This is a smoking statistics article, BUT

[rothenbj]

US smoking rate still stuck at 1 in 5 adults - Road Runner

"Health officials believe they've lost momentum because of cuts to anti-tobacco campaigns and shrewd marketing by cigarette companies."

With money being diverted to efforts to stop electronic cigarettes from being sold and other, safer alternatives to smoking, anti-smoking campaigns have been relegated to second tier activities. After all, if smokers disappear, the money flow to these ?non-profit?"health" associations will dry up and we can't have that.


"The annual smoking report was based on government surveys. The second report looked at levels in the blood of cotinine, a chemical from tobacco smoke, in a total of more than 30,000 nonsmokers between 1999 and 2008."

As long as cotinine measurements are used, those using safer tobacco alternatives such as E Cigs and smokeless tobacco will remain in their numbers.

""Without bold action by our elected officials, too many lives, young and old, will suffer needlessly from chronic illness and burdensome health care expenses," Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement."

Translated, "Without generating more revenue from the smoking community, my $1.5 Million dollar salary may not be sustainable"

 

[rothenbj]

Added info

CDC Vital Signs - Latest Findings

 

[CJsKee]

Here's some statistics posted in the comments on Dr. Siegel's blog yesterday (hope it's ok to post this...if not, it can be deleted):

Gary K
" If you have 45 million adult cigarette smokers and the number of adults increases from 220 million to 230 million,the adult smoking rate will drop from 20.45% to 19.56%. "


There have been about 45 million adult smokers in the USA since 1990.


In 1990 there were about 187 million adults, the 45 million adults smokers were about 24%.


In 2009 there were about 230 million adults and the 45 million smokers were about 19.56%.


That is an 18.5% decrease in the adult smoking rate without there being one less smoker.!!!!!


TC claims victory in the war againt smokers without actually accomplishing anything!!


However, TC cries about not having enough money to continue their glorious work!!!

Just some more food for thought. Clearly shows how TC (tobacco control) twists and turns everything to fit their agenda...smokers/vapers be damned!

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Experts say tobacco taxes and smoking bans are driving down rates in some states. But nationwide, they say progress has been halted by tobacco company discounts or lack of funding for programs to discourage smoking or to help smokers quit.

Allow me to offer another reason why the smoking quit rates have leveled off....

Perhaps, their efforts in education and ostricization have winnowed out all those who were on the fence over quitting - the rates have flattened, because all that's left are the die hard (and DIE should be heavily emphasized here!!!) nicotine users - those who aren't gonna quit...period.

The users who are left are those who are taking the 'quit or die' choice, and picking option 2.

But nooooo - instead of the anti's accepting that their fear-mongering and financial punishment methods are no longer effective, and exploring other options (how about telling the TRUTH, for a change?!?!?!?!?) they whine that they need more money to continue to throw into their ineffective programs....and their own personal pockets.

 

[Vocalek]

"It can't possibly be anything we public health officials and organizations are doing wrong. It must be evil outside forces."

First they blame the cutbacks in funding anti-smoking programs. But let's ignore the fact that little of the money was actually going to help current smokers quit. The bulk of the funding was being spent on education programs and PR campaigns aimed at prevention of smoking initiation. (That doesn't appear to be working either.)

Next they blame (I love this phrase) "shrewd marketing by cigarette companies." Yeah, that's right. The only reason I continued smoking for 45 years was those classy ads being run by the cigarette companies. What's the latest television ad for Winston these days? And how about those cigarette bill boards? For those who don't recognize it, I am being sarcastic here. In the first place, there is practically zero marketing by cigarette companies. In the scond place, the marketing that does exist is not what keeps people smoking.

It's the nicotine, stupid.

BTW: This story is syndicated by the Associated Press. It also ran in today's Washington Post. I have fired off a Letter to the Editor. Keep your fingers crossed for me. The theme was pretty much what Vicks said - Stop lying.

 

[rothenbj]

You go girl, hopefully it will get published. They will never stop smoking. There will always be the hardcore and there will always be the rebelious youth. Make it illegal and you can bet it will be more in demand. JMHO

The more I look at this whole E cigarette experience, from my own personal experience, the primary market is the long time smoker looking for a safer alternative to smoking. The younger the smoker, the less chance they will stick to the effort required vape.

The idea that kids would be enticed into this is absurd. That being said, it would be great if instead of smoking they could be enticed to instead use an E cigarette, but that's so unlikely.

 

[bassnut]

BTW: This story is syndicated by the Associated Press. It also ran in today's Washington Post. I have fired off a Letter to the Editor. Keep your fingers crossed for me. The theme was pretty much what Vicks said - Stop lying.

Would you post it here? I'm curious.
Loved your comment in the SacBee article.

 

[D103]

For anyone who thought this battle couldn't get any more whacky, misleading, insane, fanatical and deceptive...keep your eyes open. The antis, including the alphabet suits are becoming increasingly desperate as the "behavior-control movement" moves rather quickly towards obesity...and with it the $$$$$$. News articles have increased re: declining quit-smoking rates(which is not new by the way) and the "danger to our Youth" rhetoric ratchets up and the antis whine about not having enough money to 'fight the good fight and save the world'. Anyone see the return of the "smoking Indonesian baby" news story-and how supposedly the "2yr. old baby?" has quit smoking - I wonder what anti group will take credit for that one (wonder if the kid used Chantix?!?!?) All of their pathetic tactics should be on the rise - fearmongering, disinformation campaigns, hokey studies, junk science, propaganda, etc. Meanwhile the mainstream media seems to be moving (slowly) towards more accurate info regarding this technology and some even reporting on the questionable motives of the antis.
Zealotry, by definition, excludes itself from any meaningful problem solving and when, as in this case, it is combined with Big Dollars, even bigger egos and self-righteous hubris, the emerging truth should continue to cast ever increasing and evermore unfavorable light on the greedy, the corrupt and the intolerant.

 

[Vocalek]

I will provide a link after it is published or post the text here when I'm pretty sure they don't intend to publish it. In the past they have contacted me first and gone over edits with me. If I have heard nothing from them by a week from today, we can be fairly sure it's not going to run.

Their rule:

Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers. Because of space limitations, those published are subject to abridgment. Although we are unable to acknowledge those letters we cannot publish, we appreciate the interest and value the views of those who take the time to send us their comments.