I recently saw a great bumper sticker on the back of a vehicle: “Cancer Cures Smoking.” This is something I not only found amusing, but sadly true. It’s also a fact that has been known for decades, if not longer. In 1964, the Surgeon General released a report that found that smoking caused lung cancer and contributed to/aggravated bronchitis. In the 40+ years since, there’s been a flood of other reports, materials, and studies demonstrating the dangers of smoking, including second-hand smoke.
Since that landmark report, cigarette advertising has been sharply curtailed, warnings have been added to cigarette packs, and societal attitudes about smoking have changed drastically. All of this information has been out there, through newspaper articles, published reports, TV news segments, and the like. Cigarette company executives have been called to Capitol Hill to testify countless times, and have obscured or denied information about cigarette manufacturing, health dangers, and the like.
While I and many others I know are non-smokers, and disapprove of smoking, I have friends that still smoke. My own sister (as far as I know) continues to smoke. I see smokers in cars when I’m out on the road. I see people at the beach lighting up. Regardless of the knowledge that’s out there about smoking and the social pressures to NOT smoke, people are still toting around cancer sticks and firing up their lighters. My view thus far has been, “It’s your problem.” Most smokers I know personally are smart, educated people, and I know that they know about the hazards and dangers. Most of them are very polite around me; one friend in particular is very solicitous– he will move downwind away from people, he will go outside to smoke, and he’s very careful. I have no problem with this and it doesn’t bother me.
Yet one thing *does* bother me: the lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers and corporations. While I have absolutely no sympathy for them and I applaud the “sin taxes” levied against cigarette purchases and I don’t bat my eyes at multi-million dollar decisions against them in court, I’ve increasingly felt uncomfortable with the latest lawsuits. The most recent one is by a group of people that smoke “light” cigarettes– they have been awarded class-action suit status, and intend to sue the tobacco companies on the grounds that they misled smokers into thinking that “light” cigarettes were “healthier” than “regular” cigarettes.
Oh, please. My reaction can easily be summed up by a cartoon I have on my fridge, drawn by Dana Summers of the Orlando Sentinel.
.
As the cartoon demonstrates, the warnings have been around for decades. Now all of a sudden, all these ill smokers, suffering from emphysema, bronchitis, and lung cancer, are claiming the companies misled them? C’mon…
Granted, our warnings here in the States are rather bland, and over time, it’s easy to just ignore them. Maybe if the warnings on the sides of cigarette packs were like those in Canada, it’d be completely different.
I dunno. Maybe I’m overreacting. After all, the Big Tobacco executives haven’t exactly been forthcoming at all times; the smarter ones, like RJ Reynolds, have diversified their holdings, so as to survive a potentially smoke-free future. There are lots of lawsuits that I think are appropriate, and there are lots of times I think huge settlements and punitive awards are justified. But I’m starting to think, perhaps, that lawsuits by smokers are somewhat frivolous. What do you think?
I’ll leave you with this thought: even though the numbers of smokers in this country have declined over the past few decades, the numbers of deaths don’t seem to have gone down in tandem. Practically around the corner from me is a billboard that I pass often, when I’m driving home after errands or trips.
This was taken just a week or two ago, which leaves three whole months of smoking-related deaths to be reduced to numbers, to a statistic. A number that then is rolled back on the billboard counter come Jan 1, and ratchets up again.
Rather sobering…
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You wrote: “It’s your problem.”
I vehemently disagree. It becomes your problem when your beloved’s health complications forces you to quit your work or take out a second mortgage just to pay the bills. It also becomes your problem when you’re battling against that person’s addiction- I’ll never forget the day I was forced to take an eight-hour road trip with a non-smoker (hey, I was stupid in college, okay?) and his obvious annoyance at my having to pull over occasionally just for the cig breaks. Luckily, he still married me in the end. :)
-Jt, who hasn’t smoked in MANY years.
Do you think public smoking should be banned?
I think public smoking should be extremely limited (dunno what Jt thinks!)– it’s been shown that second-hand smoke is damaging to non-smokers. For me, at least, that trumps any rights that smokers have– public safety should generally prevail over individual rights.
I agree with JT. =)
Feel free to disagree with me. *grin* I say it’s still not my problem, because I’m not married to a smoker. Yep, those who ARE married to smokers will have difficulties down the road. But does a lifetime of stupidity as a smoker mean that lawsuits are the answer?
As for the road trip, pulling over isn’t a problem for me. For you, love conquers all. ;)
(for the record, I smoked cigars once upon a time, so I too was stupid when I was young!)
Wait a second David, as the self proclaimed resident cigar smoker at DeafDC.com, smoking cigars isn’t stupid. Doing things like inhaling them, smoking them indoors (whether your house or not), and smoking them around other people that aren’t cigar friendly is stupid.
I find smoking cigars quite healthy. I’m a single bachelor, in my early 30s. I work far too much, and typically am thinking about work when I’m home. Except for the times I pour a glass of Cabernet, pull out my humidor and contemplate what to smoke this time. Once selected, I go outside on my balcony, pull out a good book, and fire up a cigar.
The one this past weekend was a Sancho Panza Double Maduro. It lasted me about an hour and a half, and I enjoyed it and my glass of Cabernet, immensely.
Now the half-a-pack of Parliaments I enjoy everyday may wipe me out by the time I’m 55.
Hey, I agree smoking, either first or second-hand, is dangerous, period! However, isn’t it ironic and ridiculous to see people say “Oh, I eat healthy food. See? I am eating salads! And I exercise too.” What’s the point if you’re making your lungs black?? Would eating healthy and exercising compensate for bad smoking habits?? Life is short so why make it shortER? Wake up and smell the coffee! (Not that caffeine is good!)
I believe in moderation also. But it comes at a price - I was a moderate smoker for maybe 8 years until a year after I moved to New York. The most heaviest I’ve smoked was from 1995-1998 and 2001-02, the school years. In Ireland where I went to grad school, one can almost smoke everywhere so being in school and a new country, I was totally stressed out. When I’d have a morning coffee with a smoke or half packs (I MISS those! Ireland and the UK are the only countries I know that manufactures them - they’re good when you want to drink and smoke all night) I’d feel very relaxed. I did dabble with cigar but I hated the nasty smell.
When I moved back to the US, I’d been accustomed to smoking EU approved Marlboros and Camel, the cigs here were awful. With New York taxes and subsequent banning in bars I’ve pretty much reduced to smoking one or two cigarettes a year. Last spring I had a chest x-ray from a bad bronchitis and discovered a scarring in my lung from a pneuomia when I was 12 (in one hot August) and now I’m suspectible to chronic infections :(. In Texas this weekend with bars allowing smokes, I might have just one last smoke in a bar with a pint of beer.
[…] A couple of weeks ago was the Great American Smokeout, which is always the third Thursday of November. It got me thinking about one of my more recent (if you can call it that!) posts on this site, Cancer Cures Smoking. It’s ironic, but while I’m a non-smoker, I’m not crazy about smokers being around me, and I have no sympathy for smokers when it comes to increased taxes, fees, and the like, I see tobacco as part of history. Thus, when well-meaning companies and organizations attempt to do the Politically Correct thing, I see it as an attempt to erase history. […]