As published in Business Insider, Jan. 21, 2017, 10:00 AM, http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pence-smoking-doesnt-kill-2017-1 Mike Pence wrote an op-ed article in 2000 stating
- “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill. In fact, 2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer.”
If 2/3 don’t die of smoking related illness, then it follows that 1/3 do die of smoking related illness and that translates into 0.5 Million every year in the US. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US and it shortens your expected life-span by 10 years.
I recommend that you don’t use Mike Pence as your source on medical or scientific matters. Use the CDC website instead: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/
David Posnett MD
R&R - Reachout and Rebuild 
I had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. At 2:00 I dropped dead of melanoma. Tuna fish causes melanoma.
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Association studies are in fact difficult and have to be carefully “controlled”. For example, you could check the death rate of 2 groups that have the same average age, same ethnic mix, same mix of male/female, same average social situation, etc. Then examine death rate of 1,000,000+ people in each group within 1 hour of eating a tuna fish sandwich versus 1 hour after eating a chicken sandwich. That’s why these studies are best done and interpreted by experts that do this stuff for a living, not vice presidents! 🙂
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