A new study out of the University of Colorado Cancer Center indicates gays and lesbians are about twice as likely as heteros to smoke cigarettes.
According to the study, which surveyed 1,633 smokers at some 120 gay bars and clubs, more than 80% of respondents smoked daily and nearly a third lit up at least 20 times a day. Most disturbingly, less than 30% said they were planning on quitting.
Other findings include:
Fewer than half (47.2%) had attempted quitting in the previous year, and only 8.5% were preparing to quit in the next month.
More than one-fourth (28.2%) of quit attempters had used nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and a similar proportion said they intended to use NRT in their next quit attempt.
Lesbians were significantly less likely than gay men to have used or intend to use NRT.
One-fourth of respondents said they were uncomfortable talking to their doctor about quitting smoking.
The report, just published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, indicated four factors were involved in the likelihood that a smoker was going to quit: daily smoking, ever having used NRT, a smoke-free home rule, “and comfort asking one’s doctor for cessation advice.” Said co-author Arnold Levinson, “we need public health campaigns to get the GLBT smoker population thinking about quitting.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
We totally agree but reserve the right for the occasional post-coital Marlboro
.
Source: The Atlantic. Photo: xlordashx
harleyrider1778
OSHA / NIOSH RESEARCH
In 1991 NIOSH { OSHA’ research group} Looked into ETS although at the time they recommended reducing ETS exposure they found the studies lacking.
NIOSH recognizes that these recent epidemiological studies have several shortcomings: lack of objective measures for charachterizing and quantifying exposures,failures to adjust for all confounding variables,potential misclassification of ex-smokers as non-smokers,unavailability of comparison groups that have not been exposed to ETS, and low statistical power.
Research is needed to investigate the following issues:
1. More acurate quantification of the increased risk of lung cancer associated with ETS exposure,including determination of other contributing factors[e.g.,occupational exposures]that may accentuate the risk.
2.Determination of the concentration and distributuion of ETS components in the workplace to help quantify the risk for the U.S. working population.
a.The association of ETS exposure with cancer other than lung cancer
b.The relationship between ETS exposure and cardiovascular disease
c.The relationship between ETS exposure and nonmalignant resporatory diseases such asthma,bronchitis and emphysema, and
the effects of ETS on lung function and respiratory systems
c. Possible mechanisms of ETS damage to the cardiovascular system,such as platelet aggravation,increased COHb leading to oxygen depravation,or damage to endothelium
d.Effects of workplace smoking restrictions on the ETS exposure of nonsmokersand ETS-related health effects in nonsmokers
After ten years of no conclusive research and lack of studies that didn’t eliminate the bias OSHA decided that the studies did not have substance and here is there present policy.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)
Because the organic material in tobacco doesn’t burn completely, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,700 chemical compounds. Although OSHA has no regulation that addresses tobacco smoke as a whole, 29 CFR 1910.1000 Air contaminants, limits employee exposure to several of the main chemical components found in tobacco smoke. In normal situations, exposures would not exceed these permissible exposure limits (PELs), and, as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, OSHA will not apply the General Duty Clause to ETS.
harleyrider1778
Scientific Evidence Shows Secondhand Smoke Is No Danger
Written By: Jerome Arnett, Jr., M.D.
Published In: Environment & Climate News
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Publisher:
http://www.heartland
.org/policybot/resul
ts/23399/Scientific_
Evidence_Sho…
myth-of-second-hand-
smoke
http://yourdoctorsor
ders.com/2009/01/the
-myth-of-second-hand
-smoke
BS Alert: The ‘third-hand smoke’ hoax
http://www.examiner.com/public-policy-in-louisville/bs-alert-the-third-hand-smoke-hoax
The thirdhand smoke scam
http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2010/02/thirdhand-smoke-scam.html
harleyrider1778
JOINT STATEMENT ON THE RE-ASSESSMENT OF THE TOXICOLOGICAL TESTING OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS”
7 October, the COT meeting on 26 October and the COC meeting on 18
November 2004.
http://cot.food.gov.
uk/pdfs/cotstatement
tobacco0409
“5. The Committees commented that tobacco smoke was a highly complex chemical mixture and that the causative agents for smoke induced diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, effects on reproduction and on offspring) was unknown. The mechanisms by which tobacco induced adverse effects were not established. The best information related to tobacco smoke – induced lung cancer, but even in this instance a detailed mechanism was not available. The Committees therefore agreed that on the basis of current knowledge it would be very difficult to identify a toxicological testing strategy or a biomonitoring approach for use in volunteer studies with smokers where the end-points determined or biomarkers measured were predictive of the overall burden of tobacco-induced adverse disease.”
In other words … our first hand smoke theory is so lame we can’t even design a bogus lab experiment to prove it. In fact … we don’t even know how tobacco does all of the magical things we claim it does.
The greatest threat to the second hand theory is the weakness of the first hand theory.
harleyrider1778
You might be gay,but its no reason you shouldnt be able to smoke and at least get the truth instead of the daily doses of JUNK SCIENCE the progressive socialists keep pumpimg out daily!
harleyrider1778
NRT Failure Rate Soars to 98.4%
New revelations confirm that Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) has a documented long term failure rate of 98.4%.
PRLog (Press Release) – Apr 03, 2009 –
New revelations confirm that Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) has a documented long term failure rate of 98.4%.
NRT is the Government’s recommended treatment for its smoking cessation programmes and is heavily funded by the tax-payer.
Pro-choice group Freedom2choose are alarmed at these revelations and the obvious waste of tax-payers’ funds. Colin Grainger, vice chairman of the group states, “NRT products are obviously unfit for the purpose for which they are sold. This is fraud, wrong and immoral.”
Freedom2choose have previously highlighted alternative ways to successfully quit smoking, including the Allen Carr method, with a documented success rate of 58% for those choosing to give up. The Allen Carr method even promises a money back guarantee to those that don’t successfully quit.
“More worryingly,” continues Colin Grainger “is the shock that the scientists who put the study together even work for the manufacturers of NRT. This clearly shows how the Big Pharmaceutical companies influence the outcome of studies.”
The revelations were originally made public by long-term anti-smoking campaigner Professor Michael Siegel who states “With a long-term smoking cessation percentage of only 1.6%, one can hardly call NRT treatment an “effective” intervention. In fact, the logical conclusion from this paper is that NRT was a dismal intervention.”
Reference: NRT Failure Rate 98.4% – http://www.tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/
http://www.prlog.org/10211087-nrt-failure-rate-soars-to-984.html
MKe
I smoked for 10 years and quit about 6 months ago. I’m pretty sure I’m done for good. The reason I quit is because I’m an amateur singer and I kept developing nodules on my vocal cords. It’s too early to tell if that situation has improved but it was ridiculous to be a singer who smoked.
Kev C
The biggest problem for smokers is non-smokers.
stevoj
@Kev C: you misspelled “lung cancer”
Jim Hlavac
So, in this unrepresentative sample of gay folks: “which surveyed 1,633 smokers at some 120 gay bars and clubs,” we can conclude only that people who smoke in bars tend to smoke more than people who do not smoke in bars, or are not in bars, or people who do not smoke anywhere, or gay people who don’t go to bars, which is not that clarifying. I’m pretty sure that if you took a survey of 1,633 hetero smokers in 120 hetero bars and clubs you’d come to the same findings about heteros. And I don’t see any comparison between heteros and gays — 1,633 of each of us in 120 gay and 120 straight bars, to make any sort of valid comparison to say gays smoke more than heteros.
And since there’s no known number of gays it’s impossible to extrapolate to the conclusion that any percentage of gays do anything. Ergo, another mush study.
Charley
Are bars and clubs the best place to get a sample? I would venture a guess that people not found there would be less likely to smoke.
Kev C
@stevoj: Non-smokers and their crazy beliefs. Think about this. You put your kids on a school bus everyday, in the hands of a low-paid driver and a bunch of wild bullies .. and the entire thing reeks of diesel fumes which produce asthma, emphysema and brain damage. But they’re worried about second or third hand smoke. One school bus in my neighborhood, I can smell diesal fumes from a block away .. before it comes! Not after, but before it arrives, it’s that bad.
derek p.
Kev C: 25% of heavy smokers (5+ per day) develop lung cancer. Do 25% of school bus riders develop brain damage? What sort of fantasy world do you live in?
Javier
In this day in age when the dangers of smoking are well known, why does anyone even start smoking? I have always been afraid to even take a puff.
Who actually likes coffee?
Why do I get the feeling that a lot of the people that dismisses this study at first sight, are smokers in denial?
It’s been clearly established that amongst LGBT’s there is a greater incidence of smoking, drug (ab)use and alcohol (ab)use, largely as a result of coping with discrimination, victimization and homophobia.
kurt_t
“The biggest problem for smokers is non-smokers.”
And that, in a nutshell, is the logic of addiction. The addict says “My substance abuse is not a problem. The people who try to penetrate my wall of silence and denial are the problem. The people who point out the problem are the problem.”
You will hear words to that effect from every addict you ever meet, no matter what the addiction– alcohol, nicotine, meth, coke, heroin, sugar, gambling.
I think the reason you see higher rates of smoking– and addiction in general– in the gay community, is that gay people develop a certain immunity to messages of opprobrium. We hear “That’s bad. That’s self-destructive. You have a problem. You need to stop doing that.” And those messages trigger the same psychological defense mechanisms that protect us from the kind of blather you hear from Kirk Cameron and Rick Santorum and the all other hateful loons of that ilk.
Pete
It’s well-established that smoking debilitates the immune system and makes the smoker more likely to contract all types of infections, including sexually transmitted infections of all types – herpes, syph, etc.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
@Kev C: please keep on smoking. for all of our sakes.
Kev C
@derek p.: A large area study in CA showed that the children who most often developed asthma, which can be a life-threatening illness btw, all lived near an interstate freeway where diesel trucks travelled. Almost all of them.
Ramuza
I smoke for 11 years and quit about 1,5 years ago.
OZWiiLD
I am only 23 and have been smoking since I was about 13. That’s ten years of my life pumping my lungs full of tar. Personally, I have noticed that the majority of my smoking is habitual. For example, when I get ready in the morning, brushing my teeth and drinking my coffee. I get ready, warm up the car, get in, start driving and light a cigarette. Smokers seem to form habits and almost “O.C.D.” type tendencies with smoking. Wether it be smoking while drinking, smoking while driving, or smoking out of boredom, it can be quite difficult to quit. I have tried a couple times before, my failures were not due to lack of NRT or support. My failures were because I (subconsciously) didn’t want to quit. Having had problems in the past with other addictive substances and attending two rehab centers, I feel comfortable in saying that if there’s a will there’s a way. If you really want to quit shooting up heroin, you will. If you really want to stop drinking you will. If you really want to quit smoking cigarettes, you will. Everyone needs to do it for themselves, and come ro the realization on their own. I believe that I am closer to that point then I have ever been in my life. Excitement and joyous emotions fill my body when I realize that one day, I will not light up.
CMObrero
Hi. I smoke. I’m gay. I don’t dismiss this study. Nor any other that says smoking is bad for health, because it IS bad for health.
Ok, so some non smokers said it would be nice of me thinking about quitting. I took the time. I did. I don’t want to.
Lung cancer? Tongue cancer? It’s a risk I’m hoping to take.
Now I already thought about it, I expect non smokers to stop harassing me about quitting smoking. I thought about it and decided to take the risk. I also think having to watch dirty lungs in every pack of cigarretes is offensive. They are making me watch this kind of gore against my will.
I I respect the right of others by not smoking in places where I shouldn’t, asking if I’m in a place where it is allowed but other non-smokers surround me (do you bother?) and stuff like that, why don’t they respect me when I say I don’t want to quit and don’t want to see those gore images and don’t want to hear about “reconsider quitting” again? I feel like Jehova’s witnesses are harassing me with impunity and I can’t do anything about it.
CMObrero
@MKe: I’m sure it’s good for developing an amazing voice like Janis’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxJxUFoR0Es
Michael W.
Smoking is so fucking sexy. Nothing hotter than seeing a handsome man smoke a cig.
ChiGuy76
@harleyrider1778: And the point of your posts is……?
EdWoody
@Michael W.: I couldn’t disagree more. I think it’s fucking filthy, indicates the person has no concern for their own health or anyone else’s, and is a complete deal breaker for me.
@CMObrero: You say you’re willing to take the risk. Why exactly? Why be proud of having a drug addiction? Why ignore all the scientific proof that tells you it’s bad for you, because apparently you either know better or just don’t care? I genuinely don’t understand the psychology of people such as yourself, but then I’m not a drug addict i suppose.
Huh ...
@EdWoody: As someone who smoked for 9 years (5 years totally smoke free), I can tell that never, not once, did I get closer to quitting smoking because some self-righteous non-smoker told me about the dangers of smoking. We all know what the dangers are; you’re not breaking any news here. And the holier-than-thou attitude? That would just make me gladder to blow smoke in your face.
Oh, and you know what else can be a deal-breaker? Being a smug douche. Try quitting that.
Oh, ok.
@Kev C: Please keep smoking, breathe deep. Hope you choke on it. 🙂
Mike1987
5 years smoke free. Smoking is a pain in the ass. Flying, office work, bars, hell even parks are no smoking areas.
the crustybastard
Wouldn’t it be possible to live in a world where smokers and nonsmokers could co-exist without competing to be the bigger asshole about it?
If you smoke, ask people around you if they mind if you light up. If they mind, don’t smoke there. Understand that not everyone likes the smell and find somewhere else to smoke. Butts go in the trash. Seriously.
If you don’t smoke and someone asks you if you mind if they light up, recognize that they’re being gracious and be at least as gracious back. They neither require nor desire some pious lecture or smug passive-aggressive nonsense. Seriously.
If you smoke and want to quit, start exercising a little bit first. When your body starts feeling better, it’s easier to stop doing things that are bad for you. Then, gradually replace your smoking rituals with more exercise, or something else like chewing gum or eating some nuts, seeds, a piece of fruit or some veggies.
The first 10 days are the worst. Just white-knuckle it through. When you make it to a month, congratulations! The hard part is over. Treat yourself to a fine bottle of whisky.
Whisky > Cigarettes
Seriously. Then never give in again. Simple. 😀
Alex
@the crustybastard: “Wouldn’t it be possible to live in a world where smokers and nonsmokers could co-exist without competing to be the bigger asshole about it?”
I think I love you.
TheLord
Smokers should keep smoking. Lots of fucking cigarettes! And have unprotected sex with bug-chasers! PLEASE DIE SOONER. WE WON’T MISS YOU, AND WE ALL WISH YOU WERE DEAD.
TheLord
One more thing: smokers will NEVER contribute positively to society.
The more dead smokers, the merrier!
Demiel
There is seriously nothing that is more of a turnoff than seeing someone light up a cigarette. Insta-flaccid.
Ragmatical
At this risk of sounding horribly immature: Was it really a big secret that fags love fags? Tee hee.
Ragmatical
@TheLord: Were you used as a human ashtray as a kid or something? That’s a pretty big generalization.
Ronbo
The biggest reason to quit: your dick. Smoking destroys your capabilities – from endurance to carbon monoxide damage to cardiovascular problems to vascular damage to the damn disgusting stank on your lips and clothes. Emphysema isn’t so pretty when the nurses call you a blue bloater or pink puffer.
Ronbo
Oh, and if the Emphysema doesn’t get you, or the cancers or the pneumonia, or the cardiovascular disease, smoking will weaken your immunity and ultimately make you susceptible to hunderds of other diseases.
Both my parents smoked. My Dad quit when he was 40, my Mom when she was 62. Both quit the day they died – Mom from lung cancer that spread to her brain. My father of an enlarged heart associated with COPD.
Ragmatical
@Ronbo: I’m really sorry to hear that!
Kev C
Many non-smokers (ie..Oh ok, DivKid, TheLord) seethe with hatred and loathing at the mere mention of cigarettes. I suspect they are jealous of smokers, certainly unhappy. I suspect I’ll be living longer than some rabid angst queens. The oldest recorded woman and oldest man enjoyed smoking for most of their healthy, happy life. Because stress and anxiety are more lethal than cigarettes.
CMObrero
@Huh …: I’d quit smoking for you.
@Kev C: Seriously, answering the douche that adresses me back there, that’s the point and sorta is not. It’s not ’cause I don’t care about living longer, I care about living better. And my better is different from other betters. Includes rabid non-ñmonogamous sex, monogamous relationships after that, alcohol, weed, cigarretes, unhealthy MMORPGs, unhealthy drug addicts made old fashioned -too much for a young age- music, unhealthy risky habits regarding riky places/situations/works in the free cancer producing sun, healthy fruit eating and a risky vegetarian non-very-healthy diet, like lots of salads and lemon and lots of sugar and bad fat from nuts and stuff like that.
I won’t stop living ’cause it kills me every second of breathing through oxidation, I won’t stop eation ’cause all those fats kill me through blood poisoning and stuff like that. I make the most of my living and I expect respect as I respect a Jeovah’s Witness as long as they stay away from my smoking ass.
Andrew
I used to smoke socially just when I was with friends as a teenager or drinking in bars as an adult but I don’t smoke at all anymore. If someone else wants to smoke that’s fine I just do not anymore.
tjr101
Taxing cigarettes as much as possible is a great way to increase revenue, the majority of smokers will just never quit no matter how expensive.
The majority of my gay friends are smokers that find it really difficult to quit, this study is not suprising at all. Constantly telling a smoker how awful cigarettes are to their health doesn’t help.
Jamie in Las Vegas
Smoking used to give me something to do in gay bars, when I was too shy to talk to anybody. But I haven’t been to a bar in years, and kept on smoking. I was a “secret” smoker, only smoking at home in the evening and on weekends. My coworkers thought I quit years ago. I finally set a date to quit when I posed myself the question: “what do I get out of it?” I couldn’t think of one positive thing. I couldn’t even articulate what gave me the “ahhhhh!” after lighting my first one in the evening.
So, after 20 years, I resolved in 2011 to quit. I had my last smoke on Jan 2 (a Sunday). I quit cold turkey. It was about as difficult as going on a strict diet. Day 3 was the worst. The hardest part was getting over the urge to go outside every hour or so. No major cravings after a month. Every month since has been a breeze. I’m happy that I rarely have a phlegm problem anymore (I used to be able to produce a rattle at will). My endurance level shot up, and I don’t get winded doing laborious tasks.
But I’ll echo what others have said: Gory pictures, self righteous finger-wagging and threats had zero effect on me (other than the urge to exhale a cloud of smoke in their general direction). I had to WANT to quit, and I had to do it on my own terms. But I’m glad I don’t go to bars anymore. Not only would I not know what to do with my hands, I HATE the smell of cigarettes now. And since I live in Las Vegas, that means I’ve also quit gambling.
Jamie in Las Vegas
To clarify, I quit 14 months ago. I don’t want it to sound like I’m bragging after two months!
the crustybastard
@tjr101: “Taxing cigarettes as much as possible is a great way to increase revenue the majority of smokers will just never quit no matter how expensive.”
This line of thinking borders on fascism. Punitive taxation is bullshit. The tax system should endeavor be as equitable as possible, and not become another weapon in the arsenal of the morality police.
I quit smoking in no small part because I got fed up with nonsmokers constantly choosing to force me to pay for all their pet programs. If a program benefits society, it should be funded by society — not just smokers.
Prominent anti-tobacco activist organizations dedicate a lot of resources to calculating how to incrementally exploit smokers for ever-increasing taxes, rather than how to exploit the tax code to effectively ban smoking —meaning they’re cynically choosing to benefit from smoking while insisting smoking has no benefits. Assholes.
If you think it’s cute to foist your taxes on smokers, just remember that when tobacco is finally outright banned by moralists in a fit of prohibitionist pique, or there just aren’t enough smokers to pay for those programs anymore, those programs won’t just go away — you’ll get to pay for them.
Maybe they’ll slam something YOU enjoy with punitive taxes, insisting “what a great way to increase revenue!”
@Alex
LOL.
CMObrero
@the crustybastard: And I think I’d quit smoking for you too.
Huh ...
@CMObrero: Oye, que me voy a poner celoso!
CMObrero
@Huh …: Podría ser así como a monogaMISH couple, onda DAn y Terry =$ xD!
Justin
@thecrustybastard – Smokers get sick more often, they get cancer more often. FACT. Given today’s economy, people are less likely to have insurance. So when they go to the emergency room because they can’t afford regular care, their bill gets picked up by the government. Then the government turns around and passes the cost onto taxpayers.
Since they’re creating their own health problem, isn’t it fair to charge them for their healthcare?
CMObrero
@Justin: Do you use sunbluck when going outside?
Do you eat too much fast food? Enough veggies?
Do you eat toasted/roasted/fried food? (Risk of stomach cancer)
Do you eat suggar? Too much salt? Meaning do you eat any market cookies/cakes, etc?
Do you use sugar replacements? (almost everyone of them could cause cancer)
Do you exercise enough?
Do you use condoms when having sexual intercourse with almost anyone?
Do you sleep enough? not too much?
Do you drink alcohol?
There’s so many ways you might be creating your own health problem, wouldn’t be fair to overtax everything to pay for your hypothetical health care?
Jose
“A new study out of the University of Colorado Cancer Center indicates gays and lesbians are about twice as likely as heteros to smoke cigarettes.”
I couldn’t access the journal article so I wasn’t able to read it. However, based on the abstract, this study was only done on LGBT smokers. Therefore, I don’t see how they could have determined that gays and lesbians are twice as likely to smoke without a hetero sample.
Also, based on the abstract, they recruited people in bars and online, so it was not just a sample of gays and lesbians in bars.
the crustybastard
@Justin: “Smokers get sick more often, they get cancer more often.”
More often than what?
Having smoked for years I had no smoking-related illness, took no medications, and had never been to the hospital for anything except sports-related injuries. My nonsmoking colleague of a similar age was at the doctor or hospital about every third week, and took all kinds of prescription meds. I cost the insurance company less, but paid them more.
Yes, smokers should — wherever possible — pay for their own healthcare, as should people with diabetes, obesity, and well…everyone. Nor do I have any particular problem with a cigarette tax that pays for the uninsured costs of smoking-related illness, for the same reason I have no particular problem with gasoline taxes that pay for roads and bridges.
My problem is, for example, with nonsmokers deciding that smokers should be the ones to finance uninsured children’s healthcare. As I said before, healthy children and the S/CHIP programs are a pubic good whose burden should be shouldered by the entire public — not opportunistically foisted on a despised minority who are engaged in a lawful activity who, frankly, are already paying taxes at a level that could only be described as confiscatory.
linc52
im a 52 year old gay man and i enjoy a ciggie when i go out and i all my gay friends smoke aswell