Newman’s death offers lessons about smoking
Recently legendary actor and philanthropist Paul Newman died, the unfortunate victim of lung cancer. This particularly insidious cancer often takes the life of the victim within a year of the diagnosis.
It is estimated that 90 percent of these cancers are related to tobacco use. Newman, known to be a one-time heavy smoker, quit nearly 30 years ago. While one’s lung cancer risk is reduced 10 years after quitting, the length of time one smokes, and the age at which one starts, both play a role, together with general health and genetics, in the cancer time bomb.
What lessons can we take from this sad news? First, quitting at any age will improve your health. Within 20 minutes of quitting, you will see improvement in your cardiovascular system. It is never too late to quit! Second, the sooner you quit, the better. Newman lived 30 years after quitting, but he didn’t live as long, or as healthy, as he might have.
For free help in quitting, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, 8 a.m.-midnight, or visit www.quitlinenc.com or www.becomeanex.com. There is no better day than today.
Mary Gillett
Greensboro
The writer is tobacco prevention coordinator, Guilford County Department of Public Health.
Comments (8)
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for pissakes..how old was the guy? Could not the enjoyment of full flavored tobacco products enhanced his life and image to make all that he accomplshed possible? Try shaming the poor dead sumbitch a little bit more. And what kind of job is tobacco prevention? Just use Roundup.
Posted on October 12, 2008 9:00 AM
Tacky letter!
Mary you stated : "Newman lived 30 years after quitting, but he didn’t live as long, or as healthy, as he might have. "
How do you know this to be a fact?
Posted on October 12, 2008 10:25 AM
are you kidding me , the man was 83 years old when he died. I think he lived a great life while smoking, and you actually work for us as taxpayers and come out with this load of crap please.
Posted on October 12, 2008 10:57 AM
Clearly, according to this LTE's logic, the stress of creating all those Newman's Own products and giving all the profits to charity, plus sucking all those carcinogenic hot cooking vapors and smokes into his lungs, that also clearly contributed to Mr. Newman's demise.
If he just relaxed a little more and didn't feel such a need to do good things for people, he might still be with us, don't you think, Mary?
Such a shame.
Posted on October 12, 2008 11:41 AM
Pick a better example. It's like picking my granddad, who finally had a heart attack and died at 98, as an example of why bacon clogs your arteries. He at five pieces of bacon every morning for breakfast and it DID clog his arteries...eventually.
There are plenty of good examples of why we should not smoke. CHOOSE ONE.
Posted on October 12, 2008 12:13 PM
Agreed with all the above. Many non-smokers don't live to be 83. My grandfather started smoking at age 14, smoked his whole life (two packs/day), and did die of lung cancer at age 80.
This letter is tacky as it uses the death of a popular person to advance an agenda, and as Ghost points out, a statement without fact.
Posted on October 12, 2008 12:52 PM
"but he didn’t live as long, or as healthy, as he might have."
This statement is true. It can never be false.
Posted on October 12, 2008 6:54 PM
Nannies.
Posted on October 12, 2008 9:16 PM