Is smoking bad for your health?

Putting personal opinions aside, are cigarettes detrimental to the human physiology? Does smoking shorten a persons lifespan, and/or increase their odds of health problem. Is there any truth that only smoking a few a day is inconsequential to the overall heath of a person. If the person does smoke, is there really a health benefit to smoking "lights", or are they pretty much the same as smoking regular cigarettes?

Please put personal opinions aside and give as much input into only the heath issues associated with smoking.

I think there is enough medical and research evidence to show smoking is a definite hazard to human health.

Why else would the Surgeon-General demand warning go on packets? The tobacco industry is a great revenue raiser for the govt, so why would they do that unless the threat was real?

Just a tidbit to get ya started, Fingers!

Cheers
Mick

[Theophylact]

Fingers, I don't understand. Polls are normally about opinion, not fact. Or are you trying to determine what degree of knowledge people have about the facts? Or is this yet another poll about religious belief?

Perhaps I should start a poll asking whether the world is

1. More or less spherical, with people (plus, of course, water, air, et cetera) on the outside

2. More or less spherical, with people on the inside and ice on the outside

3. Flat, rectangular and small, with people on top

4. Flat, round and large, with people on top and elephants holding it up on the bottom, standing on a giant tortoise swimming in an infinite sea of milk.

Theo, I'm asking that people put their personal opinions aside and post what they believe to be factual information. Please don't cloud this subject with other issues, I would simply like a serious discussion about the health affects associated with smoking cigarettes....

*edit*
Medically speaking, which is most accurate:

1) Smoking cigarettes isn't harmful to humans
2) Smoking only a few a day WILL NOT hurt you
3) Smoking only a few a day WILL harm you
4) Any number of cigarettes over your lifetime will damage your health and shorten your life.


Thanks for your anticipated cooperation an relevant participation in this discussion about the health affects associated with smoking cigarettes.

Well, here's a couple of good links to start with. There is a mountain of medical evidence abouyt smoking and health.

CDC's Smoking and Health Database

WHO and health burden of smoking

ASH Australia health reports

Happy reading (or should I say wading... ) through this stuff!

Cheers
Mick

[Epidemic]

I went for the few a day cant hurt option.

I still think a few a day might hurt you but as that is regular smoking. I am inclined to say that if you can keep from getting addicted (a long shot) and you can keep you smoking to medicinal levels it might not be bad for you .

I do not think the jury is in heck they have not even convened yet, for using smoking as a medicine. There may be health benefits to it as yet un determined. The problem is like heroin you tend to use too much and like water or chocolate cake it can hurt you if abused.

I am addicted and hence the medical benefits of it are outweighted by the abuse.

[TheBurningCat]

I cant stand it full stop. My grandmother demmanded that i never smoked and coming from a woman with cancer on her death bed it held a lot of force behind it..

I dont smoke and I refuse to date people who smoke.

[Theophylact]

Okay, Fingers, but don't consider this a vote.

The last time I checked, smoking one cigarette shortens your life span by about fifteen minutes (from all causes combined).

That of course is an average, derived from dividing the total number of cigarettes smoked for the whole population by the number of minutes of lifespan lost, again for the whole population. And there is no a priori reason to think that the dose/response curve is linear at the low dose levels. However, it is linear at higher doses, from a few cigarettes a day on up to multiple packs a day, so a linear dose/response curve is far from unreasonable, right on down to zero dose. So fifteen minutes remains my best estimate.

In addition, there is real, though hotly disputed (largely for reasons of economic self-interest, I would suggest), evidence for higher death rates of non-smokers exposed occupationally to cigarette smoke: nurses in VA hospitals, flight attendants, waiters.

At this point, when even the cigarette companies, after decades of misleading advertising, suppressing of evidence, and outright perjury are admitting what morbidity and mortality statistics and animal testing have established beyond any reasonable doubt -- that cigarette smoking is a potent shortener of lifespan -- anyone who believes otherwise is in a state of acute denial.

Of course, you might be one of the lucky ones who are immune to cancer, heart disease, stroke and emphysema. But if I were a betting man, I sure wouldn't bet my life on it.

[SPEEDO]

Well one thing that's obvious is that no good can come from smoking.....

Since I quit smoking in July (and have not smoked any since) I feel that smoking even a few a day or say only while out drinking is not good. Not AS bad as smoking more, but not AS good as not smoking at all.

I do believe that smoking even one a day can shorten your life.

Plus, you're still gonna smell, have burn accidents, and be damaging your lungs and health. You won't know the effects of not smoking til you totally quit. I smoked for XX (that's alot of) years and I cant' tell you how much cleaner I feel! It's pretty cool.

I just got back into a workout routine and, for being really out of shape, I sure can breathe alot better than I could when I was more muscularly fit and working out regularly.

I voted #3 because it's true, and #4 is true but kind of redundant.