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> Yet we're all hypersensitive about telling women they are overweight or obese. Also smoking is very normalised in many parts of the world, thanks to American
by cyphar 9y ago
> Yet we're all hypersensitive about telling women they are overweight or obese.
Also smoking is very normalised in many parts of the world, thanks to American lobbying. I really wish more countries would follow Australia's lead on smoking legislation. Smoking kills ~500,000 a year[1].
> It would be like spending weeks in urban schools talking about how to avoid poisonous snake bites and spending 15 minutes on automobile safety.
As an aside, in Australia we teach both (not to mention spider, tick, blue bottle, jellyfish, and octopus safety).
[1]: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/index.htm https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/heal...
- caseysoftware 9y agoThat's because everything in Australia is [secretly] plotting to kill you! ;)
- acheron 9y agoThere was a kids' cartoon from the U.K. I think, where one of the episodes was about how spiders are our friends and you don't need to be afraid of them, etc. When the show was broadcast in Australia they left that episode out, because all the spiders in Australia probably will kill you. :)
- cyphar 9y agoYes, it was an episode of "Peppa Pig". https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/05/peppa-pig-spiders-cant-hurt-you-episode-pulled-off-air-in-australia-again https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/05/peppa-p...
- acheron 9y agoHa yeah, that was the one I was thinking of. Excellent.
- tgb 9y agoIs it American lobbying? As an American, I could never live in Europe since the cigarette smoke everywhere disgusts me. Too bad because they have a lot of other things figured out but will still be smoking the cigarettes outdoors in a crowded restaurant seating or worse, around children. I've never seen anything like it in the US though the current riser of ecigs is concerning.
- drakonka 9y agoI live in the EU and agree on the smoking issue; thankfully more places are disallowing smoking in their outdoor seating now, and chewing tobacco and vaping are becoming much more popular.
- cyphar 9y agoQuite a lot of lobbying to prevent anti-smoking laws all over the world is done by the American tobacco industry (Marlboro is a particular offender). To be clear, some EU countries (Germany especially) have had a bad track record with smoking legislation as well as EU lobbying. But usually they are lobbying for the goal of protecting an EU directive from being passed that affects their own country (which is effectively just standard lobbying). But I don't recall stories about Reemtsma trying to interfere in Australia's laws about anti-smoking. Marlboro did (they failed spectacularly, but that's a separate topic).