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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis O'Bell who wrote (189089)	6/12/2006 12:29:50 AM
From: neolib	Respond to of 281500

This had more at the time to do with the same puritan ethics that opposed drinking than a purely rational analysis of health effects, though those were certainly evident (all one needs to do is look at long time smokers.) Yes, you are correct. I happen to be a member of the SDA church, which was one of those very ones. They had for many years one of the most aggressive anti-smoking programs around, but were eventually displaced in the 1980's when anti-smoking efforts gained more widespread popularity. What is very interesting is that SDA's have for 150+ years campaigned with religious zeal against both smoking and drinking, and were soundly proven correct on the smoking front, but have in the last decade run into issues on the alcohol front, because there do appear to be some cardiovascular benefits to MODERATE alcohol consumption. Since SDA's have a religious view on the matter, there is a problem. It amuses me to watch the squirming going on in the church over this. On the one hand, they are most likely correct in that the aggregate problems with alcohol consumption most likely negate any benefits, accept for a fraction of the population with certain tendencies towards some types of heart disease. For those individuals, you could view moderate alcohol consumption as medication. What is fascinating about the cigarette industry is that it was arguably the first use of genuinely sophisticated public marketing, and this was in the 19'th century. The tobacco industry played an important role in American economy from the earliest days. Yes, not to mention its importance to the slave trade.