Terrorists have nothing on tobacco

I knew for a long time that tobacco is causing a major number of deaths in the United States, but today I accidentally ran across the actual statistics.
Here's the breakdown as to the cause of deaths. Check out for yourself:

Tobacco 435,000
Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity 365,000
Alcohol 85,000
Microbial Agents 75,000
Toxic Agents 55,000
Motor Vehicle Crashes 26,347
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs 32,000
Suicide 30,622
Incidents Involving Firearms 29,000
Homicide 20,308
Sexual Behaviors 20,000
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect 17,000
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin 7,600
Marijuana 0

Now, I witnessed 9/11 myself and it was a terrible slaughter of 3,000 innocent civilians. Now, how about 435,000 being slaughtered by tobacco alone, every year? How come we, as a nation, are making major political decisions and undertake global military operations based on fear of the population, caused by some 3,000 death, while 7,600 folks die from aspirin? Is it about time we declare war on aspirin?

More importantly, how come we don't rally to ban all tobacco use? Look, it's by far the leading killer of Americans. How come we have acquiesced to this? It doesn't feel right. Are we completeley paranoid?

I certainly hope that the terrorists would never be able to inflict 435,000 casualties in one year, in the United States. But I am dismayed that same feat is accomplished by tobacco. Somehow, we don't destroy tobacco plantations

Easy... people choose to smoke tobacco, people don't choose to be killed by terrorist.

I'm a smoker. I smoke because it slows down my thoughts and stabelizes my mood at the expense of blood CO2 levels, carsenogen levels, and life expectancy. I'm mildly addicted, in that i want a cig at least twice a day even if for no reason, but i'm ok with that.

Simply put, choosing to shortn your life is far different that having it randomly taken in an act of violence.

Two of my grandparents make of the tobacco death "slaughter". One was a 79 year old man the other was a 87 year old woman. Both above average life expectancy, both who smoked willingly, and both still part of the statictics.

Originally posted by Quest
Easy... people choose to smoke tobacco, people don't choose to be killed by terrorist.

Well yeah, and I guess same applies to suicide. But - given a huge scale and seriousness of the problem, don't you think lives could be indeed saved if there were more insentives to not smoke. That would also shave off billions off the healthcare costs.

I'm a smoker. I smoke because it slows down my thoughts and stabelizes my mood at the expense of blood CO2 levels, carsenogen levels, and life expectancy. I'm mildly addicted, in that i want a cig at least twice a day even if for no reason, but i'm ok with that.

That doesn't mean, hopefully, that if God forbid you depart, you won't be missed, or that God forbid you can get something nasty (cancer?) from smoking.

Simply put, choosing to shortn your life is far different that having it randomly taken in an act of violence.

Agreed, but the sheer scale of the order of magnitude weakens that argument, IMHO.

Seat belts are mandatory. Even though some people would choose to shorten their life expectancy voluntarily, by not wearing them.

What about alcohol? People don't choose to be killed by drunk drivers any more than they choose to be killed by terrorists. Then you compare alcohol to something like cannibus...it makes my head hurt. Why the government finds something like cannibus to be so evil when things like tobacco and alcohol are legal is beyond me. People can get drunk and beat their kids, happens all the time. Smoke some pot...you may FORGET to beat your kids, or maybe that sandwich in the kitchen gets more appeal...

Tobacco 435,000

Wow that's almost 1/6 odds!!!
Population of the US=300,000,000

I don't think tobacco should be banned...people choose to do it..just like drive and eat bad foods.

Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity 365,000

Why not ban fatty foods and McDonalds, Wendy's, B-King and pizza hut, Dominos, M&M's, and all the other foods that make people fat and nasty?
Im not saying Ban...I love them kinds of foods.

BTW: I do very much reccomend that people quit smoking and do not start. I Have been smoke free now for a couple months and I feel GREAT!! I fell allot better than when I smoked.......

[edit on 27/5/2005 by SportyMB]

Originally posted by FreeThinking1
What about alcohol? People don't choose to be killed by drunk drivers any more than they choose to be killed by terrorists. Then you compare alcohol to something like cannibus...it makes my head hurt. Why the government finds something like cannibus to be so evil when things like tobacco and alcohol are legal is beyond me. People can get drunk and beat their kids, happens all the time. Smoke some pot...you may FORGET to beat your kids, or maybe that sandwich in the kitchen gets more appeal...

Right on the money! I could also mention second-hand smoke, which kills 57,000 people a year.

We do live in a warped reality, don't we.

BTW: I do very much reccomend that people quit smoking and do not start. I Have been smoke free now for a couple months and I feel GREAT!! I fell allot better than when I smoked.......

[edit on 27/5/2005 by SportyMB]

I quit smoking cigarettes about 5 years ago and you are absolutly right. It's one of the toughest things I ever did! Tough it out, it's well worth it! I personally reccomend NOT using any quit smoking gimmicks. I think they are a waste of time. Besides, I have a suspicion that the same people who own the major tobacco industries also have a hand in the patches and gum.

I personally reccomend NOT using any quit smoking gimmicks

I quit cold turkey!! no gum and no patches and no replacements here.

The first 3 days sucked....I was the most violent, mean, and twitchy son a gun I know of during that period. After that it was bad but slowly started to go away...I still have the crave,,especially after I eat.

I have become a chewing gum commando

What I ended up using was Hall's Cough Drops. I know, it's wierd! I haven't gotten anyone else to jump on that wagon but it worked for me. I think it just takes a strong will and something else to do with your mouth (like chewing gum or sucking down cough drops) to help ease the withdrawls. I say the gimmicks don't work because they keep pumping nicotine into you. That pretty much guarantees that it will fail. I wonder why the heck it always hits the hardest after a good meal?! Is there any real explaination for that or is it just the habitual part of smoking kicking in? Strange. Oh well, I have zero cravings for it now. They do go away for good and it's like you never smoked. It just takes time. Now they make me friggin' gag!