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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (36705)	8/13/2000 12:08:07 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Last OT I am fully cognizant that tobacco causes cancer when done in excess; of this there is no argument. In moderation, anything is fine. George Burns smoked how many cigars his whole life and lived to a ripe old age. Most of the people who develop cancer have a genetic predisposition IMO. How else could you explain George Burns who smoked his whole life versus people dying at 40 of lung cancer after two or three years of smoking? Clearly, it is NOT as simple as saying "the tobacco did it." Believe it or not there are some things we do not yet know about, such as why some people develop cancer at a much younger age than others whose behavior patterns are exactly the same. Arguing that it is only the result of smoking is very naive and perhaps arrogant given that we know little about why the genetic code in some triggers cancers much more easily in some than in the population as a whole. Much of my argument also lies in the fact that I do not believe it is the governments job to tell me what I can and cannot do, when it affects only me. And please don't throw out the standard reply of illness related costs affecting everyone. I know I have chosen to take an unpopular opinion here; but I will only be dissuaded by facts to the contrary and not rhetoric, discourse and not name-calling. Back to AMAT BTW, Tony, semiconductor fabrication is actually a very dirty business involving many chemicals. BK

To: Tony Viola who wrote (36705)	8/13/2000 12:16:50 PM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Sorry Tony, You are right. Someone was blowing smoke in my face last night at Shea and it got me started. Silicon is fine as long you don't smoke the stuff.

To: Tony Viola who wrote (36705)	8/13/2000 1:15:58 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Silicon is "clean" right? Actually, no. The chemicals used in fabs include some rather deadly carcinogens. Cancer among fab workers is substantially higher than in the general population. I haven't seen the precise numbers, but it's possible that chipmaking causes more deaths among fab workers relative to the number of deaths caused by smoking among the smokers. I'm not against chips nor am I for smoking. But lots of things can and do contribute to cancer including our own lifestyle choices. FWIW, Ian.