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The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

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Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#4

Post by damienkatz »

maxklein wrote: post #2

That page is on a website offered for free from an ISP. That's the universal home for all conspiracy theories nuts.

Yes, but are the claims true? Have studies failed to show stopping smoking doesn't help you live longer?

And the Japanese _are_ fairly heavy smokers yet have very long lives.

That's not to say I don't thinking smoking is really bad for you. It's an addictive drug, reduces lung capacity and I've known people being treated for emphysema in their 30's etc. But the article makes some interesting claims about how politically charged the issue around smoking is, real science is getting squelched, people ask earnest questions and have their sanity questioned.

Don't know if any of it's true, but with the Global Warming "science" we've been seeing lately, it wouldn't surprise me if the risk of cigarettes has been way oversold.

Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#5

Post by patrickas »

A couple interesting related posts from Overcoming Bias

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/12/smoking-followup.html

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/12/animal-smoking-studies...

Robin's conclusion:

"Bottom line: a randomized trial suggests a large smoking harm on bad lungs, which can explain the entire apparently average smoking harm seen elsewhere. My best guess: smokers die ~10-30% more on average, living about 2-6 months less, but there’s much less net harm to strong lung folks."

Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#6

Post by lkrubner »

At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I think it is exaggeration to call this a "scandal". I recall this was talked about on television a lot back when Peter Jennings died - he had quit smoking many decades earlier, but he still died of lung cancer.

However, here is the important fact: smokers die of lung cancer at a higher rate than non-smokers. The above essay makes a big deal about the fact that quitting seems to have no benefit. That does seem to be true. But never, ever smoking does clearly have a health benefit. This should not be forgotten.

Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#7

Post by jawngee »

lkrubner wrote: post #6

At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I think it is exaggeration to call this a "scandal". I recall this was talked about on television a lot back when Peter Jennings died - he had quit smoking many decades earlier, but he still died of lung cancer. However, here is the important fact: smokers die of lung cancer at a higher rate than non-smokers. The above essa…

Well to be a contrarian, nicotine is a mood stabilizer in people with depression and bipolar disorder. Consider it a cheap SSRI.

It also makes you look cool which can score you dates which can lead to sex, and that's a healthy cardiovascular exercise. sarcasm

Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#8

Post by jawngee »

damienkatz wrote: post #4
maxklein wrote: post #2

That page is on a website offered for free from an ISP. That's the universal home for all conspiracy theories nuts.

Yes, but are the claims true? Have studies failed to show stopping smoking doesn't help you live longer? And the Japanese _are_ fairly heavy smokers yet have very long lives. That's not to say I don't thinking smoking is really bad for you. It's an addictive drug, reduces lung capacity and I've known people being treated for emphysema in their 30's etc. But the article makes some interesting claims about how politica…

Probably because their diets are vastly superior to everyone else's. So people predisposed to live longer are going to live longer, even if smoking takes a few years off their lives.

Re: The Scientific Scandal of Antismoking

#9

Post by patrickas »

damienkatz wrote: post #4
maxklein wrote: post #2

That page is on a website offered for free from an ISP. That's the universal home for all conspiracy theories nuts.

Yes, but are the claims true? Have studies failed to show stopping smoking doesn't help you live longer? And the Japanese _are_ fairly heavy smokers yet have very long lives. That's not to say I don't thinking smoking is really bad for you. It's an addictive drug, reduces lung capacity and I've known people being treated for emphysema in their 30's etc. But the article makes some interesting claims about how politica…

I think the claims are true, but the headline and content is a bit over dramatized.

Here are the studies, you can draw your own conclusions:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1573365

"The subjects were 1445 male smokers, initially aged 40-59 years" ... 20 years later "total mortality was 7% lower" for people who stopped smoking (7% is barely significant given the sample size)

And also http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00000487

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