How dangerous is smoking really? Is it as dangerous as the media makes it out to be, and is it more dangerous than other habits like drinking?

My father never smoked. Aged 11, he and his brother crept behind the living room sofa to smoke a couple of cigarettes that they had acquired. They set fire to the living room curtains and their father gave them such a walloping that he never smoked again in the whole of his life. He lived to be 92, still living independently, still driving and still actively involved in village activties, until shortly before his death.

DiscoDancer1975

Callistemon21

It puzzles me which art school would allow smoking on the premises

I think BlueBelle is referring to bored ‘ on holiday’ students winding us up on gransnet ?

The OP said he or she was surrounded by smokers at art school. I find that difficult to believe. Which country are you in OP?

See what you mean Callistemon. I just think it’s a wind up...

No Discodancer the poster says he is at art collage

Whether or not the OP is genuine, this is a genuine question about 'passive smoking'.

During WWII and the rationing years afterwards it was practically universal for adults to smoke, to calm nerves and to suppress appetite. Women smoked throughout pregnancy, babies were born and brought up in environments where adults smoked indoors and nothing was thought of it.

If the dangers of passive smoking are as great as is now said wouldn't there have been a high incidence of early deaths from smoking-related causes among those born say 1940-1955 - i.e our own generation. Did this happen? Or were the risks of passive smoking over-egged by the advocates of smoke-free pubs etc.

Most of us now see smoking as an unpleasant habit and are aware of the dangers. But IMO we need not be too quick to criticise those who thought it a harmless stimulant when times were hard. Think what future generations will think of our meat-eating! ?

seriously rabid anti-smokers

Yup, that's me ?

My darling husband smoked from age 12 to 35 when he successfully gave up. However the damage had been done and he died aged 63 from stage 4 colon cancer triggered by smoking.

Callistemon21

^seriously rabid anti-smokers^

Yup, that's me ?

Me too. Both my parents smoked and I detested it. Now it almost borders on a phobia with me. I wouldn't allow a smoker into my house and both my children were left under no illusion about that.

Both my parents started smoking when in the RAF during the war, when I believe they were issued free cigarettes. Like most people born in the post war years, I grew up around smoking and I did smoke myself. Both my parents died of lung cancer, my DM in her 50s - she did not smoke heavily. My DF was 80 and always smoked heavily. It seems that, whilst most people are affected by smoking, it does vary how soon it will happen.
I smoked for many years and have asthma now .I am well aware that I am at risk for various cancers and COPD but luckily am okay so far.

It is a little unfair to compare the hazards of smoking with the hazards of drinking alcohol. The majority of people can enjoy the odd glass of wine without becoming addicted or alcohol dependent. Smoking is generally a yes or no, few people can just have one cigarette when they feel like it, and not bother again for weeks. Apart from the abuse involved with excess alcohol dependence of course, no child is going to be harmed if their parent has a glass of wine with supper on a Saturday.

when i was growing up in the 70s there was a lot of talk at school about smoking causes cancer, at that time my mum smoked and i was so scared she would die, as i got older more and more people smoked, i tried it at 16 (legal) and did not like it, i became a full time smoker when i met my husband, it caused him problems with his arteries, even the doc treating him was a smoker. the elderly lady next door smoked 40 woodbine a day and she lived to 103. i gave up 5 years ago and now use a vape, my lungs might be better but my weight has gone up 4 stone..lol. i think the smoking kills depends on the other health problems that people get over the years.

My relatives who died of smoking-related cancer didn't have any other health conditions, except bronchitis, emphysema etc - which were also caused by tobacco smoke.

It's a difficult one

My Dad died of a stroke that came days after a heart attack, he died at 77 but had smoked his whole life..would he have lived longer had he not smoked..Well his Mum never smoked a cigarette in her life and died at the same age of exact same causes

Now my Mum had lung cancer, but it was a heart attack that took her life in the end though, she also smoked her whole life.

I don't think enough research has ever been done as with many illnesses.

In this advanced day we should be doing far more research than we do tondcure fthe likes of Parkinsons Diabetes

I mean to say, look how quickly a vaccine was found for Covid ( sorry for using that word I know everyone hates it including me ) but you get my drift though

Even when we do have Scientists finding cures they don't see the light of day because it would cause the companies that manufacturer to go bust and they do their upmost to stop progression with corruption etc going on

I don't know if anyone remembers in the 70's when those two brother Scientists stated that has found a cure for Cancer and one if the brothers mysteriously died

Try visiting people with lung cancer and/or COPD and then decide if you think it's dangerous. COPD is one of the worst illnesses I've ever seen and it goes on for years. I don't understand why so many youngsters (at least round our way) take it up knowing what it does to you. At £13 or so a packet, good luck if you can afford it. Ive never smoked and when Ive seen people and the various health issues they have, glad I never started. I rarely drink either, addiction scares me.

TheodoraP COVID is an infectious disease, very different from conditions like Parkinsons or diseases like cancer.

There is a lot of research into Parkinsons (my FiL) died of it, but often, as with other diseases it has developed a long way before symptoms show, and there was one major breakthrough many years ago when drugs to control the tremor were introduced. I suspect that you are somewhat younger than me, but I can remember a time when it was common to see old people, especially men, with constant uncontrolable tremor.

Parkinsons disease involves brain damage and once damage is done it is difficult to undamage, so to speak.

With cancer, cancer is no longer the disease to be feared as always a death sentence, many cancers now are curable or rittable, but a few cancers are proving very difficult to find therapies for. Lung cancer is one, pancreatic cancer is another. Therapies will come, but for all sorts of reasons, even with cancer, one type is easier to deal with than another.

Strokes and heart attacks are largely caused by compromised circulation, where narrowed arteries or veins lead to too little blood being available to essential organs like heart, lungs, brain, or to clots of blood developing in restricted blood vessels (DVT) and then travelling to the heart or brain where they block other blood vessels.

Chemicals in tobacco smoke affect blood vessels. This is a known scientific fact - and the calming effect of a ciggie depends on it. So the death toll from smoking includes more than the cancers in lungs obviously coated inside with tar.

If there isn't cancer, the debilitation of lungs damaged by a coating of tar doesn't kill outright, it just makes it more and more difficult to move around without becoming breathless, until oxygen is needed just to get from one room to another. A slow death.

Elegran, my parent had chronic bronchitis and never smoked in their lives.

That is one person.

Bronchitis is inflamation of the bronchial tubes. There are other reasons besides tobacco smoke which could cause it, but it has been established over and over again that smokers are far more likely to have it than non-smokers, just as it has been established that smokers are far more likely to get Emphysema, Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COPD) and/or lung cancer than non-smokers.

www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/health_effects/index.htm states -

"Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.

More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Secondhand smoke exposure contributes to approximately 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking adults and 400 deaths in infants each year. Secondhand smoke causes stroke, lung cancer, and coronary heart disease in adults. Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth. "

They don't say this for fun.

So true Elegran My Dad died far too young from vascular dementia, even though when he started with Angina, he quit smoking immediately as he was advised. Its a dreadful thing to watch a great intellect fragment in that way.

Elegran, having watched one close relative die from lung cancer and another from COPD. I quite understand the risks of smoking. Thank you.

I smoked from the age of 11 until 8 years ago and even being diagnosed with COPD didn’t make me give up. Three years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer and secondary bone cancer so I would have to say yes in answer to your question, it is as dangerous as they say. I now have to live with the consequences of smoking for 40 years. Is it more.dangerous than drinking? I’m not sure the two are comparable, however after watching my ex husband drink himself to death I would say that most things can be dangerous if taken to excess. Drinking ruined our marriage, the lies, stealing and violence that I lived with will attest to that. But his disease wasn’t the alcohol alone, it was the addiction which was also my problem with smoking. I was addicted, I couldn’t admit it then but am able to realise it now albeit too late but that is a whole different thread.

It's deadly .
I'm totally against smoking .
I'm worried that I've had to inhale passive smoke for years .
My parents smoked .

I know two 90 year old ladies :
One has never smoked and is thoroughly enjoying her old age -walking ,exercising and going out.
She's never ill .

The other has smoked since her teens and is spending her last years gasping for air with COPD .

Smoking killed both my parents, and all the passive smoking I did as a child gave me breathing problems and asthma. Dad had the most terrible cough all my childhood. I have had major asthma attacks in smoky pubs, so I'm eternally grateful for the smoking ban.

Callistemon21

It puzzles me which art school would allow smoking on the premises

And it puzzles me that you assume Art School = everyone smokes

M0nica

It is April Fool's Day.

It was 1st April!