I’m so sick of these articles, this is another useless correlations study that tells me nothing. I’m going to continue to drink until someone can tell my clearly and succinctly how much of a risk it is.
There's a book that dives into the FDA and Tobacco Industry beef, and one of the big points is that, neither was a good source for consumers. Big Tobacco wouldn't admit smoking was bad in any way, and the FDA wouldn't admit that any level of smoking was negligibly bad. Instead of allowing consumers to make informed choices, the government treated everyone like idiots and said no amount is safe. The fact is - smoking cigars, less than 5 full sized cigars per day, is basically a negligent contributor to any risk. A long term study of pipe smokers found they lived longer. Nicotine itself isn't much worse than caffiene in many ways. Instead of promoting studies into safer smoking, they didn't allow Big Tobacco to make any health claims. Now we know that certain filters (primarily those Charcoal ones popular in Japan) may have a big impact on reducing carcinogens. Snuff (nasal) and snus (cured tobacco from scandinavia) are both basically negligent in any side effect.
Give consumers useful information. Let them make choices. The lying on both sides helped nobody at all.
Big tobacco couldnt admit cigarettes caused cancer, and the FDA wouldn't admit a small amount probably wouldn't - leaving consumers wondering "how safe is it if I smoke 1 cigarette a day, 5 cigarettes a day, or once a month" the actual useful bits for people.
I agree. These studies view life on strict biological terms, which, in their defense, is the only way to quantify life. While some folks here believe that any amount of alcohol is poison, it's also true that red wine and fatty beef are an excellent pairing. And drinking a cocktail with friends is time well spent.
