Misguided power

Tobacco in Australia says that the population worldwide smoking is 17% (over aged 15 unknown, this is total population).

They say 1.25 billion in the world are smoking and 6 million will die from this. (That is only 5% deaths.)

They say: “The marketing practices of the tobacco industry in developing countries are particularly aggressive, and the international tobacco industry's efforts to subvert tobacco control activities in developing countries are well documented.”

Image from Trillion Dollar Zeigeist

I don’t think they have looked at any other industries.

Tobacco industry makes billions, but…

Land/housing sold makes billions.

War industry makes billions.

Car manufacturing makes billions.

And many, many more which I've mentioned later.

Wikipaedia provided a list about smoking: Australia ranks at 50 (1,034 smoking per person per annum) in the list of 189 countries, while NZ is 84 (only 579 smoking per person per annum). US is only one place after Australia – 1,028 smoking per person per annum. Those who surprise me are very good countries which smoke more than Aussie: Denmark, 1,413, 32^nd; Italy, 1,475, 30^th; Austria, 1,605, 22^nd; Japan, 1,841, 17^th. And at the top? Greece, 2,996. First. How many Australians have been to any of these countries? How do you feel about what they are doing? Do you protest about it in their country?

WHO made up some very wrong “facts”:

• Tobacco kills up to half of its users. (Very wrong, they need to learn their math!!)
• Tobacco kills around 6 million people each year. More than 5 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600 000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. (5%, not 50%. Are there any statistics from any country on WHO??)
• Nearly 80% of the world's 1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. (This is very wrong – have a look at the Wikipaedia National Wealth. Where is Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Spain, Austria, China??? Oh, btw, Japan is the third richest country in the world! Italy, China and Spain are in the top 10! What, exactly, are "middle-income" countries considered?)

How can they say tobacco kills “up to” half of its users, when they even said that it was killing 6 million, and only 5% of a smoking population of 1 billion? FIVE percent!!!

The Trillion DollarZeitgeist listed the top 10 richest industries throughout the world. These figures were 2013: 

• BP (formerly known as British Petroleum) – everything to do with fuel - $132 billion
• Ebay – online sales - $175 billion
• Google – internet user’s daily life - $187 billion
• Microsoft – computer products - $224 billion
• Walmart - retail - $228 billion
• Worldwide TV industry - television industry and market as a whole - $364 billion
• Apple – “i” products - $300 billion
• Global pharma market – prescription drugs - $950 billion
• OPEC revenue – oil - $1,027 billion; and number one (did you know this??)
• Alcohol industry – beer, wine, spirits - $1,161 billion

Who would have thought this? Alcohol is legal in Australia – pretty much everywhere in the world, certainly not chased by politicians the same as tobacco, and yet in 2011-12, 19.5% of adults consumed more than two standard drinks per day on average, exceeding the lifetime risk guidelines. At no extra cost.

Alcohol doesn’t turn up in Wikipaedia, but their list includes individual richest company’s turnover and they say that “the most common industry is oil and gas, with nearly one third being classified as such.” US of A has 42% of the top companies. China has 13% (and 30% of theirs are in the top 10). None of these companies include tobacco.

Yesterday I read an article which said that Labor would increase the tax on smokes which would take a packet up to $40. $40???? Why? We are paying far too much for cigarettes now, but the price for alcohol has gone down. Alcohol is only 1% behind smoking to cause death. The price for take-away food has gone down, but the obesity has grown. This is depleting healthcare, but the government is pretty much ignoring it. Yet they will charge smokes out of the door.

I am sick and tired of reading this sort of stuff. I am sick and tired of hearing people putting smoking down in front of people who smoke. I am sick and tired of governments charging unreasonable taxes when there is NO PROOF that a person has died from cancer but not from smoking. I am sick and tired that so many in the population know nothing about the profit from cigarettes and don’t mention at the least the profit from so many other industries. I am sick and tired of the voracious bad attitude from the government and people in this country who do not ever accept a person with their own habits. If anyone has used Ebay, you have given the huge profits to them. If anyone has an Apple, you have contributed to their “i” profits. And if you drink, how many you drink, you have joined the massive group who are increasing the profit for this largest industry.

But if this government, or any future government, continues to increase the future taxes on cigarettes, without any interest in alcohol or petrol/oil, takeaways, health or any other stuff which is dragging money out of our pockets, blame them for how people are truly being affected.

I feel like I’m telling you.