I'm a smoker - well actually I was a smoker. I quit on Jan 29, 200? according to my wife, anyway some six years or so ago. When I smoked, and even now I run into a lot of prejudice about cigarette smoking. As a specific example, suppose I could show you that 8 out of 10 people admitted to a hospital from emergency with breathing problems were smokers. Isn't the almost obvious conclusion that smokers have hospital admittable breathing problems 4 times more than non-smokers? Well it would if all the symptoms were essentially the same AND the doctors didn't know if the patients were smokers or not.

I can remember one particular time a friend of mine who had come into emergency with difficulty breathing was admitted to the hospital. In talking to the doctor, the doctor said something like, "Oh, I didn't know he didn't smoke. If I had known that, I wouldn't have admitted him." Look at how that statement could greatly affect the above statistics. For this particular doctor, the only way a non smoker with those same symptoms would be admitted would be by mistake. If a mistake was made twice in ten times, then the statistics would say 80% of the people admitted were smokers BUT not because of their breathing problems. It was because they were smokers. So wouldn't the proper conclusion to come to in this case be that doctors were prejudiced against smokers and cost them more money because of that prejudice.

So, the next time you hear some statistics, think about what they really mean and also about what is not being said about the 'facts' behind the statements^*.

Since one of the things I'm hoping will happen with my postings here is that you will be curious enough to visit White Unicorn Books and maybe buy some books, I had better make this at least somewhat book related. An interesting read is Virtually Safe Cigarettes: Reviving an Opportunity Once Tragically Rejected which presents an additional method for saving lives

Cigarette smoking is risky. Yet, offical epidemiologic evidence indicates that less risky cigarettes would save lives and are desirable, during the 1970s the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the cigarette industry cooperated in a program to develop less hazardous cigarettes. But, the Program was shut down in the late 1970s, by intervening abolitionist aiming at a smoke-free America by the year 2000.

If your are interested in the book, we may still have a copy left, see Virtually Safe Cigarettes. Mention the blog and get 10% off if we still have the book.


>> 'til next time - DW <<

*BTW: the 'proper' conclusion is not 'that doctors were prejudiced' but that 'that doctor was prejudiced'. Hope you caught that.