Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Truthiness, The Whole Truthiness, and Nothing But the Truthiness

Previously I posted about Brad Rodu, Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville. He holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research. You really do have to admire someone who employs the same scientific rigor that Stephen Colbert uses.

For example, on his blog he has a graph that shows how the Life Expectancy in the United States has gone up. It's at almost 78 years now. Think how great that is if you are 20 years old! Of course, it's not so great if you are 79 years old. Yowza.

But, for the most part, we are living longer. And that is the Truthiness of Brad Rodu (or should I say, Dr. Brad Rodu, D.D.S.) that Stephen Colbert, inventor of Truthiness, would approve of.

Here's where the Whole Truthiness and Nothing But The Truthiness comes in. According to CDC, i.e. Center for Disease Control, life expectancy for smokers is 14 years less than for non-smokers.

So, hurray for Dr. Rodu for using Truthiness to his advantage. Use the parts that you like and those other parts, well they can just be ignored. Never mind that CDC says that an average dose of smokeless tobacco contains at least twice the amount of nicotine found in the average cigarette. And never mind that nicotine is an addictive drug. Just stick to Truthiness. It is ever so much easier.

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