14 DAY TRIAL // After carrying out two large surveys, a team of scientists wishing to investigate the effects of smoking on public health in the United States has reached the conclusion that, as least as far as lung cancer risks are concerned, overzealous feminists can now rest assured.
To cut a long story short, they found that the men and women living in this country are now just as likely to die as a result of their smoking up to the point when cancer sets in.
Apparently, this uncalled for gender equality comes as a result of women's no longer being kept by various social norms and standards from taking up smoking at rather early ages, as was the case in the past.
Thus, most of them can start smoking whenever they see fit, and smoke as much as they want to.
The raw numbers are as follows: at some point in the past (between the years 1959-1965, to be more precise), the mortality rates amongst smokers were 12.22 for men and 2.73 for women; nowadays (i.e. between the years 2000-2010), said mortality rates are 24.97 for men and 25.66 for women.
Interestingly enough, the specialists carrying out these investigations have also found that, as peculiar as it may sound, women smokers were less likely to quit than men, MedPage Today reports.
“More women die of lung cancer than of breast cancer. But there is no 'race for the cure' for lung cancer, no brown ribbon, and no group analogous to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation,” Steven A. Schroeder, one of the researchers involved in carrying out this research pointed out.
“Most people in the U.S. assume that smoking is on its way out. But the grim reality is that smoking still exerts an enormous toll on the health of Americans,” Steven A. Schroeder, MD, went on to add.
Still, the good news is that, as several studies have shown, those who choose to quit smoking by the time they reach the age of 40 will witness a 90% decrease in their chances of dying as a result of a smoking-related medical condition.