Anti-smoking lobby out of proportion with reality?!


Question: Anti-smoking lobby out of proportion with reality?
I am a non-smoker, currently working on a paper for my master's thesis on drug bans and how effective they are. In my research, I have come across some oddities and would like your opinion on them. The anti smoking lobby used millions of pounds annually to promote its cause but there is no similar lobby against obesity, which is a bigger killer than smoking. In China, where there are currently few smoking bans and a very high number of heavy smokers, there are less deaths from smoking related illnesses than there are in the US and Europe - both countries with large anti smoking lobbies and almost complete bans. In no paper is the background health of those reportedly dying from smoking given. Could it be they had other underlying health problems?

What is going on here? Your views, please!

Disclaimer: I know how bad smoking is for our health, which is why I don't do it.....neither do I do other harmful drugs. But I am not so blind that I cannot see a discrepancy where one clearly seems to exist.

Answers:

To answer about China. China smoking problem is new. It takes years for your lungs to have cancer. But I am personally against public bans. It is just unhealthy. Let people be unhealthy. Oh and second hand smoking is only a problem for people living in household of smoker.



public smoking bans are a good thing where there are a lot of people congregated. you don,t want to share someone else,s smoking habit by default. people are going to smoke. it,s an addiction like alcohol and other drugs. lead by example. if parents smoke, how can they expect their kids to be healthy? i appreciate non smoking in restaurants. you are not going to stop people from smoking by using anti smoking campaigns. look how well it works for alcohol and drugs. as long as people accept any behaviour as "normal"; there will be little change.



The amount of money spent by anti smoking lobby is no where near the amount of money spent by the pro tobacco lobbies, And those tobacco companies trying to get everyone to smoke by buying movie time showing celebrities smoking in EVERY scene. The insidious nature of the underlying message is very alluring to young people.
The smoking habit in China is not as long term as in USA. There, 20 years ago, they had an agricultural based economy. Now it is turning industrial, and urban, and many more smokers have been cultivated by the unrestrained economic boon... unregulated advertising, etc. So that country's statistic haven't caught up with the western world. It will as the smoking population ages, it takes time for cancer and lung disease to develop.




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