Cigarette smoking data interpretation

[HydrogenBond]

I would like to start a controversial post connected to the current interpretation of cigarette smoking data and the effect of cigaretts on health. The effects of cigarettes do have a negative impact on health. However, the data is interpretted to say more than is scientifically valid. Many of the people who smoked and who developed ailments were simulataneously exposed to other compounds while smoking cigarettes. For example, if one's job was paving roads, their cigarette smoking often involved smoking within hot tar fumes. The heat of the cigarette would burn these fumes and add something even more toxic to the cigraette smoke. A person working in the dry clearning business who smoked would also be smoking chlorinates solvents, which unburnt are considered toxic. Almost all blue collar jobs required some exposure to solvents, machine oils, cleaners, etc.., and with cigarette laws lax twenty or thirty years ago, these workers were also smoking these toxic materials through their cigaretts. The traffic cop also smoked diesal and auto exhaust fumes, while the secretary was smoking plastic monomer outgassing from the rugs in the office. Vinyl choride is very hazardous, and when polymerized makes PVC plastics. Those associated with the prodcution of PVC were smoking a very hazardous monomer making it even more toxic. The list can go on and on, yet the science ignors all these secondary and primary causes of ailments. I personally use caution when looking at that data. I remember seeing a picture of a person's lungs who never smoked but who lived in an industrial city on europe and their lungs had large black spots. Everyone in that town who smoke also smoked the smoke stack fumes of that town.

[Drip Curl Magic]

hmm... I'm glad you started this topic. This morning I was thinking about starting a thread about cigaretts. I had never thought about how being near certain chemicals can make a difference in how bad smoking is for your health... but it makes sense. I'd like to research this a little more.

 

 

 

ALSO... I really need to quit smoking.... but I've already tried about 8 times... and everytime you quit for a little while and start back up again... the addiction becomes stronger than before. Any suggestions?

[Celeste]

Interesting subject. Along with other compounds (fumes, toxins, etc.)

I believe genetics play a huge role, ie., I come from a very large family with many relatives that smoke/d (approx. 50 smokers, 60 non) and we haven't had one case of cancer or any heart disease in any of the smokers in the past 80 years or so. (My great grandpa died of a brain tumor in 1925. He grew and smoked/chewed tobacco)

Of my relatives that had smoked and passed away, the average age of their death has been around 86 and as high as 98 years old and all were due to natural causes. (3 cancer deaths and 1 stroke in the non-smokers)

 

I have to believe that there is something in our genetic makeup that's protecting us from the toxins and hazardous effects of cigarettes.

Everyone in my family who smokes not only looks great for their age, but they are and have always been, unbelievably healthy.

 

Another thing I've wondered about: Why it is that male smokers in the USA develop lung cancer at about 305 cases per 100,000, while in Japan, male smokers have a much lower lung cancer rate of 81 males per 100,000?

My first bet would be in genetics and secondly, the differences in diet.

But I also wonder about the enviromental toxins as you suggested and the differences in the tobacco additives themselves that are manufactured in different countries..ie., a friend orders his cigs (Camel Lights) from Russia and they seem much smoother then the USA cig and there only $1.10 a pack. Although, I never asked if their actually USA made, I wondered if the additives might be different. Any thoughts?

 

One last thing. I ran across this while reading another article and would love to hear from a chemist (or others) here if any of the following could be factual. :confused:

"While much is written about the hundred or so toxic components in cigarette smoke, little is published about the numerous nontoxic smoke components that have been shown in various bioassays to counteract the effects of the toxic ones. In some cases the inhibiting components are also listed as toxic, eg., nicotine inhibits the mutagenicity of N-nitrosodimethylamine; the promoter phenol inhibits the tumorigenicity of benzo(a)pyrene; the weakly tumorigenic benz(a)anthracene negates the potent tumorigenicity of benzo(a)pyrene. On a one to one molar basis, many bicyclic, tricyclic, and tetracyclic nontumorigenic PAHs conteract the tumorigenicity of benzo(a)pyrene and dibenz(a,h)anthracene."

[HydrogenBond]

I also beleive that genetics, secondary chemicals smoked through cigarattes, the power of suggestion or expectation and cigarettes themselves all play a role. The scientfic community seems to be content to ignor all these others things. Part of the problem is statistical data. Within this fuzzy statistical data are all the other affects. Statistics allows one to ignor these and assume that the statistical fuzzieness of the data is the random variability of a singular cause.

 

The best way to quit smoking or any habit is to replace it with another habit. Years ago I decided to replace smoking with walking and hiking. I figured I would do the opposite and improve my lungs. I hiked a lot of mountain trails the first few months and broke my personal record for climbing Mt Washington in NH, which I had reviously set when I was in my late teens.

 

The difficulty with giving up smoking is that it is something one does so frequently during the day. So the new habit needs to be flexible enough to do as often as cigarettes. I integrated a few pushups and situps when I would have the urge. The urge to smoke eventually becomes the urge for health and fitness.

[Drip Curl Magic]

The difficulty with giving up smoking is that it is something one does so frequently during the day. So the new habit needs to be flexible enough to do as often as cigarettes. I integrated a few pushups and situps when I would have the urge. The urge to smoke eventually becomes the urge for health and fitness.

 

Yeah, I've heard a lot about how habits don't go away unless you replace them with some other habit. I think I'm gonna try just quitting the habit without any sort of substitute... and if that doesn't work... I'll start looking into good replacement habits. I would really like to prove that I'm a strong enough person to just refuse the habit. But then again, maybe that will be my downfall.

[Nix]

the most successful method i used for quitting smoking (i tried patches, gum, medication and cold turkey) was the D method (or something!!). basically....

D....delay before you have a cigarrette and the craving may pass

D....drink water and the craving is reduced

D....distract yourself with something else

the water drinking is the best idea as you can replace the habit of smoking with the healthy habit of drinking, and then wait for the rush when you know you conquered your craving. it feels better than a ciggie!!

 

as for the idea of this thread, it excites me quite a bit. my father has worked in a chemistry lab his whole life, and has ahd three different kinds of aggressive cancer. he smoked moderately for 12years in his youth, and has a twin brother who has also spent his life in the lab and also smoked, quitting five years earlier and not getting cancer at all. the question now is, was it the lab chemicals that caused his cancers, or the smoking?? could five years of not smoking make so much difference that one twin gets sick and the other doesnt?? could the differences in their research projects have brought them into contact with different carcinogenic compounds and explain the different results?? both white and blue collar workers were harmfully exposed in the workplace before better safety guidelines were implemented, so could a contributing factor to the cancer epidemic (as well as smoking) be the fallout or our rapid advancement of technology that was not moderated by proper safety controls??

[Guest jamongo]

So much has been written with respect to dumping the cigarette habit.

I believe it completely depends upon the individual's desire. I smoked cigarettes for 50 years, and decided to quit and did. The only time I had any problems with it was when under stress.

My wife has tried repeatedly to stop but just can't do it.

How could this be? I think it is because I didn't have to put up with me, while she did and still does.:cup:

[Alik]

Hi there!

 

I'm Alik and I see many members who talks about cigarettes. Some days ago I searched the internet and found one good tobacco site. The prices are very low. Is there anyone who tried to get cigarettes online? Does it work?

 

Here is a link --LINK DELETED--

 

Best Regards,

 

Marlboro smoker

[Drip Curl Magic]

haha, we're all talking about how to quit... and then this dude comes along^^^^^^ hahaha. gnarly.

[Nammy]

:cup: :cup: Would buying online cut the taxes? :cup: ;)

 

-Salem menthol smoker

[Drip Curl Magic]

-Salem menthol smoker

 

For shame.

[Nammy]

What's shameful about smoking? Agreed, it's a big health hazard but why should I be ashamed?

[jkellmd]

Leaving the well-documented medical facts aside, here's some anecdotal evidence...

 

Of the fifty or so hospital patients I've watched die:

 

a) One third died during COPD exacerbations, all directly related to their smoking. A bad way to go, starving for oxygen, drowning in secretions and CO2.

 

:cup: Half died from cardio, cerebro, or peripheral vascular disease, in which their smoking played a significant role.

 

Most other doctors will tell you the same.

[Queso]

What's shameful about smoking? Agreed, it's a big health hazard but why should I be ashamed?

 

well in my book, well books, you are considered a complete idiot if you smoke menthols.

why? you ask

ill tell you

those menthols are really cutting up your throat and mouth with tiny pieces of fiberglass

but WHY!

why are they doing that!!

so that you can get the nicotine to your blood faster

 

oh, how sweet of them, huh?:cup: :D :cup:

[InfiniteNow]

To each his own, eh? Seriously, I smoked for years, and have definitely done things that might be considered worse than smoking... like, I don't know, eating at Taco Bell or treating a bag of Doritos like a meal?

 

I used to do some research with the American Cancer Society and they have some interesting statistics. The two that always stood out to me are:

 

• A person who smokes is 400% (4x) more likely to get ANY form of cancer (liver, brain, colon, whatever) than someone who does not smoke.
   
   
  
• Smokers are 1200% (12x) more likely to get lung cancer than a nonsmoker.
  

 

Of course, correlation does not prove causation, but those numbers are pretty solid ground on which to stand. It is super addictive. There is a chemical (well, lots of them in fact) in tobacco that mimics a neuroreceptor (nicotinic acytocholine) in our nervous system... the nervous system loads up the receptors with this and that helps our muscles to move. Like a key into a lock, the chemical in tobacco falls right into that receptor.

 

Don't get me wrong. I still love the occasional cigar. I look at it more as a quality of life instead of quantity of life issue anyway.

 

 

Cheers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

InfiniteNow

[Nammy]

well in my book, well books, you are considered a complete idiot if you smoke menthols.

I thought you were not allowed name-calling in these forums. Everybody has a right to choose their lifestyles and I just responded in a light vein...I didn't know I would be crucified for it. I have my reasons for smoking that is none of your business. I don't defend those who smoke but at the same time respect their right/freedom to choose. I absolutely am very informed about the dangers of smoking and DON'T JUDGE anyone who smokes. This thread was about trying to quit and I came to read because of that.

[Drip Curl Magic]

• A person who smokes is 400% (4x) more likely to get ANY form of cancer (liver, brain, colon, whatever) than someone who does not smoke.
   
   
  
• Smokers are 1200% (12x) more likely to get lung cancer than a nonsmoker.
  

 

wow, those are some interestingly scary stats... and even more encouragment for me to stop smoking. Thank you, infinte.

 

Don't get me wrong. I still love the occasional cigar. I look at it more as a quality of life instead of quantity of life issue anyway.

 

mmmm, how about some hookah tabacco? Ever indulge in that? I love hookahs. It's a great alternative to cigarette smoking. Way less harmful.