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

[Gene2memE]

You could follow Australia's example:

• Ratchet the excises and taxes on cigarettes up to the highest in the developed world - in Australia the average price of a 20 pack of cigarettes is just under AUD26.00, or about USD18.95. Meanwhile in the US the average price is just under USD7.00. About 85% of the price of cigarettes in Australia is tax/excise.
• Develop a federally led mass market media anti-smoking campaign. And. Keep. Hammering. It. Over. And. Over. Again.
  
• Develop national plain packaging laws - including all sorts of lovely pictures of the cancers/diseases that smoking leads to.
• Ban smoking in all public enclosed spaces, except for designated smoking areas. Ban smoking in some outdoor spaces (some beaches, for instance, now have designated smoking zones).
• Introduce heavy fines for retailers caught selling cigarettes to minors. In Australia, fines for retailers top out at AUD55,000 per offense from the second offense, and fines for corporations top out at about AUD110,000 per offense from the second offense. I've not seen a comprehensive US fines database, but the highest fines I could find through the FDA was USD11,904 after SIX VIOLATIONS.

However, if you did I suspect the collective wail from certain sections of the US political sphere would be so loud it could be used to contact life in distant galaxies.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I'm pretty sure we have taken staunch mitigation measures with regards to smoking.

- Most states have raised the legal age to get it.
- Most states have passed indoor smoking bans.
- Many insurance companies charge more for it.
- There have been both public and private entities that have launch campaigns to raise awareness against it.
- Advertising for it is tightly restricted
- It's taxed higher than any other product I'm aware of (at both a state and federal level $1.01 per pack for federal, and state rates ranging from the amounts below

So in that regard, the science is being followed. They're trying to make people quit, and making it cost prohibitive to keep doing it.



But some key distinctions between the two are that smoking related illness is well-established, and hospital systems already have the tools in place to handle the predictable number of health outcomes they'll see from it in a years time. Covid was a curveball out of nowhere.

The other difference is that a smoker breathing near me in a grocery store isn't going to give me lung cancer...because they're not allowed to smoke in there. However, a person carrying a transmissible disease could very well infect other people.

 

[A_Thinker]

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?

We've been working on smoking for 20-25 years now. Smoking is verboten in most public places in America ...

 

[Always in His Presence]

However, if you did I suspect the collective wail from certain sections of the US political sphere would be so loud it could be used to contact life in distant galaxies.

Absolutely agree. And as others have posted. If the government and others can make money off it, who cares how many it kills.

 

[Always in His Presence]

We've been working on smoking for 20-25 years now. Smoking is verboten in most public places in America ...

verboten?

ist Englisch deine zweite Sprache

oder hast du nur spaß

 

[essentialsaltes]

To comment on the obvious reversed context of the OP's question:

Because viruses don't hire lobbyists.

 

[ArmenianJohn]

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?

Are you against people having the freedom to do what they want and in favor of the government mandating that people can't have their freedom?

 

[Always in His Presence]

Are you against people having the freedom to do what they want and in favor of the government mandating that people can't have their freedom?

No, I do not support the vaccine mandates.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

Where is the health mandate forbidding tobacco?
Are we just being selective on what science to follow?

Actually, I like your comparison.

Let's prevent unvaccinated people from being in the same places people who smoke are prevented from smoking in. Like schools, restaurants, hospitals, aircraft, most businesses, theatres, public transport....

Also - let's have vaccine mandates for workers in the same way we have no smoking mandates for employees of businesses

Would that be fair?

 

[JSRG]

Absolutely agree. And as others have posted. If the government and others can make money off it, who cares how many it kills.

In what way does the government make money off of tobacco? If you're referring to taxes on it, I am pretty sure that whatever money they make via taxes is less than the amount of money they have to spend due to health problems caused by smoking.

 

[rambot]

Ahhh.

I love how some right wingers feign concern, care or consternation for certain topics as SOON as they think it could win them an argument or a point.

Never ever ever, in my, more than a decade on this site I think, seen a SINGLE article on how the govt. should "follow the science" on smoking. I really appreciate the posters who took the time to directly address the OP in detail.


I'll just say instead: They are following the science. Smoking kills the smoker. Once we learned it killed people OTHER than the smoker, society started to pick up juice in limiting the impact of smoking.

 

[renniks]

Are people getting fired for smoking? Even if they do it outside it can still affect others after all, not to mention thier kids.

 

[Vylo]

Are people getting fired for smoking? Even if they do it outside it can still affect others after all, not to mention thier kids.

Yes, they are. Several people are my work were fire for smoking on company grounds.

 

[ArmenianJohn]

No, I do not support the vaccine mandates.

That's not what I asked. Noted that you avoided answering what I actually asked.

 

[Desk trauma]

Are people getting fired for smoking?

Daily. Some companies, mainly hospitals, have made not/quitting smoking a condition of employment with nicotine being added to the list of drugs that you can be fired for having in your system.

Lest we think this is all in healthcare, light up in a refinery or even be caught with a lighter on your person and you will be fired on the spot.

 

[renniks]

Daily. Some companies, mainly hospitals, have made not/quitting smoking a condition of employment with nicotine being added to the list of drugs that you can be fired for having in your system.

Lest we think this is all in healthcare, light up in a refinery or even be caught with a lighter on your person and you will be fired on the spot.

It's official. Big brother has to interfere with every aspect of people's lives.

 

[DamianWarS]

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 that number is misleading as it pertains to your point. Smoking is a recreational drug that people choose to participate in and typically those people know it will kill them someday. so broadly smokers do know the science and it's not that they ignore it, but in the moment smoking is more meaningful to them than listening to the science and they pass it off to another day to quit.

The number I think is more relevant to your point are those who choose not to smoke yet die of smoke-related illnesses from second-hand exposure. According to the link you sourced in the OP it says "41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure" so it would seem 41,000 is a more responsible number to compare than 480,000 when comparing to COVID-related deaths.

But even with secondhand numbers it's still misleading as deaths related to smoking are typically from long-term exposure, not short term and they have a fair bit of warning that comes with them to allow the individual to change their lifestyle and ultimate outcome. With COVID the serious side effects are not as easy to control as some individuals have no symptoms and others get serious fast and there is no warning outside of listening to the science. Even with secondhand smoke, its long-term effects and a single puff of smoke won't do much at all where with COVID a single cough could affect hundreds and someone may die from it.

I would compare COVID related deaths with perhaps flu related deaths as I think that would be more a apples to apples comparison than it is with COVID to smoking.

 

[Desk trauma]

It's official. Big brother has to interfere with every aspect of people's lives.

Did the tyranny start with tests for illegal drugs or just for nicotine?

…or was that a plea for the freedom to smoke around volatile chemicals?

 

[Vylo]

It's official. Big brother has to interfere with every aspect of people's lives.

Uh, this is the company making the choice to do so. The government is not involved.

 

[renniks]

Did the tyranny start with tests for illegal drugs or just for nicotine?

…or was that a plea for the freedom to smoke around volatile chemicals?

Ahh, now we are narrowing the goal posts to only smoking around chemicals? That wasn't the discussion.