medical science manage to extend the lives of people with chronic repiratory diseases far beyond what was previously possible. And what are you comparing it with? The generation for whom the full awareness of the harmful effects of smoking haven't really started dying off yet - but you can bet your boots they will live longer than the baby boomers - and they have grown up in the era when smoking wasn't the thing to do.... This is by far the most nonsensical question yet brought to this debate....

Answer 4

I have wondered this myself.
I smoke and there is no doubt that it is not good for you but I dont think its as bad as we are led to believe.
As you say, when you look at all the people who have survived from when almost everyone smoked , there must be more to it.
Less people smoke nowadays than ever before yet there seems to be an epidemic of cancer, especially in the 40-60 age brackets.
I believe this is due to other environmental factors eg; genetically modified foods, radiation from TV sets,fridges, etc and other lifestyle factors.
Smoking gets the blame for a lot.

Answer 5

Please! Don't dishonour the memories of all those that have and still do DIE of smoking. I have spent 30 years in nursing and a considerable amount of that time nursing for the Marie Curie Service (home care for the terminally ill). So, so many of those people I watched, cared for, and nursed to their untimely deaths died of smoking related diseases. I have spent many years during that time working on urology patients - this is the 'smoking related' bit: do you realise that most of the patients I have nursed to their deaths from bladder cancer were ex, existing or living with smokers? Other patients with other diseases such as claudication (closing of arteries, particularly in the legs) were also caused by smoking.

My own dear Father - killed by lung cancer caused by smoking. Oh, I could go on, but it upsets me to think that anyone in this day and age could even think that there is an anti-smoking agenda put up to hide the 'smoking survivors'.

The thing is, addicts will justify their habits anyway they can - however bizarre the rationale. It's about denial and the desperation to be accepted with a damaging and anti-social habit.

Answer 6

It's not necessarily the actual smoke that kills, but a side effect of smoking, i.e. lung cancer. The "baby boomers" are known as such because there's a whole hell of a lot of them. It's kind of like car accidents. Just because everyone gets in a car everyday doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to die of it, but they have a high probability of doing so.
Fact: After I smoke a cigarette, my lung capacity goes down drastically. I feel it, it's not a figment of my imagination.
Fact: I know a LOT of people who died from smoking related causes.
Fact: Once a person stops smoking, their body starts healing itself. It's scientifically proven that your lungs start regenerating themselves, an although you can never get back your lungs to what they used to be, they can get better. Have you never seen a smoker's lung next to a healthy lung?
But, yeah, not everyone dies from smoking. They just have serious health effects that can lead to their death.

Answer 7

I'd just like to point out a fallacy in your question that nobody else seems to have noticed. The baby boomers were the first generation to be told that smoking kills, and that they should give it up. They were the first generation for which a large number of smokers quit.

Answer 8

Whether or not it kills, it definately reduces lung capacity, I know from experience. It can cause coughing and choking and asmatic symptoms in people who don't have asthma (again, I know from experience). It stinks, it stains your teeth and your walls and your fingers. It is impossible to get out of clothing or furniture and is dangerous in general. What if you fall asleep with a lit cigarett?

Besides, this doesn't belong in the Myth section, as it is an accepted fact in mainstream society. Maybe you should ask the science people instead.

Answer 9

I hope for humanity's sake you aren't serious

Perhaps they have survived because they aren't QUITE dead yet, think how old they will be now...must be coming up to the age where all those years of smoking is taking its toll.

Which facts would you like to question?

I advise you to question it to, oooh lets say....ANY qualified medical doctor on the planet

See if they can give you the 'facts'

And by the way, don't try to claim i'm one of the so-called 'anti-smoking' witchhunt brigade, as I am not. I smoke the occasional cigarette, but I'm not under any illusions that it isnt doing my body serious harm

Answer 10

I feel a sever head banging on wall scenario here.

Have YOU even read the research? It's 100% undeniable that smoking causes ntold health problems. Where on earth did you get the notion that it doesn't?

Have you never wondered why people who don't smoke have a great habit of not dying of lung cancer, there's a clue there you know.