What about smoking?

Dear Editor:

The two opinion pieces last week by Dave Adsett and Chris Daponte seemed to be quite contrasted, even though they talked of the same subject of COVID-19.

Adsett’s title of “A gentle reminder” held true through his editorial. He stated clearly his position on vaccination, masks, etc. He also acknowledged “it’s a free world still, despite the naysayers and those who are incapable of respecting other people’s choices” and “scolding and fanning the flames hasn’t moved that needle much.”

He sums up his thoughts with “Consider that a gentle reminder to not allow differences of opinion to get in the way of being good neighbours and friends.”

Unfortunately, Daponte appeared to take the route of “scolding and fanning the flames.” His theme is his concern with the “dismissing and downplaying of deaths.” He then states that “If your go-to argument on anything related to COVID-19 is that not too many people die from it, you may not be a very good person.” Well, that phrase caught my eye. Sure, we should all be concerned with the death of others no matter what the cause, but have we become so focused on COVID that nothing else seems to matter?

I was picking up the usual empty Tim Hortons cups and cigarette packs on my walk on our road the other day and the warning label read, “Smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death in Canada. About 100 people die from tobacco use each day.” That would be over 36,000 each year. Sadly, I found an article from the Canadian Cancer Society that states in Canada, more than 45,000 die each year accounting, for one in five of all deaths or 18.4%. The economic costs stated were staggering at $6.5 billion in direct health costs and $16.2 billion in total economic costs. The Lancet and The Lancet Public Health article ( www.healthdata.org) states that in 2019, nearly 8 million smoking related deaths occurred globally.

I bring this up not to minimize COVID deaths but to bring into perspective that we should be thankful that the deaths from COVID in Canada are low compared to other parts of the world. Of course the tragedy of these deaths should never be taken lightly but slinging mud and name calling rarely has a positive effect.

I see that there are questionable individuals on both sides of the COVID issue but the struggle of self-inflicted addictions and far too common fatal diseases on top of what has happened with Covid should make us all pause before we pass judgment on others.

Michael Thorp,
Mount Forest