Whereas, it takes some people to commit suicide in a flash of a second...I think the people around the world, who have the nasty habit of drinking and doing drugs and smoking...commit suicide over a long period of time. 

The death certificate may say death by heart attack; liver failure; or something else...but the people, in my view, who drink excessively; smoke and do drugs, begin their individual suicide journey many years before their death! 

Every time I get a chance to write something on quitting smoking...I'll take that opportunity to try to convince people who smoke to quit.  If I can quit over 40 years ago...anyone can quit!  The problem in this society in the U.S., is that there are millions of people who don't want to quit...they're excuse-makers and they enjoy smoking, etc.  And, for these people, I don't care if you die or not!

For the rest of you out there with a little sense in your head...the following article was written by Molly Peterson of Blumberg News, and the piece was published in the Albuquerque Journal on December 10, 2010.  The piece is entitled;

'Cigarette Chemicals Harmful From First Puff'

The sub-title reads; 'Report: Organs, DNA Damaged'

The article reads as follows;

WASHINGTON:  "Smoking causes immediate lung and DNA damage that may lead to eventual illness and death, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said Thrusday (12/10)

New research shows that chemicals in cigarettes can harm the body 'from the moment they enter your mouth,' by attacking tissues as smoke travels to the lungs, Benjamin said in a report.  Smoking weakens the system's ability to prevent damaged DNA from causing cancer, she said.

Benjamin's findings are the first Surgeon General's report issued under the Obama administration.  The document expands the scientific understanding of how tobacco smoke causes illnesses, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and Thkomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an introduction.

'By learning how tobacco smoke causes disease, we learn more about how chemicals harm cells, how genes may make us susceptible, and how tobacco users become addicted to nicotime,' Benjamin said in the report.  'The answers to these questions will help us to more effectively prevent tobacco addiction and treat tobacco-caused disease.'

More than 20 percent of U.S. adults, or 46 million people smoke cigarettes, according to the Atlanta-based CDC.  Smoking is the nation's biggest cause of preventable death, killing about 440,000 people a year.  Benjamin, whose mother died of lung cancer caused by cigarettes, and her report is the 30th smoking-related study issued by the office. 

'This report focuses on how tobacco smoke causes damage to almost every organ in your body,' Benjamin said at a briefing.  'One cigarette or exposure to second hand smoke may cause a heart attack.  We didn't know that before.'

A 1964 Surgeon General's report was the first official U.S. recognition that smoking causes serious illnesses including cancer, Benjamin's report is among 30 smoking related studies issued by the office since then. 

The law signed by President Obama last year gave the FDA unprecendented power to restrict the marketing of tobacco products and banned companies from adding flavors such as clove or strawberry to cigarettes."

END OF ARTICLE;

In keeping the promise I made to myself when I started writing...that is...of not being a preacher or a crusader for any issue...why would I want to interfere with a smoker whose intent it is to commit suicide one puff at a time? 

SITEMAP; 350+ Links For Your Convenience;
Copyright; 2010; Jerry Aragon/The Humor Doctor
Website name; humordoctormd