|
I say “eventually,” because of the decades-long lag time between smoking
initiation and the manifestation of cancers and heart disease later in life.
Each of these smokers, who would otherwise have died from a tobacco-related
disease, would gain an average of 10 to 12 years of life – 10 to 12 years of
enjoying retirement, seeing kids grow up and start their own families, getting
to know grandchildren, etc. And, as many of you know from witnessing these
diseases in your own families, a tobacco-induced end of life can be a
particularly painful way to go, for patients and their families alike. |