Death Toll Comparison

[Richard Bruns]

"The tobacco industry has killed more people since 9/11 than Islamic fundamentalists have killed since Mohammed rode into Mecca."

Can anyone verify or disprove this statement?

I know that the yearly (American) death toll is a lot lower than the hyped-up 400,000, but I think it is fair to assume that at least 100,000 people worldwide have been smoked in the last couple years.

Does anyone know where to get figures for death tools relating to wars, sharia executions, etc.? 100k seems about right, but that's just a shot in the dark.

[Nubclear]

i've never seen YOU here before But your not a settler...

[SlowwHand]

Add automobile accidents as another way that tops wars.

[chequita guevara]

I would have to think that claim is false, even if we take world wide tobacco use into consideration. World-wide tobacco deaths top several million yearly.

[The Andy-Man]

Well, a guy chooses to smoke, nobody chooses to have some nut blow him up

[realpolitic]

Stalin said "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic"

The nightly news here focuses on some murder trials for months, but barely covered the 13,000 deaths from overheating in France. Do they think that global warming isn't newsworthy? Are they pushing a probuisness agenda? (Fear each other, but notthe corporations)

[SlowwHand]

15 Leading Causes of Death in the U.S., 2001

Leading causes of death differ somewhat by age, sex, and race. In 2001, as in previous years, accidents were the leading cause of death for those under 34 years, while in older age groups chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease were the leading causes. The top three causes for males and females—heart disease, cancer, and stroke—are exactly the same. However, suicide and chronic liver disease ranked 8th and 10th for males but were not ranked among the ten leading causes for females. Similarly, Alzheimer's disease ranked 7th for females but was not among the top ten for males. For white males aged 15–34, the top two causes were accidents and suicide, while for black males in the same age group, the top two causes of death were homicide and accidents.
Rank1
Causes of death
Number
Deaths per
100,000 population

All causes
2,417,798
849.0
1.
Diseases of heart
699,697
245.7
2.
Malignant neoplasms (cancer)
553,251
194.3
3.
Cerebrovascular diseases
163,601
57.4
4.
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
123,974
43.5
5.
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
97,707
34.3
6.
Diabetes mellitus
71,252
25.0
7.
Influenza and pneumonia
62,123
21.8
8.
Alzheimer's disease
53,679
18.8
9.
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis
39,661
13.9
10.
Septicemia
32,275
11.3
11.
Suicide
29,423
10.3
12.
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
26,751
9.4
13.
Homicide
19,727
6.9
14.
Hypertension and hypertensive renal disease
19,054
6.7
15.
Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids
17,392
6.1

All other causes
408,231
143.3
1. Rank based on number of deaths.
Source: U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Report, vol. 51, no. 5, March 14, 2003. Web: www.cdc.gov/nchs .

[Richard Bruns]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I would have to think that claim is false, even if we take world wide tobacco use into consideration. World-wide tobacco deaths top several million yearly.

Are you saying that Islamic fundamentalists have been directly responsible for several million deaths? I think it was meant to refer only to religiosly motivated wars that Moslems started, so crusade battle deaths wouldn't count.

[Richard Bruns]

SlowwHand, those figures don't help because they don't tell what proportion of heart disease and cancer deaths are caused by smoking.

[The Andy-Man]

but we don't know weather it was the msoking that caused the heart problems etc. Its only a probability(though a high one i think).

[Traianvs]

don't stop smoking!!!!!

my dad wouldn't have many patients with heart problems if it weren't for all the smoking...

alas the great days of smoking are left behind us