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Really inhaling something burning is bad. Pretty much every other form of tobacco that is not cigarettes is less bad.
by Aloha 4mo ago
Really inhaling something burning is bad.
Pretty much every other form of tobacco that is not cigarettes is less bad.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- cromka 4mo agoInhaling? We're talking about a compound here, not tobacco.
- falcor84 4mo agoThe HN guidelines say "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says". The way I understand it is that different people on the thread often have different ways of thinking about the topic, and we shouldn't dismiss something because it's not what "we" were talking about. In this case, it was obvious to you that the parent was talking about smoking tobacco, right? So you can either engage with it, or not, but there's no need to reject someone's comment for not adhering to what you decided is the topic.
- DANmode 4mo agoWhich parent?! No!, we’re specifically trying to avoid talking about tobacco. We’re trying to talk about nicotine!
- falcor84 4mo agoWho's trying to avoid talking about tobacco? TFA is titled "Scientists solve 200-year-old puzzle of how tobacco plants make nicotine", and my sense is that the thread is very much about which of the effects of smoking are explained by nicotine, and which are better explained by other factors of smoking tobacco.
- DANmode 4mo ago> the thread is very much about It is now. I’m one of the top level comments just trying to discuss and highlight isolated nicotine. Barely relevant now.
- dyauspitr 4mo agoChewing tobacco causes mouth cancer. Nicotine is okay, everything else in the tobacco leaf no so much.
- avadodin 4mo agoOn a scale from the-state-of-california cancer to exposed-to-sublethal-amounts-of-ionizing-radiation cancer, how worried should I be?
- lunchbucket 4mo agoIt's a serious concern and switching to synthetic nicotine products may prolong your life. All tobacco products are highly carcinogenic. Contrary to what was said earlier it is not really about the smoking (though of course that makes things worse). Nicotine products aren't safe; they are highly addictive and may exacerbate tumors that are already there. But they're far less addictive than tobacco products and they probably won't kill you.
- derektank 4mo ago>it is not really about the smoking I agree with you that tobacco is uniquely harmful, but smoking by itself is also bad by itself. Even exposure to smoke from campfires, if chronic, will elevate your risk for COPD, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, etc.
- lunchbucket 4mo agoSmoking/smoke inhalation is not safe, it leads to all the bad outcomes you mention, and I encourage everyone to seek out alternatives like oral nicotine pouches and cannabis gummies. They will almost certainly improve your healthspan and may well improve your lifespan. I personally stopped smoking because my wife told me she wanted me around longer. I am all aboard the "smoking is bad for you" train. But the role of the smoke itself is overemphasized which leads to a false sense of security. Switching from cigarettes to dip does lead to a significant improvement in mortality. But the real step change is moving to oral nicotine pouches, gum, patches, etc. I'd also point out the risk from campfires and from cigarettes is not at all comparable. They are several orders of magnitude apart. Even smoking marijuana isn't nearly as dangerous as smoking tobacco. (Smoking marijuana is not safe, that just goes to show how ridiculously dangerous cigarettes are.)
- Aerroon 4mo agoI would even go further: inhaling pretty much anything other than air is harmful in the long-term. I imagine if you inhaled helium several times a day for decades that it would also mess something up.
- PUSH_AX 4mo agoI don’t think this really holds up, for example helium itself is chemically inert and not toxic. The main risk from inhaling helium is probably oxygen displacement at a push. Millions of people have been using inhalers to control asthma too, this well studied and agreed to be safe. This is just off the top of my head.
- DANmode 4mo agoTurned this thread absolutely useless, thanks.