Smoke-wrinkles don't stop at face

Smoking not only can wrinkle the face and turn it yellow -- it can do the same to the whole body, researchers reported Monday.

[candid]

Sorry smokers, you is gona look like hell, all yellow and wrinkled ,yep yellow and wrinkled all over. Please don't die from lung cancer first.

[MD BOY]

No Candid, we'll all outlive you. The lifespan of those like you who suffer from Chronic Stupid Posting Syndrome (CSPS) is much shorter.

[bdjunker]

How come my isn't yellow at age 82? You may want to reconsider wanting to die at an old age.

TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2007

Alzheimer's epidemic underway Part 1

"More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, a 10 percent increase since the last Alzheimer's Association estimate five years ago -- and a count that supports the long-forecast dementia epidemic as the population grays.
Age is the biggest risk factor, and the report to be released Tuesday shows the nation is on track for skyrocketing Alzheimer's once the baby boomers start turning 65 in 2011. Already, one in eight people 65 and older have the mind-destroying illness, and nearly one in two people over 85.
Unless scientists discover a way to delay Alzheimer's brain attack, some 7.7 million people are expected to have the disease by 2030, the report says. By 2050, that toll could reach 16 million.
Why? Ironically, in fighting heart disease, cancer and other diseases, "we're keeping people alive so they can live long enough to get Alzheimer's disease," explains association vice president Steve McConnell."

We've pointed out this conundum many times - Health Promotion social marketing uses the phrase "preventable deaths" in reference to smoking or weight-related cancer, heart disease, respiratory and stroke fatalities, intentionally implying that people who don't die from a smoking or weight-related illness somehow live forever. That idea is nonsense, of course. We are all going to die, someday, and the best that "healthy living" campaigns and lifestyles can offer us is to reduce the probability that we might die from a "lifestyle-induced" illness - but that will simultaneously increase the probability that we will die from some other cause, and for many people that cause of death will be Alzheimer's or other adult dementias.

"Indeed, government figures released last year that show small drops in deaths from most of the nation's leading killers [cancer and heart disease] between 2000 and 2004 -- even as deaths attributed to Alzheimer's disease increased 33 percent."

Furthermore, the cost burdens on our healthcare system imposed by adult dementias such as Alzheimer's are phenomenally greater than the cost of treating smoking or weight-related illnesses.

[bdjunker]

Part 2

According to an analysis reported by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA, the lifetime treatment cost for a lung cancer patient was $12,510 (US, 1984 dollars - or $24,413 in 2006 dollars).["Lifetime treatment cost" describes the total cost for direct treatment of the illness, from the initial diagnosis until the successful resolution of the illness or the death of the patient.]

In comparison, according to the american Alzheimer's Association, the average lifetime cost of care for an individual with Alzheimer’s is $174,000 ! "National direct and indirect annual costs of caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are at least $100 billion, according to estimates used by the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institute on Aging".
"Medicare costs for beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s are expected to increase 75 percent, from $91 billion in 2005 to $160 billion in 2010; Medicaid expenditures on residential dementia care will increase 14 percent, from $21 billion in 2005 to $24 billion in 2010, according to a report commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Association"

and, in the CNN article:
"Because it complicates treatment for every other illness, the new report shows Medicare spends nearly three times as much for dementia patients' care as for the average beneficiary --$13,207 a year vs.$4,454. Medicare's spending on dementia-related care is projected to double to more than $189 million by 2015.
That doesn't include the value of the unpaid round-the-clock care that families and friends provide the vast majority of Alzheimer's patients who live at home -- a tab the new report calculates at almost $83 billion - or nursing home costs."

The claims by anti-smoking and "healthy living" advocates, that reducing the prevelance of smoking or weight-related illness will lead to reduced public health care costs IS A LIE. Furthermore, it is a deliberate and calculated deception intended to manipulate policy-makers and the public. Reducing smoking or weight-related illness will ultimately result in vastly increased costs to the health system as more people are enabled to live long enough to contract Alzheimer's and other adult dementias.

Not that it matters, ultimately. That's what public health care is all about, after all - it is a social contract by which we all agree to help shoulder the cost burden of each other's health care, regardless of the source or cause of our illnesses. People who aren't willing to play by those rules, people who resent helping to pay for other people's illness or injury treatment because they don't approve of the "cause" of the illness or injury, ought to move the heck out of this country. The majority of illness treatment costs are generated by elderly persons, who paid into the system all their lives and never objected to helping cover the cost of your childhood illnesses & injuries - so if you are now, as an adult, going to whine and complain that you don't want to help pay these people's health costs because you think they are "self-inflicted", then you are a selfish ingrate and we don't need you here.

[Linda]

After seeing so many younger wrinkled nonsmokers, I laughed till I thought I would pee my pants at th e thought of smoke causing wrinkles

[Nemo31]

This study was paid for by the national Instutute of Health. Our tax dollars for this. The photonumeric scale(sounds impressive) was created by 3 judges just for this study. The scale is a 9 point scale 0 (no fine wrinkling) to 8 (severe fine wrinkling). The participants had 5 photos taken of of skin under the arm. The same 3 judges evaluated the photos and pronounced judgement.Inspected pictures not people. The nons scored below one the smokers scored two on the scale. So on a scale up to 8! What do you really have? Nice to see they a working on important things at the U of Michigan. Goes to show you just do study on anything related to smoking and grant money is availible. I find it hard to beleive this could even get published but then again if its smoking related there you go. The old anti double speak!

[bdjunker]

Nemo31 wrote:

This study was paid for by the national Instutute of Health. Our tax dollars for this. The photonumeric scale(sounds impressive) was created by 3 judges just for this study. The scale is a 9 point scale 0 (no fine wrinkling) to 8 (severe fine wrinkling). The participants had 5 photos taken of of skin under the arm. The same 3 judges evaluated the photos and pronounced judgement.Inspected pictures not people. The nons scored below one the smokers scored two on the scale. So on a scale up to 8! What do you really have? Nice to see they a working on important things at the U of Michigan. Goes to show you just do study on anything related to smoking and grant money is availible. I find it hard to beleive this could even get published but then again if its smoking related there you go. The old anti double speak!

I wonder if they asked any of the smokers how much time over their life that they spent in the sun. I've seen some non-smoking women that are sun worshippers, and go to tanning salons. They think they look great with their tans, but alot of them look like he!!. No, I didn't read the stupid article. At age 62, who the heck cares if they get wrinkles. We earned them!

[Nemo31]

They did interviews, age, ethninticity,anti-inflationary drugs, sun exposure,tanning beds, diet, births, contraception and a few others. In the 65 and over crowd they state the numbers on the scale for the nons was 4 and for the smokers 6. So what happens when you break them into sub-groups? Tuff to do! There were a whole 77 people in the study? If its about smoking they will fund any study.

[Bill Hannegan]

The hostile spirit of an antismoker is worse for his physical health and appearance than a pack of smokes a day. Maybe more!

[Linda]

Important, this is a good idea

Coalition to End Donations to American Cancer Society
The Minnesotans Against Smoking Bans membership joins NYC CLASH in firmly supporting the boycott against the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association

www.nycclash.com/ACSBoycott.html · 3/22/2007 · Cached page

[just candid]

Great Blast from the past!!!!LOL

candid wrote:

Sorry smokers, you is gona look like hell, all yellow and wrinkled ,yep yellow and wrinkled all over. Please don't die from lung cancer first.