Table 1 Misinformation Themes

1. Creating doubt about science

As stated by BAT and JT, it is difficult to scientifically assess the effect of secondhand smoke in chronic illnesses. The current assessment of the effect of secondhand smoke is overrated. ¹⁹ (p34)

There is no correlation between the percentage of smokers/amount of smoking and the average life expectancy when looking at data from various countries. ¹⁹ (p75)

Many epidemiological study results have revealed that smokers, in comparison to non-smokers, have higher risk of death through contracting various diseases and that they have shorter average life expectancy by 10 years. However, the question is how did Japanese males, who are known to be the world's greatest tobacco lovers, prolong their life expectancy rapidly and become the world's number one in both average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy? They are also expected to continue to maintain this status. In other words, there is a contradiction that is hard to explain between people's life expectancy (the greatest statistical data) and the results of epidemiological study. ¹⁹ (p84)

There are certain conditions that must be met in order to say that smoking causes lung cancer. Although lung cancer caused by smoking is different from cancers caused by viral infection, it is the same in a sense that they are both exogenous diseases. If the following three conditions are met, everyone will be convinced that smoking does cause lung cancer.

1. All lung cancer patients are smokers.

2. Non-smokers will never be diagnosed with lung cancer.

3. Create lung cancer in animals by putting them in the same condition/situation as smokers. ²¹ (p62)

It's well-known that tobacco is toxic, but there is a significant lack of scientific evidence for this fact. ²² (p8)

To say that secondhand smoke causes "early death" is merely a myth. ²² (p10)

Most data that presents the danger in smoking is based on epidemiological research, which used statistics to project the cause of illnesses related to smoking, but there is very little data from pathological research. ²² (p34)

As Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) states, the correlation between tobacco and cancer is not yet fully clear. Therefore, as journalists, one should report/write from a more objective standpoint. ²² (p63)

Tobacco, along with alcohol, has been widely popular amongst people for over 400 years. Massive human experimentation (pm how tobacco affects the human body) has already been done. Even if tobacco were dangerous, how harmful could it be? ²² (p63)

Aside from special cases, breathing in secondhand smoke is probably unproblematic. ²² (p136)

The fact that secondhand smoke causes various diseases is also inaccurate. ²³ (p102)

Unlike smokers, non-smokers are not fully inhaling the smoke to the deep ends of the lung, so in actuality, the phenomenon of secondhand smoke does not exist. Even if there were secondhand smoke, it could simple be taken care of by opening the window or turning on the fan. Being affected by secondhand smoke in the outdoors is impossible. ²³ (p124)

Through epidemiological study, scientists may have found that there are carcinogens in cigarettes. However, the theory that directly attributes the cause of cancer to smoking is pure imagination. No matter how much emphasis is put on the results of epidemiological studies, or the fact that over 40 kinds of carcinogens are found in cigarettes, this still does not scientifically prove that smoking causes cancer. This is just more circumstantial evidence saying tobacco is "suspicious" (believed to cause cancer). ²⁴ (p83)

The anti-smoking atmosphere has escalated to the current state because the entire world, including a powerful organization like the WHO, believes smoking is hazardous without any evidence. ²⁴ (p88-89)

2. Suggesting that smoking increases health, longevity, virility, coping, happiness

There are people who are able to maintain their health and prolong their life expectancy ("exceeding survivors") through moderate smoking. ¹⁹ (p85)

It is clear that elderly people who love to smoke in nursing homes live much longer. ¹⁹ (p153)

Smoking causes one to calm down, and allows him to handle situations better. ²¹ (p21)

If you can figure out what your source of happiness is, you can be healthy and still enjoy your cigarette. ²¹ (p220)

If tobacco really is as hazardous as it is said to be, how does Japan have the longest life expectancy even with the highest smoking rate in the world? ²² (p9)

Smokers can be just as health as nonsmokers, or even healthier, as long as they keep a healthy diet and live a low-stress life. ²² (p107)

There is data that states the life expectancy of those who smoke pipes or cigars is just as long as, or even longer than, non-smokers. ²³ (p92)

Most importantly, tobacco is a tasty, precious gift from God for us (the smokers) to lead a better life. ²³ (p181)

As the rate of smoking among Japanese men decreases, so has the birth rate. ²⁴ (p15)

One way of judging a man is through his work ability, and men who smoke are historically viewed to be good at their jobs, because nicotine's pharmacological effect works advantageously on one's work capacity. Therefore, tobacco itself has become a status symbol for men. ²⁴ (p38)

Nicotine is a powerful weapon for men to achieve better status. However, it is pitiful that men, who have once experienced the powerful effect of nicotine, quit smoking. ²⁴ (p72)

Men who quit smoking are not only losing its medical value, but are also viewed as men of low ambition, men who have let go of their masculinity. ²⁴ (p118-119)

3. Trivializing the effects of tobacco use

Consuming tobacco is troublesome (because of our gag reflex), but accidentally inhaling peanuts (through the bronchial tube) is even more troublesome. ²¹ (p92)

There are many cancer-causing substances in the world. The only problem with tobacco is the manner of smokers. ²² (p8)

Issues in tobacco can be solved if smoking manners are reviewed. ²²(p19)

If you are not around smokers, you are not subjected to secondhand smoke, but you breathe is polluted air (exhaust from cars and factories) whether you like it or not. ²² (p64)

Anti-tobacco activists are obsessed over secondhand smoke containing more carbon monoxide than firsthand smoke, but there is no need to worry about that. The amount of carbon monoxide which tobacco contains is very small, plus carbon monoxide coverts into carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. ²² (p103)

Addiction to tobacco is not as powerful as addition to narcotic drugs. ²² (p114)

Considering that all human beings die, it is questionable to single out and harass the smokers by addressing only the harm tobacco may possess. ²³(p76)

Tobacco gives happiness and pleasure to the lives of those who smoke, just like how coffee, tea, and alcohol are enjoyed by many people. ²³(p88)

4. Attacking public health advocates and authorities as liars and paternalists

The warning "Be careful with excessive smoking for your health" on a cigarette package is a typical example of paternalism. ¹⁹ (p53)

When providing that tobacco is hazardous, pictures of a black, discolored lung are frequently used. These pictures are complexly false. ²¹ (p4)

Cigarette smoke is particles of moisture vapor and tar, so it does not accumulate in the lungs. Hence, the blackening of lungs of heavy smokers is a lie. ²¹(p66)

Quite frankly, what these anti-smoking activists are doing seems like the beginning of a folly that hearkens back to things human beings have caused in the past, such as indulgences sold by the Catholic church, the witch hunt, prohibition, slavery, the holocaust, discrimination, war, and more. ²² (p20)

If the state and federal government win a lawsuit against tobacco companies, a portion of reparations is said to go to the World Health Organization. What the WHO is up to is not to abolish tobacco entirely, but actually to team up with governments from around the world to make profit from lawsuits against the tobacco industry. ²² (p32)

These anti-smoking activities are scientifically, socially, and culturally doing no good to the world. ²² (p127)

There is not enough science-based evidence to prove that smoking is the main cause of cancers, or to say that it is scientifically "evident" that tobacco causes cancer. For this, organizations like the WHO and other anti-smoking groups are nothing but liars. ²³ (p79)

It is probably true that smoking has smoke effect on a human body. However, it is also true that many of the numbers derived from these studies are exaggerated. (For example,) the fact that 90% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking is clearly a fabrication. ²³ (p84)

Anti-smokers are the greatest evils. Adolf Hitler is known for disliking tobacco. ²⁴⁾ (p154, 156)

5. Linking tobacco with authenticity, history, or civil rights

I support smoking, because I believe it is a unique gift of pleasure from the Native Americans, a culture that was developed through a long period of history. ²³ (p70)

Recently, even hospitals are becoming smoke-free. Unlike schools and work places, hospitals, for some people, are a place where they will spend the end of their lives. It is humanely wrong to forcefully take away what may be some patients' only enjoyment. Even those who face execution in the prison are allowed to smoke for the last time. Yet, patients who await their death in a hospital cannot have a simple enjoyment as a cigarette. ²³ (p89)

Smoking cigarettes is a ritual for peace among Native Americans. ²⁴ (p158)