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One in Four Smokers Will Get Lung Disease
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Posted on 10/17/2006 1:09:34 PM PDT by trumandogz

TUESDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that at least 1 in every 4 smokers will develop progressive and incurable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a much higher risk than previously believed.

COPD is a respiratory disease that results in blocked air flow to the lungs and grows progressively worse.

For this study, published online in the journal Thorax, researchers at Hvidovre Hospital analyzed data on 8,000 men and women, ages 30 to 60. All were monitored for 25 years as part of the Copenhagen City Heart Study.

At the start of the study, all the participants' lungs were healthy and working normally. However, over the course of the 25 years, the lungs of almost all the male non-smokers continued to function normally, compared to 60 percent of men who continued to smoke.

Among women, 90 percent of non-smokers still had healthy lungs at the end of 25 years, compared to 70 percent of smokers.

Overall, 25 percent of the participants developed moderate or severe COPD over the 25 years. Persistent smokers were six times more likely to develop COPD than non-smokers.

During the 25 years, there were 2,900 deaths in the study group. Of those deaths, 109 were directly attributable to COPD, and nearly all those deaths were in people who were active smokers at the start of the study. Only two non-smokers died of COPD.

The study also found a sharp decline in the risk of COPD among people who stopped smoking soon after the start of the study. Over the 25 years, none of these ex-smokers developed severe COPD.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: addiction; buttlist; denial; dontinhale; humanashtrays; nicotine; puff; pufflist; smoke; smoking; tobacco; tobaccoaddicts
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To: gov_bean_ counter

The fact that no one enjoys the feeling of drowning . . . I've never met anyone who did. Never.

And feeling like you're drowning second after second; minute after minute; week in, week out for months . . . if not a few years . . . what torture.

But even that prospect is . . .

no biggy, my right. I want to be selfish!


161 posted on 10/17/2006 6:42:46 PM PDT by Quix (LET GOD ARISE AND HIS ENEMIES BE SCATTERED. LET ISRAEL CALL ON GOD AS THEIRS! & ISLAM FLUSH ITSELF)
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To: wagglebee

How many peer reviewed studies show that? How many were paid for by tobacco companies?


162 posted on 10/17/2006 6:43:52 PM PDT by Quix (LET GOD ARISE AND HIS ENEMIES BE SCATTERED. LET ISRAEL CALL ON GOD AS THEIRS! & ISLAM FLUSH ITSELF)
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Comment #163 Removed by Moderator

To: Alter Kaker
The more and the longer you smoke, the greater that chance increases. Quitting helps limit the increase in risk, but it doesn't eliminate it.

Why? What can possibly change at the cellular level to affect the body 25 years later? And how can they blame it on smoking and not, say, air pollution or Three Mile Island?

I'm not saying smoking doesn't cause it, I'm drilling down here.

164 posted on 10/17/2006 6:44:21 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (In God we trust. All others we monitor.)
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To: Gabz; brwnsuga
Considering how often pigs lungs that are injected with tar and other things are used, and stated they are human lungs, I seriously doubt what you examined was a smoker's lung.

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
We have always been at war with Eastasia
Smoking won't kill you

Gabz, the only people I've encountered who go through intellectual hoops as convoluted and as nonsensical as yours in order to justify an unjustifiable ideology are the 9-11 conspiracists. You're in good company.

165 posted on 10/17/2006 6:48:11 PM PDT by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: maineman

Would love to see the only ash trays sold made out of slices of such.


166 posted on 10/17/2006 6:49:52 PM PDT by Quix (LET GOD ARISE AND HIS ENEMIES BE SCATTERED. LET ISRAEL CALL ON GOD AS THEIRS! & ISLAM FLUSH ITSELF)
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To: VeniVidiVici
What can possibly change at the cellular level to affect the body 25 years later?

Why don't you ask someone who 25 years ago used to work in an asbestos mine about long lag periods? They are common for many types of cancers. If your lungs are coated with tar from smoking, they just don't become uncoated 25 years later. You still have large amounts of carcinogens in you, and they can cause cell damage at any time.

And how can they blame it on smoking and not, say, air pollution or Three Mile Island?

Because researchers can screen for air pollution or three mile island. If you were to take two identical populations -- say 50,000 people who never smoked and 50,000 people who smoked for 10-20 years and then quit 25 years ago -- and you normalize both populations for differences in likely exposure to air pollution and radiation, you'll still see an increase in lung cancer rates in the smoker group. This is how studies are done, and they can conclusively pinpoint smoking.

167 posted on 10/17/2006 6:54:47 PM PDT by Alter Kaker ("Whatever tears one sheds, in the end one always blows one's nose." - Heine)
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To: trumandogz
"I am betting that prior to post 50 someone will claim that smoking has positive effects on your lungs and your overall health."

Automakers used to undercoat autos with a mixture of tar.

168 posted on 10/17/2006 6:55:34 PM PDT by azhenfud (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: Ditter; L98Fiero
hey elk, tell him how your baby sister was cured from her asthma. It's an amazing story, truly amazing.

I would be happy to do so.

You see, my younger (by 6 years) sister had an asthma attack at the age of several days back in the late 1950's.

Our wise (and wizened) family physician recommended my father blow tobacco smoke at her occasionally.

That was her last asthma attack.

She became a grandmother last April.

Physicians used to prescribe smoking (and caffeine imbibing) to stave off and stop respiratory problems.

I am convinced that more kids have asthma today because they don't get to eat their pound of dirt at an early age, and are not exposed to things like tobacco smoke because of all the hysteria.

It may take a massive civil uprising, along with the accompanying hardship to get people back to relishing campfires, red meat and tobacco, along with all the other politically-incorrect "bad" habits which made our forebears surprisingly healthy and able to create and provide for us.

We're looking forward to celebrating my Father's 80th birthday shortly (smoked at least a pack of cigarettes every day since he was 9).

Any questions?

169 posted on 10/17/2006 6:57:19 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: Alter Kaker
Alter Kaker...they have a right to stink and spew their smoke...I have always supported that!!!

They pay a lot of taxes for that right, and I, for one, am grateful!

170 posted on 10/17/2006 6:59:04 PM PDT by paulat
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To: trumandogz

OK, so explain to me why it's one in four?

I have entertained, for a long time, that cancer and other problems created by things like smoking need to be looked at in the same way allergies are. Does that offer anyone an idea about treatment?

Hello? Is anyone in the scientific community actually thinking about anything but the next grant?


171 posted on 10/17/2006 6:59:50 PM PDT by Phsstpok (Often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: Alter Kaker
There are a few things worse than lung cancer, but not many.

Nanny-state fascists being one.

172 posted on 10/17/2006 7:00:41 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: trumandogz
The study also found a sharp decline in the risk of COPD among people who stopped smoking soon after the start of the study. Over the 25 years, none of these ex-smokers developed severe COPD.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

173 posted on 10/17/2006 7:02:30 PM PDT by Melas (Offending stupid people since 1963)
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To: elkfersupper

Yup, it makes sense, I am old enough to remember when everyone smoked, and it was not a big deal. People weren't "Allergic" to smoke and we didn't have anywhere near as much asthma as we have today.

You wont ever convince the antis, they have years and YEARS of brainwashing and can only repeat "Smoking bad" over and over again.


174 posted on 10/17/2006 7:05:21 PM PDT by eXe (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: paulat
They pay a lot of taxes for that right, and I, for one, am grateful!

This being a conservative forum, it is surprising to find anyone relishing the levying and payment of taxes.

Therefore, you must be mislocated.

175 posted on 10/17/2006 7:07:05 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: Alter Kaker

"There are a few things worse than lung cancer, but not many."

I figure, if not cured, any cancer anywhere will kill...what is worse than that? My non smoking neighbor died of colon cancer. What is worse than that?


176 posted on 10/17/2006 7:13:22 PM PDT by takenoprisoner
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To: trumandogz

I support the ABSOLUTE RIGHT of people to smoke. It is a freedom thing.

That said, I recently quit smoking after 30 years. It took a drug called Wellbutrin (also known as Zyban) but it worked. This drug is available by prescription only and there are risks. But it worked. After dozens of tries and nothing else working, it worked.

If you want to quit, check this out with your doctor. It works by alleviating the withdrawal symptoms and the craving for tobacco.

It will NOT work if you don't want to quit smoking. I have talked to people who took the drug and did not quit.

BTW. I am one of the four who get a smoking related disorder. I have a very mild case of COPD. Hopefully it will not get worse, but at least I am not wasting money on cigarettes anymore. I feel pretty good about that.


177 posted on 10/17/2006 7:16:55 PM PDT by LibKill (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: trumandogz
An ex-girlfriend of mine died a few months ago of small cell lung cancer.

She contended that it was the impurities in commercial tobacco that killed you, not the tobacco itself, so she usually smoked some sort of special "organic" "health food" tobacco. What a waste of a fine woman.

178 posted on 10/17/2006 7:22:57 PM PDT by TChad
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To: Quix
I've never observed that babes who were attracted to smokers were anything close to what I'd label the pick of the litter.

You've never met my husband. Nor have you met me.

179 posted on 10/17/2006 7:25:53 PM PDT by Gabz
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To: paulat

"They pay a lot of taxes for that right, and I, for one, am grateful!"

If only we could equally tax the "do gooder holier than thou" citizens for the harms they do to a "free" society.
The same tax collectors have followed us to the new world and are once again in charge.


180 posted on 10/17/2006 7:26:29 PM PDT by takenoprisoner
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