Anyhow, have a dose of rat poison

[Conan Troutman]

Matthew Franklin

December 26, 2006 01:59am

Article from:

NEW government-funded advertisements designed to stop teenagers from smoking warn that many of the chemicals in cigarette smoke are also found in rat poison, toilet cleaner and paint stripper.

The $25 million campaign, to begin today, says cigarettes contain a poisonous mix of more than 4000 chemicals, and features images of people suffering gangrene and mouth cancer.

The campaign comes despite evidence smoking among teenagers is declining, with recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures showing the rate of 14-year-olds smoking daily fell from 19.5 per cent in 2001 to 17.4 per cent in 2004.

But federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health Christopher Pyne said that despite this reduction, it was vital to continue hammering home the anti-smoking message.

Mr Pyne said at least half the 45,000 young people expected to take up smoking in the next year would die because of the drug.

"Unfortunately three million Australians are still smoking, andone in seven teenagers are still smoking, even though smoking is the cause of 19,000 deaths in Australia every year," Mr Pyne said.

"So the aim of this campaign is to highlight, particularly for youth, the dangers of smoking and to encourage them to quit."

The campaign is the second stage of a government anti-smoking push in which cigarette makers were required earlier this year to publish graphic health warnings on their products.

The new ads, for cinemas, television, radio and print, point out that cigarette smoke contains: ammonia, the bleach used in toilet cleaner; acetone, used in nail polish remover; benzene, found in paint stripper; and hydrogen cyanide, an ingredient used in rat poison. And they say 11 of the chemicals in cigarette smoke cause cancer in humans.

Mr Pyne said Australia's rate of teen smoking was among the lowest in the world.

In 2005, 65 per cent of secondary school students aged 12-17 years had never smoked a cigarette - up from 53 per cent in 2002. And in 2005, smoking rates among people aged 12-17 years were at their lowest levels in two decades.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20973...5007133,00.html

[Benzito]

All these scare campaigns, but we're not even allowed to know how much tar, nicotine, and Carbon monoxide that they produce anymore!

Stupid government.

[alkatrope]

None of that is really new information..

[Torsten]

teenage smokign rates are increasing overseas. smoking increases with drop in general education and awareness. by creating dumb drones the government has to spend extra money on making sure they don't kill themselves too soon. now as the oz government knows it has dumbed australian youth down in the last decade they are also worried about the smoking rates increasing. so in a way the campaign is a good thing as it will save a few lives. disappnting to see that it uses the same hysteria as drug 'education' though. I mean, protraying NaOH, H2SO4, etc as evil substances is so stupid.

[Amulte]

"....i like to have a cigarette every now and then, it makes feel relaxed when the day is at an end, and if i get lung cancer when im 80 i dont care cuz who wants to be 90 anyway. with a hidey hidey liedy and a hidey liedy hay we work and make the cigarettes all hidey liedy day so that people can take a breakey from their hidey liedy lives and smoke themselves a cigarette we make all day and night...."

[FungalFractoids]

http://www.ash.org.uk/html/regulation/html/big-one.html

[indigo264nm]

Meh, I lurve my rollies.

I'll have a dose of rat poison - shang us a line of speed

[SirLSD]

that is soo funny. you would think that they would atleast speak to a chemist when making up anti smoking scare campaigns!

THERE IS NO HYDROGEN CYANIDE IN RAT POISON!

how do they expect to get people to listen when they clearly dont know what they are talking about. they continuously make up unjustifiable conclusions from data and other unscientific bullshit. next they will be telling us that the tobacco industry puts whole rat poison pellets in the tobacco mix, and if you open a cigarette up you will find the green pellets in there.

I quit smoking a few years ago (piss easy) because i knew that it would do serious damage to my health in later life. but they wont get the message across if they they turn to unscientific propaganda. its not like they need to. there is enough proof that smoking can kill.

[Conan Troutman]

The more the authoritys in control of drug regulation(those in control of our personal freedom )

tell all these mistruths and outright lies about the harms, even less people will believe there crap next time.

They have to realise one day it doesnt work....right?

[Torsten]

I think cyanide was used in rat poison baits in the US until VERY recently. I saw a crime doco recently that depicted a fairly recent crime where cyanide based rat poison was the murder weapon.

It certainly hasn't been used in australia for as long as I have been here [since 1984].

[Lono]

"it uses the same hysteria as drug 'education' though. I mean, protraying NaOH, H2SO4, etc as evil substances is so stupid."

Did any one else notice that in addition to the poisonous chemicals= dangerous/illegal drugs metaphor, that Torsten pointed out. The test tube that the young kiddie is dragging on kind of makes it look like she is taking a massive hit of meth (the newest and best flash card in the war on drugs' hysteria whipping arsenal).

[SirLSD]

hydrogen cyanide is a gas.

also i dont think you will find any paint stripper with benzene in it thesedays