smokers why are we still here?

Popular opinion always skews peoples judgement.

There are all kinds of flawed arguements that people subscribe to: "3 in 10 smokers will die of lung cancer" I heard before. Well then, what about the other 7? All that says to a thinking person is 7 out of 10 don't. How is that evidence?

I work in insurance and I can let you in on something else. The reports of how many people die due to smoking is grossly exaggerated.

A doctor has a form that they fill out when someone dies. They have to say what killed him. Thing is, if you die of lung cancer, they don't write lung cancer, they cirlce smoking. It doesn't matter if he smoked or not, to the medical establishment these days lung cancer = smoking.

Insurance companies love this sort of mass hysteria. It allows them to increase premiums for things that statistically don't kill people as much as people think they will, but as long as people believe the sky is falling they'll pay for it!

I'm not saying smoking is good for you. But this new wave of fear over smoking is an awful lot like the wave of panic of being killed by sharks (media profits) or the flu (pharmacies profit) or terrorist attacks (gov't gets it's way). Someone is profiting. Pay attention and don't let your strings be pulled.

EDIT: Here is one more example of specious reasoning from someone calling themselves "Buddha" who answered on the next page.

"I was brought up by two smokers and married another smoker. I now have lung disease and have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I guess I have their selfish habits to blame."

-Again, a thinking person would look at that and ask "Do the smokers have any problems?". How can you believe that smoking is the problem when only the non-smoker has lung problems? That would seemingly be evidance to the exact opposite. In other terms it's like saying everyone else huffs popouri arisal cans and has great lungs, I don't huff popouri arisal cans and I have bad lungs. Therefore popouri arisal cans being in my vacinity caused my bad lungs.

People call me a fear mongerer as I sell insurance. Thing is I don't need to fearmonger, everyone is so terrified of everything they believe anyone who says the sky is falling. Try to always be objective in your thinking and don't let peoples paranoia skew your logic.

Anyway, good question.

Well the 3 most important people in my life died of Lung Cancer and smoking definitely contributed towards it. Other smokers do live a long life and I hope you do too. The way I felt it best explained about smoking killing you was a TV programme, long time ago now. It said with smoking the risk of Lung Cancer was certainly much higher. It then showed you a puggy machine as in the fairgrounds etc and how you pulled this and it perhaps showed up to fruits as in say 2 lemons and a strawberry and if this was the smoker he was getting away with it but when it was pulled and 3 fruits the same came up the smoker's time was up.

I guess to answer your question, the smokers are here because it's not their time to go yet. My 64 y/o ex husband just passed away on March 10th, from AAML (Acute Adult Myeloid Leukemia) It's a non beatable leukemia. Counting from when he was first diagnosed & went into remission, (three months) & had a stem cell transplant, then his battle was over in just nine short months. This leukemia strikes "only" men, over the age of 60 & some of the contributing factors, are being exposed to Agent Orange, having had chemo in the past, Benzine, which is found in cigarettes, etc.

Yes, he was a smoker but quit once for fourteen years, started back up again, then quit for a while, then started back up again, & yet again. When he was diagnosed with AAML, he was no longer smoking, but it was too late.

He leaves behind five precious young grandchildren who idolized him & vice versa, & two great sons, & two sweet daughters-in-law. I will treasure the great friendship we shared these past four years, since our divorce. I am deeply saddened by his passing. I won't preach to the smokers, but maybe my story will make you think about the family & friends you'll leave behind by being a smoker, especially if you are diagnosed with AAML.

Life expectancy does not equal some limit of age. If chances are you will through 4 once in 6 dice rolls, that does not mean it's impossible to throw 20 dice rolls and not even throwing a single 4.

The whole point of the risk of smoking is that on average you will lose 10 to 15 years, but you can still live 90 years, it still means that the chances were good that you could have lived 100 if you never smoked one cigarette.

Go figure how old the next generation will be which grow up with electric cars and almost no tobacco smoke.

I love this question! We are here to pay the health care for all those who can't afford health care. Do you non smokers know the tax revenue from a pack of cigarettes goes toward health care? So next time you see me light up be nicer. I didn't ask you to come over a sit next to me. I might not live as long you but then again you might get ran over by a bus trying to get away from the second hand smoke.

Just lucky, I started smoking at 14 and quit at 64. I'm 78 and still here. My dad was a smoker and our home was full of second hand smoke.

I went on the site of the Death Clock and put all my info in and it said I died 5 years ago so am I alive are we all really dead?I want to quit but I guess I really don't I enjoy it so much I don't know why.I smoke 2 packs a day I will be on the corner buying bootleg smokes one of these days.I just wish they would raise booze to higher prices cause I dnt drink its so easy to cheer the high price on smoke if you don't use them.I say Raise prices on booze and sweet rolls then people would gripe. I only smoke in my house and know one is here except husband who's a smoker.

We are still here because someone has forgotten that all our ancestors had open fires in their house that went 24 hours a day for cooking and heat. I'm sure there was no smoke coming from them. Besides what would all of the non-smokers have to grouse about if we weren't here? I find it very funny that the same friends you knew over 30 years ago and used to go to each others homes now gag and barf and send you outside if you are going to smoke. Before we all sat around the table and those of us that smoked did so. Smaller babies, well, 9.3--7.15 and 6.15, not small by today's standards. More people die of obesity than smoking. That's it in my eyes.

It's all a matter of statistics.....If you took a sample of, say 1000 smokers and 1000 non-smokers...

Around 900 of the smokers would die early, from emphysemia, lung cancer , throat cancer etc. The remaining 100 would be saying..."I've smoked since I was 10 and now I'm 90...so smoking is safe, yadda, yadda, yadda".

Out of the 1000 non-smokers, only 100 would die early from these diseases.

The truth is, if you smoke you have a MUCH greater chance of an early death from these diseases than a non-smoker has.

Do you really want to take that chance?

You have it right. Smoking doesn't always make you die young. My brother-in-law has smoked since he was a teenager. He's now in his late 70's and going strong. Bet he will outlive me and I haven't smoked in 40 years. Such is life. I think after a certain age we cease to be impressed by the threat that unhealthy behavior will shorten our lives. We know another 2, 5 or even 10 years tacked on to the end don't hold much of a reward.

I was brought up by two smokers and married another smoker. I now have lung disease and have never smoked a cigarette in my life. I guess I have their selfish habits to blame.