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| Life expectancy for a female in Minnesota
is now approaching 80 years of age (with males only 2-3 years
behind). The longer one lives the longer ones body endures the accumulation
of bodily insult and injury. In cultures where average
life expectancy is only 35-50 years many potential liabilities never
become evident before death. While many of these insults may be beyond our personal
control some of the most adverse are
directly within the individual's influence. In this regard the
continual smoking of cigarettes stands out as a distinctive personal and
public health care problem, not only for one's body in general, but
specifically for the human spine. There are only two structures in the adult human body which, under normal circumstances, lack a blood supply in adult life. These are the cornea of the eye (which gets its nutrition from tears) and the intervertebral disc (which obtains its nutrition from the convection and diffusion of nutrients from the end plates of adjacent vertebral bodies). By smoking cigarettes nicotine and carbon monoxide infuse into the blood stream and then into body tissues. Researchers have found that smokers carry a 3-4x higher risk of disc degeneration non-smokers. These poisons have a particular focal destructive effect on the intervertebral discs and this is particularly true when the vertebral endplates or discs are abnormal (i.e. genomic spine disorders) at birth. When genomic endplate abnormalities exist the health of the intervertebral discs is at greater risk from exposure to these toxins than other body tissues. When one considers that the highest single cost for health care in the United States today (after that of chemical dependency and psychiatric disease) is that of treating back problems the contribution of cigarette smoking in potentiating this expenditure is not trivial. It does indeed seem cruel that we are continually being advised that many of the things we enjoy are associated with significant medical problems. The only thing left which seems to have escaped censure seems to be a glass or two of wine each day. The cigarette industry maintained, for 35 years (sometimes under oath), that cigarettes are not addicting and have not been a direct cause of cancer, heart disease, emphysema or other health problems. 1999 was a banner year for society because, after a well-financed campaign, extending over decades, specifically designed to obfuscate accumulated scientific data on the many liabilities of smoking cigarettes, the tobacco industry finally admitted that they had lied. In addition to the frightening association between cigarette smoking and disc degeneration it is well established that patients who smoke have a higher failure rate of surgery in general and fusions in particular. Because of the adverse effect of nicotine and carbon monoxide on bone metabolism and bone growth many spine surgeons including this Editor, who know that there is a higher failure rate in smokers, require patients to be non-smokers for at least 3 months to clear their bodies of stored nicotine. Blood level of carboxyhemoglobin and urine level of nicotine can be used to document compliance. |
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The answer to this question becomes evident when one travels the world and observes other countries where the "virtues" of being "cool" and "with-it" by smoking cigarettes are extolled through the "in-your-face" saturation advertising campaign evidenced on every street corner and just about every billboard in sight. When all the bystanders about you are chain-smoking cigarettes it is clear that the cigarette profits being made in the United States have represented only the equivalent of a cup of sand in regard to the total amount of sand on a beach. Shown below is a typical example of one brand's "saturation" advertising in Greece, which has one of the highest smoking rates in Europe: |
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| (Is this camel suffering from cigarette induced asphyxia?) | |||
The World Health Organization on the United Nations has released figures indicating that the global death rate from tobacco-related illness and disease is rising. It is estimated that about 4 million die annually from disease directly related to tobacco. How many are only totally disabled is unknown. On May 4, 2001 the agency released the results of a study that found that 700 million children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, mostly from relatives smoking at home. A global WHO pact is presently being implemented which includes banning advertising and promotion of tobacco, regulating labeling, clamping down on cigarette smuggling and barring smoking in public places. Surprisingly, the United States, and other major countries such as Japan who were initially supportive of this pact have now been accused of "backpedaling." This appears to reflect industry self-economic interest pressuring governments to "weaken, delay and delete anything which might have substance." This is despite the official acknowledgement by some of the major tobacco multinational companies that smoking is addictive and dangerous. Something very evident to international travelers. (Olson E: No Smoking? Not So Fast, Say Nations At a Meeting, New York Times, May 6, 2001) The American tobacco industry has engaged in a half-century long disinformation campaign regarding the true risks of smoking cigarettes. Their modus operandi has been: creating doubt...without actually denying it. Should these observations on the past and present state of business ethics come as a surprise to anyone? |
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| A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study researchers found that the level of tobacco nitrosamines in American cigarettes, particularly the Marlboro brand, were at least twice as high as in the local brands of 10 of 13 nations tested by the CDC. In some countries the nitrosamine level of Marlboro cigarettes was as much as 22 times higher than the local brand of cigarette (KaufmanM: MarlborosHigh in One Carcinogen, Study Says, WSJ, May 30, 2003). | |||
It may just be that some change is in the wind. On January 1, 2004 Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in pubs thus initiating a healthy change. The State of Minnesota is presently ranked as America's healthiest state (United Health Foundation, America's Health Rankings) and has been for many years. Smoking has progressively decreased, over the years, but 20% of the population still puffs away. |
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