When I was younger I remember my dad (not with us anymore) telling me something about there not being the kind of evidence regarding the dangers of smoking that the media tried to tell us. (around the same time that the media convinced me Y2K was gonna destroy society but dad said it was all just hype, and he was right!)

Well recently I heard Michael Knowles claim that there is NO study linking cigars to lung cancer and in fact a recent study showing no noticeable increase in cancer for cigar smokers.

This got me wondering about cigarettes too, but I didnt live through that propaganda, so Im wondering if anyone here older than me remembers anything about that and could tell me about this 20th century media push?

Quote from: T Hunt on October 12, 2024, 03:17:02 AMWhen I was younger I remember my dad (not with us anymore) telling me something about there not being the kind of evidence regarding the dangers of smoking that the media tried to tell us. (around the same time that the media convinced me Y2K was gonna destroy society but dad said it was all just hype, and he was right!)

Well recently I heard Michael Knowles claim that there is NO study linking cigars to lung cancer and in fact a recent study showing no noticeable increase in cancer for cigar smokers.

This got me wondering about cigarettes too, but I didnt live through that propaganda, so Im wondering if anyone here older than me remembers anything about that and could tell me about this 20th century media push?

I've always railed about cigars. George Burns and many other centenarians smoked cigars on their death beds.
Every time a doctor tells me cigar tobacco causes cancer, I challenge them to show me proof. Everyone of them give me that deer in the lights stare, because they suddenly realize they were fed propaganda

Yeah, I remember it well, the media was better at convicting the cigarette industry than Congress was.
Where the industry failed was putting chemicals in cigarettes. Pall Mall, Camel, all filter less were just tobacco, but that became the trap, because they had to admit they were adding additives to make cigs stay lit, enhance flavor, enhance nicotine.

Congress spent millions in research to prove these chems were killing people, when all the industry had to do was stop adding them and walk away.
Yes, cigs are bad, really bad, but Congress had no place in their attempt to kill off an entire industry Gore played a huge part in it.
They left the alcohol industry alone, a far more dangerous product. It was never about health, it was all about control and money.

The only reason I remember it, was because the media ran with the story for an entire year on their so called "Nightly News".
To change culture, you need to sway the people and they did. Then the truth comes out, it was all about taxes, income off a product people enjoyed. Then they made the claim it was costing taxpayers in medical costs.
Really? Why was the taxpayer footing the bill for hospital care?
This was back before the govt had seized the medical industry. It has always been a slippery slope with Govt control over the population.

When I was in the army, I paid 2o cents a pack for cigs, that shows you just how much taxes are connected, and just how much the Govt rakes in off cigs. Yet people still smoke...