4 ms·

At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I think it is exaggeration to call this a "scandal". I recall thi

At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I think it is exaggeration to call this a "scandal". I recall this was talked about on television a lot back when Peter Jennings died - he had quit smoking many decades earlier, but he still died of lung cancer. However, here is the important fact: smokers die of lung cancer at a higher rate than non-smokers. The above essay makes a big deal about the fact that quitting seems to have no benefit. That does seem to be true. But never, ever smoking does clearly have a health benefit. This should not be forgotten.

jawngee 17y ago
Well to be a contrarian, nicotine is a mood stabilizer in people with depression and bipolar disorder. Consider it a cheap SSRI. It also makes you look cool which can score you dates which can lead to sex, and that's a healthy cardiovascular exercise. sarcasm
- tokenadult 17y ago
  nicotine is a mood stabilizer in people with depression and bipolar disorder Citations, please? I have the best regarded textbook on bipolar disorder http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Recurrent-Depression/dp/0195135792/ http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec... at hand as I type this, and there is no recommendation of nicotine for any patient there. I'm quite sure that "mood stabilizer" is an incorrect characterization of the drug effect of nicotine. Nicotine has very harmful effects on the personalities of long-term users. I've seen too many examples in the previous generation to recommend it to anyone in my generation. One study on harm of smoking: Socioeconomic Status, Smoking, and Health: A Test of Competing Theories of Cumulative Advantage # Fred C. Pampel and Richard G. Rogers # Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 306-321 One study on personality factors interacting with nicotine use: Nicotine dependence, psychological distress and personality traits as possible predictors of smoking cessation. Results of a double-blind study with nicotine patch http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VC9-4TGGCWY-1&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1149394097&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=5c57d5e2d61723d16e754e56a9665982 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...
  - jawngee 17y ago
    Abstract Updated findings on the relationship between nicotine and depression are presented. Clinical and preclinical research on nicotine use and depression suggests that nicotine may have some properties in common with antidepressants. Updated findings involve the comorbidity of smoking and major depressive disorder (MDD), the influence of depression during withdrawal on failure to quit smoking, the course of MDD without nicotine and the neurobiology of smoking and depression. http://www.springerlink.com/content/101v75rn12174k61/ http://www.springerlink.com/content/101v75rn12174k61/
- chrischen 17y ago
  Nicotine reduces stress, and a low stress life can probably increase your general health.
  - btilly 17y ago
    Actually to the best of my knowledge nicotine is a stimulant that increases stress. However it alleviates withdrawal symptoms, that are generally causing even more stress. Seeing a cigarette as stress relief is like thanking a guy for stopping hitting you on the head while he's amusing himself by whacking you in the shoulder instead.
    - chrischen 17y ago
      Maybe that's why quitting supposedly doesn't help, since quitting causes a large onset of stress, that might perpetuate throughout their life.
- herdrick 17y ago
  Stimulants tend to act as appetite suppressors. Reducing likelihood of being overweight would seem to increase lifespan, all else being equal.
nkurz 17y ago
At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I don't think this is true. In fact, this strikes me as a lie (not an error) on two fronts: there are health benefits, and there are widely believed to be health benefits. Here's what looks like the official US line: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessati... "The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial" "Quitting smoking reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases..." "Quitting smoking substantially reduces the risk of developing and dying from cancer, and this benefit increases the longer a person remains smoke free." The Australian government (this is an Australian paper being referenced) seems to take a similarly strong line, and has a version of tobacco packaging warnings with the simple tagline "Quitting Will Improve Your Health": http://www.health.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Content/warnings-quitline http://www.health.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Con... "Quitting smoking at any age has short and long term health benefits. Quitting will reduce the risks for diseases caused by smoking and will help to improve your health in general." If the government is lying about these facts, then this would be a scandal. But this really isn't the 'scandal' referred to in the title of the paper. From the closing paragraph: "But smoking is really a secondary issue. The primary issue is the integrity of science. This has no use-by date. When the processes of science are misused, even if for what seems a good reason, science and its practitioners are alike degraded." The point of the paper is the using misleading statistics and cherry-picked data to prove a point, even if this point is certain to be true, even if it can be established by other means, is a scandal. Apologizing for this practice by rationalizing that "everyone knows" only compounds the problem, and makes their point even sharper.
pg 17y ago
Jennings restarted smoking after 9/11.

jawngee 17y ago

Well to be a contrarian, nicotine is a mood stabilizer in people with depression and bipolar disorder. Consider it a cheap SSRI. It also makes you look cool which can score you dates which can lead to sex, and that's a healthy cardiovascular exercise. sarcasm

tokenadult 17y ago
nicotine is a mood stabilizer in people with depression and bipolar disorder Citations, please? I have the best regarded textbook on bipolar disorder http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Recurrent-Depression/dp/0195135792/ http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec... at hand as I type this, and there is no recommendation of nicotine for any patient there. I'm quite sure that "mood stabilizer" is an incorrect characterization of the drug effect of nicotine. Nicotine has very harmful effects on the personalities of long-term users. I've seen too many examples in the previous generation to recommend it to anyone in my generation. One study on harm of smoking: Socioeconomic Status, Smoking, and Health: A Test of Competing Theories of Cumulative Advantage # Fred C. Pampel and Richard G. Rogers # Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 306-321 One study on personality factors interacting with nicotine use: Nicotine dependence, psychological distress and personality traits as possible predictors of smoking cessation. Results of a double-blind study with nicotine patch http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VC9-4TGGCWY-1&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1149394097&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=5c57d5e2d61723d16e754e56a9665982 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi...
- jawngee 17y ago
  Abstract Updated findings on the relationship between nicotine and depression are presented. Clinical and preclinical research on nicotine use and depression suggests that nicotine may have some properties in common with antidepressants. Updated findings involve the comorbidity of smoking and major depressive disorder (MDD), the influence of depression during withdrawal on failure to quit smoking, the course of MDD without nicotine and the neurobiology of smoking and depression. http://www.springerlink.com/content/101v75rn12174k61/ http://www.springerlink.com/content/101v75rn12174k61/
chrischen 17y ago
Nicotine reduces stress, and a low stress life can probably increase your general health.
- btilly 17y ago
  Actually to the best of my knowledge nicotine is a stimulant that increases stress. However it alleviates withdrawal symptoms, that are generally causing even more stress. Seeing a cigarette as stress relief is like thanking a guy for stopping hitting you on the head while he's amusing himself by whacking you in the shoulder instead.
  - chrischen 17y ago
    Maybe that's why quitting supposedly doesn't help, since quitting causes a large onset of stress, that might perpetuate throughout their life.
herdrick 17y ago
Stimulants tend to act as appetite suppressors. Reducing likelihood of being overweight would seem to increase lifespan, all else being equal.

nkurz 17y ago

At this point I think it is well known that quitting smoking doesn't have much health benefit. I don't think this is true. In fact, this strikes me as a lie (not an error) on two fronts: there are health benefits, and there are widely believed to be health benefits. Here's what looks like the official US line: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessation http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/cessati... "The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial" "Quitting smoking reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases..." "Quitting smoking substantially reduces the risk of developing and dying from cancer, and this benefit increases the longer a person remains smoke free." The Australian government (this is an Australian paper being referenced) seems to take a similarly strong line, and has a version of tobacco packaging warnings with the simple tagline "Quitting Will Improve Your Health": http://www.health.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Content/warnings-quitline http://www.health.gov.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Con... "Quitting smoking at any age has short and long term health benefits. Quitting will reduce the risks for diseases caused by smoking and will help to improve your health in general." If the government is lying about these facts, then this would be a scandal. But this really isn't the 'scandal' referred to in the title of the paper. From the closing paragraph: "But smoking is really a secondary issue. The primary issue is the integrity of science. This has no use-by date. When the processes of science are misused, even if for what seems a good reason, science and its practitioners are alike degraded." The point of the paper is the using misleading statistics and cherry-picked data to prove a point, even if this point is certain to be true, even if it can be established by other means, is a scandal. Apologizing for this practice by rationalizing that "everyone knows" only compounds the problem, and makes their point even sharper.

pg 17y ago

Jennings restarted smoking after 9/11.