I don’t know that they encouraged smoking per se (accepting that it was a socially acceptable national pastime) but what the government did do was ensure that cigarettes and beer were cheap and plentiful - to keep the masses happy. Of course, lots of counterfeit 'baccy and beer too.
Oh, and as far as longevity goes there is a massive imbalance of elderly people in China and that, if it is to be turned around, will take many generations since the progressive axing of the one child policy.
4 Likes
Is there some stereotype about France and smoking?
1 Like
Nicotine sounds better than bleach injections
4 Likes
I wonder whether this is “Mort Subite” all over again.
People noticed that the French had a lower rate for heart disease. The reason was apparently an archaic coroner’s verdict: if someone old was dead and there were no suspicious circumstances, the local coroner - perhaps the local doctor that you know well - could rule this was ‘sudden death’ and they family could go ahead and bury him without waiting for the state to poke around inside before they give the thumbs up. There was also a possibility that some life insurances drafted abroad might not pay out of a heart attack, but might not recognise this.
You go onto a hospital with a cough. There are a limited number of life-saving ventilators. A doctor asks you if you smoke. You probably say no. But it is quite a bias. Maybe there is something in it. At least the French are having a look.
2 Likes
There is a really interesting connection between gin (well, actually tonic water, but that’s close enough) and chloroquine and “How To Drink” made a really good and well-researched video about it (why it seemed plausible but why it isn’t, in the end): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDg4bHEclPg
I am splitting my own research resources between gin and whiskey and so far it seems to protect not only me but also my whole family and the housing complex we live in, none of whom have gotten infected! Take that, nicotine!
3 Likes
Does nicotine prevent coronavirus?
Only if you have the cigarette hanging off your bottom lip. While shrugging.
8 Likes
Have you been there? People in the US still smoke to a degree but they are rather ashamed of it and it is nearly impossible to smoke anywhere inside anymore (restaurants, workplaces, even many rental apartments have forbidden smoking). Going to France reminds me of the US in the 1970s where people constantly smoked in public.
2 Likes
There is, and it’s bullshit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita
edit2- number 62 on the list ^
I don’t get why there is xenophobic stuff on here about Russians and French people on Boing Boing now and again. edit- especially when there are plenty of posts decrying other xenophobic behaviours.
3 Likes
You haven’t been able to smoke inside in France since 2007, so it’s not really different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_in_France
5 Likes
Yes, I’ve spent two weeks in Paris three years ago, and I have not noticed any difference from other European cities I’ve been to. I’d definitely notice if cigarette smoke was a problem. My brother worked in Paris for six months and he haven’t noticed it either. The most noticeable behavioral difference from other cities was how tightly people parked their cars - even slightly pushing other cars, which would be totally unacceptable for example in Warsaw.
2 Likes
It doesn’t. I’ve been using nicotine replacement for a long time, and I had Covid.
1 Like
Would you consider altering the title of this to something with a little less “HAR HAR HAR FRENCH PEOPLE SMOKE, OBVIOUSLY” in it?
For reasons see my previous post 
2 Likes
Other stereotypes worth checking
Onions in combination with striped jerseys and bicycles.
Sex.
Post-coital cigarette.
1 Like
I think that’s not the full picture. Chloroquine was also discussed during SARS in 2003, and has a record for off-label use because of some interesting effects. However, what actually spun this out of control is half-baked info which went viral.
Not even the methodologically far from perfect study which fueld the news is to blame. Is us. We are doing the very same thing here: discussing rough scientific ideas, not even a hypothesis, and definitely not scientific results. Results are post-peer-review, and even those may be bullshit (e.g., depending on the journal, or how the reviewers were chosen and how the editor slept).
2 Likes
Tobacco is a convenient way of delivering nicotine to the lung.
And in other stereotype news
3 Likes
The Wiki has it as 25% overall use rate five years ago, but 60% of men and 3% of women back in 2008. I wonder if the social acceptability of smoking has been changing as fast as everything else in the country over the last couple of decades.
2 Likes
Perhaps it has…I’ve become out of touch with this community . I would also speculate that the totals might reflect a demographic split. The people I knew were all professional types with relatively affluent families in China.
Never mind the onebox text, click though for more:
Excerpt:
Authorities in France have banned online sales of nicotine substitutes, and limited their sale in shops, to avoid stockpiling after research suggested the drug could stop people contracting coronavirus.
4 Likes
Maybe smokers aren’t likely to notice reduced lung function, fatigue, and a hacking cough?
1 Like
