Overall yes, individually no! Anyway I don't smoke so it's up to the individual same as I drink & that's up to me!
Last time I did any work for the NHS on costings (a few years ago) the average cost of treating a patient with lung cancer was around £42k (including surgery, radiotherapy & chemotherapy) ..... that was a one off cost, with ongoing medication/checkup costs of around £4k a year
Smokers cost the NHS far more than what they pay in duty. This means my taxes are paying for your filthy habit.
And when you're an old cripple requiring nurses to wipe your ****ty arse, my taxes will be paying for you.
The cost to the NHS of treating smoking related illnesses is roughly £2b a year. The revenue generated from tobacco sales is roughly £12b a year. Even if you include loss in productivity due to premature deaths (£3bn), cost to businesses of smoking breaks (£5bn), smoking-related sick days (£1bn), social care costs of older smokers (£1.1bn) and costs of fires caused by smokers’ materials (£391m), tobacco revenue still covers it.
No, they aren't. Your taxes aren't paying for his cigarettes, they're paying for the hypothetical medical care he may or may not need (some smokers don't actually get ill, there was a study recently that showed some smoker's lungs stay healthy throughout life) later in life. As OLM said, the money raked in by tobacco industries dwarfs what it costs to heal these people, so getting all high and mighty about his life choices just makes you sound like a knob. People smoke, deal with it. I used to smoke, but I've recently given up as my football manager (the real person, not the game) won't pick me while I do. I was planning on taking the Uncle Buck 5 year approach; cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and then that nicotine gum.
I used to smoke but I do get annoyed from time to time by people smoking in the street when I get a backdraft of it because it stinks, you are right though if people want to smell appaling and have bad breath then it's up to them
You really think smoking only causes lung cancer? no nearly every cancer you can think of! as well as heart disease (all types) , stroke, liver failure, blood poisoning, gum disease, tooth decay, asthma, emphysema, pneumonia, stress, depression, insomnia etc....... Awful damage to children's health who come in contact with second hand smoke. The amount of toxic chemicals your exposing your body too is over 7000. Formaldehyde, polonium 210 (remember that russian fella) lead, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide this is used in chemical weapons for goodness sake. But by all means keep enjoying your ***s. I lost my grandfather, grandmother and uncle to smoking so I will never understand why people do this. Its a Killer.
The coughing and clearing throat thing you get with heavy smokers is fairly rank too, I can't believe I was stupid enough to be a fairly heavy smoker for years. I stopped about the time they started banning it in pubs went cold turkey with no help, after 3 days the physical need is gone , the trick then is not to think about it and to be strong enough around smokers not to start again. I was a bit like Bret with his **** you attitude only now I realise I really was ****ing myself not anybody else
My Dad didn't smoke. Heart disease. My Mum didn't smoke. Cancer. Carcinogens are everywhere. There's more formaldehyde in a cauliflower than a packet of cigarettes. Polonium gets into the tobacco through the use of phosphate fertlisers and can also be found in foods, beverages and animal feeds so it's in your milk and meat as well. There's lead in your bread and if your house was built before 1978, chances are it's in your tap water. Arsenic levels in people who regularly eat sprouts are 10% higher than those who rarely eat them and there is hydrogen cyanide in fruits such as apples and cherries. That big firey ball in the sky can give you skin cancer and being in London for a day is the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes. No-one gets out alive so enjoy the time you have. My Dad fought back after his heart attack, completely changed his eating habits, lost loads of weight and then got killed at work two weeks after getting a clean bill of health. You just never know when your time's up. (DISCLAIMER : Yeah, I smoke but I haven't got any kids, never will, so it's in my best interests to shuffle off before I'm infirm.)
Sorry to here that, yes smoking doesn't cause all disease all the time. And yes be happy and enjoy life but don't use the old "you could get hit by a bus tomorrow" as an excuse to neglect your health. Human bodies aren't designed to be ill, they are the most amazing things on this planet and you only get one. Degenerative disease is caused by a low immune system, stress and the modern diet are massive players in that. There is a lot of fear mongering around everything these days and terrible newspapers reporting breakthroughs from terrible studies doesn't help. I get what your trying to say, but saying apples, sprouts and cauliflower are on par with tobacco is ridiculous. You sound like a spokesman for the tobacco industry in the 1960's. The research and the facts are plain and free for anyone to read. Imagine this? 20,000 people. 10,000 each group Studied for 10 years Group 1 all smokers 20 a day Diet : Cauliflower, apple, cherry, milk, meat, tap water (to use your examples) Group 2 Non smokers Diet : Cauliflower, apple, cherry, milk, meat, tap water. Disease and mortality rates reviewed in both groups after a decade. Yes you would see disease and death in group 2, probably to do with the low fat content in there diet, but I know which group I'd rather be in.
