- =ATLANTA (Reuters) -- At least 8.6 million Americans
are living with chronic bronchitis, emphysema and other serious smoking-related
illnesses, according to a new study that paints a dark picture of the health
risks posed by tobacco.
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- The study, the first to estimate the number of people
in the United States who have serious lung disorders or other diseases
caused by cigarettes, was published by the Centres for Disease Control
(CDC) and Prevention on Thursday.
-
- Researchers said the findings underscored a need to expand
anti-tobacco programmes and increase surveillance of smoking habits in
the nation. There are about 46.5 million smokers in the United States.
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- The CDC considers cigarette smoking to be the leading
preventable cause of death in the nation. About 440,000 people die each
year from lung cancer and other diseases related to tobacco use.
-
- The new study found that more than 4.5 million smokers
and non-smokers reported having chronic bronchitis in 2000, making it the
most prevalent disease in these groups. Bronchitis is often marked by a
steady, recurrent cough.
-
- More than three million people said they had emphysema;
symptoms of which include chronic shortness of breath.
-
- But Terry Pechacek, the CDC's associate director of science,
said those estimates were conservative because they relied to a large degree
on self-reporting by respondents who participated in various surveys.
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- "Many smokers are in some degree of denial, so we
know that this is an underestimate," Pechacek told Reuters.
-
- In addition to highlighting the enormous human cost of
cigarette smoking, the study noted that smoking was costing the nation
$75-billion (about R525-billion) in direct medical costs and $82-billion
(about R574-billion) in lost productivity each year.
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- The study comes at a time when casual smoking appears
to be on the rise in the nation.
-
- Anti-smoking advocates say the human and economic costs
of smoking could be dramatically reduced if authorities clamped down on
tobacco advertising and raised taxes on cigarettes to make them less affordable,
particularly to young people.
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- "We know how to prevent so much of this tobacco-caused
disease and death but public officials have not passed the policies or
devoted the resources to get the job done," said Vince Willmore, a
spokesperson for the Washington-based anti-tobacco group Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids.
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- ©2003. All rights strictly reserved.
-
- Comment
- From Jim
- 9-9-3
-
- Dear Jeff,
-
- I would like to respond to "America Counts The
Cost Of Nicotine Addiction" by Paul Simao, if I may:
-
- Of course the antismoking brigades know how to "get
the job done." Let me count the ways: give Boards of Health special
powers whereby only 2 people may pass a law that forbids smoking in all
public places, under the guise of protecting public health.
-
- And, what's a "public place"? Anything they
say it is.
-
- What's "protecting public health"? Like the
man said: "you ain't seen nuthin yet, folks."
-
- Slap fines of $400 for a first offense; $1,000 for each
subsequent offense.
-
- Establish police forces (or just use the tobacco control
forces) to snoop on and ferret out possible places where smokers might
try to sneak a cigarette. Any smoker that gets away is lost revenue to
the state; and the state has a mighty big deficit.
-
- Police have been trained to have no sympathy for smokers;
in 1988 this state passed a law that any police officer will be fired on
the spot for smoking -on or off duty. In fact, they're so fanatical that
one officer was recently fired based on an anonymous letter. For drug addictions
and alcohol they have counseling and help programs; for smoking tobacco,
a boot in the ass out the door.
-
- Recently in Randolph, Massachusetts, a town meeting was
held on whether the People desired to ban smoking in all public places.
The proposal was soundly defeated 128 to 58. But the Randolph Board of
Health simply ignored the will of the People, and banned smoking anyway.
-
- Also last year in the "comradewealth" of Massachusetts,
the legislature doubled the cigarette tax to 151 cents per pack, the highest
in the land. This made the antismoking forces very happy citing the usual
thing about children and prevention. But not only did they raise the tax
to the highest in the country, they passed additional laws to force smokers
to buy their cigarettes within the comradewealth. A recent article in
the newspapers relayed how the state's Department of Revenue is actively
trying to collect back taxes that internet users "evaded". Their
methods will involve seizing property and garnishing wages.
-
- In fact, one Democratic state senator has proposed that
anyone caught buying cigarettes out of state be fined $5,000.
-
- I guess this is how they think when under the delusion
that only Republicans smoke.
-
- Many schools have giant signs warning that smoking is
not allowed on "school property". School property? The last
I knew, my real estate taxes paid for the school. But accommodation does
not seem to be of interest to them unless it's them trying to get it.
Then it becomes a matter of "civil rights" or such.
-
- But speaking of civil rights, I'm very curious why at
least one of this country's surfeit of lawyers hasn't brought a class action
suit against the antismoking forces, their lawyers, and the political party
that supports them for conspiracy to violate the civil rights of smokers.
From my perspective, this should be the easiest thing to prove since there
are countless examples.
-
- I doubt this action would make them any more accommodating
in their philosophy, but at least it might help slow them down before they
go bonkers with the next step of denying smokers medical attention or other
nefarious actions which are only too easy to predict.
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