There are usually a few of us out on the big boards who wage this information campaign every time the subject arises. There are plenty of reasons to quit (smelly/expensive). But the truth is, the perils are way over stated. Yes, smokers have died from diseases, just as non-smokers have died from horrible diseases. My personal anecdote is that three close family members have had cancer and non of them smoked or had been exposed to second hand smoke. Remember, not too long ago marijuana was demonized. All but the most rabid right winger now knows those are all bogus reports.
Doesn't it make sense than an ineffectual medical community might attempt to find a scapegoat to explain away its own inadequacies? If it is a scapegoat that is sure to never go away, people will always smoke no matter what, all the better! They can continue to blame this ONE habit for the increasing numbers of ill and dying people rather than accepting the true blame that they don't know what the hell they are doing.
About 50 years ago, a campaign began to blame smoking for cancer. Cancer had become such a terrifying disease that the word "cancer" was often alluded to rather than speaking the name aloud, even being referred to as the C disease. The American Cancer Society, having failed to produce significant results in fighting cancer, chose to erect smoking as a straw man to take heat off themselves. Since that beginning, one of the world's great frauds has proceeded, to demonize smoking to the point that most people believe there is unquestionable scientific evidence that smoking is a major killer. When even that level of fright didn't convince smokers to quit, the spectre of "secondhand" smoke was created out of thin air, to continue the campaign that was making so many organizations rich on donations and tax money in hopes of actually curing cancer. Deception, outright lies, and statistical trickery have been used to such a great and effective extent that "junk science" has spread to many other areas. (...)
http://smith.mn/smoking.html snips
A new report based on research from the World Health Organization, reproduced in full. (color emphasis is mine)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Researchers said they were surprised and even embarrassed to find that smoking cigarettes apparently reduces the risk of breast cancer among women with an unusual gene mutation.
Researchers caution that the study does not mean women should smoke.
"The risks of smoking are so serious that there's absolutely no reason that any woman should consider smoking whether she is at high risk or low risk for breast cancer," said Dr. Lynn Schuchter, an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center.
Smokers had half as many cancers (...)
"No statistically significant relationship was found in either community between smoking and coronary heart disease, hypertension or somatic complaints"
1477. University of Texas School of Allied Health Sciences. Philips, B.U., Jr.; Bruhn, J.G. "Smoking Habits and Reported Illness in Two Communities With Different Systems of Social Support." FUNDING: Univ. of Texas; National Institute of Mental Health. 1981-83.
Smoking improves human information processing.
Higher nicotine cigarettes produce greater improvements than low-nicotine cigarettes.
Nicotine tablets produce similar effects.
Nicotine can reverse the detrimental effects of scopolamine on performance
Smoking effects are accompanied by increases in EEG arousal and decreases in the latency of the late positive component of the evoked potential."
0574. University of Reading, Department of Psychology (England). Warburton., D.M.; Wesnes, K. "The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Human Information Processing and the role of Nicotine in These Effects "http://smith.mn/research.html Nicotine studied as treatment for brain disorders
By Carey Goldberg, Globe Staff | November 12, 2003
Scientists reported yesterday that nicotine seems to diminish mental impairment stemming from stress or an underactive thyroid -- the latest in a growing body of evidence that the long vilified substance may help people with brain disorders ranging from Alzheimer's disease to schizophrenia.http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles... /nicotine_studied_as_treatment_for_brain_disorders/
