My dad is 98. Started smoking when he was 9. At one point he was smoking 70 a day. He worked as a fireman on steam trains when he was in his 20s. He lived in Lo

My dad is 98. Started smoking when he was 9. At one point he was smoking 70 a day. He worked as a fireman on steam trains when he was in his 20s. He lived in London during the 1950s when the smog was so bad you could walk into a lamp post when the lamp above was lit. People warned their houses with coal, powered the city with coal, burnt their trash in the back garden and smoked a lot. Sure, the average lifespan was low. But he only quit smoking in the 1980s. I'm not saying that smoking isn't bad, but if there is a sudden rise in cancer among young people, it's not that simple. The number of smokers today is tiny. In the UK, smoking rates among young adults (aged 18-24) have significantly declined over the last few decades. In 2011, about 25.7% of this age group smoked, but by 2021, that number had fallen to 13.2%. I don't have stats from the 50s but according to my father he didn't know anyone who didn't smoke.