Smoke em if you got em Wrote:
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> Dear Anti-Smoking Fuckwads,
>
> Yes, smoking is bad. Everyone who smokes knows
> this but enjoys their puffing anyway. Just a fun
> aside...10% of smokers get lung cancer. Guess
> what, 10% of the population gets lung cancer. So
> smoke or not, you have the same chance as I do to
> get lung cancer. As for the smell; it might not
> be as bad as your ichthyological scented membrane.
While I guess I could rely upon Smoke-ems sophisticated statistical analysis, let me instead point to the American Lung Association which is perhaps a tad bit more credible.
http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/lung-cancer/resources/facts-figures/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html
Smoking contributes to 80 percent and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in women and men, respectively. Men who smoke are 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer. Women are 13 times more likely, compared to never smokers
Lung cancer causes more deaths than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and pancreatic). An estimated 159,260 Americans are expected to die from lung cancer in 2014, accounting for approximately 27 percent of all cancer deaths.
The National Institutes of Health estimate that cancer care cost the United States an overall $124.6 billion in 2010, $12.1 billion of which is due to lung cancer. Lost productivity due to early death from cancer lead to an additional $134.8 billion in 2005, $36.1 billion of which was due to lung cancer.
The lung cancer five-year survival rate (16.6%) is lower than many other leading cancer sites, such as the colon (64.2%), breast (89.2%) and prostate (99.2%).
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My dad is one of the 160,000 Americans expected to die this year to lung cancer. His greatest regret in life is that he smoked. He finally quit 10 years ago when he helped take care of my aunt who died from lung cancer. He used to be an extremely active man and now he can't get out of his hospice bed (for ANY reason) and is now dependent upon morphine for the pain.
Why should anyone else care if you smoke? You're taking money away from me in increased taxes / insurance premiums to pay for your medical care while you die from cancer. You also expose me to cigarette smoke regardless of how careful you are.
If you really want to quit smoking, volunteer to help someone going through chemo and then when it doesn't work you can then help in hospice care. I guarantee you that seeing someone suffer will be sobering to you each time you think about taking a puff. Since lung cancer most often impacts those in their 60's and older their is a real need to assist caregivers who are often frail themselves.