Yeah. And during the same time frame, obesity increased greatly.
Your link on smoking and drinking:
The researchers looked at data spanning from 1980 to 2009 on how much alcohol people drank in each state per person, as well as the states prices for a pack of cigarettes. Smoke-free air policies were also included in the research on a state-by-state basis.
Press article on obesity:
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/a...d-increase-during-times-economic-downturn.htm
The report noted that prior to 1980, fewer than one in ten people were obese in OECD countries, and now 18% of all adults are, suggesting a doubling or tripling of the obesity rate.
Ok, a big contribution in the rise of obesity is given to the economic crisis of 2008. But not only.
"The economic crisis may have contributed to a further growth in obesity....
And the rates seem to be affecting all groups of people. The report noted that wealthier and more educated people - particularly in the United States and Mexico - are also experiencing increasing rates of obesity...
That is perfectly understandable to my mind.
If you cannot smoke - and you do not feel like drinking if you cannot smoke (compare all the pub closings in the UK) - then you will do something else that gives you pleasure. Eating / snacking comes to mind. What else is there?
So, by actively fighting the so-called "smoking epidemic", the health taliban are actively contributing to what they now call the "obesity epidemic". People are not machines. We will substitute a new pleasure when we lose an old one. Or we might as well jump off a bridge. And all their "social engineering" will not change this fact.
