Debate Smoking

Some fun Facts for You all!

These are all thanks to http://www.thetruth.com:

1. Tobacco companies make a product that kills 1,200 Americans a day.
2. Worldwide, tobacco products kill about 4.9 million people a year.
3. About 1 out of every 5 deaths in the US can be attributed to tobacco products.
4. In 1990, a tobacco company put together a plan to stop coroners from listing tobacco as a cause
of death on death certificates.
5. In 2001, tobacco companies spent about $11 billion marketing their products. That’s about $1.5
billion more than the year before.
6. Think “light,” “ultra-light,” or “low tar” cigarettes are safer than regular ones? It’s not necessarily
the case. “Light” cigarettes have tiny holes in the paper around the filter tip. When they test
those cigarettes with machines, air comes through the holes, mixes with the smoke and dilutes it.
The result: lower readings of tar and nicotine.
The problem: Tobacco companies put those holes in places that real people tend to cover with
their fingers and lips when they smoke (the poor testing machines don’t have lips or fingers).
Holes that are covered are pretty much useless when it comes to reducing tar and nicotine, so in
some cases, “Light” “Ultra-Light” or “Low-Tar” cigarettes can be just as dangerous as regular
ones.
7. “If we admit that smoking is harmful to ‘heavy smokers’…might it not be argued that we have
been ‘willfully’ killing our customers…” 1990 quote from a tobacco company lawyer
8. Unlike food and drug companies, tobacco companies are not required to include a list of
ingredients on their packaging.
9. Secondhand cigarette smoke kills about 53,000 Americans a year.
10. Cigarette smoke contains the radioactive isotope Polonium-210.
11. Smoking-related illness costs the nation an estimated $150 billion each year.
12. Tobacco kills more Americans than AIDS, drugs, homicides, fires, and auto accidents combined.
13. In 1990, 72 million bottles of a popular mineral water were voluntarily recalled because of small
traces of benzene. The smoke from one pack of unfiltered cigarettes has as much benzene as
169 bottles of the contaminated water.
14. Cigarettes will eventually kill a third of the people who use them.
15. In 1989, millions of cases of imported fruit were banned after a small amount of cyanide was
found in just two grapes. There's thirty-three times more cyanide in a single cigarette than was
found in those two grapes.
Source:
1 Preventing Chronic Diseases: Investing Wisely in Health
2 Quantifying Selected Major Risks to Health
3 Targeting Tobacco Use: The Nation's Leading Cause of Death
4 State Government Relations: Legislative Counsel Briefing Book 1989-90
5 Federal Trade Commission Cigarette Report for 2001 compared to Federal Trade Commission
Cigarette Report for 2000
6 Some Unexpected Observations on Tar and Nicotine and Smoker Behavior and Risks Associated
with Smoking Cigarettes with Low Machine-Measured Yields of Tar and Nicotine and Smokers'
misperceptions of light and ultra-light cigarettes may keep them smoking
7 New Strategy on Smoking & Health
8 Existing Federal Regulation of Tobacco
9 Glantz: How many nonsmokers does secondhand smoke kill?
10 Radioactivity in Cigarette Smoke
11 MMWR — Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Economic Costs
— United States, 1995–1999
12 Comparative Causes of Annual Deaths in the United States
13 a. The Washington Post Sunday, 2/10/90, “Entire US Stock of Perrier Recalled; Benzene
Discovered in Testing”
b. FDA Enforcement Report
c. The New York Times, 2/10/90, “Perrier Recalls Its Water in US After Benzene is Found in Bottles”
d. Los Angeles Times, 2/12/90, “Contamination Blamed on Bottling Problem”
14 Projected Smoking-Related Deaths Among Youth -- United States
15 a. Associated Press, Tuesday, 3/14/89, “FDA Intensifies Grape Testing After Apparent Cyanide
Poisoning Attempt”
b. Newsday, New York, Wednesday, 3/15/89, “Chile’s Bitter Harvest”
c. New York Times, Wednesday 3/15/89, “Chilean Fruit Pulled From Shelves as US Widens Inquiry
on Poison”

Crazy is'nt it. . . . . . It makes you think. . . . .Maybe you should think before you get into a drug like this.

 

def. makes you think...but i wonder how bad smoking a cigar a month is? cause if its that bad then im stopping but...i think the fact that i dont inhale or smoke that often makes a difference...but thats just my oppinion...

 

Re: Some fun Facts for You all!

A product they used out of their own free will. Think of how many people die due to cars, or unhealthy food.

Which they use out of their own free will.

I wonder how many ways I can say the same thing?

Typically because CANCER kills them, not tobacco.

So?

Smoking light cigarettes is like chugging Drano Light to begin with.

Nobody forces cigarettes on these people.

So? Everybody knows how harmful cigarettes are, I dare you to find a smoker who doesn't know.

Dont like it? Live with someone else. They know the risks.

I wish this site would tell us why thats bad, specifically.

What about money made from cigarette sales?

I love how your site doesn't put up any numbers. Here are some numbers of my own.

Free will use of product which knowingly has so many bad things sort of invalidates this argument.

Life eventually kills 100% of all users.

Cool! I do have to wonder, though, if due to the fact that a cigarette isn't ingested, that cyanide isn't as effective.

All I know is that Grandma knows she doesn't have long anyway and plans on enjoying her time.

 

I never even see the point of starting. I'm 16 and I have never had a single cigarette in my life. I have never been pressured into smoking. So how come there are so many of them in the world.

I recently found a button that said, I smoke, Deal with it!. That is one of the best lines I have ever seen. Its their lives so they can do what they like with it. As long as they don't smoke near me I'm fine. And if they do then I will kindly ask them to put it out or I will simply leave. The only people I really hate are the producers who are making money off of a disease.

 

They're making money off of a product which causes disease. However, are you angry at fast food restaurants? Those can lead to some pretty nasty side effects.

How about breweries? People die from drunk driving accidents and even alcohol poisoning, and can get pretty messed up while drunk.

The point is it is the free will of the people which makes those companies profitable. The company is not fully at fault for the results. Yes, their product can do those things, but to place the blame fully on them is akin to blaming Hitlers grandparents for the Holocaust.

 

Guns don't kill people, people kill people (lol..)

I agree with you there Neph, it is hard to blame cigarettes when the actual cause of the effects of these diseases is the choice to smoke. One slight problem I see with this is that people can get addicted so it may be out of their will to stop. Of course there are nicotine patches for people to stop.. And there have been many attempts to lower smoking(such as those nice pictures of rotting teeth we all know and love) But people still are smoking. I guess that if they want to smoke then it is up to them to do so.. I am most likely going to stay away from it because I don't want to get into the habit(I don't have enough money for it anyways)

It ticked me off yesterday, I was at a bus stop and the in the little glass terminal it clearly said "no smoking" but some guy was in there puffing away and I had to go outside to get away from it. That's what annoys me... I suppose he didn't notice ^^;

I smoked once, it was more or less peer pressure from a person I knew in grade 8. I'm lucky that I didn't continue, but I didn't see what was so great about it.. Why do people enjoy smoking?

 

The same reason any drug is used - to fit in with a social circle or to escape pain.


As for that guy, you should have spoken up about it. I know you're nonconfrontational, but someones gotta stop him.

 

Well yes it is a choice to use Tobacco. So i guess i will agree with you that it is a choice and we can not put the blame completely on the tobacco industry.

But when a company that produces such a product and knows that the product that they produce is hazardous tp people why do they continue making it? Profit? Greed?

The FDA inspects toys, food almost any product out there. They ban production, or sales due to hazardous reasons. But is there some kind of exception to tobacco products. You could say it is just "fronded upon". But if it contributes to so many deaths every year how can the government just stand by and let them continue producing the product?

Tobacoo CAUSES cancer. So technically tobbaco does kill them. It causes the cancer which then kills them.

That is not always the case. If your parents smoke, you cant do anything about it. Or if you are out in public and someone dicides to smoke, you cant tell them not to. You inhale their second hand smoke just passing by.

Well that may be so but, (not that i mean to offend anybody) what idiot would take up such a habbit knowing what it does to them? Smokers know that they are unhealthy but as many of us have learned in Health class; Many smokers are are not aware of everything. Thats why now and days they teach us facts and show us things, so we have a knowledge of what cigaretts are and what they can do.

I also would like to let you in on some history. The native americans grew tobbacco and smoked it as a cultural ritual. But that was all they smoked the tobbacco leaf itself. Now they add more deadly ingredients that i am not even going to list for there are so many, 599 ingredients to be exact. But i will give you a web site that does. A cigarett would not be so hazordous if it was only tobbaco . . . . .But its not.
http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/druginfo/additives.html

now, radioactive isotope Polonium-210, is RADIO ACTIVE meaning it is bad for you. It gives off radiation. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Radio activity can effect brain waves or organs within your body.

Ok maybe your grandma wants to smoke but its not just older people near death who are smoking. Its people of all ages. By smoking a cigarett they are shortening their life. And i know my grandma would want to live as long as she can and not shorten it with a death stick.

 

Although you could look at it like "Tobacco causes cancer and cancer kills us, thus tobacco kills us," as I believe Neph said, you could say "Hitler's parents gave birth to him, Hitler committed mass genocide, this Hitler's parents are to blame". And you CAN tell someone to not smoke near you; doesn't mean they'll listen, but you can still speak up. Fact of the matter is... cigarettes and tobacco are here, they have been and whining about it on a message board isn't really going to take it anywhere if you think that it should be banned. So get out there and speak up, ya'? Or... y'know, just stay here and whine more, either or. I kind of like whining here, personally.

And... you ask what idiot would take up smoking, even though they know the risks? Go ask them. How are we supposed to know?

 

Concession Accepted.

Because people enjoy it, duh. Think about it. Why do we have booze when we know it can harm?

Cigarettes do not immeadiately kill.

Pffft, may as well ban fast food, cars, booze, planes, blunt objects, sharp objects, boxes, plastic bags and anything metallic because those can cause death too.

So? It's still not the direct cause of death. How about someone writes "McDonalds" on a heart attack victims toetag?

Leave the room and open a window.

Stand upwind so the smoke blows away, or just walk a foot or two away.

No idea. Doesn't invalidate my argument.

With all the warning labels and tv ads nowadays? Bull.

I don't care. I'm not the one smoking, but if someone wants to pump all that crap into em, thats their choice. I mean, I live in a house with two smokers, and they both smoke traditional cigarettes and, well, doobies. Know what? I'm fine.

I need specifics, you realise.

I mean... The shooting forth of anything from a point or surface, like the diverging rays of light; as, the radiation of heat. Thats what radiation is.

And radioactivity?

Spontaneous emission of radiation, either directly from unstable atomic nuclei or as a consequence of a nuclear reaction.

Of course, if you actually look at the stats...

"210Po presents an important pulmonary "pure" risk as initiator of bronchopulmonary tumor caused by alpha radioactivity (four cases out of 10,000 smokers a year)" Source: http://kidslink.bo.cnr.it/besta/fumo/epolonio.html

Oh wow, not .04% of all smokers. Woe, my heart shall never recover. Given that I barely come into contact with cigarette smoke, I think my chances of developing a tumor aren't exactly stellar.

Why should I interfere with their lives?

 

Nephilim_X, I hate arguing against you, but you're VERY convenient to have on the same side. You basically stole my entire argument! Anyway, all I'll say is that I smoke because I enjoy it. Plain and simple. I might be addicted; I might not be. Who knows? I don't care to stop smoking at the moment because I still like it. I am aware of the health hazards (They were drilled into me just like they were the rest of you) and this, that and the other thing.

So Jaken, go ahead and call me an idiot. I don't care in the least bit. I'm sure you do things that make people call you an "idiot", but at least I'm willing to say I smoke and have an intelligent talk about it.

 

well....does it matter if people smoke? i mean, i believe that if your gonna die, then die doing something you like. i don't smoke but i know why they smoke( I KNOW THE FACTS ). people ride dirt bikes off giant hill but you don't see signs up on billboards do you?people die from that and their family has to hate thinking that person could die. who are we to say smoking is bad. people do things for differnt reason( i think i went of topic ).

 

eh, most people just get addicted to it...I myself love the taste of cigar smoke...weird i know but that the why i smoke...not very ofen either..

 

Man I haven't checked on this thread for a long time, and I started it! Anyway I had a question. Does anyone know when warnings were first put on cigarette packages? Also does anyone know the actual statistics on how many people have started smoking since they started putting them on? It would be very interesting to see if they actually worked.

Also one of the scariest things I could think of would be if the scientists and doctors weren't actually working on finding cures for diseases that were caused by cigarettes but were just using the money to pamper themselves.

 

Quote:
That is not always the case. If your parents smoke, you cant do anything about it.

Leave the room and open a window.

my parent smokes and its not always easy to escape the smoke. if we are in the car then i cant get away even if all the window are open some how the smoke always find its way to me. but since my parents are divorced and my dads remarried so my stepmom makes him smoke outside. i just wanted to say that its not always as easy as opening a window. as of the whole cancer thing, smoking causes lung cancer... end of story. everyday when i see my dad smoking i secretly take away his cigarrett packets and through them away because id rather have my dad for the next 20yrs alive then shortening his life with every cigarrett and only having 10yrs

 

"you secretly take away his cigarrett packets"- your dad should be happy that you care for his health and i assume you are not going to take up smoking. thats the way.

I don't want to smoke at all, i totally hate the smell and walk away fast from people who smoke. My parents don't smoke and i am of course too young to smoke but i don't want to. If you want to go into the athletics stream -smoking would the be the last priority.

 

thank you.no im not going to take up smoking. its disgusting!
:anger:
plus my dad doesnt know that i take them. i dont even think that he notices they are gone. once he did notice but since my parents are divorced i wasnt there when he did notice.

 

Not many doctors, on taking their oath, become as totally corrupt as that :/ .

 

The way i see it the consumer is puting the ciggreitte company out f business
and there for we wouldn't have to put up with smokers. (no offence) Its seems like a continuing cycle if you ask me. So let then and we can say bye bye to ciggreittes(or however the hell you spell that word (i'm a bad speller O.K. its in my profile))