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For what it's worth, the Department of Public Health at Oxford University estimated that burden at £5 billion (in 2009, so let's adjust for inflation and call it £6 billion). Sounds to me like smokers are contributing about twice as much as they're costing, right?

I can't remember the stats, but I had this argument once too. Here in Australia the tax generated was more then twice the cost of all the medical costs. So you're right, Smokers are a net gain for the rest of us.

in the UK the costs of lung removals, limb amputations etc. etc fall on the NHS

Total taxes collected in the UK annually on cigarettes: £12 billion
Total budget of the entire NHS: £120 billion

Unless you're going to tell me that you think that cigarettes on their own account for a full 10% of all healthcare-related costs, I think it's safe to say that the "burden on the taxpayer" argument doesn't stand up even on its own merit (setting aside the moral question of whether offering people free healthcare gives you the right to control their behaviour).

For what it's worth, the Department of Public Health at Oxford University estimated that burden at £5 billion (in 2009, so let's adjust for inflation and call it £6 billion). Sounds to me like smokers are contributing about twice as much as they're costing, right?

Such things exist: http://www.nursingtimes.net/nu...

There was no outrage and no claims of sexism when efforts were made to recruit more men into nursing and education, by the way. Presumably now you are aware of this you condemn it, right?

If the best you can do is an online chat service open to all (not just men), then you've already lost. You keep getting asked for evidence. Repeatedly. And this is what you eventually come up with?

Such things exist: http://www.nursingtimes.net/nu...

There was no outrage and no claims of sexism when efforts were made to recruit more men into nursing and education, by the way. Presumably now you are aware of this you condemn it, right?

I'm sorry, but you;'re incorrect about the wage gap being debunked "time and time again." While the wage gap is not 70cents on the dollar anymore, there is a significant difference in women's pay. In Ontario, according to Stats Canada, the gap is currently 25%. It's also the same in the US according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is worse than it has been since 2005.

I'm very sorry you feel discriminated against, but this supposed attack on male rights is horse shit made up by bitter people who cannot tolerate the fact that 1000 years of cultural manipulation by us white men is being undone.

The numbers of male nurses has increased incredibly in the last 30 years, and male nurses are currently making significantly more money than women, and are in higher positions.

There are massive campaigns to get more men involved teaching, and early child development. There's also employment campaigns to get more women involved in trades, including the more dangerous ones, those campaigns are primarily ones which you complain about in your first paragraph (scholarships directed at women).

http://www.nursingtimes.net/home/clinical-specialisms/infection-control/cat-ladies-suicide-risk-probed/5046843.article?blocktitle=Behind-the-Headlines&contentID=4530

Lead researcher Dr Neil Vargesson said the fact that thalidomide was taken by mothers-to-be at an early stage in their pregnancy was crucial to the deformities because that is when the limbs of babies are still forming. 'The blood vessels involved in this process, at this stage of pregnancy, are still at an immature stage when they rapidly change and expand to accommodate the outgrowing limb,' she [sic] explained.

'But the antiangiogenic activity of the drug stops the growth of these blood vessels and that results in limb defects. 'Now we understand which property of the drug causes limb defects, it remains possible that we could make a safer form of the drug that has the clinical benefits for sufferers of leprosy but does not cause limb defects.'

Found here, which is reporting this. The mere fact that it has taken 50 years to find out why it caused birth defects, shows that it wasn't a trivial problem that they could have prevented. How many drugs/chemicals/cosmetics are tested on pregnant apes these days ?

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