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- I.
I would like to start by saying that lung cancer is the number
one cause of cancer deaths in both men and women.
Also more than 150,000 Americans will die from lung cancer in
1997. *Only 12%-15% of
patients with lung cancer are being cured with today’s treatments.
Cigarette smoking causes 90% of lung cancer therefore 90% is
easily preventable. *Right
now approximately 1/3 of the countries population is at high risk for
lung cancer.
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- *These statistics
were quoted from an e-mail that I received from Fredric W. Grannis Jr.
M.D.
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- II.
The first thing we have to do is to detour people from starting
to smoke and convincing people that already smoke to stop.
People usually get hooked on this unhealthy habit at a very young
age due to peer pressure. Some
children even pick the habit up from their parents sadly enough.
Cigarettes actually cause cancer by creating mutations in the
genes that control the way cells mature and divide.
Cigarette smoke usually consists of a mixture containing thousands
of different organic chemicals.
Many of these compounds are carcinogenic which means, “cancer
producing”. They act on
the DNA of the cell and change the genetic code within the genes.
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- III.
The American Medical association recommends taking these 12 steps
in order to help solve the cigarette problem:
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1. Educate regarding the
“predatory” nature of the tobacco industry.
- 2.
Medical schools and researchers should refuse any funding from
tobacco companies and their subsidiaries.
- 3.
Politicians should not accept money from the tobacco industry
and the public should be informed of politicians who take tobacco money.
- 4.
Support OCEA smoke-free work places nationwide.
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Support state and local laws against public smoking.
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Severe penalties against those who sell tobacco products to children.
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Ban all tobacco advertising and counter-advertising.
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Enforce laws against indirect tobacco advertising.
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Tobacco is a drug delivery vehicle and should be regulated by
the FDA.
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Taxes on tobacco should be dramatically increased.
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Prevent the export of tobacco.
- 12.
Support NCI research on control of tobacco.
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- To
get more information on the subject of anti-smoking campaigns just go
to any popular search portal and type in anti-smoking organizations
and it will give you a huge list of all the most recent organizations
that have registered themselves on the Internet.
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- IV.
These 12 solutions work because they put the main emphasis on
who is really to blame the manufacturer of the product.
Getting each individual person to stop smoking is not going to
work. That would be like
pruning small branches of a tree.
New people would still start smoking every day.
We have to attack the roots to kill the problem.
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- V.
To get anything done we all must support every bit of legislation
that is in favor of banning harmful and addictive tobacco products. These will ultimately lead to a ban on all cancerous tobacco
products. My uncle was
a young and vibrant man that died before his time due to lung cancer
that was caused from smoking.
He never thought of the consequences of smoking.
He just figured that if it were very dangerous the government
would not allow it to be distributed.
He was wrong and I think the tobacco companies are wrong for
continuing to knowingly sell such dangerous product for a profit.
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