GUARDIAN EUROPE: The World Health Organization has launched an international commission on loneliness, which can be as bad for people’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared loneliness to be a pressing global health threat, with the US surgeon general saying that its mortality effects are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
WHO has launched an international commission on the problem – led by the US surgeon general, Dr Vivek Murthy, and the African Union youth envoy, Chido Mpemba – of 11 advocates and government ministers, including Ralph Regenvanu, the minister of climate change adaptation in Vanuatu, and Ayuko Kato, the minister in charge of measures for loneliness and isolation in Japan.
It comes after the Covid-19 pandemic halted economic and social activity, increasing levels of loneliness, but also amid a new awareness of the importance of the issue. The commission will run for three years. » | Sarah Johnson | Thursday, November 16, 2023
Every bloody thing bad must be compared with smoking cigarettes these days! Smoking cigarettes, one of the greatest pleasures in everyday life, has been turned into the bête noire of our day. These people touting this fantasy are batshit crazy! And as dumb as they come! Don’t they realise that by waging this ongoing war on cigarettes and smoking that they have caused the very problem – loneliness – that they now are trying to combat?
As an ex-smoker, and as a widower, I know a thing or two about smoking and loneliness. I can tell you that when you make all public places out of bounds for smokers, you are creating the very problem of loneliness, especially among older generations, for whom enjoying a smoke was a given right in life. That is until the health Nazis got involved.
What does a smoker do when he is retired, and probably lost his life’s partner? Where can he/she go to enjoy him-/herself and meet some like-minded friends? Cafés, pubs, hotel bars, restaurants or any other space where people gather are well and truly out of bounds these days. And because people have been made paranoid about the dubious dangers of second-hand smoke, friends don’t want you smoking in their homes either. Almost all are snowflakes these days.
For WHO’s information, there are health benefits to smoking cigarettes, especially light smoking. People in the World Health Organisation should check them out on Google! Even though it is true that not smoking is healthier than smoking in an ideal world, we do not live in Utopia. And there are REAL benefits to smoking a few cigarettes.
Moreover, don’t these people realise that EVERYTHING in life is bad for your health if not done in moderation. Moderation is key to all healthy living. Too much food, especially the junk people generally eat today, is bad for you. Drinking too much is bad for you. Walking down a street with cars puffing out exhaust is terrible for your health. And what about the health dangers in smoking soft drugs on which laws are being relaxed at a rapid pace in many Western countries, and all the health dangers of opioids? Turn your attention to the REAL dangers to health! So, for heaven’s sake, stop comparing all things bad and unhealthy with smoking a few cigarettes. It is so tiring to hear the same old record, over and over and over again.
If you really wish to combat loneliness, relax the laws on smoking in public places. Provide smoking areas for smokers. Let smokers meet their friends for a chinwag, instead of confining them to their homes.
It must also be said that with your stupid war on smoking, you have created a generation of paranoid people – people who mistakenly think that even if they get a few whiffs of second-hand smoke, they are doomed to a certain death from lung cancer! How stupid can you get? If they were only to consult good sources on Google, they would discover that it is only about 10%, maximum 20%, of HEAVY smokers that end up with lung cancer. And as for Parkinson’s disease and possibly also Alzheimer’s disease, smoking can have a protective effect. So go put that in your pipe and smoke it! – © Mark Alexander
