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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: 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.