smokers, start your lawsuits!!!

Statikk HDM · #1 05-01-2002, 07:29 PM

I am sure you all know of the record making punitive damage lawsuits against "Big Tobacco" I think it is hypocritical hogwash. a link to explain why I think this way www.frontpagemag.com/elder/2000/le04-10-00.htm

Danny · #2 05-01-2002, 08:54 PM

Okay, so the lawsuit is an absurd idea. On the other hand, anything that hinders the Tobacco Corporations' evil plans can't be a bad thing...

Pilot · #3 05-01-2002, 09:36 PM

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp The only thing though... after the tobacco companies lose so much money from lawsuits, they just start charging exorbitant amounts for their cigarette products; which they know the consumers will pay. No skin off their backs.

Danny · #4 05-01-2002, 09:50 PM

Higher prices? Great! Anything that might even slightly put people off smoking Tobacco must be a good thing...

EDIT: With the possible exception of lacing cigarettes with Cyanide...

Statikk HDM · #5 05-02-2002, 12:22 AM

No! Lower cigarrete prices! Less taxation! Less leeching of "Big Tobacco's" money to go to silly things! We shouldn't demonize smokers. Look at alcohol, a more costly lifewise and economy wise, you don't see people going, "Sue big alcohol!" No, what you see is a lot of hypocrites preaching in the bully pulpit against tobacco. Not saying you are hypocrites.

Teal · #6 05-02-2002, 10:53 AM

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Originally posted by Statikk HDM
Look at alcohol, a more costly lifewise and economy wise, you don't see people going, "Sue big alcohol!"

Eh, Stattik...? Perhaps you're not aware that it is a recommendation by most doctors for people to drink one glass of red wine (read - alcohol) every day for its beneficial effects on the heart. Alcohol is not "bad", in moderation it is good for you.

In comparison, I can't see anything good about cigarettes. Not only are you poisoning your own lungs with dangerous carcinogens, you're also inflicting it on other people via your smoke (the dangerous bit) - after all, who here remembers Roy Castle? A famous trumpet-player, I believe, as well as a TV presenter, and he died of lung cancer caused primarily by breathing people's second-hand tobacco-smoke.

You can't ingest alcohol in the way you inhale tobacco-smoke (ie second hand). If you get cirrhosis of the liver from alcoholism, then it's entirely your fault.

This potential for people to sue tobacco-firms... reminds me of some of the sentiments going round in the TV programme I watched the other night - "Diet or Die". The people on there - all clinically obese - were all saying it was in some way the health service's fault that they were fat; it was never, ever their fault that they were obese. That really pissed me off - especially the woman who was comparing her overweight status to someone with cancer ("If I had cancer I'd have been operated on straight away, but because I'm fat they see it as just a cosmetic problem, blablabla, poor me..." - for gods sake, woman, no-one's ramming those plates of chips down your throat...!).

Sydney · #7 05-02-2002, 11:47 AM

FunFact: The presence of meat in our diet kills more people each year than does tobacco smoke.

Gluk Schmuck · #8 05-02-2002, 01:01 PM

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Originally posted by Statikk HDM
No! Lower cigarrete prices! Less taxation! Less leeching of "Big Tobacco's" money to go to silly things! We shouldn't demonize smokers. Look at alcohol, a more costly lifewise and economy wise, you don't see people going, "Sue big alcohol!" No, what you see is a lot of hypocrites preaching in the bully pulpit against tobacco. Not saying you are hypocrites.

Why cigarettes are bad:
They kill people when being used legally.

Why cigarettes are good:
I'm sorry but I can't think of a reason.

Why alcohol is bad:
It causes death and injury when abused. The abuse that kills is mainly illegal.

Why alcohol is good:
It is a way to socialise and makes ugly people look pretty.

Statikk HDM · #9 05-02-2002, 07:20 PM

Well, thank God no one brought up the 400,00 deaths from tobacco mutant statistic. That is a load of horseshit. The same is doubly so for that ever prevalent junk science known as second hand smoke.

Danny · #10 05-02-2002, 08:31 PM

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Originally posted by Statikk HDM
No! Lower cigarrete prices! Less taxation! Less leeching of "Big Tobacco's" money to go to silly things!

And Tobacco is a worthwhile investment, is it? Let's analyse the Bad things about Tobacco, shall we?

1. It kills you slowly.

2. It tastes disgusting.

3. It has no effects other than to counteract the effects of Nicotine Addiction (unlike Cannabis, which causes you to get Stoned...)

4. It draws money away from normal (if gullible) people, giving it to the unscrupulous bastards who market the evil stuff...

5. Many Third World countries are forced to grow tobacco by the big western corporations, as it is a cash crop. The tobacco fields could be put to a much better use, such as growing Grain so that the people in the countries can actually eat, rather than just getting a few measly pennies per field...

Now give me one good thing about tobacco. Go on, try...

:

We shouldn't demonize smokers.

No, we shouldn't. They are the Victims. Tobacco itself it the thing that should be demonised...

:

Look at alcohol, a more costly lifewise

Wrong.

:

and economy wise,

Wrong again.

:

you don't see people going, "Sue big alcohol!"

Wrong again. Many people demonise Alcohol. You never heard of Prohibition? It happened in your country, for god's sake...

:

No, what you see is a lot of hypocrites preaching in the bully pulpit against tobacco. Not saying you are hypocrites.

What I see is a load of morons who care more about earning money for big corporations than about people's health or the lives of those in third world countries. Not saying you are a moron...

:

Originally posted by Sydney
FunFact: The presence of meat in our diet kills more people each year than does tobacco smoke.

Ha Ha, everyone except me and Sydney is going to die of Meat!

:

Originally posted by Statikk HDM
Well, thank God no one brought up the 400,00 deaths from tobacco mutant statistic. That is a load of horseshit. The same is doubly so for that ever prevalent junk science known as second hand smoke.

You really haven't a clue, have you?

PinkHaired Mudokon CWR · #11 05-02-2002, 09:45 PM

Yeah, they are raising the prices on cigarettes.

Statikk HDM · #12 05-02-2002, 11:07 PM

Well, the 400,00 death a year stat is bogus, man. If a obese man whose family has a history of strokes, heart disease and diabetes and that man dies, his death is attributed to smoking alone. If a smoker lives to the ripe old age of seventy-eight and dies of a hemmorhage in the brain, the people list the death as caused by smoking. Second hand smoke is a bunch of baloney, too. Why should i list the good tobacco companies do? What good do you do? What good does the porn ndustry do? What good does any industry do? Why should tobacco have to justify itself by the good it does? Smoking can mess you up, I know that and am not ignorant of this. So. a lot of other things can mess you up, like becoming an alcoholic and losing your job, family and earnings, and maybe even yourr life to the bottle. And I have yet to hear of a cigarette intoxicated driver crash and take out the lives of others in the process.

Teal · #13 05-03-2002, 09:13 AM

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Originally posted by Statikk HDM
Second hand smoke is a bunch of baloney, too.

I don't think that Roy Castle's family would agree with you there. He died of lung cancer brought on by tobacco smoke, and never smoked once in his life.

Oh, and as an aside, I'm a chemist, I think I'm entitled to my opinion, and I think I should know what benzopyrenes do. They intercalate into the DNA, preventing normal replication, henceforth causing mutations. (Incidentally, benzpyrenes from other sources of ignition, such as car engines, also have a significant contribution.)

Besides, cigarettes stink.

Danny · #14 05-04-2002, 11:07 AM

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Originally posted by Statikk HDM
Why should i list the good tobacco companies do? What good do you do?

Have you not been listening? Tobacco kills people. I don't. THAT is why the Tobacco Companies should justify themselves, but I don't need to.

:

What good does the porn ndustry do?

Very little. But on the other hand, it does very little bad, either. Tobacco, on the other hand, kills. A lot.

:

Smoking can mess you up, I know that and am not ignorant of this. So. a lot of other things can mess you up, like becoming an alcoholic and losing your job, family and earnings, and maybe even yourr life to the bottle.

Okay, let's have one more go at this, since it failed to penetrate your head last time:

Good Things about Tobacco:
NONE

Bad Things about Tobacco:
Cancer, Heart Disease, Brain Disease, Emphysema, Really Bad Smell (All of which can be exacerbated by even light smoking)

Good Things about Alcohol:
Helps people to relax, can be good for the heart

Bad Things about Alcohol:
Liver Problems, Heart Problems, Other stuff I can't remember (All of which occur only as a result of heavy use)

:

And I have yet to hear of a cigarette intoxicated driver crash and take out the lives of others in the process.

That's not a problem with Alcohol, that's a problem with Drink-Driving. It is possible (believe it or not) to drink Alcohol without driving a car. On the other hand, Tobacco always exacerbates the problems listed above.

morphius · #15 05-05-2002, 11:41 PM

I have no problem with people that smoke but I do when there smoke causing harm to others (second hand smoke) Let them kill themselves but not others..........

pinkgoth2 · #16 05-06-2002, 02:25 PM

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Originally posted by morphius
I have no problem with people that smoke but I do when there smoke causing harm to others (second hand smoke) Let them kill themselves but not others..........

I agree on that. I have to walk through this bunched up cloud of smoke infront of my school each morning and each evening. Recently I nearly broke down in sports - my lungs are taking some damage, here, it'd be naive to say it has nothing to do with the pollution those guys create.
And the school refuses to do anything, too, which is another thing that gets me ticked if I think about it too much.

I don't care if people smoke, let them kill themselves, but I find it indescribably rude if they insist on smoking in public places like that! If I didn't hold my breath each morning walking through those 10 meters of crowd, I think I'd have died of lung cancer by now. *fumes* (pun intended)

I've met pretty considerate smokers. With smoking, it's like with having mobile phones. A lot of idiots will yell their conversations and use their mobile as if it were the top priority, nay? The polite people will wait till they are actually outside the public place and/or only give their number to people who actually need it, for emergencies, and turn down their ringtone volume... blabla. The smokers here don't give a shit if they tear you into an early death (much worse than w/ the mobile phone problem), except for two or three individuals that I know of that will wait till they know they are not bothering anyone at all to smoke...

*ends the rant*

- TyA

Teal · #17 05-07-2002, 08:54 AM

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Originally posted by pinkgoth2
If I didn't hold my breath each morning walking through those 10 meters of crowd, I think I'd have died of lung cancer by now.

And Bus-Stops... *shudders*

I think I don't really hugely care if people want to smoke themselves to an early grave, just so long as they do it in a private place where other people don't have to suffer... Like not at bus stops.

Sydney · #18 05-07-2002, 10:26 AM

I think it's funny when at the train station, you light up a cigarette and some old fart walks over to you and starts forcing coughs and giving an evil eye. I once asked this man why he walked over, when he knew perfectly well I was smoking. He just grunted and walked off - he should get a life if he gets so much pleasure out of bitching. I only smoke when I'm sure that the people around me are smokers. If someone surrounds themselves with people who smoke, they only have themselves to blame.

pinkgoth2 · #19 05-07-2002, 01:43 PM

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Originally posted by Sydney
I think it's funny when at the train station, you light up a cigarette and some old fart walks over to you and starts forcing coughs and giving an evil eye. I once asked this man why he walked over, when he knew perfectly well I was smoking. He just grunted and walked off - he should get a life if he gets so much pleasure out of bitching. I only smoke when I'm sure that the people around me are smokers. If someone surrounds themselves with people who smoke, they only have themselves to blame.

I do hope you're not implying I actively seek the company of smokers by going to school. ;)

- TyA