My Dad is now 95. He had a mild heart attack aged 48 in the mid 70s when I was a little kid. It was just serious enough to lay him out for a number of weeks and to scare the shit out of him to stop smoking, something he once told me he started at about 12!. He just stopped from a pack per day habit - none of that fancy nicotine patch or vape stuff in those days. He later developed angina and had a triple coronary bypass in 1989 and a pacemaker fitted some years later. Yet he soldiers on - pretty damn good for 95 really.
On the other hand, famously, British musician Roy Castle died from lung cancer. He was not a smoker but he spent many years playing trumpet in smoky jazz clubs.
Next week will be the 10th anniversary of my father's death from COPD he developed after a lifetime of smoking, a habit he picked up after he joined the US Army after WW2.
In the U.S. the FDA has just released a proposal to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels. If approved, this will save millions of lives.
My Dad is now 95. He had a mild heart attack aged 48 in the mid 70s when I was a little kid. It was just serious enough to lay him out for a number of weeks and to scare the shit out of him to stop smoking, something he once told me he started at about 12!. He just stopped from a pack per day habit - none of that fancy nicotine patch or vape stuff in those days. He later developed angina and had a triple coronary bypass in 1989 and a pacemaker fitted some years later. Yet he soldiers on - pretty damn good for 95 really.
On the other hand, famously, British musician Roy Castle died from lung cancer. He was not a smoker but he spent many years playing trumpet in smoky jazz clubs.
Next week will be the 10th anniversary of my father's death from COPD he developed after a lifetime of smoking, a habit he picked up after he joined the US Army after WW2.
Fuck cigarettes
In the U.S. the FDA has just released a proposal to reduce the nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels. If approved, this will save millions of lives.
Smoking-related cancer, strokes, etc. took out my mother, father, grandmother....my hatred for the tobacco industry is long, deep, and intense.