Smoke ban creates a healthier 2008

Illinois begins 2008 smoke free in public places, thanks to our legislature and the wishes of the majority of the people, all largely influenced by information produced thanks to the Master Settlement Agreement of 1988, in which the Tobacco Industry reached an agreement with 46 states and 5 US territories (4 States had already made settlements), which call for payments in perpetuity from the Tobacco Companies. These payments have now reached over $5,000,000,000.00 per year. These funds were used to create the American Legacy Foundation (and other beneficiaries), whose purpose is to discourage smoking, and they have been successful! These funds have funded numerous published studies related to the harms caused by smoking, and they are responsible for all the anti-smoking ads we see.

Now, the purpose of the States lawsuits was to have the tobacco companies compensate the States for medical expenses incurred due to smoking, yet the money is earmarked for reducing youth smoking and education campaigns. The Foundation spends about 1/3 of it's budget overall on this, as their overhead (salaries, benefits etc. eat up the rest of the funds). The University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention is just one of the big beneficiaries of these funds, between 1992 and 2006 receiving $51.2 million for research, and is one of the largest sources of anti-smoking research. In fact, most published research can be traced back to funding provided by this settlement.

We should all feel safer now because of this. But maybe we have other worries. In 2004, 2,397,615 people died in the US (source US census data). Of these, fully 56.55% were over 75 years old, apparently making age a significant death risk. (Of course, with a population of 293,027,570 in 2004, your chance of dying was actually only 0.00818, or about 8 out of every 1000 people died [over 4 of them over 75 years old], which is probably why you are alive to read this).

In 2002, lung cancer was responsible for almost 1,500 deaths in Chicago, and over 4000 deaths in suburban Cook County between 2000-2002. There are 14 Chicago neighborhoods on the south and west sides and Rogers Park that have at least a 33% higher death rate than the city as a whole (must be lots of smokers in these neighborhoods).

And cigarette smoking accounts for 87% of lung cancer deaths (Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago).

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. (Abraham Lincoln)

I for one find it difficult to believe that there is not some sort of conspiracy between the government, industry, and the media to distort information regarding the relative dangers of smoking, and apparently they ARE successful at fooling most all the people all the time.

We are exposed to a wide array of possible carcinogens everywhere we go, in foods we eat, chemicals, radiation, microwaves, cell phones, gamma rays, alpha particles, asbestos, benzene, vinyl chloride, nitrosamines, vinyl chloride, PVC, funguses, viruses, and many others.

Yet we are expected to believe that with 1,738,208 TONS of pollutants released into the air in just Cook County in one year, 87% of the lung cancer deaths are due to cigarette smoke alone.

In 2000, the population of Cook County was 5,376,741. If you divide 3,476,416,000 (pounds of air pollutants) by the population, that comes to 646.56 pounds per person- absolutely amazing that this has NO effect on anyones health!

Now back to the Cook County death rates from lung cancer- 4000 suburban deaths (in a three year period) or about 1333 per year, and about 1,500 deaths in the city, for about a total of less than 2833 deaths due to lung cancer per year in a population of 5,376,741, or 0.000527, or stated as percentage of the population 0.00000527%. An estimated 80 percent of lung cancer cases in women and 90 percent in men are linked to smoking. This must mean that secondhand smoke accounts for about 425 of these deaths. It is odd though (a statistical fluke, I guess), that only 10-20% of smokers ever develop lung cancer. It's odd, really that secondhand smoke is responsible for so many deaths, since the EPA study on the effects of secondhand smoke (upon which all research is based), (page 3-46), based on nicotine measurements in non-smokers blood, "this would translate to the equivalent of about one-fifth of a cigarette per day".

I for one feel sooo much safer now that smoking is so limited. Now maybe the government, researchers, and public health officials can work on eliminating a ton or two of the air pollutants which may have something to do with the rest of the lung cancer deaths. And, to reduce my risk of death further, I am personally going to try to not make it to age 75, because that's when the real risk of death starts, and I encourage you all to do the same.

It's really too bad though, that none of the tobacco funds go towards any type of research on any other possible causes of lung disease other than cigarettes. Maybe if they did, we would all have more accurate research and information available to us. Sorry, I was unable to find any information regarding how many tons of pollution are directly linked to cigarettes, but my guess is it is a small proportion of the overall airborne pollution.

One more thing, although quitting smoking is the best way to avoid lung cancer, researchers from Philadelphia and Minnesota say that being physically active can also reduce the danger. They found that a high level of physical activity in women who smoked reduced their relative risk of developing lung cancer by 72 percent (one of the few studies found which cite any other risk factor than smoking).

Nancy Schneck

Hanover Park