E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSLONDON -–Women in developing countries are starting to smoke at younger ages, according to a study that found "alarming patterns" of tobacco use around the world.
Despite years of anti-smoking measures being encouraged across the world, most developing countries have low quit rates, according to the study in The Lancet medical journal on Friday -- and tobacco is likely to kill half its users.
Wide differences exist in the rates of smoking between genders and nations, as well as major disparities in access to effective anti-smoking policies and treatments.
"Although 1.1 billion people have been covered by the adoption of the most effective tobacco-control policies since 2008, 83 percent of the world's population are not covered by two or more of these policies," Gary Giovino of the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions in New York, who led the research, told Reuters.
Such measures include legislation in some developed nations banning smoking in public places, imposing advertising bans and requiring more graphic health warnings on cigarette packets.
The findings come as the world's leading tobacco firms, British American Tobacco, Britain's Imperial Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco lost a crucial legal appeal in Australia this week against the introduction of plain tobacco packaging.
Australia's planned "no logo" laws are in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and are being watched closely by Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures to help fight smoking.
Full Health coverage on NBCNews.com
Tobacco kills up to half of its users, according to the WHO. Smoking causes lung cancer, which is often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world's number one killers. Other forms of tobacco use include snuff or chewing tobacco.
Australian court OKs logo ban on cigarette packs
Giovino said his findings "reinforce the need for effective tobacco control."
Higher rate of smoking in men
Using data from Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS) carried out between 2008 and 2010, Giovino's team compared patterns of tobacco use and cessation in people aged 15 or older from 14 low- and middle-income countries. They included data from Britain and the United States for comparison.
CNBC's Brian Shactman explains why investors are attracted to high dividend yielding tobacco stocks.
More Cancer news and information on NBCNews.com
They found disproportionately high rates of smoking among men -- at an average 41 percent versus 5 percent in women -- and wide variation in smoking prevalence between GATS countries, ranging from about 22 percent of men in Brazil to more than 60 percent in Russia.
Rates of female smoking ranged from 0.5 percent in Egypt to almost 25 percent in Poland. Women in Britain and the United States also had high smoking rates, at 21 percent and 16 percent respectively.
Study finds slowing drop in youth tobacco use
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control found that the rate of decline in youth smoking in the United States has virtually ceased in recent years.
In the wake of a new study showing high rates of smoking among teens, the Centers for Disease Control issued a new 12-week ad campaign to get people to stop smoking. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
The new study in The Lancet found that around 64 percent of tobacco users smoke manufactured cigarettes, although loose-leaf chewing tobacco and snuff were particularly common in India and Bangladesh.
Giovino also pointed to the link between tobacco use and escalating health-care costs.
"Tobacco contributes an enormous burden to the health care system in developed countries, and that scenario will play out in the not-too-distant future in low and middle income countries. It already has in many countries, in India for example," Giovino told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America broadcaster.
Complete World news coverage on NBCNews.com
Dr. Cheryl Healton with the American Legacy Foundation offers tips for smokers trying to quit smoking. NBC's Erika Edwards has the report.
Hundreds of millions of smokers in China
With an estimated 301 million tobacco users, China has more than any other country, closely followed by India with almost 275 million. Other countries included in the study were Bangladesh, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam.
The researchers said the rise in tobacco use among young women was of particular concern.
Researchers also said that powerful pro-tobacco forces were at work in countries such as China.
"The China National Tobacco Company has supported elementary schools in China, dozens and dozens of them. And they use their support to promote propaganda about tobacco use, and they are basically telling students that genius comes from hard work and tobacco helps them to be successful. That to me is mind boggling, that a government would tell its children to use tobacco to be successful when tobacco will addict them and shorten their lives," Giovino told Voice of America.
EU considering cigarette logo ban to deter smoking
A new study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health says nicotine gum and patches may not help people quit smoking after all. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
'Extraordinary' under-funding
In a commentary about the study also published in The Lancet, Jeffrey Koplan from Emory University in Atlanta and Judith Mackay from the World Lung Foundation in Hong Kong called for more investment in tobacco control measures, saying current under-funding was "extraordinary."
In low income countries, they said, for every $9,100 received in tobacco taxes, only $1 was spent on tobacco control.
Cigarettes are to be banished from sight in England's shops. After 2015, retailers won't be allowed to display tobacco. The British government is also considering whether to require tobacco products be sold in plain packaging. ITV's Chris Choi reports.
The WHO says 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, the WHO predicts tobacco could be killing 8 million people a year.
Read the full report on The Lancet (registration required to read the full study)
Reuters contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Seven American soldiers die in Afghan chopper crash
- Report: 30 dead in Syrian air strike; strife spills into Lebanon
- What's causing Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?
- NZ skydiver hits ground after parachute fails
- I'd like a beer, 70-year-old says after icy 6-day ordeal in Alps
- Germany arrests 4 suspected of violating Iran embargo
- Study: Japan nuclear disaster caused mutated butterflies
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
You know what? leave people alone already! They know smoking can kill them already. If they haven't figured it out by now they never will. It will never be stopped or curtailed. There is to much money being made especially by the governments of the world. Money is power and we cant diminish that.
Sorry but when smokers have a direct affect on my health insurance premiums they have no rights which trumps mine. I could care less about their personal lives aside from the fact they're costing me money.
Jeff
What about the carcinogens coming out of the tail pipe of your car? Does my infant deserve that?
What about the coal fired energy industry? Silence?
Please look at the big picture.
Stupid is as stupid does. Yes, some of these people are either living in highly uneducated countries or are falling for the usual tobacco ad hype, but those who know better just need an open-hand supersonic b*tch-slap across the face as they pollute MY air and that of my kids. Lower the price of a pack to a dollar and put high doses of cyanide in every one. Problem solved. Smokers, you're gross.
Tobacco is so addictive, especially with all the specific and sinister additives...the most lethal legal product around.
Smokers pay much higher premiums so you don't have to. But hey, while we're at it - let's ban everything that's unhealthy and results in increased healthcare costs. Let's ban sugary sodas, and hamburgers, and alcohol, and being outside without sunblock!
Good question: fact is, living in an urban area (ie lots of vehicles) is the equivalent of smoking a pack a day.
I quit years ago - but your statement is incredibly close-minded and prudish. With that sort of self-righteous, judgemental attitude - all I have to say is, "F*ck your air".... it's people like you that make me want to pick it up again just so I can blow it in your face.
Comparing tobacco smoke with bus exuast is comparing apples and oranges.
If tobacco was still just tobacco then no problem, but the tobacco companies have been adding chemicals to it for years to addict you faster and harder, to make it burn faster so you have to buy more, and to make it taste like candy candy so young children will smoke. Nicotine is one of the most addicting substances on the planet which kills half the people who use it and yet it is still legal. Do you know why? Check out who owns the tobacco companies and you will find that they are RICH CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS, addicting people to harmful drugs is okay as long as you do it in the name of capitalism.
I personally don't care if it is legal or not, if people are stupid enough to smoke then let them, but if you aren't going to prohibit it's use then we need to stop the prohibition of all products that the government says is bad for us. It is not the governments responsibility to save me from myself. LEGALIZE POT NOW OR MAKE ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO ILLEGAL NOW, but of course that will never happen as long as conservatives profit from tobacco and liberals profit from pot. It's has always stricken me as odd how conservatives who claim to be so close to the supposed creator produce and profit from all the toxic substances that are killing the human race and destroying the planet they claim he created just for them.
The way I see it is that smoking is a very effective way to control over-population.
Guess again -Smokers pay higher health insurance premiums for the privilege of being smokers, so the impact of someone else smoking on your health insurance premiums is extremely small at most.
There has been and is currently more than enough information out there about the dangers of smoking. These new draconian packaging laws are going to do absolutely nothing to change the number of people who smoke or start smoking each year. The thing that has proven most effective at reducing tobacco use has been the high taxes that many jurisdictions place on tobacco products, not anti-smoking ads in the media or warnings on tobacco packaging.
I also question why the tobacco industry is being targeted and not the alcohol industry. The number of people who die each year from alcohol related health problems and alcohol related accidents is estimated at 2.5 million, the third leading cause of death. It is also found that most of these deaths occur at younger ages a opposed to those who die from smoking who are usually much older. Alcohol death numbers may not be as bad as the 6 million they estimate from smoking, but when you factor in the younger ages of those dying from alcohol related issues you are talking about a much bigger hit to the active work force of the world. Also, alcohol abuse effects the lives of far more non-abusers than smoking does non-smokers. Just think of all the innocent people killed by drunk drivers every year. Also, accidents caused by drunk drivers and health costs associated with alcohol abuse are doing far more to effect non-abusers insurance rates than smokers are effecting non-smokers rates. This is because health insurance companies charge higher premiums for smokers but not for drinkers and a drinkers car insurance rates only go up if they have gotten a DUI, which unfortunately often does not happen until after they have already gotten in an accident and injured or killed someone else.
If the government is really concerned about stopping these types of deaths then why aren't they pushing to place ads showing a liver destroyed by cirrhosis or of people who have been crippled or killed by drunk drivers on alcohol bottles and beer cans. Why not place pictures of the devastating car wrecks that drunks cause on liquor bottles and beer cans?!?! This selective targeting of tobacco companies is wrong and I certainly hope that the tobacco companies win when they take their case to the WTO to overturn the Australian law. And just for the record - no, I am not a smoker and I rarely have more than one drink at a time, although I did lose a good friend and saw another one crippled for life by a drunk driver.
"The way I see it is that smoking is a very effective way to control over-population"
No, the Bilderberg group is working on that by making sure you are too weak, too poor, too stupid and too sick to fight the good fight. They want world domination and a population of just 500 million. Been going on since 1951. Investigate or not at your own peril.
Is that the way you see it? I have yet to see a tobacco product that would keep people from screwing. The demographics for smokers would suggest that they probably reproduce more than the smaller subset of the population who are intelligent and disciplined enough to avoid smoking. If you're smoking 3 packs a day you probably have half a dozen screaming runts running around the house waiting for their chance to smoke and breed.
Jeff -
Sounds like you're going to be a busy person, sticking your nose into the personal lives of millions of people. Not only those that smoke, but also those that are obese because they can't push back from the dinner table, those that consume alcohol on a regular basis, people who don't wear a seat belt, people that ride motorcycles, who like bacon and eggs for breakfast, anybody on a prescription drug, people that sun bathe, not to mention rock climbers.... and on and on.and on.
Social rebellion and smoking have been partners for many years.
To Jeff: You are a capitalistic pig. You are a murderer of the future. You are a lover of satan. You are a worshipper of evil and very shortly you will be made to know all of this as will all who believe in principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of the world,and spiritual wickedness in high places. We all are surrounded by evil and we try to justify our embrace of evil by saying its for the good of all. You are deceived.
BeeCee,
I see that's not just tobacco you're smoking.
I quit smoking almost 30 years ago. It was not easy, because I got hooked on my first (experimental) puff, I swear. I did it to be able to live long enough to raise my kid. My Mom died of lung cancer. To my mind tobacco should be outlawed, but then we'd just have tobacco prohibition. The problem is that it pollutes the air, it makes the children of smokers ill, and even 3rd hand smoke is dangerous. I now have asthma from my years of smoking (when the dangers were not well known). We're exporting death around the world. I feel sorry for smokers, the same way I feel sorry for any other addict - food, booze, drugs. But you CAN quit. My SIL had to quit if he wanted to marry my daughter - he had smoked for years-since he was a kid-and with one of those prescription medications (Chantex?) and a lot of support he's been smoke free for months and doing very well. Think of the money you'd save by quitting!
Food addicts also need help and there are programs for that. Is is more than not being able to push back from the table. That is why there is OA and bariatric centers with counseling to help the person whose addiction manifests in food.
New motto for the United States: "Land of the free .... unless I don't like it."
This boon in smoking must absolutely thrill the 1%.
More money...their reason to exist!
Pat-1988241 - Just to make sure I understand you. Your saying it's ok to smoke because car's put out exhaust. For the record, anyone who decides to smoke coal should be in the same boat. Silence? How silly is the silence statement? Obviously someone can't reply to a post you haven't posted yet.
Skup, you just made by head hurt really bad trying to read that.
Body Double.....your post became completely imbecilic the moment you put RICH CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS in.
I think the focus should be on children between the ages 10-16. And teach them as much and as often as possible about the affects of tobacco use.
Focusing on trying to teach an adult the harmful affects is pretty pointless and waste of time. They already know and probably don't care. That's what addiction does.
Ayn Rand would be SO PROUD...and her minion PAUL RYAN as well!!!
Addictive drugs are big business and business is what America is about. Altria has more than doubled in value within two years and one of the few companies paying a dividend (4.63%). Taxes are outrageous on cigarettes and still don't pay for the health care tobacco causes. Of course politicians don't assign that tax dollar to health care anyway.
What we need is a contract with each purchase: Clearly written, "By purchasing this product I agree to never use any taxpayer money for my health care." Good luck and maybe you can get some of that tax dollar to go toward your funeral cost.
NeverStop -
Yes...as long as you 99% er's keep breeding like rabbits, or should I say vermin, there will be an endless supply of fools that can be hood winked into picking up a cigarette, taking a puff, addicting themselves and guaranteeing record obscene profits and double digit dividend returns for my portfolio. After reading this story, I'm on the phone right now with my broker directing him to buy more RJReynolds. Life is good.
Leave people alone. Every person on this planet knows cigarettes are not good for you. You will NEVER change the desire for cigarettes around this world. The best idea is to make money off them. Tobacco stocks perform way better than the vast majority of stocks because they pay large dividends, upwards of 7+%. I can't control other peoples behaviour, but I can make money on them.
CEO722, you got that right!
Denver bill it is so funny you say that "New motto for the United States: "Land of the free .... unless I don't like it." since you always post anti-marijuana propaganda each time an article or post mentions pot. I guess it's all okay as long as YOU approve, but if "denver bill" doesn't approve of it's use then it should be banned.
But I do agree that it is not the governments job to tell us what we can or can't eat, drink or smoke!
Mark-768...
Actually, comparing tobacco smoke with any other type of carbon or chemical emmissions is very relevent. Not so much with the actual smoker, but definitely when talking about second hand smoke0.
The caveat being why many live long lives and others don't.
--------------------------------
Getting back to the article... What is so hard to understand? Human nature says that some will take the attitude that it will be the other one that gets ill or that if someone tells me NOT to do something, I will show them by doing it anyways.
As for the addictiveness of smoking, no argument here. I quit a nearly 3 pack aday habit 12 years ago, yet still today I go through periods of wanting to light one up again. Just can't see paying over $5/pack for starting up such an addictive habit again.
Collapse all you want but it's true. Smokers are a bunch of thin skinned folks, but they are also a DYING breed so there's hope after all. :)
Sorry but when smokers have a direct affect on my health insurance premiums they have no rights which trumps mine. I could care less about their personal lives aside from the fact they're costing me money.
Good then you're all for legalization of Marijuana too I see. :)
Jeff, they die early which in fact SAVES you money. More money is spent on a non-smoker at the end of their life than by smokers who die way prematurely. Also, smokers in fact pay a surcharge to smoke, my wife's company charges 20% more per person on their insurance for smokers. Your argument does not hold water.
IF it were as simple as people having the right to kill themselves without repercussions on my I could care less. Heck I am all for people being able to off themselves legally, BUT they cost money on our health care system and that affects me so their rights are infringing on mine. Since that's the case screw them.
I can only hope they don't linger when they come down with cancer or emphysema. The sooner they kill themselves with tobacco the easier it is on the rest of us.
BodyDouble
I guess I should be flattered that you follow my posts closely enough so that you think you know what I believe. I defy you to find a post of mine where I say I don't approve of smoking pot.
Jeff-1592116
I don't smoke marijuana, but I do support freedom of choice. Therefore, the fact that smoking pot is illegal in some jurisdictions doesn't bother me, but neither does the fact that some of my friends and relatives do so in my presence.
The product is extremely adictive and toxic. I lost a good friend to it two years ago next month. Brain scans of smokers show that their brains are permanently alterred by smoking (read in New Scientist magazine). Tobacco farmers should be taxed for growing the stuff, and payed to switch and grow food instead.
So much for the libs' idea that people want to be told what to do. They don't want to believe it, but there is a reason the US has been considered the land of the free and that land of opportunity. People really do want freedom. It's why communism and socialism fail every time it's tried. The only way any of them have been held together is at the end of a gun barrel. Unfortunately, we are heading in the same direction unless the bleeding is stopped in November. Vote Romney to save America!
Why do people smoke?
You have to understand that to understand why it is so hard to quit.
Are you going to outlaw perfume, hair spray, bathroom cleaners, scented shampoos, deodorant all energy drinks? We tried prohibition and it did not work. If you outlaw smoking the same thing will happen.
There are thousands of products that we use everyday that effect our health in one way or another. Have you listened to the side effects on medications lately? I know why I smoke, it is a reason to step away from what is bothering me and to think about it. I do not drink, I am in fairly good shape, I go for 3-4 mile walks quite often. I workout each and every morning.
There are thousands of jobs that expose you to more harm than smoking by itself does. Are we going to outlaw every single one of those jobs as well?
Yes it does cause long term damage to your body, there are people who die everyday from inhaling paint, glue and other products. The newest one that I have heard of is freon from air conditioners. We should also outlaw extreme sports?!
Life without some risks is not life, what is the point. I am not saying that we need to go out of our way to find danger, I am saying that until you fix the under lying reason for someone to do something, it is not going to change.
Hum, not to be all picky, but if a portfolio holds mutual funds, and not just stocks, there's a huge chance the investor owns tobacco investments. Mutual funds buys from across a broad spectrum in just one fund in order to spread the risk. So no, it's very unlikely it's just 'rich conservative republicans'.
Gawd, don't make me defend what I can't respect right now. It weirds me out.
For those saying smokers raise "MY" health insurance costs. Before you believe that propaganda crap, please go to your State Board of Equalization site & see for yourself exactly how tobacco tax revenue is spent.
"How are the revenues used?
Ten cents of the cigarette tax is deposited into the state’s General Fund and two cents per package goes into the Breast Cancer Research Fund.
Twenty-five cents (Proposition 99, November 1988) of the cigarette and tobacco products surtax is used for the following purposes: �
•
� Tobacco-related health education programs and disease research.
•
� Medical and hospital care and treatment of patients who cannot afford those services, and for whom payment will not be made by any private coverage or federal program.
•
� Programs for fire prevention; environmental conservation; protection, restoration, enhancement, and maintenance of fish, waterfowl, and wildlife habitat areas; and enhancement of state and local parks and recreation.
Fifty-cents (Proposition 10, November 1998) of the cigarette and tobacco products surtax is used for programs that encourage proper childhood development, including the development of professional and parental education and training, informed selection of childcare, development and education of childcare providers, and research into the best practices and standards for all programs and services relating to early childhood development."
Not only are smoker's paying higher premiums, they're also paying additional taxes to cover the inevitable medical costs. At some point, we all die...no matter how well you take care of yourself.......you will die. & before you go onto the "MY" clean air rant.....we would have entire generations wiped out from nothing but smoking related illnesses. Despite all the "funded" surveys out there. I don't see near as many people smoking today as I did when I was growing up. And if these diseases are STILL on the rise.......you don't question it could possibly be something else causing it like pollution from vehicles or factories or pesticides? NO...it just must be the smoker's. That's an easy target. Your death will more than likely, be the result of YOUR lifestyle or YOUR genetics.
JEFF,
Go watch demolition man, that will show you exactly the society that you would like to live in. The only place to eat out is Taco Bell. The songs are stupid commercial jingles, they pay a fine for saying a bad word. Oh yes and they are all chipped so everyone knows exactly where you are.
shulack..."smokers pay a much higher premium..."
There are a lot of poor people without insurance that smoke. When they develop smoking related diseases, you pay for their health care.
Jeff, you are blatently ignoring the obvious so you can keep on ranting. Would you like me to copy, verbatim, the agreement I had to sign which effectively raised my insurance rate by 1/4? I will if I have to, but this is what it says: We are charging you more so we don't have to charge non-smokers more.
So sit - maybe people will take you seriously when you actually have a valid complaint.
Well, welfare reform should take care of that, right? Oh yeah, the civil rights fools (your friends) say it infringes on the rights of welfare recipients to disallow cigarette, alcohol and stripper purchases paid for by ALL OF US. Smokers get hit with a double-whammy. So take your self-rightous BS somewhere else.
I hope some of you are gun owners and lose your rights - because guns can be harmful to others, too.
I'm not ignoring anything. I smoked for 30 years and quit over 12 years ago. I use to be overweight too and lost 65lbs and got back into shape. May I suggest you all to do the same and help the problem instead of being the problem.
Guns CAN be harmful to others? Ha! I hope gun owners lose their rights to own assault rifles because the deer in my woods can be killed with a regular rifle. I hope gun owners lose their rights to buy ammunition clips that hold 100 rounds because, seriously, if you can't down an elk in 25 shots, you're a really crappy hunter. When will the next mass killing take place? Coming soon to a theater or temple near you, perhaps. It's not the guns, though. And after another tragedy or before another tragedy occurs is NEVER the time to talk about gun control. So when, then? Keep your guns, but where do you draw the line?
The fact that tobacco causes so many health problems, costs everyone regardless of whether they pay higher insurance premiums or not. More resources are spent taking care of these drug addicts that could go toward having a better system. Medicare would easily be saved in the form we all want to be able to use someday. That's why Romney and Ryan want YOU to smoke, but notice that they don't!
Smokers are a drain on insurance, care givers, caretakers, and society as a whole. Wake up and get healthy. I'd say the same to obese people who can't seem to stop eating sugar, fat, salt. You are costing all of us with your irresponsible behavior. If you don't want to stop for the good of your country (patrioticism anyone?) then do it for the good of your loved ones who ultimately pay the bills and take care of your sorry arse when you're sick and pay the funeral expenses and mourn your death.
When the radical rightwing rabble continues to call anything that's good for everyone "socialism" I have to wonder how they became this brainwashed. (I know it's FOX, but they don't.) There was a time when doing what's right for your country was "patriotism" and doing what's best for your family was "love."
Yes, let's attack the people using legal products and totally ignore the ones using drugs like meth that are made with bleach and other harmful chemicals and have a MUCH higher death rate.
Name one thing the left has done that is good for "everyone". ACA doesn't count since it leaves 20 million uninsured and is going to bankrupt those who are living paycheck to paycheck and are ineligible for "free" insurance and are forced to buy it. Do you just not care about those people or were you "brainwashed" into thinking it's good for them?
From the CDC http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/
From this article: Tobacco kills up to half of its users, according to the WHO.
With contradicting statistics like this, I don't trust either of them. MSNBC just took the higher of the 2 figures and labeled it as fact.
Assault rifles ARE illegal. The NRA had a hand in writing that law and it's been on the books for years.
Tracy you're not even in the same league as I am so debating you would be beneath me.
/thread
Jeff:
The only thing worse than a smoker........is a former smoker.
Okay denverbill, I had you confused with arizonatumbleweed, I apologize.
This entire anti-tobacco initiative is absurd and self-serving. On one hand, governments want the considerable tax money tobacco brings in. On the other hand they go through considerable effort to get people to stop smoking.
They do what it seems is everything possible to discourage smoking but stop short of banning tobacco products. Why? Because if they do, there will almost instantly be another black market product easily as great as marijuana and possibly larger and most importantly, they will no longer reap all that tax revenue.
By now, even hermits that live in caves know of the dangers of tobacco, so enough already. Governments and all those self serving activists need to back off and let people make their own choices.
NP.
Assault rifles ARE illegal. The NRA had a hand in writing that law and it's been on the books for years.
Allen, you are totally wrong about that. Clinton signed a bill banning them for a time, which has since expired. They also banned large capacity magazines, which has also expired. They never were "illegal".....Nor should they be, they were never designed for hunting as some may believe. The reason the second amendment gave the people the right to "bear arms" was not for hunting but to allow them the tools to overthrow an abusive government. And you cant do that with hunting rifles today. Maybe in the long distant past but not today....
They gov't could care less if people quit as there is a huge tax revenue they get on taxes on cigarettes and other related products. NY, for example, has a $5.35 tax on a pack of cigarettes and claim the money is used to prevent addition and help people quit, but the reality is the state uses less-than $0.50 for these programs and puts the rest in the general fund to be blown like the rest of our state taxes! So why would the state kill the sacred cow that brings in $billions in tax revenue?
Next NY is adding more gun control legislation to an already-ridiculous battery of laws. It's all for revenue, and only for revenue. If anyone thinks the government really cares about our safety, health and well-being, they might want to get their heads checked.
You can't force people to live their lives the way you want them to. I don't smoke and I never have. If someone else wants to or doesn't want to it's not up to me.
I agree, we can't tell everyone what to do, however I also believe that the rights of one group should not infringe on the rights of others. My biggest complaint about smokers is when they throw their butts out the car window. Disgusting and inconsiderate of others, just like any other people who litter. Just what everyone wants to look at at a stoplight, a pile of gross cigarette butts on the side of the road.
Bottom line if you are going to smoke or do anything for that matter, at least be considerate of others!
It travels too. In one apartment the people below me smoked so much it travelled up through the walls and out the electric outlets. It looked like we were having a fire in the wiring. It was so bad the management told them they had to smoke outside. I had photos of the smoke climbing out my outlets and up the walls - I was sick all the time. The sad part? I loved my neighbors. They tried everything - smoke eaters, etc. My granddaughter played with their girls. It was heart-rending because I didn't want to hurt them by complaining, but I wanted to breathe without having to be on medication for their smoking. They moved back to Europe where they said everyone smoked so it would be no problem there. (sigh)
AutumnFoghamar--you described VERY WELL why this is NOT just an issue of a person being left alone to do what they want with their own body--their right to smoke ends where OUR NOSE BEGINS! Both of my parents smoked--and I have Reactive Airway Disease. I would never voluntarily smoke, but secondhand smoke is hard to avoid sometimes, especially for kids, and other family members. It would be fruitless to outlaw it, but it is and should be regulated so as to minimize the damage to others that it causes.
commonsense: very fitting name
commonsense, people with a relatively new car that smoke have to throw their butts out the windows now since the new cars do not have ashtrays. You can thank the politicians for that too. That is the byproduct of their "laws" to get people to quit smoking. No politician ever thinks about the "unintended consequences" of their laws. If they did most of them would never be enacted in the first place.
Autumn, you must have lived in some really cheap apartments. If they weren't cheap, they surely were cheaply built. I bet you could also smell what they were having for dinner too. But you maybe forgot to add that part to your post. I've lived in apartments many times and heard the neighbors having sex, fighting, and kids screaming. To me that is worse than their smoke, of course I have never lived in any apartment cheap enough that their smoke got into my apartment from another apartment. But I do know of some cheap enough I could see that happening. I had much rather pay the extra cost of a house to get the privacy I want than put up with the lack of privacy in an apartment. But it is a matter of choice....
Just big business as normal. The tobacco industry is a big machine with lots of momentum. They've been "giving" free cigarette samples away for years. Now it's payback time for the millions of newly hooked people.
I remember that when I back in the 80's. When a new brand of cigarette came out the company would give away free mini pack samples. They'ed have their people standing on downtown street corners handing them out to anybody. I was about 15 at the time. Course I got some too.
check
On behalf of our shareholders, I want to thank all the young smokers. You rock.
-Tobacco companies
Check your 401K and IRAs- look at where your investments are before you condemn the cig companies.
I love big tobacco. I say smoke on.
So now they want to make cigarettes "disappear" off the shelves in London? It's funny, years ago the government never controlled our lives, but now they tell us what we can't eat, what we can't smoke & suddenly they're "concerned" about us smokers dying? You'd think they'd be more concerned about how much taxes they'll be losing if everyone quit smoking! Hahaha! Aren't things bad enough with homes going into foreclosure? Jobs leaving the country or going out of business? Sell crazy some place, we're all stocked up here!
What ever happened to our freedom to live as we please. If the cigarettes don't kill you, the decisions made in Washington will anyway.
We have the freedom to live as we please? Tell that to anyone with a marijuana plant growing in their closet...
You contradict yourself.
They're worried about people dying from smoking? I wonder why they aren't worried about all these people dying in the wars that we keep starting. I guess it's better to die from being bombed than lighting up a smoke.
Angela Monger,
Being pro choice you have to understand how many abortions are performed every year. It is over 1 million just in the United States.
Docs and pharmaceutical companies are making biggggg bucks on prescription meds, meth heads are blowing houses up and exposing children, and how many people do you know who kill people from smoking tobacco while driving? Prime example of Swallow a camel and gag at a gnat. Local health departments have begun making their own laws, even though they are appointed, not elected, officials. Smells a lot like a dictatorship. Just another facet of peoples' lives the government wants to control.
proudwestvirginian i could'nt have said it better these other posters dont have a clue is to what is happing to them.. the ashkanazi zionists are going to start with tabacco and then with alcohol and finally your civil rights the world health is a ruse to control you and the first step to one world rule if we dont stand up to these zionist thugs we in the united states will lose all of our rights and privlidges
Had a close cousin die of esophogeal cancer, he chewed. Dad just finished Chemo and Radiation, lifetime smoker. Please don't wait until this happens to someone you care about to know what smoking can cause! There are much easier ways to die.
Yea, but you're still dead in the end. Why does it matter?
It matters because dying from natural causes beats dying from tobacco induced cancers any day.
mike-v3:If you were given the choice of dying instantly in a motorcycle wreck or spending 5 years slowly dying in excruciating pain with cancer, you might see very vividly why it matters!
@Jeff-1592116
Yeah, that's the ticket. Their rights don't trump mine, but mine sure as hell trump theirs. I am just so much more important than anybody else.
Of course you do absolutely nothing that adds to pollution or increases dangerous situations in the world, right? Umm, do you drive?
The article says smoking kills 600K non smokers. So I'd say, there is an argument, especially since most people NEED to drive to get to work.
to janellect: there is no argument. I was a smoker since 13. I now smoke rarely and never around others. I hate smoking . However I do not believe it should be used as a divisive weapon to split people into groups. It is and will be used to do so, as other differences in people's beliefs morals and habits. When this occurs the powers in the world will begin to destroy large portions of the population. Those who are left behind will embrace evil and call it a service to God but it will be a service to satan and evil. Better think twice before condoning what will begin the largest and last extermination of mankind by mankind. People will say its for the good of mother earth(pagan) and the good of mankind but it will be the self indulgence of all who remain on earth. Better prayer for guidance and peace and the will of God and the salvation of Jesus Christ. Time is running out.
Even the notion that a paperless world one in which everyone is chipped is at the door and looked upon by the world as a good thing but hese things are fulfillment of the Biblical scriptures. Wonder how these prophesies were know hundreds of years ago and are so accurate. Better think for yourself and find a quiet place to pray and find God.
Janellect,
I hate to break this too you but all those people who died from smoking, are still going to die.
We are all going to die sooner or later, that is a fact of life. To live you have to die at some point.
I would much rather die at 80 than live to be 90 and have altimeters or not know who the heck I am or where I am at.
subnormal, "altimeters" tell you how high you are above sea level! If you are referring to alzheimers, you don't necessarily have to wait until you're 90. People can be affected by it in middle age, but the earliest case occurred in a person who was only 27!
This is a good thing!. Humans are overpopulating the earth by coming up with cures for every disease that naturally controls populations of any other species. It is totally unsustainable. We live longer, we keep every semblance of life (that is human) alive. (but we euthanize other species when they break a leg, horses for one example or dogs and cats when there are too many of them for another example) Humans have intelligence which is equally matched by gross ignorance in the way we use this planet. It is also matched by the manner in which we abuse our own lives by using drugs, alcohol, tobacco etc. So, if we eliminate our natural population controls, then let our innate ignorance do us in by the millions. Why waste our breath and time putting warnings on tobacco products when every smoker already knows what they are getting into? It's a good thing. Leave it alone!
To Georgieboy: Man will destroy himself except for the very few who God will cover with his protection. This world is not made to sustain life indefinitely. It is merely a stopping place for all to find truth but it will pass away as will heaven will pass away with a loud noise. The word of God will not pass away ever. Jesus will return and when he does you will not have to look for him for all will know what is taking place at the appointed time. There will be no place to hide and no rock to hide under. All of man's evil will be brought to light and judged.
Cukoo...cukoo...cukoo!!!
That's why allowing an Evangelical right wing NUT to have control of nuclear weapons is suicide. These religious zealots have a death wish; they would jump off a cliff and grant their wish if they weren't so intent on the rest of the world ending.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to eliminate tobacco use, just as long as we dont go down the road of prohibition.
Marijuana - more specifically HEMP could be employed as the perfect substitute for that horrible putrid smelling poison called tobacco. Only azzholes smoke tobacco.
Smart people smoke pot. Legalize it!!!!!!
They're just going to add the harmful chemicals they add to tabacco.
You are an idiot to believe that. Pot smokers know the difference.
I can't stand the anti-smoke Nazis and I don't smoke.
Right on! I have never smoked cigarettes and find these anti smoking zealots annoying. Does anyone realize that you can die of lung cancer even if you never smoked or were never exposed to second hand smoke?
For those of you not afraid to actually learn something, may i suggest googling Joe Jackson's (yes, that Joe jackson), "Smoking lies and the nanny state".
Certainly an eye opener.
The same people that bit*h about cigarette smoke have no problem with weed smoke and, in fact, want to make it legal. Smoke is smoke and cigs and weed both have byproducts that are harmful to the body. Hmmm...hypocrites!
Please review the facts before submitting a comment blindly. I would post numerous links to studies conducted by reputable universities that show that marijuana has no adverse effect on lungs but this forum strips embedded links.
Please do yourself a favor and educate yourself by using a search engine to find these studies (search for - marijuana safe for lungs). Of course, with anything, check the sources of any article. If you search for something like -marijuana's effect on the lungs- you will of course be blindsided with biased, unstudied articles on adverse effects. These are simple untrue and are not based on empirical evidence that has gone through the scrutiny of scientific reasoning.
An interesting observation made in the Journal of the American Medical Association (a very, very rebuttable source of information) points out that not only does occasional marijuana smoke use not harm the lungs but in fact it has been shown in many cases to INCREASE lung capacity and efficiency. The numbers don't lie but anti-marijuana groups do.
If you don't believe in the ability of science to properly analyze data then please do yourself and everyone else a favor and quit using technology that this same science has enabled. You can start with your computer and that glowing screen in front of your face.
The right to breath clean air ALWAYS trumps the right to smoke - ANYTHING - POT INCLUDED - in public.
Legalize pot, but dont be an obnoxious ahole and smoke around those who dont want to be exposed to the miracle plant.
Fart near me and you'll pay dearly.
The bandwagon continues. How about taking a look at the food industry. The crap they are feeding all of us is causing high rates of obesity, diabetes, cardio vascular... It's just easier to target smokers since is's easy to point a finger. People in this country and elsewhere are very critical of smokers but are completely unwilling to invest in clean air solutions to big oil! These same people are up in arms when the price of gas and oil goes sky high. You know what, take your judgemental ass home and shut up. Until you are part of the solution, don't pick and choose which groups you can bully!!
People know the risks of smoking. Some people will continue to smoke, no idiot government program is going to change that.
Definition of irony? A reporter interviewing a non-smoker who was ranting about 2nd hand smoke and the affects on his body all while standing in line at a Burger King!!!
I'd say it's easier to quit smoking than eating. Like an alcoholic who can't only take one drink, it's much harder to eat just the right things. Actually, it would be easier to lose weight if we didn't have to eat... outta sight, outta mind.
I grew up in Tobacco country and our lives revolved around tobacco. The industry including the farmers was heavily state (Virginia) controlled and a tobacco allotment awarded by the state (the acreage you could plant tobacco on) was valuable and a family asset. It stayed in the family and was inherited. Tobacco inspectors would come around and measure the acreage and if you planted more than your allotment, they would cut down the outside rows. I have seen women in tears because a row of tobacco plants got cut down and that affected the family income and usually caused hardship. Our lives revolved around the weather and the price of tobacco at the auction houses. The success of the tobacco crop determined how well we lived for the next year. As a young man, I was sent in to "sucker" the tobacco plants where one broke off the flowering part of the plant so it would continue to grow big leaves. It left a gum like residue on on your hands and arms. Messy! I never smoked. I grew up hating any tobacco products. I remember the conversations about the tobacco agents and who was easy and who accepted bribes and so forth. It was and probably still is a highly controlled industry. A tobacco agent who would look the other way when measuring your allotment usually drove a very nice car.
Had a uncle that smoked ,died at a very young age,was ran down by a TRUCK packed with illegals on there way to bye more BEER...LIFE SUCKS THEN YOU DIE...
The government isn't interested in anyone quitting. Look at all the tax money they stand to lose!
if governments really cared they would make it illegal ...sure some would go crazy for a couple of weeks but afterwards they would get over it....so the media,goverments, and anti-smoking groups can stop all the BS ... same thing with cars...electric cars were invented before gas ...its all about cash and thats it
kamanda, google "prohibition". The US government tried making alcohol illegal and the main result was that organized crime got a big boost and gangsters became folk heroes. Finally they gave it up as a bad job. I wish that our current government would recognize that the "war on drugs" is having the same result.
Cigarette butts are biodegradable so get over the "throwing them out the window" bit.
"Cigarette butts are biodegradable so get over the "throwing them out the window" bit"
OK lets designate your front lawn as the cigarette butt dumping ground and see what happens first - the butts biodegrading, or you bitching.
Feces is biodegradable as well. So should people just take a crap out their windows?
LOL. That conjures up mental images that crack me up! Driving down Elm Street watching pasty white asses hanging out the window taking a dump.
I hope that the people who walk their dogs by the park use biodegradable plastic bags for their dogs poop. Nothing ironic about taking a walk along a wooded river and seeing a bag hanging from a tree full of dog poop. Maybe they are working under the time release program or something.
"Feces is biodegradable as well. So should people just take a crap out their windows?"
Again, apples and oranges. One has nothing to do with the other. STAY ON TOPIC! tOPIC IS CIGARETTE BUTTS TOSSED OUT THE WINDOW.