8. Questions that smokers ask

1
8. Questions that smokers ask

• Royal College of Physicians of London
• Tobacco Advisory Group

2
Rationalising smoking

• Smokers have a variety of reasons they advance
  for delaying attempts to give up the habit.
• Health professionals need to be able to rebut
  these rationalisations.

3
5 or 6 a day wont hurt me

• Alternative versions
• Everything in moderation is what I say
• Answer
• There is good evidence from large studies that
  smoking even 5 or 6 cigarettes a day measurably
  increases an individuals risk of lung cancer

4
My grandmother smoked until she was 80 and then
was run over by a bus

• Alternative versions
• Everything in life carries a risk
• Answer
• While it is true that some smokers appear to
  suffer no ill-effects from their smoking, half of
  those who continue to smoke die prematurely, and
  sometimes very early indeed.

5
Its all statistics - they do not prove anything

• Alternative versions
• If tobacco was really dangerous, it would be
  banned
• Answer
• Every reputable medical and scientific
  organisation that has reviewed the evidence has
  concluded that smoking is the leading preventable
  cause of premature death and major illness in
  communities like ours.

6
I roll my own - natural tobacco must be safer

• Alternative versions
• I have switched to a lighter or milder brand - it
  must be safer
• Answer
• No form of smoking is perfectly safe. What you
  have done shows that you are worried about your
  health. The logical solution is to give up
  smoking entirely.

7
I have tried to quit several times and have
failed Im hopelessly addicted

• Alternative versions
• Not even the gum / patches / spray have helped me
  to quit
• Answer
• Millions of smokers have succeeded in quitting,
  but most took several serious attempts. All
  methods, except having a heart attack, require
  serious planning and willpower. The problem is
  40 of heart attacks are fatal.

8
I have tried to cut down but have never managed
to quit entirely

• Alternative versions
• I got down to (number) a day, but it crept up
  again
• Answer
• Most of the millions of smokers who have
  succeeded in quitting entirely used the cold
  turkey approach. The problem with cutting down
  is that the remaining cigarettes become even more
  important to you and harder to give up.

9
Ill wait until I am 35 and then Ill quit

• Alternative versions
• Its only old people who are killed by smoking
• Answer
• This does not solve the problem of passive
  smoking for those around you, especially your
  children. In addition, while your risks of
  cancer and heart disease will eventually return
  to normal, any damage to your lungs cannot be
  repaired.

10
Its more important to stop young people from
starting to smoke

• Alternative versions
• The big problem is that so many young girls are
  smoking
• Answer
• Every adult who quits smoking sends a clear
  message to young people that the risks are real
  and that smoking is not a sensible or adult thing
  to do.

11
Small babies are a good thing

• Alternative versions
• My mother smoked when she was pregnant with me
  and it did me no harm
• Answer
• The truth is that small babies have more
  complications soon after birth and that smoking
  by the mother during pregnancy may do lasting
  damage to the babys lungs while they are
  developing.

12
If I stop smoking, Ill gain weight

• Alternative versions
• Being overweight is just as risky as smoking
• Answer
• Some smokers lose weight when they quit and
  others dont change. Any weight gained is far
  less important medically than the risk from
  smoking (although it is often important to the
  individual). You can quit smoking and not gain
  weight if you plan carefully.

13
I smoke to control my stress

• Alternative versions
• Smoking helps me to concentrate
• Answer
• The effect on stress is probably more related to
  your taking time out from your other pressures to
  have a smoke. Experiments show that smokers
  actually smoke less when they are concentrating
  hard on some task.

14
All these quit smoking campaigns achieve nothing

• Alternative versions
• If the government was serious about smoking, they
  would ban it
• Answer
• There is good evidence that mass media campaigns
  alert people to the dangers of smoking and prompt
  people to quit, permanently. Governments want to
  encourage people to quit, via a variety of means,
  not create another illegal drug.