FDA Pauses Actions, but The Anti-Zealots Remain

[aldecaker]

Yeah, thank God we didn't fall for any of those "entangling foreign alliances" we were warned about. :wink:

 

[deathmetal]

The tax is raised in equal proportion to the price of tobacco/manufacturing/retail etc, thus giving welfare back the money the welfare recipient just spent on the smokes.

Interesting. I wonder if a better approach would be simply to lower the cost of smokes and then pay less in welfare, stowing any extra for future health care.
It seems to me that the current way of doing government is changing, so maybe there is a hope for a more sensible future. If I were to do anything for low-income folks, it would be to lower the costs of the things they enjoy, including alcohol, smokes and the bloody internet access.

 

[ashdigger]

The FDA needs to concern itself more with sugar than tobacco. Sugar kills more people and costs more medically than tobacco. The FDA is for sale.

 

[deathmetal]

Getting sugar (mostly) out of my diet helped me taste other flavors more. Sugar is addictive. Delicious, I mean. I can stop any time.

 

[brian64]

Regarding taxes, there should be a prohibition on government use of punitive taxation on any product, imo.
Regarding mass produced cigarettes, imo it is the excessive additives that are the real problem:

List of additives in cigarettes
This is the list of 599 additives in cigarettes submitted to the United States Department of Health and Human Services in April 1994. It applies, as documented, only to American manufactured cigarettes intended for distribution within the United States by the listed companies. The five major tobacco companies that reported the information were:
American Tobacco Company

Brown and Williamson

Liggett Group, Inc.

Philip Morris Inc.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

One significant issue is that while all these chemical compounds have been approved as additives to food, they were not tested by burning. Burning changes the properties of chemicals. More than 4,000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette, 69 of which are carcinogenic.[1][2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes

 

[deathmetal]

69, dudes!

 

[brian64]

One significant issue is that while all these chemical compounds have been approved as additives to food, they were not tested by burning. Burning changes the properties of chemicals. More than 4,000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette, 69 of which are carcinogenic.[1][2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes

This is what really needs to be emphasized. Tobacco is the scapegoat for all of these chemicals.

 

[aldecaker]

Well, we all know that tobacco is the only cause of expensive and difficult-to-treat illnesses, and without it healthcare will be dirt cheap. In addition, since tobacco seems to be the only cause of mortality, then the government has the added benefit of bitching about paying for all the lives they've saved with 40 years of Social Security benefits.

 

[jacks6]

Regarding mass produced cigarettes, imo it is the excessive additives that are the real problem

You don't think there are excessive additives in pipe tobacco?.... especially aromatics?

The FDA needs to concern itself more with sugar than tobacco. Sugar kills more people and costs more medically than tobacco. The FDA is for sale.

100% fully agree on this.

 

[aldecaker]

Pipe tobacco may have chemicals added, but cigarettes manufactured from reconstituted tobacco paper are, quite literally, made out of them.

 

[brian64]

Well, we all know that tobacco is the only cause of expensive and difficult-to-treat illnesses, and without it healthcare will be dirt cheap.

Yeah, it seems to also be the scapegoat for pretty much all disease. Funny how so many non-tobacco users get cancer...must all be from second and third hand smoke.

You don't think there are excessive additives in pipe tobacco?.... especially aromatics?

My understanding is that there are far more additives in mass-produced cigarettes...but I'm not an expert...that's just the info I've absorbed on the subject. If someone knows differently perhaps they can enlighten us.
Aromatics probably do contain more additives than non-aromatics, but the additional issue of course is cigar and pipe smokers do not normally inhale anywhere near the amount of smoke as most cigarette smokers do.

 

[deathmetal]

Additives also vary in how dangerous they are.
One wonders how many of them have been studied in their burned state, and what degree of mutagenic properties they have.
In the meantime, healthcare will never be dirt cheap. Purchasing services from doctors could be lowered in cost. If we all walked five miles a day, maybe things would be a lot better.
Every group looks for a scapegoat. It is easier to blame tobacco than sugar, fast food, too much sitting in office chairs and pollution.
With that in mind:
https://qz.com/848031/harvard-research-suggests-that-an-entire-global-generation-has-lost-faith-in-democracy/

 

[mso489]

The economy of scale on enforcing these regulations for the small specialized demographics of pipe smokers is expensive and absurd. Now would be the ideal time to back off and bow out before tens of thousands of jobs are eliminated and no impact is made on improving health.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"but cigarettes manufactured from reconstituted tobacco paper"
What on earth is reconstituted tobacco paper?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[warren]

Pretty much the same carcinogens you ingest when inhaling the smoke of a campfire or your smoker. And, most definitely what is leeching from the tobacco smoke into your system as you "sip" your pipe. Incinerating stuff causes smoke. Smoke particles are in part carcinogens. Period. No way around it! There's a reason your big, municipal incinerator has to treat the smoke and it ain't the smell! Smoke is bad.
Some people are simply more susceptible to cancers. Others choose a life style which increases their chances of a cancer taking over in their body. Just know the risks, enjoy your pipes and quit trying to find a safe way to ingest carcinogens. They are a part of the experience and quite possibly your body will successfully handle the load of smoke, sugar, salt, fat, etc. you fed it for many years.
Getting out of bed is a risk, enjoy your wee vices while you can. If you are uncomfortable with additional risk, don't smoke.

 

[brian64]

What on earth is reconstituted tobacco paper?

I think the short answer is something like shredded paper that has been sprayed with tobacco-flavored chemicals.

 

[brian64]

Harvard research suggests that an entire global generation has lost faith in democracy

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.

 

[aldecaker]

It's a method of making mass-market cigarettes. You take tobacco, stems and all, and reduce it to a sludge with a swamp of chemicals, just like making paper from wood chips. It is rolled into sheets, dried, and rolled into gigantic cylinders of "product" to be shipped to cigarette factories. There it is loaded onto an unspooling machine, shredded, and machine-rolled into cigarettes.

 

[brian64]

Premium pipe and cigar tobacco

Mass-market cigarettes

 

[mso489]

Yes, cheesy.