When big tobacco made the stuff plentiful enough that people could support pack-a-day (or even case-a-day) habits, the money was just too good not to defend by surpressing science.

As the fossil fuel revelations have shown, billionaires get desperat for money, and can't imagine deciding they have enough or sharing substantial portions of their wealth to change the world for the better.

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/14/5/315

In both sexes, smoking 1–4 cigarettes per day was associated with a significantly higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease and from all causes, and from lung cancer in women. .

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/smoking-and-cancer/how-does-smoking-cause-cancer#:~:text=and%20other%20diseases.-,Reducing%20the%20number%20of%20cigarettes%20you%20smoke%20a%20day%20is,never%20too%20late%20to%20stop.

Reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke a day is a good first step. But, there is no safe level of smoking. The best thing you can do for your health is to stop smoking completely

[–] Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Well there's really no safe level of anything. Literally everything you do increases your odds of dying. It's all about proportion. Breathing doesn't increase your odds of dying very much.

The conversation around nicotine is severely lacking in comparisons of scale. It's all like "IF YOU SMOKE LITERALLY ONE CIGARETTE YOU WILL DIE OF HORRIBLE CANCER" which is a ridiculous thing to be putting out there. I get the intent, it's because cigarettes are addictive and smoking one usually leads to smoking more, but it really makes it difficult to get a sense of how harmful cigarettes actually are at lower dosages.

That first study you linked was a good one in this regard, but the summary still couldn't help but tend towards "you smoke at all, you will die". A graph would be helpful.

Actually, I'll just make one.

[–] break1146@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean... Breathing doesn't increase your chance of dying, but not doing it will guarantee it. If you smoke, there is a good chance you will die from a horrible disease. That's the reality of it. With one cigarettes a day, smoking more will increase that chance.

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Same for alcohol, lead and absestos btw - no safe quantity has been found for all those

Every amount has a measurable negative effect with precise enough measurements

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There's safe levels of a lot of things

Sugar, nutmegs, magnesium, potassium, capsicin, salt, ... all of them becoming an issue if you go past your metabolism's limits

I think even cyanide has a safe quantity because it's in a lot of foods, but I can't find the source for it

[–] LeylaaLovee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cigs are extremely useful for chron's and other such issues. Not healthy, but you have to understand there is a trade off for quality of life for some people. I could stop smoking, but I'm pretty sure I'd end up spending the extra 20 years I'd be alive as extra time on the toilet 🤷‍♀️

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

The studies are meant for the general case