Intended for healthcare professionals

Student Editorials

Cutting through all the smoke

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.020346 (Published 01 March 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:020346
  1. Clare Hughes, intercalating medical student1
  1. 1Guy's, King's, and St Thomas's School of Medicine, London

Its the not so distant future and the penalty for smoking is death. Its not so far from the truth, says Clare Hughes, as one in two smokers die as a result of their habit. Would you give up the habit or help someone else give up to avoid the death penalty?

Over one billion people worldwide smoke,1 and 13 million of those are in the United Kingdom.2 The Royal College of Physicians estimates that among 1000 male smokers one will be murdered, six killed on the roads, and 250 will die prematurely from smoking related diseases.3 Smokers are 25 times more likely to contract lung cancer than non-smokers, and have a two to three times greater chance of having a heart attack.1

Cancer stiks and coffin nails: We need to do more to help patients stop smoking

So why do people still smoke? Smokers are not dying of ignorance. They would have needed to bury their heads in the sand to have not heard something of the health risks associated with smoking.

Smokers call their cigarettes “cancer sticks,” “evil weed,” and “coffin nails.” From this it is apparent that they know the dangers, but do they understand the scale of them? People …

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