Tobacco Epidemic could kill 1 billion

[S O F I]

By Edith M. Lederer, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS



NEW YORK — Tobacco use killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century and could kill a billion more in the 21st unless governments take action, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Governments around the world collect more than $200 billion in tobacco taxes every year, but spend less than one-fifth of 1% of that revenue on tobacco control, the WHO said.

“We hold in our hands the solution to the global tobacco epidemic that threatens the lives of one billion men, women and children during this century,” WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan said in an introduction to the report.

The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 calls on all countries to dramatically increase efforts to prevent young people from beginning to smoke, help smokers quit, and protect non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke.

It urges governments to adopt six “tobacco control policies” — raise taxes and prices of tobacco; ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; protect people from second- hand smoke; warn people about the dangers of tobacco; help those who want to quit smoking, and monitor tobacco use to understand and reverse the epidemic.

“The tobacco epidemic already kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses,” Chan said. “Unchecked, that number will increase to more than eight million a year by 2030.”

Chan was launching the report with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, helped fund it.

According to the report, nearly two-thirds of the world’s smokers live in 10 countries — China, which accounts for nearly 30%, India for about 10%, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany and Turkey.

It forecast that more than 80% of tobacco-related deaths will be in low- and middle-income countries by 2030.

Tobacco use is growing fastest in low-income countries, the report said, “due to steady population growth coupled with tobacco industry targeting, ensuring that millions of people become fatally addicted each year.

I thought overpopulation was a problem, and not death by millions. Well, Russia's the exception.

 

[Prize Gotti]

Did you also know that 60% of tobacco related deaths occur in people aged 70+? Did you know that 45% of that 60% are aged above 75+?

No one is denying that tobacco makes people ill, thats because anything your body can consume can poison you, even vegetables, even the air you breath is poisionus, 72% of it is nitrogen.

Anti smoking campaigns serve one single purpose, more taxes.
You really think they want you to quit smoking when they make $200billion from it? They would be fucking stupid to even consider it so they use tobacco as a scapegoat to make more money from you.

Tobacco

P.S. I think $200billion is a fucking under-estimate on a big ass scale. The UK makes £9billion ($20billion) per year from tobacco taxes. Im pretty sure the USA makes at least 5x that.

Oh yeah, before some one comes in screaming "LUNG CANCER", please go to fucking school, you are fucking born with cancer retard, smoking can trigger it from its dormant state.

 

[ArtsyGirl]

Its pretty obvious smoking is poisonous more so than over eating vegetables.. To try and act as if it isn't is retardation at its finest. In my opinion to smoke these days with all that we know about it is stupidity at its finest.

They have laws in Australia now that you cant smoke inside clubs/pubs etc and outside smoking areas need a certain amount of ventilation, and I love it. When I was in Europe some countries hadn't done this and it was disgusting, could really tell the difference.

 

[Jeremy]

I hate tobacco with a passion. I even stopped hanging out with people cause of it. I can't be in a house where people are smoking. Smokers are no respect for anyone at all. They don't give a shit if second hand smoke kills people. They are more addicted than people on crack and herion. Smokers are fucking suckers cause the shit doesn't even do anything for you or even get you high. You just think it does cause you are addicted cause they made you addicted with all the shit they out in it.

You ever notice nobody starts smoking when they are 40? It's always faggot ass little kids trying to be cool and they are fucked for life. You should add up the money you spend on packs each month and find out what you spend a year. I did this one night at my friends house. Him and his wife spend like $5500 a year on packs. It's fucking pathetic. My dad just quit after about 45 years of smoking about two weeks ago. He had to be rushed to the ER cause he could not breath and now he has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The doctor told him if he kept smoking for six more months he would prolly be dead. His lungs are fucked. He is having the worst withdrawels from smoking and it depressed as fuck. I have asthma so I know how it is not being able to breath and it can really suck at times. If you want to be like my dad or carrying around a oxygen tank when you're older then go ahead and smoke it up. Even if I was 65-70 when it happens who the fuck wants to go out like that? Not me.

 

[Devious]

i can understand the anger there Jeremy but i think you're going a bit too far there. smokers don't respect people? they have no respect for anyone at all? did you feel that way about your Dad? honestly, did you feel that he had no respect for you or cared whether or not you got sick from his smoking? only the most coldhearted people wouldn't care at all about the effect they have on people, so to paint all smokers with that brush is irresponsible. do you feel the same way about people who drive cars? the pollution from cars is killing people too, wow those drivers have no respect for anyone, making us all sick like that.

but what really gets me about what you said is this: "Smokers are fucking suckers cause the shit doesn't even do anything for you or even get you high." so smoking weed and getting high makes getting cancer and emphysema and carrying around an oxygen tank worth it? now that is stupidity. smoking is an addiction, and most people like myself who are addicted to it are not proud of it, and most of us want to quit. so it's not like we walk around going "gee, i wonder how many people i can kill with my second hand smoke". drop the holier than thou attitude and realize that as a pothead, and a driver, you aren't doing anything better than us to help the world.

 

[Jeremy]

All smokers have the way of thinking you do. It's sad. If they want to smoke then go the fuck outside then. No one should have to be effected health wise by someones else addiction. EX: Why should a waitress who doesn't smoke just trying to make a living have to get second hand smoke because of someone else habit? That's why I'm glad they are banning it in most public places. I quit smoking weed a year and a half ago. I have smoked on occasion since then. PWNED. lol. Cars exhaust are killing millions of people a year, let me tell you. lol. Yes, my dad had no regard for my health. If you want to quit go get the pills that block the receptors in your brain from wanting the nicotine.

 

[Devious]

All smokers have the way of thinking you do. It's sad. If they want to smoke then go the fuck outside then. No one should have to be effected health wise by someones else addiction. EX: Why should a waitress who doesn't smoke just trying to make a living have to get second hand smoke because of someone else habit? That's why I'm glad they are banning it in most public places. I quit smoking weed a year and a half ago. I have smoked on occasion since then. PWNED. lol. Cars exhaust are killing millions of people a year, let me tell you. lol. Yes, my dad had no regard for my health. If you want to quit go get the pills that block the receptors in your brain from wanting the nicotine.

once again, you're judging us all the same. no not all smokers think like i do, because if they did just about everything you said in your first post would be wrong. and i didn't ask if you thought your Dad had regard for your health, i asked if, like you said, he had no respect for you. and if you quit smoking weed a year and a half ago, but you still smoke occasionally then you didn't quit. that's like an alcoholic saying i quit drinking but i still have a beer now and then. PWNED. i see you agree that car pollution is killing people, but are you willing to quit driving? laws are being passed so that we do have to smoke outside, and i for one have no problem with that, because, unlike what you think about ALL smokers, i do have respect for people and if they don't want me to smoke around them then i won't.

what i find so funny is that if all the smokers stopped smoking tomorrow, who do you think are going to be the first ones to complain when your taxes go through the roof to compensate for all the money they'd lose from taxing cigarettes? well all the non smokers of course. i feel like an idiot to have to defend smoking (i really don't want to, i know it's a terrible habit and what it's doing to me) but i don't like people like you telling me how i feel, telling me i have no respect for people because i smoke.

oh, and i should take a pill to quit smoking? why, so i can get hooked on a pill instead of cigarettes? you do realize that most of these stop-smoking aids are made by the tobacco companies, right? to keep you sucking on the nicotine teet and to keep their pockets lined. if i quit, then i'll do it on my own. people did that for years before they had a pill.

 

[S O F I]

Smokers are fucking suckers cause the shit doesn't even do anything for you or even get you high.

This is simply not true.

Nicotine stimulates our reward pathways (the pleasure center of the brain) by way of dopamine release similar to how ecstasy and amphetamines work. The dopamine release makes you "feel good", the same way a person who has sex feels good.

Nicotine also stimulates the release of endorphins, which works to calm us down.

 

[Jeremy]

^^ You're a fool.

1. You would not know how a person who has sex feels.

2. You think you feel something cause you're addicted.

3. I have to sleep now.

 

[DarkPhantom13]

I hate tobacco with a passion. I even stopped hanging out with people cause of it. I can't be in a house where people are smoking. Smokers are no respect for anyone at all. They don't give a shit if second hand smoke kills people. They are more addicted than people on crack and herion. Smokers are fucking suckers cause the shit doesn't even do anything for you or even get you high. You just think it does cause you are addicted cause they made you addicted with all the shit they out in it.

You ever notice nobody starts smoking when they are 40? It's always faggot ass little kids trying to be cool and they are fucked for life. You should add up the money you spend on packs each month and find out what you spend a year. I did this one night at my friends house. Him and his wife spend like $5500 a year on packs. It's fucking pathetic. My dad just quit after about 45 years of smoking about two weeks ago. He had to be rushed to the ER cause he could not breath and now he has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The doctor told him if he kept smoking for six more months he would prolly be dead. His lungs are fucked. He is having the worst withdrawels from smoking and it depressed as fuck. I have asthma so I know how it is not being able to breath and it can really suck at times. If you want to be like my dad or carrying around a oxygen tank when you're older then go ahead and smoke it up. Even if I was 65-70 when it happens who the fuck wants to go out like that? Not me.

So much hate coming from a former pill popper and heavy weed and drug user? Do you need a hug or something?

 

[Devious]

^^^sounds like someone doesn't believe in science lol. what SOFI stated is a proven fact. but you don't have to believe in science to use common sense. think about every addictive substance you know. don't they all do something for you? the release of the dopamine, along with several other chemical messengers, is what you become addicted to.

 

[S O F I]

^^ You're a fool.

1. You would not know how a person who has sex feels.

2. You think you feel something cause you're addicted.

3. I have to sleep now.

You have to sleep because you're addicted.

 

[Jokerman]

You're a dope, amine.

 

[Sebastian]

Anti smoking campaigns serve one single purpose, more taxes.
You really think they want you to quit smoking when they make $200billion from it? They would be fucking stupid to even consider it so they use tobacco as a scapegoat to make more money from you.

Smoking causes health issues. How much does it cost "us" (tax-payers)?

Its pretty obvious smoking is poisonous more so than over eating vegetables.. To try and act as if it isn't is retardation at its finest. In my opinion to smoke these days with all that we know about it is stupidity at its finest.

Very true. Although i have to say its kinda good too because we are too many people on this planet. Smoking is a way to get rid of this problem.

 

[Big Flipp]

Jeremy you are an idiot. I smoke but I am very considerate of those around me when I smoke. I never smoke in the car, I never smoke in doors. When I am smoking I make sure to blow the smoke away from those around me. I do not like bars that allow smoking but I think it should be up to the business owner to decide if they want a smoke-free place. As for the waitress and customers there, well it's simple don't work or go to a place where you know smoking inside is allowed. Fuck, I'm going outside for a smokebreak.

 

[Illuminattile]

No one is denying that tobacco makes people ill, thats because anything your body can consume can poison you, even vegetables, even the air you breath is poisionus, 72% of it is nitrogen.

Eating carrots and breathing isn't going to kill 50 people in the next hour.

Oh yeah, before some one comes in screaming "LUNG CANCER", please go to fucking school, you are fucking born with cancer retard, smoking can trigger it from its dormant state.

Cause/trigger, it's all semantics.

You seem quite wound up Prize, maybe you should go have a cigarette?

 

[tHuG $TyLe]

Good news.

 

[Jokerman]

Eating carrots and breathing isn't going to kill 50 people in the next hour.

Whether it's 25 or 50 people doesn't matter. What matters is that the combination of eating carrots and breathing is deadly!

 

[Da_Funk]

Smoking fucking sucks. Also LOL @ people comparing the high of e to that of smoking a cig.

 

[Devious]

Smoking fucking sucks. Also LOL @ people comparing the high of e to that of smoking a cig.

ummm, no one compared the high of e to smoking a cigarette, SOFI just pointed out that nicotine causes the same effects to the brain as e, becuase of the release of dopamines. but with e, much more is released, hence much more of an effect. no one said smoking a cigarette is the same as getting high on e lol.