Half of smokers will die from cancer
By Dr. Robert Wallace ’Tween 12 and 20 December 11, 2012 2:26PM
Updated: January 13, 2013 6:08AM
Dr. Wallace: I’m 20 and have been smoking for five years, and I know that I’m addicted to nicotine, but it doesn’t bother me because I enjoy inhaling tobacco smoke into my lungs. I smoke a pack of cigarettes daily. But I do not allow secondhand smoke to reach others. I always smoke away from others and outdoors whenever possible. I smoke in my apartment, but never when non-smokers are present. I choose to smoke because I want to. It’s nobody’s business but mine.
Why do you try to convince people to stop smoking when it’s obvious they enjoy it? You should just spend more time trying to keep kids from starting to smoke.
Meghan, Seattle
Meghan: I do encourage smokers to overcome their habit, and I do encourage teens to refuse when encouraged to “just try” smoking that first cigarette. When I’m speaking to youth groups, I encourage teens to avoid all tobacco, and this is the reason why: The American Cancer Society predicts that tobacco will kill a billion human beings on this Earth in this century. It is estimated that 1.25 billion humans currently smoke cigarettes and more than half of them will die from their habit.
Write to Dr. Wallace
at rwallace@galesburg.net
