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Recent stats show nicotine is still King Death in America, use of tobacco in any form more dangerous than Covid-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta has said for many years that tobacco is “the leading preventable cause of U.S. deaths.”
Every year, the nicotine in all tobacco products takes a deadly toll of its users. CDC says the annual toll from smoking is about 480,000 deaths, including 41,000 deaths from inhaling secondhand smoke.
The CDC says Covid deaths in America in 2020 were about 375,000, a full 100,000 below the mark set yearly by tobacco.
Covid was the third-leading cause of death last year, right behind heart disease and cancer, both often caused by use of tobacco and the lethal nicotine it contains.
Elderly are hardest hit
Old folks are the most likely to die from tobacco or Covid, odds are against them, even worse if they are from a minority group.
And when these two killers combine, the carnage is horrible.
To commit suicide by tobacco, one must use it for many years. But if one persists the goal can be reached, nicotine takes a long time to do its dirty work.
CDC stats say a middle-age man who smokes has four times more chances of dying from heart disease than a non-smoker, 17 times the risk of dying from bronchitis or emphysema, 23 times the risk of cancer of throat or lungs.
Had a friend here who smoked all his life, lungs ruined by nicotine, Covid hit and he was gone in just a few days. Have a relative in Virginia got Covid but was saved with a lung transplant, going back to work soon.
Natural resilence in some
Scientists have discovered a very, very small group of smokers who seem to have been born with a defense against the ravages of nicotine and smoke with little damage to themselves.
The studies compare blood pressure, immune functions and inflammation between a control group and the “super” few. Still working on this but suspect the “supers” have a gene that protects them from toxic nicotine.
They suspect the “supers” enjoy increased cell repair and maintenance over average people.
At present, the CDC estimates 16 million people in the U.S. suffering from illness caused by smoking. Primarily artery damage that leads to heart attacks and strokes.
A heavy smoker cuts about 13 years off his natural lifespan, the CDC says, and fully a fourth of heavy smokers will not live until age 65.
From the battlefield
For years I did not think I could write (some probably doubt if I can write today) unless a cigar or pipe was clenched in my teeth and that wonderful smoke wreathed around my head.
Cigarettes were flimsy things fit only for women and children. Real men in my world smoked big stinking Cuban-style cigars, one after each meal.
Then I read what specifically nicotine does to your heart and lungs, also bladder and throat and mouth, etc. So I quit to escape from nicotine.
And I wore a mask until I could get the vaccine. Now I feel almost bulletproof because I got both Moderna shots early in the deal.
Nicotine and Covid both ride into your body when you breathe in.
Live your life to the fullest – quit tobacco and get your shots.
Wally Avett first wrote for the Cherokee Scout as editor in 1969. His books are available as signed copies at the Scout office in Murphy. Call him at 837-5531 or email wallyavett@gmail.com.