Know what you mean bathmaster. I'm sure everyone here was warned from others who have walked the path we now find ourselves on. Speaking for myself, they warned me about the health issues, but never said anything about addiction and that is what is upseting me. I can't even recall the news media mentiong addition either! Ok, i'll get off my soap box now.

OK, I agree with all of you on each of the points you made.
I can remember my aunt catching me smoking, (I was 16) and she asked me about it and I said "Oh , I can quit when I want", and she told me to be sure because she could not. I was hooked too, just did not know it.

But the issue here as I see it is the dangers to others, especially the younger set , of smoking and what their future holds.
So you tell your kid you have copd and smoking caused it and they should stop or never start because this is a killing disease.
So what commercial do they see on tv? This man/woman/ with a "elephant" following them around because it is "Hard to breathe" because of copd. !!!
Then WALLAH!!! They take a puff of Advair, or Symbicort, and they are out dancing, doing the gardening, chasing grandkids, going fishing, playing baseball, ect, ect,
How many of you out there can take your puffs then go play a game of baseball, or chase kids around the yard, ???
Maybe when you first got the disease, like the same month, maybe, but full blown copd , NO WAY.
But the media is not showing the real effects of copd, it makes it look like a minor problem that is fixed by the inhaler, so the younger set thinks we are just whining or pretending, because it is not so bad!!!
Does anyone know what I mean? Yes smoking is a choice, and we were not told all the dangers, but now we and most of the world know the dangers so why not advertise the real dangers of smoking and then let people decide?
And prohibit sales of e-cigs to minors just like real smokes are. They will get them anyway, but it is a start.
Advertise the inhalers and say about it was caused by smoking and is a progressive disease....OK, I will hush. Sometimes I get so carried away my fingers type faster than my brain thinks...well.... :)
BJ

That is exactly the point I'm trying to make. Thank you BJ.

Hugs.

the cigarette ads i guess are still just trying to show the kids "the harms" of smoking and never to start. maybe they figure "scared straight" is the best topic in their 30 seconds of add time.
i ignore commercials so i hadn't noticed "exactly" what they advertise on tv~~~heck my grandkids are too busy now days with thier computer games to watch tv anyway LOL.
there is a COPD ad something about "driving for awareness..
....hmmm, they don't advertise "quit smoking aids" on tv do they? i just thought of that, so the ads are more to prevent kids from starting than how to quit i guess;
as for making things illegal, i'm sorry, but i disagree there. i'm a recovered alcoholic & i had a sister die of alcoholism (now thats an UGLY death), but i don't think alcohol should be illegal (to adults). i'm also a gun owner & i don't want laws against that. i'm smart enough to put my kids in car seats in the old days & didn't need a law for that. seat belt wearing.....
and i'm sure everyone will agree that we can't make a law against fast food that is killing our children slowly.
don't take this wrong...i am not "for" these things, i just don't feel we should make laws to govern every move in an adults life. yes, the laws that minors can't buy booze or cigarettes is good, but let adults chose!
as an old biker from california during the "helmet law" days, i was impressed that utah has a law that under 19 years old you must wear a helmet, but an adult can choose....if an adult makes a stupid choice, its an aware stupid choice.

each state is self governing so it's not a federal thing it's a state thing to lealize or not. as for utah e-cigs fall under the same categories as cigarettes; you can't smoke anywhere but your own home "the clean air act" & minors have to be over19 to buy them.
utah IS now trying to up the age of purchasing both ecigs & cigs to 21;
http://www.sfata.org/utah-governor-approves-law-banning-e-cigarettes-in-public-places/
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590837/Utah-lawmakers-propose-raising-legal-smoking-age-to-21.html?pg=all
what is your states laws?
all 3 of my children smoke & have/are trying to quit because they see me, but none have succeeded for long---yes it is a horrible addiction!
that's where i keep trying to focus my "lectures/advice" on my grandchildren to never start & i ALWAYS point out the addiction factor first~~as addiction, is addiction, is addiction= no matter what your "drug of choice" becomes ie alcohol, nicotene, high fructose corn syrup.....

oops, sorry i didn't realize that was so long---i'm passionate about "laws"

Columbia University in New York has received some funds for researching the use of stem cells. One of the areas they will work with is lungs, hoping to use medications on the stem cells rather than in living lungs, to shorten the time required to develop new drugs, as well as to develop test protocols to diagnose lung diseases.

This story received two short paragraphs in our local paper. How much space would they devote to news of research into helping erectile dysfunction?

I also was alarmed that no mention was made of the possibility of research being conducted to develop a procedure in which a patient's own stem cells would be implanted in their lungs in order to develop new air sacs and other structures to ease COPD and lengthen lives.

Is there anyone out there with ideas of how the government and medical research facilities can be made aware of the need for stem cell studies for lung disease? Or perhaps I should say, the DEMAND th isat exists for such research...

http://breathela.org/resources/fast-fact/public-funding-copd-research-lags-behind-need
Well here's some funding statistics. Sad but true. I would say that perhaps funds lag because it's mainly self inflicted, not in all cases, but, for the most part. But then we have HIV/AIDS which aside from needle accidents, bad blood transfusions and babies born with it, the same could be said.

The advocacy for the COPD and lung cancer population is lacking a dozen or so millionaire Hollywood dweebs and militant radicals of whatever persuasion to raise awareness and make our case by shoving it in the media's face. Instead we do things just as other middle class people have done in the past. Write congress, sign petitions, join organizations, yada, yada. And do without.
We are often seen as a community of walking wounded - all with self-inflicted injuries. It just so happens that our disease doesn't have the impact on the Hollywood/sports/entertainment/MSM life style that AIDS does...

Hugs,
Dennis

Self inflicted? Who in the very early stages of hiv/aids knew they could contract such a horrible life threating illness? Sorta of the same level of us babyboomers and nicotene addiction and the misrable concequnces that come down the road. Education & Awarness are what matters. Media ect should take more responsibilty to tell the truth!. I try to do my part in sharing my story in conversations in an attempt to help others. Hope the stem cell reaserch may down the road be of help to many of us!

Hugs....

I just want to add that you do not have to smoke to get COPD. They now estimate 25% of those with COPD, have never smoked. There is a genetic test. A person can have the genetic factor.
I have wondered "why me"; not in self-pity, but wondering about my siblings that smoked more and longer than I did. Did they not inherit the genetic factor? My Pulmonary Doctor told me that my son is at high risk (even though he has never, ever smoked a cigarette in his life) due to my family genetics. My siblings: my older sister passed in 2010 from colon cancer (another familial genetic factor). My older brother (in my opinion) is undiagnosed with COPD. When I have sat next to him and listened to his breathing; it saddens me. He probably smoked the most out of all of us. My younger brother shows no signs of COPD; other than he has had severe asthma most of his life.
Smoking is an addiction; and I feel no one should be treated badly because most addicts are only self-medicating issues that others do not know about. Any addiction can be born from the inability to find healthy coping skills in life. Statistically, the mentally ill are one of the highest group of smokers. Will get down off of my soapbox after one last comment. Every human deserves compassion and respect;
we all need forgiveness for our mistakes.

I apologize to those offended by the 'self inflicted' part of my last post. I was using it to make a guess on why POSSIBLY, there was such a disparity in funding to death by disease ratio in the link I provided. In that post I also said 'not in all cases'. I am well aware of the non smoking Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency form of the disease, as well as those who get it strictly from noxious exposures. I would venture a guess that given only 20% of smokers actually get COPD, there is some genetic factor involved in ALL cases.

Wow, blueirisnw, your post hit home. I'm recently diagnosed with moderate COPD at 63 without ever having smoked one cigarette in my life. Probably the result of having living with smokers for the first 40 years of my life. I also have a son who is bi-polar and self medicates with both alcohol and cigarettes, so, yeah, your post was dead on.
Thank you for elegantly voicing what I'm living.
jean

Lauren, I saw that too, and said out loud "What the F...... ??!!?? " my outrage was total as yours. COPD is the 3rd largest killer of folks in this country and they couldn't think to mention it. SHIT! So I will use my soapbox to preach about it. Take care, Bill