--- z3038163 <[log in to unmask]>
Josaia Samuela,
"Shudder not" at the literate intelligent beings who
procure cigarrattes in face of warning signs. This
apparently "strange behavior" which is probably normal
 warrants some serious qualitative studies ( both
indepths & focus groups ) to understand our human
behavior . But this probably might make you shudder!

Look at the issue of people "safer sex practices" and
knowlegde of the inherent risks .

This reminds me of one of the lecturers who asked the
class " How many of you exercise daily ?" Hardly a
hand was raised! may be one out of about 40 students .
And you know what,  my class consists of Several
Public health students ( mostly masters and some PHds)
from health/health promotion/ medicine/ social
/backgrounds e.t.c ( Doctors , nurses, environmetal
experts, managers e.t.c ) . These are people who have
studied the benefits of exercise to well beyond the
molecular level ...
e.t.c and can sing with ease about the pathophysiology
of physical inactivity , you name it !! and alas,  we
who study health promotion as a core subject ...
exhibit such behavoiur that cannot be described as
'daily exercise .' It would be worth while to do such
a study among health professionals .


Hence while the "'cigar" buyers may be abit naive
about the exact way the nicotine interacts with lungs
they exhibit behaviour almost similar to these
"experts" !



And hence the saying " why should you tamper with the
splinter in your friend`s eye when there is a log in
your own?"


Hence it is obvious that even with 'expert knowlegde'
we still fail to avoid these risky ways .  And as we
know behavior change is not an easy thing. we (
smoking and non smoking persons ) may get better
results, spend less resources by targeting "neonates"
. Just as we learn to learn to speak , to hunt , at an
early age e.t.c  we may impinge on them that smoking
is hazardous e.t.c hoping that these offspring will
comply ( but with this thing of kids doing as they
please and the "law" dictating to you as a parent what
you can and cannot do to your kid by  e.g prohibiting
disciplining by employing such "extreme methods" e.g
spanking as the siuation may demand! it is not easy
)This is lobbying for some serious community
participation at the grass root.

Esther
wrote: > It has been very interesting to read articles
and
> view points by Dr
> Dennis Raphael. The issue he raised on the above
> subject relates to
> the social determinants of health. In this instance,
> the income level
> and social class of Japanese citizens.
>
> I think there must be other positive confounding
> factors, either
> their social environment or biological make-up, that
> "nullifies" the
> toxic effects of smoking (e.g. high fish diet, etc.)
>
> It surprises me to see smokers buying cigarettes in
> front of a very
> obvious warning notice that smoking kills - here in
> Australia (and
> perhaps many parts of the world). How could
> intelligent and literate
> people ignore such health warnings?
>
> I would be very interested to hear of some community
> banning smoking
> altogether and classifying it on the same category
> as other illegal
> drugs. Sounds very drastic and undemocratic but it
> could be an
> opening to controlling the smoking epidemic in
> society.
> Josaia Samuela

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