news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6168887.stm

Methinks TPTB aren't THAT serious about scaring folks out of smoking. It's there, and load of other radioactive nasties. As I said in another post, tobacco is an element hoover... it sucks all sorts of crap out of the soil...mercury, cadmium, Uranium (235 and 238), Radium, Polonium, Thallium... and fixes it in it's leaves. No one knows quite why.

So, it's there. It's always been there. So who has the testicles of the Health Dept in this case

I don`t know about polonium in fags, I still have half of Polands waste sites in the bureau here if anyone wants them:dry:
A quid a packet, you get what you get....

Irony is, you can't burn em!

I wish the Department of Health would leave me alone!

I'm fully aware that I've made an unintelligent decision which will doubtlessly drive me into an early grave.

If there's anyone left stupid enough to think that smoking is good for them, I doubt they'd be able to figure out how to light a fag in the first place.

Most smokers know about the Nicotine and Tar. Not many know of the mercury, radio-isotopes, etc that is in even legit fags let alone the crap they smoke in the old Soviet Bloc.

Unlike crack, coke and other proscribed drugs, where one expects added shit to kill you (Vim, anyone?)

That shit in Ciggies is akin to wood alcohol in Chardonnay. It shouldn't be there, but it is and the manufacturers would prefer you not to know. You think you have an informed dumb choice, but even then, you don't...

I did know of those things. Makes me even dumber, I guess. I suppose it does lend some merit to this particular campaign, though you would have to question the mindset of someone who would quit smoking on the acquisition of this knowledge. Happy to die from an ingestion of tar and nicotine, but not from more exotic sounding toxins.

The Health Dept's message has always been "stop smoking .... but not yet!!"

They would be like turkeys voting for Christmas ... the government would lose billions (

It's surprising what will affect one person and not another... The pictures of Litvinenko (who I often mistook for someone on Chemo) may be the trigger for one less recovering addict.

One of the interesting things about the selective breeding of the plants to yield higher (and thus more addictive) levels of nicotine, also increased the garbage collection capabilities of tobacco. It seems the plant's method of defence against predators is the reason we bald simians like it so much.

One of my Great Uncles used to use dog ends (saved by an my Uncle, his nephew) and waste pipe tobacco (from his own habit) to make a very effective anti pest spray for his roses, and allotment veg. Everything from mealy bugs to aphids succumbed, and he seldom had a serious carrot fly problem (he lived to a ripe old age... but I think he was steeped in tea... ) He taught me how to graft roses... god rest him. He was also a radio pioneer and a not unskilled close up magician. Been dead 30 years and I still miss the old man... ah well

Perhaps a more focussed use of SMoking revenue could be done. Imagine what the NHS could do with 8 billion GBP!

I remember Death Brand Cigarettes had a 10% pre-tax profit going to Cancer Charities (including the Macmillan Nurses) They called it their pay-as-you-burn policy.

<<< Perhaps a more focussed use of SMoking revenue could be done. Imagine what the NHS could do with 8 billion GBP! >>>

You and I both know that this will not happen !

Governments very rarely push for a vote-loser (even if it's going to "save" the electorate in the lon-run)!

If they did - all private cars would have their petrol double in price immediately, if not banned from use entirely every other day.

I said 'imagine'.. act of fantasy.

We all know Satan would skate to work before Govt allowed 8 billion pounds near ANYTHING