One in Four High School Seniors Smoke: Is It an 'Epidemic'?

It's best if you're going to talk about a subject for which you are unfamiliar, that you at least be humble enough to begin, "I think".

Emphysema is PRIMARILY (85%) caused by smoking or second-hand smoke (hanging around smokers when they are actually smoking). Of course, if you live in a high-fog inner city, due to smog, then that ups the anty in regard to lung cancer & upper respiratory disorders, as does exposure to asbestos, but the main culprit is cigarette/cigar/pipe smoking. http://www.webmd.com/lung/vid...

Regarding asphyxia: Emphysema can cause asphyxia [deprivation of oxygen] without supportive oxygen in the treatment regimen.

Regarding tobacco users being "scapegoats": As long as they smoke in isolation (not force others to inhale the carcinogens or irritants), or with other smokers around the outside trash barrels (sorry), then they should be allowed to do so. My dad was a chain smoker, as were 3 of his brothers & 2 of my aunts. They all died due to complications associated with their smoking for 30+ years each.

Regarding driving up healthcare costs: Through our taxes, Canada included, we pay for much of the treatment & care costs associated with cigarette smoking; including, but not limited to throat, lip & lung cancer; emphysema, chronic bronchitis & asthma; heart disease; peripheral vascular disease. Taxes on cigarettes alone in no way, form or fashion pay for ALL or Most of the costs associated with cigarette smoking (e.g. ICU, CCU, ERs, cardiac & respiratory rehab programs, labs, x-rays, home care, routine & palliative medications; oxygen, oxygen equipment, surgical suites, nurses, doctors, respiratory therapy other than oxygen, etc.).

In the USA, taxes go to the government. Health care facilities & providers see NONE of that money. It goes for research, primarily, & also for administrative costs.

"Regarding tobacco users being "scapegoats": As long as they smoke in isolation (not force others to inhale the carcinogens or irritants), or with other smokers around the outside trash barrels (sorry), then they should be allowed to do so." - I agree with that entirely, but when I speak about scapegoating, I'm referring to smokers being blamed for every illness and/or death that could be (but is not always) caused by cigarette smoke over and above major polluters, like big industry or even public transportation. I don't think people should be smoking near entrances or in crowded public spaces, but it's gone overboard.

As for taxes? In Canada, cigarettes are taxed considerably higher than the Canadian Cancer Society recommends. $7,538,367,182 was made from tobacco taxes, in Canada alone, between 2010 and 2011. Healthcare expenditure (in total, for everyone and everything smoking and non-smoking related) is around 200 billion. In 2007, CBC reported that direct healthcare costs associated with smoking are estimated to be around 3 billion (about 4 billion less than gained in taxes). If the government is not giving that 7 and a half billion in taxes from cigarettes to the health care industry, then shouldn't the pressure be on the government instead of the smokers?

I stand corrected on emphysema... but still, where the person didn't smoke, unless they were living with the smokers they hung out with, it's not likely that smoking caused their emphysema. As for the asphyxia, yes, emphysema can cause it, but the person who was talking about his friends didn't say they had emphysema, he simply said they just died of asphyxia... and several people, at that! It sounds like it was made up, which is the only reason I addressed it in the first place.

Smoking kills, but why can't we get that message across without making up stories or exaggerating facts? It's the alarmist attitude with which I'm taking issue.

When Your lungs no longer function to transfer oxygen into your blood that, my dear, is asphyxiation, and that is what you die of even though the doctors call it death from something else. It is a well known fact that smoking destroys your lungs and makes their job much harder and eventually impossible.

It sure as BLANK is driving up the costs of health care, even though some taxes are used to pay for it. When anything drives up the cost of health care it really does not mater who pays for it since the fact is that the cost of health care has risen, I am not discussing how it gets paid for, usually it is paid for by health insurance and when the cost to the insurance companies goes up the premiums for ALL of the people go up regardless of whether they smoke.

Yes my friend's emphysema WAS most likely caused by spending a very lot of time in smoke filled rooms with his friends, that is the only likely cause that can be determined. Many entertainers end up with the same problem when they spend a lot of time in smoke filled venues where they entertain.

And smoking IS a disgusting filthy habit that is not scapegoating anyone it is simply stating an obvious undeniable fact. I believe very little that the PRO Cancer societies say, all of their high paid executives would become unemployed if they really cared about curing cancer, because the cure for cancer was found by Doctor Max Gerson before World War Two and it is free. They are in the business for the same reason that anyone else is to make as much money as they can.

The first step in preventing Lung Cancer is to not smoke which is entirely voluntary. You are absolutely right there is industrial air pollution which is more difficult to address because there is a lot of money and Political Power involved, it is very difficult to make meaningful progress there, however, since Governments have passed Pollution laws some slow progress has occurred. I spent over 30 years working for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, I know all about Air Pollution, thank you.