• InvalidName2@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    Kind of reminds me of my step-mother. It’s not the lifetime of heavy chain smoking that caused/causes her to keep getting cancer and worsening respiratory illness. It’s the chemicals “they put in everything”. It’s “they used to put mercury in our vaccines”. It’s “all the drugs they make you take these days”. It’s blamed on everything else and the 60+ years of almost non-stop cigarette smoking just contributed but didn’t cause it.

    And, of course, plenty of common things besides cigarette smoke can cause cancer, so it’s not like I’m denying that. Just that Occam’s Razor being what it is, I’m going with the simplest and most obvious explanation that there’s evidence of to explain all the health issues.

    • Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      My dad recently got bladder cancer fortunately they are well off enough financially that they are able to pay for treatments, thank God!

      But I learned that the over 20 years of drinking was less likely to cause the bladder cancer than the fact that he smoked cigarettes. Belive it or not cigarettes have a higher risk of inducing bladder cancer whereas alcohol is more likely to destroy your liver and kidney directly.

      He was also exposed to a shit load of chemicals throughout his entire life.

      Cancer is a hell of a thing and I don’t wish it on anyone.

    • The Picard Maneuver@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      It’s such a common thing in medicine, mental health, weight loss, IT troubleshooting, etc. It’s not impossible that the answer is complex, but we always feel like we’re a special case and it can’t possibly be as simple as “eat less”, “get more sleep”, “turn it off and on again”.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      This is the argument that cigarette companies used for a long time to avoid accountability. It wasn’t the fault of the cigarettes. It’s all those contributing factors.

      I saw a lot of that during lockdown. “She didn’t die from COVID! She died of pneumonia!” Wow, a lot of people are dying from pneumonia this year! That isn’t normal, is it?

      • Hueristic_Autistic@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        It’s denying the worst possible outcome of what’s right in front of them to stay positive. It’s a form of ignorance is bliss. Literally a boomer technique that’s able to be used but to us when things are so in front of us it’s hard to only give 1/10th of a fuck.