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from the How-much-did-folks-at-Stonehenge-smoke? dept.
In a sign that maybe there is hope for the survival of the human race, The Guardian reports that the number of cigarette smokers in the UK has dropped to less than 17%, the lowest number in half a century.
In 1974, over 50% of men in Britain were smokers; that had fallen to just 19.1% in England in 2015. Similarly, just over 40% of women smoked back then; last year it was only 14.9%.
There are now just 7.2 million adults in England who smoke. They are far outnumbered by 14.6 million ex-smokers. It is the first time that under 17% of the population are smokers and is down from the 19.3% seen as recently as 2012.
Interestingly the success rate for people trying to quit has jumped from 13.6% to around 20%.
Some of this may reflect the price of smokes - which look to be between £8 and £10 ($13 US) for a pack of twenty. (Canadian prices are sitting around $9-10 CDN)
And, in the interest of what passes for "balance" these days, there are groups that will dispute the health risks of smoking tobacco.
Disclaimer: Smoked for twenty+ years, mostly plain Camels. Yummmm..... Quit cold turkey.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Tuesday September 20 2016, @06:22PM
Do you realize you just did exactly what you are complaining about?
Perhaps he did, but perhaps you made it all up.
There are enough examples of this sort of thing being conducted, with full government backing, that dismissing the revelation because your twisted differentiation of a couple of words like "warped view" and "exaggerated narrative", is not only a disservice, but also something of an argument about angels dancing on pin heads.
Small data is blown up into huge policy very frequently. Sometimes this small data finds its way into federal law even before the ink has dried on the non-repeatable study. The trend is lamented here on SN quite regularly.
Yet you dismiss it out of hand because ONLY ONE anecdotal incident was quoted.
-Claim: Consuming cholesterol leads to high serum cholesterol. Bad Science lead to 30 years of bogus (and ineffective) medical advice.
-Claim: Exposure to sunlight leads to skin cancer. The actual data only addressed severe sunburns during adolescence.
-Claim: Salt is bad for you. No, not really, it turns out. The entire medical profession got in line and saluted.
-Claim: Marijuana leads to reefer madness. Suddenly we have a DEA that now prevents research on marijuana.
-Claim: Any alcohol is bad for you. We amended the constitution.
This tendency isn't only in the area of medical issues. Junk science (and "social research") drives much of the law in many countries.
-Fuel from Corn is a good idea!! Its mandated by law in the US. Wait, its a horrible idea. Shaddup! its still the law.
-Hair strand analysis can catch criminals! FBI testifies in thousands of convictions. It was all junk science.
-Bullet lead analysis: Ditto.
Feelings and thoughts are outlawed in the EU and the US. Legislatures vote to make increasing numbers of thing a "hate crime", not once realizing that voting to penalize something they hate is also a hate crime.
I disagree with Runaway in one respect: Kids these days seem to be far better equipped to see through the bullshit. In their life time they've seen so many cases of laws and medical and social edicts based on junk science that they are much more skeptical than when Runaway and I were as youngsters.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 20 2016, @11:39PM
with only a few sunburns when I was younger (and spf30 was good for a full day...) I can vouch that sun damage today significantly ages the skin each burn you get.
Additionally it has a tendency to create 'red spots' that don't go away after the skin is healed, and exaggerate wrinkles, areas around hair follicles, etc on the skin.
While obviously more people's experience is necessary to prove or refute this claim, I will say the sun damage claims unlike most of the others seem backed up both with limited scientific testing and also with the aging and explosure of people we know in our daily lives who place themselves into voluntary high or low sun exposure situations and the results of that on their skin. While there are many individuals who seem resistant to sun damage, especially of darker complexions (although not exclusive to them), the average caucasian person definitely takes significant damage from any time spent in areas with high levels of UV, much of it causing permanent damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @12:44AM
> Feelings and thoughts are outlawed in the EU and the US.
WTF?
No wonder you see conspiracies everywhere.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @01:17AM
One and one-half words:
alt-right