Yes, I smoke

[GT40FIED]

Originally posted by AzCivic
"Smoking might increase those risks...then again it might not."

there is no way you can honestly say that inhaling smoke on a regular basis doesn't increase your risk for disease. If inhaling a huge amount of smoke kills you (how most people die when their building is on fire) then a little certainly can't be good.

perhaps your great grandfather would've lived til 115 or longer with a healthier lifestyle.

Sure I can. In fact...I just did. Sure, I see a causal link between smoking and things like lung cancer...but there's no way to know if those people would've developed cancer anyway. Same goes for all the other surgeon general's bullshit. I'd rather do what I enjoy and take a crap-shoot than wonder what I'm missing out on. From everything I've seen and read, quitting smoking doesn't really reduce your risks of cancer, especially if you started early in life (which I did), so what's the point? Besides...the years you *might* lose are the ones at the end...the shitty ones. I watched a lot of men on my father's side of the family age into their 80s and it wasn't pretty by any means. Add to that the fact that due my birth defects I probably won't function well once I'm older, and I'm just not sure I want to live to be a senile 90 year old man who needs someone to wipe his ass for him.

As for my great grandfather, I'm sure his lifestyle wouldn't have had any effect on his longevity. He died in his sleep at 92 from natural causes. He never had any health-related problems due to the way he lived. Maybe old people are just tougher than people today. Hell...if you had lived through the great depression, you'd be one tough bastard as well I imagine.