Why do so many Europeans smoke?

sackett said:
Way too many years ago, when I last visited New Zealand,* I couldn't partake of pub life because of the #%@*+ fug. I dearly wanted to hang about wiv a wet 'un in me 'and 'n learn about the country -- there are few better ways to conduct field research on how Mr. Bloke lives. Have things changed down there? Hello?

* A land with no game laws, lovely beer, and free camping. Hey, it's my other native country!
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Things have changed a lot. There was the usual "Oh no I'm going to be put out of business if my customers can't smoke" cries, but now that we've been smoke free for about 6 years those business owners have come to realise that they actually are getting more business because all the non-smokers are coming since they know that they aren't going to suffocate from the smoke and then go home smelling like a smoked kipper.
 
Groooooveh!

PhantomWolf said:
Things have changed a lot. There was the usual "Oh no I'm going to be put out of business if my customers can't smoke" cries, but now that we've been smoke free for about 6 years those business owners have come to realise that they actually are getting more business because all the non-smokers are coming since they know that they aren't going to suffocate from the smoke and then go home smelling like a smoked kipper.
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Right. I'm coming down ASAP, and this time I won't be dumb enough to leave.

As to the OP: Yur Peans smoke because they don't know any better -- like other smokers in this modern world.

But take note of the sentiments expressed in this thread against smoking -- and note especially the heartening reports from the field. Somebody once called the Age of Tobacco "the most remarkable episode of mass self-poisoning in history."

Well hell, you wouldn't cook with lead-plated skillets, the way the Romans did. Why would you suck smoke into your lungs?
 
Does anyone have some hard numbers, or are we all just assuming that smoking rates in Europe are higher than they are in the U.S.?

If they are (and I think that should be established first, before we worry too much about explaining the discrepancy), I would look first to anti-smoking efforts in the U.S. Have most European countries gone as far as we have (for as long)? We haven't had cigarette ads on TV since the early '70s, I think.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
Does anyone have some hard numbers, or are we all just assuming that smoking rates in Europe are higher than they are in the U.S.?

If they are (and I think that should be established first, before we worry too much about explaining the discrepancy), I would look first to anti-smoking efforts in the U.S. Have most European countries gone as far as we have (for as long)? We haven't had cigarette ads on TV since the early '70s, I think.
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http://www.gallup.com/poll/28432/smoking-rates-around-world-how-americans-compare.aspx

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup first asked Americans about their smoking habits more than 60 years ago, and recent Gallup polling finds Americans reporting among the lowest smoking rates ever measured (24%)
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The UK seems pretty similar:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=866

In 2005, 24 per cent of adults aged 16 or over in Great Britain smoked cigarettes, indicating a slight fall in the prevalence of smoking among both men and women since the late 1990s.
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Schrodinger's Cat said:
I have both lived in Europe and traveled throughout it. One thing that has always confused me is that, compared to Americans, they are so health conscious in their diets and overall lifestyles. Yet in every country I went to, I simply could not believe how many people smoke, and how often I saw very young teens smoking. I'm not knocking on Europeans, as I said, I feel Americans are far less healthy in almost every other regard. I just don't get how Europeans can be so much more health conscious yet have so many smokers.
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...and yet we kick their ass in track & field. Not bad for what many call "the most unhealthy country in the history of ever."
 
Travis said:
...and yet we kick their ass in track & field.
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That doesn't disqualify the fact that the US has worrying statistics, with many polls putting it as the most obese nation in world.

Not bad for what many call "the most unhealthy country in the history of ever."
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I don't think many call it that.
 
Naddig74 said:
There was a big old hoo-ha about the smoking ban when it was introduced, but no one even questions it now. Some pubs claim to have lost business, and any pub without a beer garden will have a little knot of 'fag lepers' (also known as 'snoutcasts') standing outside the front door, but it's widely accepted as the staus quo now.
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The pub most local to my workplace in Salford, "The Winston", has what might be politely called a "fag prison". No word of a lie. Those who want to smoke are able to do so outdoors, on chairs at tables - this passes for sophistication in a Salford pub - but in a miniature prison cell lined with shatterproof plastic screens. Amongst The Winston's clientele, only the louche stand outside the front door to smoke (probably because that's where a client was stabbed in the stomach last year but one).
 
The sight of a hospital patient, standing outside the main door, wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown, with a mobile drip stand attached to a vein in one arm, smoking a cigarette on a Scottish January morning is one that makes me uncertain whether to laugh or cry.
 
Soapy Sam said:
The sight of a hospital patient, standing outside the main door, wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown, with a mobile drip stand attached to a vein in one arm, smoking a cigarette on a Scottish January morning is one that makes me uncertain whether to laugh or cry.
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The irony is that all hospitals have a smoking ban on their grounds.

It isn't just inside, it is everywhere.

The staff that smoke have taken to smoking in their cars, hiking off site, or if it is in the middle of the night, they have sneaky out of sight places.

It is quite disgusting that there are so many smokers just outside the main hospital doors or AE. No one says anything.

It isn't really worth the hassle or abuse you would get from patients or visitors, they are probably stressed enough.
 
Undesired Walrus said:
I doubt pubs have lost that much business. From my experience, the smoking ban is only a minor inconvience now. Going outside for a fag standing under the super warm lights is a part of UK culture now.

Staying at home, smoking and having a can of Becks doesn't compete to being able to go to the pub and have a great evening, stepping out once in a while for a smoke.
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In AZ it ended one of the most vibrant music scenes in the USA. They tried to keep the scenes alive with private smoking clubs, but there just wasnt enough new blood coming into members only places to support the bands
 
Travis said:
...and yet we (USA) kick their (Europe) ass in track & field. Not bad for what many call "the most unhealthy country in the history of ever."
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Do you? A quick glance at (say) total gold medals at the World Athletics Champs over the years shows 'non-Soviet' Europe outscoring USA comfortably. If you then include Russian and Soviet Union golds it's about 2:1
 
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GlennB said:
Do you? A quick glance at (say) total gold medals at the World Athletics Champs over the years shows 'non-Soviet' Europe outscoring USA comfortably. If you then include Russian and Soviet Union golds it's about 2:1
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Well, if the USA could take a couple dozen teams things would look different. :D

I'm just making sure that people realize that not every single American is an obese diabetic as many seem to think.
 
Travis said:
Well, if the USA could take a couple dozen teams things would look different. :D
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Well, if the USA's best 3 javelin throwers can't earn a place in the final pool, then sending multiple teams of javelinners (?) ain't going to help much :p

What you should have said is that Europe has more people, and they have a broader culture of track+field specialities, like the Scaninavian javelin-dudes and the Hungarian hammer throwers, and so on ;)

Every Olympics time you might see an alternative analysis of the medals table based on population and also GDP (as I recall). I think Jamaica won it last time on population calcs.

Yep, here it is

eta: Australia always scores well on that basis, but they pretty much cheat by living a vigorous outdoor existence, and having a competetive sports culture running through the whole of their society. It's hardly fair if you ask me.
 
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Tatyana said:
It is quite disgusting that there are so many smokers just outside the main hospital doors or AE. No one says anything.
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Ooh, hark at you, Miss Disgusted. Whose fault is it that smokers have to stand outside the main hospital gates? Probably the fault of legislators that forbid employers from providing smoking rooms within the premises. If the law was different then smokers wouldn't be so visible.
 
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