On Tue, 2 Oct 2007, a health affairs article was quoted:
> [Health Affairs article is at
> <http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.26.6.w678/DC1>.]
saying:
> A key factor in many chronic illnesses is obesity and smoking. About 33
> percent of Americans are obese, compared with 17 percent in 10 European
> countries reviewed. More than half of Americans are former or current
> smokers, compared with about 43 percent in the European sample.
Americans smoke more than Europeans??
I think the weasel phrase here is "former or current" (which includes people like my 87 year old Mom who gave up in 1958, when cigarette rates were higher in a land when they where 10% as expensive). Because if you just said who smokes more, it would be Europeans, which would entirely contradict the thrust of this apologia, since that's an even greater risk factor than being fat.
Michael