Why are we not following the science on the leading cause of preventable death?

[Always in His Presence]

Fast Facts

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.1​

• More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
• For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
• Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.​

• Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.1
• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.4
• If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.1

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

 

[Always in His Presence]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused approximately 375,000 deaths in the United States during 2020.

VS 480,000 from tobacco

 

[DaisyDay]

Over the decades, tobacco use has become much more tightly regulated. A lot of people cried about Nazis and tyranny when smoking in restaurants and on airplanes was banned. Smoking in public indoors is banned and even outdoor smoking is restricted in cities.

 

[Always in His Presence]

Over the decades, tobacco use has become much more tightly regulated. A lot of people cried about Nazis and tyranny when smoking in restaurants and on airplanes was banned. Smoking in public indoors is banned and even outdoor smoking is restricted in cities.

And it is still the leading cause of preventable deaths - why are we not following the science and preventing 480,000 deaths a year?

 

[DaisyDay]

And it is still the leading cause of preventable deaths - why are we not following the science and preventing 480,000 deaths a year?

I think there are two main reasons - the failure of Prohibition and the War on Drugs and the enormous wealth of tobacco producers.

The science has been followed in the restrictions placed on tobacco subsidies, sales and use.

 

[Always in His Presence]

The science has been followed in the restrictions placed on tobacco subsidies, sales and use.

If it has - then science has failed to the tune of 480,000 preventable deaths a year.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Fast Facts

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.1​

• More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
• For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
• Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.​

• Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.1
• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.4
• If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.1

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

No, we're not being selective. Rather, we have a bunch of quasi-libertarians in this country who get in the way, complaining about the nanny state every time somebody tries implementing policies like this. There's only so much obstruction we can overcome.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

There are tons of restrictions on tobacco sales and use, mainly as it pertains to second hand smoke. You’ll notice a lot of these restrictions are aimed at protecting the public at large from the harmful effects of smoke and not the individual who personally chooses to smoke.

Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

The science behind the harms of tobacco use are well known and understood by just about everyone.

 

[Always in His Presence]

The science behind the harms of tobacco use are well known and understood by just about everyone.

Yet there is no health mandate to prevent the deaths. 480,000 a year not one mandate to stop it.

 

[dqhall]

Fast Facts

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.1​

• More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
• For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
• Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.​

• Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.1
• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.4
• If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.1

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

Alcohol is carcinogenic, a neurotoxin and the leading cause of early onset dementia. It caused brain damage. Like smoking, it is legal.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Yet there is no health mandate to prevent the deaths. 480,000 a year not one mandate to stop it.

You’re missing the point that there are restrictions (mandates, if you will) against smoking in certain places and restrictions on who can buy cigarettes and how and on who can sell them and fines and penalties for selling to minors or people without ID (sorta like a tobacco passport, if you will). These ‘mandates’ have likely prevented countless deaths and extended millions of lives.

 

[VirOptimus]

 

[Belk]

Fast Facts

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.1​

• More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
• For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
• Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.​

• Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year.2 If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.3
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.1
• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.4
• If smoking continues at the current rate among U.S. youth, 5.6 million of today’s Americans younger than 18 years of age are expected to die prematurely from a smoking-related illness. This represents about one in every 13 Americans aged 17 years or younger who are alive today.1

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

As an ex smoker I have seen over the past 40 years smoking has become more and more regulated due to health concerns of it affecting others.

 

[sfs]

Yet there is no health mandate to prevent the deaths. 480,000 a year not one mandate to stop it.

We tend not to outlaw popular activities that only harm the individual engaging in them. That has nothing at all to do with 'following the science' -- it's a matter of values and policy choices. What we are more likely to ban are activities that harm lots of other people, things like smoking in restaurants, driving drunk, and going into public places while not vaccinated against respiratory diseases that are killing hundreds of thousands of people.

The distinction is really not a difficult one to grasp.

 

[Always in His Presence]

Alcohol is carcinogenic, a neurotoxin and the leading cause of early onset dementia. It caused brain damage. Like smoking, it is legal.

Why not?

You’re missing the point that there are restrictions (mandates, if you will) against smoking in certain places and restrictions on who can buy cigarettes and how and on who can sell them and fines and penalties for selling to minors or people without ID (sorta like a tobacco passport, if you will). These ‘mandates’ have likely prevented countless deaths and extended millions of lives.

and yet 480,000 people a year die from it, so says the science and there is no call for mandates to end it. 100,000 more people a year, every year die from tobacco than Covid-19 - yet the economy is not effected and there are not medical mandates to stop a completely preventable killer.

Gotta ask why?

We tend not to outlaw popular activities that only harm the individual engaging in them. That has nothing at all to do with 'following the science' -- it's a matter of values and policy choices. What we are more likely to ban are activities that harm lots of other people, things like smoking in restaurants, driving drunk, and going into public places while not vaccinated against respiratory diseases that are killing hundreds of thousands of people.

The distinction is really not a difficult one to grasp.

If you honestly believe smoking is a popular activity - that claims 480,000 lives a year - I have zero to say to you.

BTW it kills more than just the people who participate. Have you not read the statistics on second hand smoke?

 

[GoldenBoy89]

and yet 480,000 people a year die from it, so says the science and there is no call for mandates to end it. 100,000 more people a year, every year die from tobacco than Covid-19 - yet the economy is not effected and there are not medical mandates to stop a completely preventable killer.

Gotta ask why?

I think sfs gives a pretty good explanation of why we allow tobacco use despite it’s obvious harm.

Did you miss everything mentioned that’s been done to try and reduce tobacco use - age restrictions, limits on where you can smoke, penalties for selling to minors, tons and tons of advertising against tobacco companies to discourage use…? These are mandates that are specifically aimed at reducing tobacco related disease and deaths. You’re acting like it’s a total free for all when it comes to cigarettes.

If you honestly believe smoking is a popular activity - that claims 480,000 lives a year - I have zero to say to you.

How do you figure that many people die from it every year if it weren’t popular?

 

[sfs]

If you honestly believe smoking is a popular activity - that claims 480,000 lives a year - I have zero to say to you.

34 million Americans smoke. You're saying that it's not a popular activity? I guess I can see why you have zero to say, then.

BTW it kills more than just the people who participate. Have you not read the statistics on second hand smoke?

Yes, I have. Are you not aware of bans on smoking on planes, trains, in restaurants, in bars, and in most public places?

The distinction between enforcing mandates on activities that hurt other and on those that just hurt the participants is still not a difficult one to understand, but you do seem to be doing your best not to understand it.

 

[CuriousPagan]

I absolutely believe in a ban on cigarettes and tobacco executives being treated like the drug dealing murderers they are.

 

[RaymondG]

Two reasons off the top:

1) Smoking was once considered a cool thing to do...it was popular. Covid was never cool or popular to have/do.

2)Mandating that people stop smoking would lose millions in revenue for many. While not mandating the vaccine would lose millions in revenue for many.

 

[JSRG]

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?

It's right there in the fact you have to be 21 or older to actually purchase the thing and the fact there's so many places where smoking is banned.

If you're insisting on a flat-out smoking ban, the issue is that smoking is rather popular. Not only that, but cigarettes are extremely addictive, meaning that if you outlaw it, it's a lot harder for people to quit it than if they were to outlaw something like orange juice. As we learned from prohibition (when alcohol was banned throughout the US), when you outlaw a really popular substance, it doesn't do that much to stop its usage (it does do some--alcohol consumption was down during prohibition as seen by the decrease in liver disease--but there's still a lot of it done), but it does make organized crime supercharged because they have such a big market. We've already got problems with organized crime in regards to things like crack and cocaine, but those have a much smaller user base than cigarettes. Give them the ability to profit off cigarettes and oh boy, they'll expand.

A banning of cigarettes, at least in the present day would most likely give rise to organized crime to an extent not seen such prohibition. Smoking is declining in the US, though, so perhaps if it declines enough, in the future a flat ban on tobacco may be possible to enact without re-doing the problems of prohibition.