Attn: Smokers in the US

[Aubade]

I chuckle.

[Fivelives]

It's not only HPV that causes mutations in oncogenes. Chickenpox, mononucleosis, herpes (yes, even the cold sore herpes)... more and more viruses are being added to the list of those that cause mutations in oncogenes (the "on/off" switches that determine whether or not you're susceptible to getting cancer).

[Levantine]

Man, Brazil's anti smoking pictures are so much cooler than Australia's. All I ever seem to get it a picture of a preggers chick saying SMOKING HARMS UNBORN BABIES and all I can do is laugh because I don't care.

[Doz]

I fucking hate all the misinformation. "Cigarettes cause cancer" my ass! They contribute to a higher risk factor for getting cancer, but that doesn't have quite the same ring to it I guess.

translated: It won't happen to me...I'm me!

I wish they flat said "smoking this will make you die 100% for sure". Who cares if it isn't true, if it gets a few kids to not pick up the habit, then it's a win. I wish it said that 20 years ago, maybe I wouldn't have started. If smokers paid all thier own medical cost when they start dying, then it would be cool, but the costs are shared by all people, because some choose to believe that they will beat the odds. You may beat the odds and not get cancer, but what about emphysema, circulatory problems, all the other problems. What about not being able to walk up 2 flights of stairs without being out of breath.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be enlightened as to how I'm wrong.

[Snake-Aes]

Man, Brazil's anti smoking pictures are so much cooler than Australia's. All I ever seem to get it a picture of a preggers chick saying SMOKING HARMS UNBORN BABIES and all I can do is laugh because I don't care.

When I'm hanging out at one of my friends' shops, I like to mess with every single cigarette buyer by recommending the male ones with the packs with sexual impotence slogans.

[Passionario]

[Fivelives]

I've already got cancer, but it's not related to smoking. I was diagnosed with melanoma about 8 years ago, and it went metastatic last year (it metastisized to my liver, and I had surgery to remove the tumor, and about 35% of my total liver mass). It's unrelated to smoking, though - skin cancer is caused by UV radiation.

But I bet someone will claim that it was caused by smoking, despite there being absolutely zero circulation to the epidermis and me having lived for 20+ years in the mohave and high deserts.

[katraya]

But I bet someone will claim that it was caused by smoking, despite there being absolutely zero circulation to the epidermis and me having lived for 20+ years in the mohave and high deserts.

I don't think anyone with an ounce of sense would say that, but that only eliminates a portion of the population...

I was reading something recently about the stigma of having lung cancer. It is really the only cancer I can think of where people blame the person who has it for their plight. Even if people never smoked, people still assume they must have secretly done so at some point in their life. The article interviewed people who would lie about their exact diagnosis because people would treat them differently.


As to the topic at hand, I think the stickers are supposed to be more of a deterrent to new smokers rather than an eye opener for current smokers.

[Nikachelle]

Canada's been doing this for as long as I can remember. I don't smoke, but you get used to the visuals. I'd find it weird to see a cigarette case WITHOUT the nasty images on it at this point.

[lythac]

What image is used for sexual impotence?

[Snake-Aes]

What image is used for sexual impotence?

In the small one, the bent cigarette. In the big one, the one saying "Impotência", with a female hand doing a thumbs-down and a guy in the background.

[Dorvan]

From this thread I have learned that drunk driving doesn't cause auto accidents.

[Thalia]

From this thread I have learned that drunk driving doesn't cause auto accidents.

Heh that made me laugh.

I don't know how I feel about smoking, I take a libertarian view on it, as in if you want to smoke and you know the danger fine, you are only hurting yourself (though second hand smoke docs say is bad too). Personally though, I'm annoyed as hell by the smell of smoke, I can't stand it, especially when it penetrates someone's home and clothing. But I am not going to tell someone to put out their cigarette, I'll just go somewhere else, like when a smoke comes sits next to my slot machine in a casino, I just move. Though in inclosed spaces where I can't leave, I'm happy they have made it a nono, like in an airplane, or a restaurant.

I grew up with parents that where heavy smokers, we'd take road trips and they would smoke smoke smoke, blow the smoke, and the wind would blow the smoke straight to the back where us kids where. That was my deterrent lol. Aergis smoked like crazy and I still married him on the condition that he would stop smoking, as soon as I got pregnant he tried to quit and it took him about 6 months but he's been smoke free for 5 years now.

[Snake-Aes]

It's just as bad for second hand smokers, considering that smoke has pretty much the same stuff that the smoker is inhaling.

[Fivelives]

Second hand smoke would have to accumulate over at least two lifetimes for it to affect the person being smoked at as much as it affects the person doing the smoking. As a test, have one of your smoker friends take a mouthful of smoke then blow it through a napkin. Then, have them inhale a mouthful of smoke and blow it out through another napkin - look at the difference between the discoloration spots on each napkin.

The second one is "second hand" smoke.