File under: "Duh!"

October 12, 2000 2:17 PM

File under: "Duh!" "We agree that smoking is addictive and causes disease in smokers," said David Davies, vice president of corporate affairs of Philip Morris Europe.
posted by fraying (21 comments total)

It's been nine days since my last cigarette, and though I'm hesitant to use the word "quit" just yet, stories like this are a good reminder.
posted by fraying at 2:20 PM on October 12, 2000

Good for you! I quit last year - that anti-smoking advert, the one where the woman is smoking through the trach. hole in her neck really got to me.

It gets easier every day - so don't give up - being a nonsmoker is wonderful, wonderful, Wonderful!

Nine days is a HUGE achievement.....I hope that you are patting yourself on the back a lot!
posted by kristin at 2:30 PM on October 12, 2000

i'll pat myself on the back for never having smoked. some of my friends smoke cigars and tell me that i can't just say it's bad without ever having tried it, i'm missing out.

yeah buddy, and you're missing a lung.
posted by pnevares at 2:56 PM on October 12, 2000

I hope instead of tax hikes or banning ads for smoking, companies try reducing the nicotine in each cigarette, like the plan presented in The Tipping Point.

It seemed like a sound argument when I read it.
posted by mathowie at 2:59 PM on October 12, 2000

Personally i smoke because i need something to do. I used to chew my nails and stoped that as soon as i started smoking. There are millions of people in the world that never had anything bad happen due to smoking, except maybe being a little less fit.

So unless smoking causes everyone to get sick and perhaps die let's stop spreading these lies.
posted by Zool at 3:24 PM on October 12, 2000

My grandpa smoked two packs of Old Golds per day, and expired when he was 88. Nearly everyone in my family, except my parents, burned 40 nails a day. They stunk and wheezed, but they were all stern hardy farm stock, and no one kicked off prior to age 72, which is just about the median age for smokers hitting the dirt for good.

I still figured I'd get the C, though. When we had our baby, I quit, and haven't missed them since. Good luck, Derek - it's hard to believe, but the thought of smoking does eventually become unpalatable.

It also helps if you chew a wad of nicotine gum the size of a thanksgiving turkey.
posted by lileks at 4:10 PM on October 12, 2000

Umm... are you saying that smoking isn't detrimental to your health?

I thought I liked having my head in a pile of sand. It's one of the worst things you can do to your body. Sure, there's plenty of ways to counteract the effects, and no, they don't kill everyone who smokes, but the fact is they're bad for you. Smoke away, but don't hide the facts from yourself.

(I'm a smoker, have been for years, with little interest in quitting right now. I still chew my nails, too, dammit.)


posted by cCranium at 4:12 PM on October 12, 2000

Exactly, cCranium. I smoke, even though it tears up your guts, I like it. But you shouldn't pretend like it's not bad for you either.
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:11 AM on October 13, 2000

This site was pointed out to me because of the design, but it gave me the push I needed to stop smoking.
posted by Markb at 7:48 AM on October 13, 2000

Ahhrg. Markb, you tricked me into giving a hit to those rotten truth.com kids. Good luck to everyone trying to quit.
posted by thirteen at 8:13 AM on October 13, 2000

heh. I saw the URL and refused to click it. Though I've been there before, and it is a nice-looking site.

To those trying to quit, I also chip in my wishes of good luck, and strong fortitude. I'll be there with you one day. Hopefully sometime within the next 2 years (my 25th birthday is my Start Quitting date) they'll come up with a magical pill. :-)
posted by cCranium at 8:55 AM on October 13, 2000

thirteen, don't you check the status bar of your browser before you follow a link? That's so ingrained in me, I have a hard time imagining someone who didn't.

As for smoking, good luck to everyone here who is trying to quit or would like to. Although I've never smoked, I'm sure that if I were addicted, I'd be the last person to give it up. I have no self-control at all. It also helps that I'd probably die immediately if I ever tried it, given my asthma.
posted by daveadams at 9:11 AM on October 13, 2000

Giving up smoking is much easier when you really want to and you have another person to support you in it - for the whole of my twenties I was trying to give up half heartedly, when it came down to it I knew I should, but didn't really want to, I enjoyed it.
I turned thirty late last year and my sister had a kid, so I spoke to my partner (who'd also been trying for years) and we stopped together. With the incentive of a baby to visit and someone to gripe and crave with, I found it easier than ever to stop and stay stopped. The best thing is, I can now climb stairs and not end up looking like I've run a marathon.
BTW - Truth.com = bad? Why?

posted by Markb at 9:18 AM on October 13, 2000

I check url's when I am at home, and clicking will cost me time. When I am on my fast connection I click like a machinegun. I have 2 sets of preferences in my head now. The only thing I still get confused about is when my index finger goes looking for the scroll wheel that is on my home mouse, I look down everytime, not understanding what went wrong.
The Truth kids are weenies. An evil mix of being know-it-alls, and dripping faux cool that they have no meatspace claim to. A vote for the truth.com is really a vote for Bush.
posted by thirteen at 9:31 AM on October 13, 2000

I've been smoking for over 20 years and I've never tried to quit. Why? I guess I still enjoy it. I know it's not the healthiest habit, but I hardly plan on quitting everything that's not good for me (what the hell would there be left to do?)

Quiting is great, if it's something you've made up your mind to do.

BTW - Kudos to Derek, especially in light of his recent catastrophe ;-(
posted by jaz at 10:16 AM on October 13, 2000

All things in moderation, including anti-smoking hysteria.
posted by schampeo at 11:56 AM on October 13, 2000

MarkB is right. You're not going to be able to quit until you really want to. Support from friends and family is also helpful to most people. My wife's grandfather died a few years ago from emphysema caused by a lifetime of smoking. He continued smoking long after he knew it was bad for him, after he was diagnosed, and pretty much until he started requiring supplemental oxygen to breathe. But at that point, he was finally ready to quit. No number of decades of nagging by his wife and family had been able to stop him, but he was able to once he decided it was important to him.

As for choosing to smoke, I'm all for it. As long as the potential consequences are known and understood by you and you can somehow avoid forcing me to breathe the junk, I'm 100% pro-smoking for those who want to do it.

On a moderately off-topic issue, I know it's controversial to say that smokers should be pushed to the side for the benefit of non-smokers, but believe me, there are lots of us out here that cigarette smoke is physically harmful to even in tiny amounts. It's not fair that you should get to inflict physical harm on me just because you want to enjoy a smoke. So I fully support banning smoking indoors in public places, including office buildings. Just my opinion, of course. ;)
posted by daveadams at 2:15 PM on October 13, 2000

Smoking is bad mmmkay.....
posted by dangerman at 2:46 PM on October 13, 2000

I also fully support banning smoking indoors, or at the very least, very well ventilated smoking areas.

I smoke, and one of my coworkers smokes a much harsher brand of cigarette than I do (I smoke duMaurier light regs, he smokes Dunhill king size, I don't have numbers, but when I do mooch a smoke, my throat gets ripped) and occasionally I notice the astounding reek permeating him. I imagine I smell the same to a non-smoker.

Tangent: That, more than anything, has caused me to cut back at work, and start to seriously consider quitting for the first time.

When I'm eating out in a smoking area, if it isn't well-ventilated I occasionally get annoyed by the smell of the smoke, and the cloyingness of it all. There's been nights out at tiny hole-in-the-wall smoke-filled bars where I walk out and my eyes start filling with water as the fresh air hits me and they clue in to how dry they were.

I would hate to think that I'm inflicting that on someone who a) didn't choose to be a part of it, and b) are hurt badly by it. I've known a number of people allergic to smoke, who get nauseous if I have a smoke and see them within an hour or two. Makes a friendship hard, but that's why email's great. :-)

What I choose to do to my body is, above all else, my business. I don't think there are many who'll disagree with that. What I choose to do to other peoples' bodies, however, is all about their business.
posted by cCranium at 6:32 PM on October 13, 2000

occasionally I notice the astounding reek permeating him. I imagine I smell the same to a non-smoker.


Thats the big thing I notice nowadays, the people I used to smoke with at work now come back into the office and I really catch the smell - for the first time in years I find it repelling.
I think staying stopped has quite a lot to do with these 'affirmative' observations.
posted by Markb at 3:12 PM on October 14, 2000

Did you all know that smoking is the biggest cause of statistics :)
posted by Zool at 4:58 PM on October 15, 2000