Joel:

You have it wrong.

You forgot that these are international discussion lists.

Your 400,000+ annual number for tobacco deaths and other statistics are for
the U.S. only.

God only knows what the numbers are worldwide.

And to add a diving thrust.  We have those folks who think it's a good idea to
soak their hemoglobin with carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke BEFORE doing a
technical dive.  Too stupid for words.

-Kent-



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joel Markwell [mailto:joeldm@mi*.co*]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 4:27 PM
> To: Techdiver; Cavers
> Subject: Smoking and Diving
>
>
> There's been a discussion here on Techdiver about drug testing and how in
> some cases random drug testing nets a lot of divers in the commercial diving
> industry. But there's another drug we should consider.
>
> One thing that I never expected when I started scuba diving was the large
> number of divers, especially instructors, who smoked cigarettes. When I took
> up cave diving it was even more stunning to me how many smoked.
>
> Last year my Mother died of lung cancer. It took her two years to die and
> many dozens of hours sitting in a chair with an IV in her arm being infused
> with toxic chemicals, but not so much toxicity that it would kill her before
> it killed her cancer. As a result of those chemicals, she lost all of her
> hair and couldn't eat. She also got irradiation treatment and the procedure
> burned her skin and made her sicker. In the last months my Father became
> desperate to find someone who could save her. He changed treatments and she
> lived a little longer. She always smiled, she rarely complained--you'd think
> she wasn't sick. She died a little over a year ago - of a cancer related to
> cigarette smoking.
>
> My Father lived another nine months and died on New Year's eve. He was
> victim number two even though he didn't smoke, but he'll never show up on a
> smoking death statistic.
>
> 470,000 people die each year from tobacco use. This compares to 1,000 deaths
> due to alcohol abuse or 10,000 deaths due to murders. The annual death count
> due to tobacco use is equivalent to two jumbo jets crashing EVERY DAY with
> no survivors. Imagine.
>
> The chemicals found in tobacco are so toxic that you can't dump them in a
> landfill.
>
>  3,000 kids become regular smokers each day ... one MILLION each year.
> Year-to-date, 110,000 kids have become daily smokers. Smoking before the age
> of 15 versus the age of 25 puts them at TEN TIMES more risk to get cancer.
> 82% of adults who smoke started before the age of 18. My Mother smoked most
> of her life.
>
> Smoking racks up $50 Billion a year in direct medical costs.
>
> The tobacco industry spends more than $6 Billion annually in advertising
> programs directed at getting new smokers - targeting children, women, and
> minorities.
>
>  How? Movies, advertising outside schools (targeted billboard campaigns),
> free gifts, and misleading advertising stating that smoking is healthy,
> "cool" and fun.
>
>  The tobacco industry uses science to obfuscate the truth and generate
> controversy. They hide and lie to the public about the dangers of tobacco
> use and nicotine addiction. They put profits ahead of public health and
> safety. They have lead an advertising campaign that arouses their addicted
> millions to believe that somehow the effort to educate them about cigarettes
> and to make smoking in public more difficult is somehow a civil rights
> issue. They want you to believe that smokers who die from cigarette smoking
> deserve what they get because, hey, it says it right there on the pack:
> Cigarette Smoking May be Harmful to Your Heath.
>
> All those happy, smoking people who die unknown in the privacy of their
> beds. They just disappear. It isn't like an airline disaster, it's quiet and
> private. And because of that it's just a part of the scenery . . . nothing
> to get upset about.
>
> We all have the right to kill ourselves so long as we are endangering no one
> else. But if no adults smoked and there was no market for it do you think
> that any children would start? If there was no cigarette money for
> advertising and sports endorsements and for all those colorful clothes and
> bags and belt buckles, would kids still know how "cool" it was?
>
> As long as we are discussing the impact of drugs on sport, specifically
> diving, and the potential for injury and death, I wonder if smoking
> shouldn't be included in that discussion? How many people died last year
> from marijuana? I couldn't find any statistics anywhere, even in the usually
> paranoid and slanted government literature. The pro-pot pages say "0." The
> picture I have is of a railroad driver who got stoned and ran into a busload
> of kids. I don't know if it's true, but that's how they say pot kills you. I
> smoked pot from the time I was 18 until my son turned 11. I didn't want him
> to use me as an excuse to smoke pot. None of the joints I smoked gave me
> half the pleasure and satisfaction that diving does.
>
> Drugs alter your perceptions and that could be fatal to a diver given that
> diving itself can alter your perceptions. Death could certainly follow in
> stressful situations. So sure, pot could kill.
>
> But what kind of numbers are we talking about here? 10? 100? How does that
> compare to 470,000 annually? I wonder how many divers around the world have
> died from smoking related illnesses? My guess is that it would eclipse by
> many, many times the deaths from all other causes.
>
> In the last weeks as the cancer consumed my Mother she weighed almost
> nothing. Her eyes were sunken in her head, her skin discolored. She stopped
> wearing the wig she had bought to hide her baldness. She had to sit in a
> chair to sleep because the cancer prevented her from breathing when lying
> down. Every breath was a wheezing effort and every breath caused her pain.
> On March 12th, early in the morning, she asked my Father to lie with her on
> the bed and with his arm around her that is where she died. She died from
> smoking those satisfying cigarettes that she just couldn't quit.
>
> Enjoy.
>
> JoeL
>

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