Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:00 pm   Reply with quote      

Perhaps...but what they didn't tell us.....


"Professor Sir Richard Doll, the scientists whose research first established a link between smoking and lung cancer, has died at the age of 92. Oxford University said the epidemiologist died at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, after a short illness. (It's not been revealed what he died of.)

His seminal 1950 study, which he wrote alongside Austin Bradford Hill, showed that smoking was "a cause, and a major cause" of lung cancer.Following their study, Doll and Hill began research which asked doctors about their smoking habits and tracked them over the years to see what they eventually died from.

Early results confirmed that smokers were much more likely to die of lung cancer than non-smokers, and the 10-year results showed that smoking killed far more people from other diseases than from lung cancer. (What they are saying here is that smokers died from more other diseases than cancer.)

Dr John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said the professor's work had saved millions of lives.

He said: "Sir Richard's enormous contribution to medicine globally, and within Oxford, cannot be understated.


www.dailymail.co.uk

Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:32 pm   Reply with quote      

This is a big myth. I'm pretty sure that smoking is no good for your health, but the popular belief of "smoking causes cancer" doesn't quite add up, as we review various statistics. I stated this many times, and I'm really reiterating, but I think this is an important piece of information, so I state again.

US have been on this antismoking campaign for some time now, and the state of California forbids restaurants and bars to allow customers to smoke. New York City made the same law a couple of years ago. However, US have the worst health record among leading developed countries; it's hard to dispute this fact. Average life expectancy in US is the shortest among leading developing countries and US is in the middle of cancer epidemic. From what I understand, French people smoke a lot, yet they have pretty good health. Japan has one of the highest rates of smokers among adults, and it's been like that for many decades. However, the country has the longest life expectancy. Why is that?

Now slightly off topic. While we see and hear about antismoking everywhere (in US), drinking a gallon of soft drink (coke, etc.) is somehow perceived perfectly ok. There are literally gazillions of vending machines selling soda, and most frigs in offices in the country are filled with soft drinks. It is absolutely unnecessary to drink so much soda (take sugar). In fact, it is so unhealthy to drink so much soda (take sugar), yet few people talk about it. Why?

Petrochemical cleaning products are ever more popular, and even medical products. Shining white teeth and (presumably) make-you-smell-wonderful creams, lotions, and what have you are must-have in order to look beautiful and sexy (???). Since when, petrochemical makes you healthy, energetic, beautiful and sexy?

Ah, don't forget multi billion pharmaceutical industry. Somehow, the society allocates multi billion dollars (probably a lot more) to feed a bunch of pills to people, yet there is no descent accountable affordable healthcare system in US. How primitive ...

Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:22 pm   Reply with quote      

I love your thinking!