Column

There’s no smoking without ire

HEALTH PROMOTERS SHOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO SMOKE

Because

• Smoking helps people cope with life
• Promoting smoking will help the tobacco industry employ more people (it is well known that unemployment is a cause of ill-health)
• Smoking raises taxes which governments can elect to spend on health services
• Smoking reduces the level of chronic sickness in the elderly population because smokers tend to die sooner than non-smokers. Promoting smoking will lower the cost to the state of geriatric care
• Young people think smoking is cool — it makes them feel they belong, and a sense of belonging is very important for health
• Smoking is enjoyable — most smokers get pleasure out of smoking

HEALTH PROMOTERS SHOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO SMOKE BY MEANS OF ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING METHODS

• Campaigning for unrestricted advertising— in a capitalist country it ought to be legal to advertise any product that it is legal to sell
• Comprehensive advice on how to get the very most enjoyment from cigarette smoking — what to smoke, what strength cigarette is best in which circumstances, when to use a filter and when not, how to roll your own, what the optimum frequency should be (this advice should be based on detailed scientific research undertaken by health promoters)
• Advertising widely the many mental and social benefits that smoking offers

Question: What is wrong with this plan? Tick one statement from each pair:

1. a) Smoking causes fatal disease.

b) The plan is offensive — everybody knows that smoking is anti-social.

2. a) The incidence of smoking increases with poverty.

b) Health promoters should not support the tobacco industry.

3. a) There are many other ways to find enjoyment in life —it is not necessary to smoke.

b) It is barbaric to hope that elderly people will die.

How did you do?

All a)s: You are a very practical person — all three a) statements are factually correct. However they are only three out of a large number of factual statements about smoking: if you are a member of the anti-smoking lobby you should be aware that neither you nor the opposition have a monopoly on fact.

Tip: Try to be more circumspect when making claims in public.

All b)s: You are a very passionate person — all three b) statements are evaluative. You may believe them to be correct but you will never be able to show the pro-smoking lobby that you are right, nor will they be able to prove that you are wrong: b) statements go beyond the evidence.

Tip: Why not be more honest — own up to your preferences — why make them out to be more than opinion?

At least one b) and one a): You are a natural politician. You like to mix your opinions with evidence so that everything you say looks factual.

Tip Why not consider joining the Health Education Authority or WHO?

What general lessons are there here? Firstly, however strange it might look at first sight, the pro-smoking health promotion plan is of the same status as existing anti-smoking plans (i.e. it is evidence, supposition and conviction combined to persuade). Secondly, the advocates of non-smoking, low drinking, moderate exercising lifestyles are offering a point of view about how to live — not an absolute truth. And thirdly, at least for the sake of diversity in life, it is vital not to think that a ‘healthy life’ must necessarily be a cautious one — there’s a lot more to health than being careful.