drunkfunk, on 16-Sep 2008, 06:20 PM, said:
nightlight, you are the devil, are you not? just when i was ready to give up all that smoke again, you wanna come and make me feel all good about it???
Before you get suckered into self-destruction again, you might wish to check couple recent papers. The first one is
"Are lung cancers triggered by stopping smoking?" ([Med Hypothesis 2007 69(3):711-2] pdf link is there) hypothesizing on mechanisms behind the "strange" phenomenon (known among experts, but which your doc or media won't talk about) of surprisingly large proportion of smokers getting lung cancers shortly after quitting smoking.
The second paper is even more telling, despite its less dramatic title
"Carcinogenicity studies of inhaled cigarette smoke in laboratory animals: old and new [Carcinogenesis 2005 26(9):1488-1492; pdf is there]. It is a survey of decades of futile attempts to induce lung cancer in lab animals via inhalation of tobacco smoke by the leading expert in the field Dr. S.S. Hecht (odd synchronicity of the initials, considering that the originator of the present "scientific" antismoking wave was
certain German chancellor from 1930s). Now this survey is six decades into this enterprise, with thousands of failed experiments, irreproducable frauds and countless research billions on its trail. No matter how heavy smoke animals inhaled, right up to the edge of asphyxiation, or how unnatural the exposure (e.g. lacking natural feedbacks in dosing and pacing of human smokers), the smoking animals still live longer than the controls inhaling the purest Hepa filtered air one could have. These little stubborn facts
"complicate the interpretation of data" Dr. S.S.H. euphemistically explains.
So what is the most promising 'discovery' in this field after all that effort? Well, the less promising of the two 'discoveries' is to spike smoke with radioactive 'tracers' (for measurement purposes, allegedly, yet he warns the researchers on being careful when handling the 'glow in the dark' "contaminated pelts"). But the real recent breakthrough is the
"recovery period", where animals are made to smoke heavily until about middle age, then the smoke exposure is halted completely for the rest of the experiment. The smoking animals, which were slimmer, quicker and healthier until then, get fat, lazy and sickly. If the quitting is point is picked just right, the damages from the "recovery period" will undo all the effects that "complicate the interpretation of data". But to make absolutely sure that there are no surprises from the evil weed, the "post recovery" smoking animals and the controls should be sacrificed before their natural lifespan, then one can eyeball and count the lesions and other physiological changes in the hand picked areas and freely make up scary stories, woven from made up "scientific" words and cherry picked criteria, "scientifically proving" all those horrible damages from "smoking".
So, there you have it -- they are telling you and for all pracitcal purposes forcing you (via unprecedented discrimination, extortion and maltreatment not seen in the West since 1930s, when certain other folks had to wear yellow stars, hide and be ashamed of themselves) to quit, knowing perfectly well that if you quit you will greatly damage your health and shorten your life. Of course, those paying these "scientists" for their services (the pharma and the rest of the 'sickness industry') will make a nice chunk of change on treating all the duped smokers from all the damages of this "recovery" period. The tens of billions made on smoking cessation "therapies" and extra antidepressant sales to former smokers alone, will easily make for the puny few billion they invest annually in antismoking "science" (such as that of Dr. S.S.H.), "grass roots" antismoking loudmouth groups, bribes to politicians, regulators and media to get the bans (and most recently the toxic "Fire Safe Cigarettes") passed. So, if you really feel generous and noble, do quit again to help good Dr. S.S.H., his pals and his bosses make few bucks from treating you. They've all got to pay for their kids' colleges, too.
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i can appreciate all the hard science and whatnot you bring, but why do i (and most smokers i know) feel so bad when they smoke, in other words lethargy, paleness and greyness of skin, impaired breathing, immune-issues ect.
Considering that you have smoked (at least recently) pure tobacco and hand made cigarettes, the most likely explanation of your problems is
"witch doctor effect". Being civilized and scientifically educated person, you may believe yourself immune to such primitive effect (which can kill only some supersitious savages). In fact, you are likely as awed by the "science" of Dr. S.S.H. and other modern medicine men as any naked savage ever was by the "powers" and knowledge of his medicine men. The chronic stress of believing deeply, as you seem to do, that each puff is peeling away your life force, killing you bit by bit, is doing the same kind of damage that kills some savage after his medicine man points a monkey bone at him, shakes it, telling him he will die (unless he submits and pays up to lift the death curse, which is roughly what our medicine men are doing to smokers). Our medicine men use more modern props, but the physiology behind the effectiveness of such 'death curse' is exactly the same for you as it is for the any 'naked savage'. In fact, this deadly effect in modern settings has been quantified on none other than smokers and the 'death curse' upon them:
There was a study in Heidelberg, described by Professor Eysenck in Psychological Reports (1989) in which 528 men were asked whether they, as smokers, were convinced that they would be very likely to develop lung cancer, heart disease, or other 'smoking related diseases'.
The 72 who answered 'yes', while admitting that their views were taken from information in the media, had an almost three times higher death rate at the end of 13 years than those who were not so influenced.
Fear can kill. This has been known since disease was first studied. We are entitled to wonder how many people have been killed more by the fear of 'smoking related diseases' than by any actual disease itself. (
from a book "Murder a Cigarette: the Smoking Debate" by J. Hatton, R. Harris)
On the other hand, if you follow up the actual facts of hard science rather than second and third hand stories told about them (by those making good bucks out of scaring you), you can shake of the spell and finally enjoy all the health and life-extending benefits of this 'most precious gift of gods'. And if/when the fear strikes again, just recall the graph depicting the results of the large NCI sponsored series of experiments (graphs, discussion & link to papers
here) and imagine the astonished faces of the NCI committe members when they saw it (somehow that cracks me up any time I imagine it). With the death curse lifted, you can enjoy every puff the way you would enjoy tasty bluberries as you pick and eat one by one in your organic garden, realizing that each puff of this ancient youth elixir is extending your life by about that same duration in healthy, joyful moments.
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