Ok, so what is the single biggest health risk factor in the USA? Obesity, hard drugs, guns? You probably guessed right, it’s smoking. But did you have any idea of how large a risk it is compared to the other health factors that scientists understand? The people who run the web site Riskometer.org have mashed up all sorts of statistics from the US Government – the latest full available ones being from 2002 – and compiled a brilliant comparison site that is very easy to use.
I made a little comparison between the number of deaths caused by taking illegal drugs (crack, heroine, cocaine etc.) and the number of deaths caused by those perfectly legal drugs in sticks:
It is, of course, a complete coincidence that the drug that causes nearly 400,000 deaths a year is also a big business that pays handsomely into government coffers, and whose producers pay handsomely into the pockets of certain politicians; whereas those Columbian forest folk just love having their homes destroyed by agent orange, don’t they. Maybe if they gave a few dollars to some senator then it would be ok.
What gets me most is not the hypocrisy that the real big killers are perfectly legal (ok, so you can’t smoke in restaurants, but who wants the taste of their food spoilt anyway) while possession of something that – with the exception of the really bad shit – is not really lethal at all can get you incarcerated for years. No, it’s not that. What really gets me is that most people, not just Americans, don’t have a clue about risk.
A brilliant feature on the Riskometer site, is the Risk Ring.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of all the major risk exposures that can cause death in the USA. Click on any of the exposures, and you get a tabular listing of the likelihood of death for each cause recorded. For instance, I can now tell you that in 2002, you had a 1 in 5,555,556 chance of dying from a bee, wasp or hornet sting (yet I bet you know someone who is scared of them) but a 1 in 8,707 chance of dying as an occupant in a motor vehicle crash. For the person – of which there are far too many – who take their car on almost every journey, this is certainly food for thought.
Oh, and on the subject of food, you have a 1 in 2,681 chance of dying from obesity, so lay off the cakes!
what gets me the most is how smokers demand they have the choice. we live in a free country, okay fine i will grant your idiocy. BUT why in the world is smoking in public places voted down year after year by my state government. yes i do live in michigan, blame the michigan house for that!! but still i cannot stand how smokers will continually tell me, well its my choice like i am chopped liver. dont i have a choice to NOT GET CANCER from your cancer sticks. where are my rights!