It seems not a day passes without some report or other that tells us how dreadful smoking is and we’re all gonna die. The anti-smoker propaganda machine BBC trots out yet another of these. This time, it’s men dying sooner than women.
Smoking is the main reason why on average men die sooner than women across Europe, according to research.
World Health Organization figures on death rates reveal tobacco-related illness accounts for up to 60% of the gender health gap in most countries.
Frankly, as soon as I see the WHO mentioned, all credibility goes out of the window. And, who published the research? Oh, yeah, Tobacco Control. So no bias there, then. These are the idiots who believe in third hand smoke, for crying out loud – it’s even covered in their latest journal (Third Hand Smoke: Here to Stay) – so cockwaffle all round, then.
In the UK, smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer and heart disease, caused 60% of the excess male deaths.
But you don’t need to be a smoker to get these, do you?
The report also noticed an increase in smoking among young women. Well, that should even things up a bit, eh? Ah, but, as I mentioned the other day, both of my paternal grandparents smoked and he died some twenty years before she did and both expired of supposedly smoking related illnesses – illnesses that any of us might get in the winter and are potentially life-threatening for geriatrics. There are so many factors that will affect an individual’s longevity – smoking may or may not be one of them.
This is just another salvo in the war on smokers. Anyone who takes third hand smoke seriously is not someone the rest of us should be taking seriously. So, more junk science.
They have created a fear that is based on nothing’’
World-renowned pulmonologist, president of the prestigious Research Institute Necker for the last decade, Professor Philippe Even, now retired, tells us that he’s convinced of the absence of harm from passive smoking. A shocking interview.
What do the studies on passive smoking tell us?
PHILIPPE EVEN. There are about a hundred studies on the issue. First surprise: 40% of them claim a total absence of harmful effects of passive smoking on health. The remaining 60% estimate that the cancer risk is multiplied by 0.02 for the most optimistic and by 0.15 for the more pessimistic … compared to a risk multiplied by 10 or 20 for active smoking! It is therefore negligible. Clearly, the harm is either nonexistent, or it is extremely low.
It is an indisputable scientific fact. Anti-tobacco associations report 3 000-6 000 deaths per year in France …
I am curious to know their sources. No study has ever produced such a result.
Many experts argue that passive smoking is also responsible for cardiovascular disease and other asthma attacks. Not you?
They don’t base it on any solid scientific evidence. Take the case of cardiovascular diseases: the four main causes are obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. To determine whether passive smoking is an aggravating factor, there should be a study on people who have none of these four symptoms. But this was never done. Regarding chronic bronchitis, although the role of active smoking is undeniable, that of passive smoking is yet to be proven. For asthma, it is indeed a contributing factor … but not greater than pollen!
The purpose of the ban on smoking in public places, however, was to protect non-smokers. It was thus based on nothing?
Absolutely nothing! The psychosis began with the publication of a report by the IARC, International Agency for Research on Cancer, which depends on the WHO (Editor’s note: World Health Organization). The report released in 2002 says it is now proven that passive smoking carries serious health risks, but without showing the evidence. Where are the data? What was the methodology? It’s everything but a scientific approach. It was creating fear that is not based on anything.
Why would anti-tobacco organizations wave a threat that does not exist?
The anti-smoking campaigns and higher cigarette prices having failed, they had to find a new way to lower the number of smokers. By waving the threat of passive smoking, they found a tool that really works: social pressure. In good faith, non-smokers felt in danger and started to stand up against smokers. As a result, passive smoking has become a public health problem, paving the way for the Evin Law and the decree banning smoking in public places. The cause may be good, but I do not think it is good to legislate on a lie. And the worst part is that it does not work: since the entry into force of the decree, cigarette sales are rising again.
Why not speak up earlier?
As a civil servant, dean of the largest medical faculty in France, I was held to confidentiality. If I had deviated from official positions, I would have had to pay the consequences. Today, I am a free man.
Le Parisien