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"Who still smokes?" as Denise Grady reports at the NYT that however bad you thought smoking was, it’s even worse. A new study has found that in addition to the well-known hazards of lung cancer, artery disease, heart attacks, chronic lung disease and stroke, researchers found that smoking was linked to significantly increased risks of infection, kidney disease, intestinal disease caused by inadequate blood flow, and heart and lung ailments not previously attributed to tobacco. “The smoking epidemic is still ongoing, and there is a need to evaluate how smoking is hurting us as a society, to support clinicians and policy making in public health,” says Brian D. Carter, an author of the study. “It’s not a done story.” Carter says he was inspired to dig deeper into the causes of death in smokers after taking an initial look at data from five large health surveys being conducted by other researchers. As expected, death rates were higher among the smokers but diseases known to be caused by tobacco accounted for only 83 percent of the excess deaths in people who smoked. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really low,’ ” Mr. Carter said. “We have this huge cohort. Let’s get into the weeds, cast a wide net and see what is killing smokers that we don’t already know.” The researchers found that, compared with people who had never smoked, smokers were about twice as likely to die from infections, kidney disease, respiratory ailments not previously linked to tobacco, and hypertensive heart disease, in which high blood pressure leads to heart failure. "The Surgeon General's report claims 480,000 deaths directly caused by smoking, but we think that is really quite a bit off," concludes Carter adding that the figure may be closer to 540,000.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Saturday February 14 2015, @12:33PM
Dude I may no longer be a smoker (Thank the Chinese deity of the guy that invented vaping!) but your behind BETTER be backing up those smokers...why? Because we have a section of the government that have realized that while "big brother" is harder to sell, Big Mommy taking your freedom (and your money) as they babyproof your life and fix your boo-boos? A HELL of a lot easier to sell the public!
Just don't forget the old "first they came for the communists" because that is how it works, they target somebody that the majority doesn't like and then the net just gets wider and wider. Remember there are politicians that have used the exact same arguments used against smokers to say that they should be able to hit you with a huge tax if you want a double cheeseburger, that you are a fucking child that can't be allowed to buy a large drink, and they ALL use the exact same arguments that they used against smokers!
In times like these you had better support the ones you don't like, I don't care if they are smokers, if they are fat, hell I would argue that you have to fight for the constitutional rights of the ones you fucking despise like the Pedos and the terrorists, even if you have to gag while doing so...why? Because they used the laws they passed against the perv to make a teen girl sending a pic of her tits to her BF a life sentence, complete with lifetime police monitoring (how is that NOT cruel and unusual punishment?) and they used the laws passed to go after bombers to listen to YOUR phone calls and monitor who YOU talk to!
Remember that any law they pass against somebody you don't like? Sooner or later that law will have grown like a tumor until it can be used ON YOU. Never forget that.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday February 15 2015, @03:40AM
i don't give a fuck what people do in private, but "smoker's rights" end where the air i breathe begins. smoking (including vaping) should be banned everywhere in public because i'm sick of inconsiderate assholes poisoning me every fucking day against my will. with any other drug, actively dosing somebody against their will is a crime, why is it not the same for nicotine? same for public intoxication and public consumption, its a crime with alcohol so why not nicotine?
people should be free to do whatever they want in private, but they should not have free reign to poison everyone around them against their will.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Sunday February 15 2015, @06:02AM
Because every single law they use against him? WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU. Every single fucking one! Remember when they passed all the laws that were SUPPOSED to be against child rapists, the laws they use now to bust some guy that pisses on a bush? Remember the laws they passed that was SUPPOSED to be used against violent Jihadists, the law that is NOW USED to record every call log of every cell INCLUDING YOURS?
If you honestly believe that somebody smoking in a fucking park, surrounded by fucking fresh air is gonna affect YOUR ass, with all the fucking cars belching shit, the crap in our food and water, if you think that guy is worth giving the already repeatedly shown to be abusive as fuck government MORE power just to keep from offending your ass? Then I'm sorry but you do not deserve to be free, you deserve to live in a country where the state is God. But don't worry,for as long as the people are so fucking apathetic they won't get off their Kardashian watching behinds for anything that doesn't personally affect them? Then that is EXACTLY what you are gonna get. Tell me do you think we have more freedoms or less than our grandparents? Our parents? I may have thought she was an uber-bitch but there is one thing Ayn Rand fricking nailed and its because guys like you will stand up and cheer for it as long as its not aimed AT YOU..
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it. . . There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday February 15 2015, @03:07PM
just like how DUI laws are used against people who aren't driving impaired, and public intoxication laws are used against people who aren't intoxicated, and how open container laws are used against people who don't have open containers of alcohol in public?
oh wait, they're not, are they?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @05:12PM