Is smoking still legal? A smoking ban is brainless, counterproductive and will not increase anyone’s life span considerably.

Is smoking still legal? A smoking ban is brainless, counterproductive and will not increase anyone’s life span considerably.

By Carlos T. Mock, MD

Last timed I checked, it is still legal to smoke. How did smoking become such a pariah, such a scourge, despised by everyone in America? In reality, second hand smoke does not kill as many people as obesity or alcohol.

During the past 20 years, obesity among adults has risen significantly in the United States. The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older—over 60 million people—are obese. This increase is not limited to adults; the percentage of young people who are overweight has more than tripled since 1980. Among children and teens aged 6–19 years, 16 percent (over 9 million young people) are considered overweight.
These increasing rates raise concern because of their implications for Americans’ health. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions, including the following:
· Hypertension
· Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
· Type 2 diabetes
· Coronary heart disease
· Stroke
· Gallbladder disease
· Osteoarthritis
· Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
· Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

The CDC has stated that Obesity has surpassed all other preventable causes of mortality and morbidity in the USA. In 2005, 112,000 deaths were estimated to be obesity related fatalities. Keeping smokers out of the restaurants where fat people are getting fatter is not going to save their lives.

Deaths on America's highways in 2002 reached the highest level since 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Alcohol-related highway fatalities reached 17,419 deaths in 2002.

The Last Study done on secondhand smoke concluded that in a five-year period (1995 - 1999) 38,053 Americans died due to secondhand smoke, that is less than 7611 per year.

If the whole point of banning smoking is to save lives, then we need to not only ban cigarettes, we also need to ban alcohol, and tax obesity.