Those of you who read this blog know well that I adamantly oppose smoking. Having quit in 1984, it saddens me to see those around me puffing away as if the statistics don't apply to them at all - but to someone else.
I lost about seven family members – including aunts and uncles, cousins, and my only brother – to emphysema caused by smoking. It was painful to witness their suffering during the last years they spent gasping for breath and sucking air from an oxygen tank.
I use the following excerpt from a previous blog because it outlines very well the impact of smoking.
The American Lung Association reports:
"Three decades ago, public outrage killed an automobile model (Ford's Pinto) whose design defects allegedly caused 59 deaths. Yet every year tobacco kills more Americans than did World War II — more than AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined.
Approximately 440,000 people die from their own smoking each year, and about 50,000 die from second-hand smoke annually. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 22,073 people died of alcohol, 12,113 died of AIDS, 43,664 died of car accidents, 38,396 died of drug use — legal and illegal — 18,573 died of murder and 33,300 died of suicide.
That brings us to a total of 168,119 deaths, far less than the 440,000 that die from smoking annually."
While untimely deaths of any kind are sad, those related to lifestyle – like smoking – are especially tragic.
I use the following excerpt from a previous blog because it outlines very well the impact of smoking.
The American Lung Association reports:
"Three decades ago, public outrage killed an automobile model (Ford's Pinto) whose design defects allegedly caused 59 deaths. Yet every year tobacco kills more Americans than did World War II — more than AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined.
Approximately 440,000 people die from their own smoking each year, and about 50,000 die from second-hand smoke annually. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 22,073 people died of alcohol, 12,113 died of AIDS, 43,664 died of car accidents, 38,396 died of drug use — legal and illegal — 18,573 died of murder and 33,300 died of suicide.
That brings us to a total of 168,119 deaths, far less than the 440,000 that die from smoking annually."
While untimely deaths of any kind are sad, those related to lifestyle – like smoking – are especially tragic.
