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cost/benefit of smoking and of the FDA

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  • cost/benefit of smoking and of the FDA

    For an introduction, readers should at least scan the following two webpages:
    (Doonesbury caraciture) http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com...hive/2014/9/14
    http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/0...event-smoking/

    How can the FDA possibly know what the benefits of smoking are compared to its cost? Could not the costs of regulating smoking possibly be 120% (or any number greater than 100%)? I would expect that the FDA if challenged to prove their discount (i.e., 70% of the cost of smoking) could not show that their assessment is not much better than guessing.
    To prevent misunderstanding on where I stand on smoking, let me explain: I do believe that babies die because people smoke. Fires! Explosions! Many months ago Texas had a great explosion. Perhaps you remember that one. Maybe someone smoked in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know, but it can have happened that way. I also don't know how many babies got killed, but at least one could have died there. So, I am indeed opposed to smoking. How many babies could have lived longer in the future if we had smoked much less?

    Actually, a point is that the cost of having something like the FDA may outweigh its benefits. We can't possibly know that absent the free market, in which case there would be no FDA anyway.
    The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

    [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

  • #2
    Benefits of Smoking: (no really)
    http://www.livescience.com/15115-5-h...g-disease.html
    A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
    George Bernard Shaw

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    • #3
      "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

      "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

      My Personal Blog

      My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
        Just what are you laughing at?
        The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

        [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
          Just what are you laughing at?
          The whole concept of actually doing an analysis where the costs so far outweigh the benefits.
          "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

          "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

          My Personal Blog

          My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

          Quill Sword

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
            The whole concept of actually doing an analysis where the costs so far outweigh the benefits.
            I believe many people would disagree with you, that the benefits to them outweigh the cost. Otherwise they would not be smoking. I do believe the cost to society outweighs the benefits (e.g., dead babies), but the idea of doing a cost-benefit analysis using numbers doesn't get off the ground. A statement like, "The cost is 3.14159 times the benefits to society," is patently ridiculous. But we still can use common sense.
            The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

            [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
              I believe many people would disagree with you, that the benefits to them outweigh the cost. Otherwise they would not be smoking. I do believe the cost to society outweighs the benefits (e.g., dead babies), but the idea of doing a cost-benefit analysis using numbers doesn't get off the ground. A statement like, "The cost is 3.14159 times the benefits to society," is patently ridiculous. But we still can use common sense.
              Actually, I very much doubt it. Enjoyment/addiction aren't quantifiable so the very notion of a C/B of this is silly.

              Smokers, like other addicts, often lament the addiction even while continuing the behavior - that's a very different thing that deciding that the benefits outweigh the risks.
              "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

              "Forgiveness is the way of love." Gary Chapman

              My Personal Blog

              My Novella blog (Current Novella Begins on 7/25/14)

              Quill Sword

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Teallaura View Post
                Actually, I very much doubt it. Enjoyment/addiction aren't quantifiable so the very notion of a C/B of this is silly.

                Smokers, like other addicts, often lament the addiction even while continuing the behavior - that's a very different thing that deciding that the benefits outweigh the risks.
                As I understand things, there are two kinds of smokers. One kind enjoys smoking so much that they feel that it is worth the cost. Maybe they don't think about the cost to society or they don't care about it. The other kind hates to smoke, but the withdrawal symptoms are so bad they are compelled to smoke so as to relieve them.
                The greater number of laws . . . , the more thieves . . . there will be. ---- Lao-Tzu

                [T]he truth I’m after and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance -— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Truthseeker View Post
                  As I understand things, there are two kinds of smokers. One kind enjoys smoking so much that they feel that it is worth the cost. Maybe they don't think about the cost to society or they don't care about it. The other kind hates to smoke, but the withdrawal symptoms are so bad they are compelled to smoke so as to relieve them.
                  As a man who quit smoking 44 years ago I can state that those two kinds are not at all clearly separate. The main reason you like to smoke is that it takes away the craving. Oh, you learn to enjoy the "flavor" but that is really just conditioning. When the addiction is over the "flavor" no longer has any pleasure - you now taste what is really there.
                  Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

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