Go tell it to the Puritans

Smokers are always denormalised for their pleasures by the healthist puritans and the mainstream media always take up their cause with puritanical fervour.  They use tainted statistics, flawed medical data and downright lies as given fact.  CNN are no different when it comes to sticking their blunt metaphorical scalpel into you and your lifestyle, whether it be smoking, eating or drinking.

Did you know, for example, that 49% of lung transplants in 2008 here in the UK were from smokers?

Chris Watson, vice-president of the British Transplantation Society (BTS), told CNN that 49 percent of last year's lung donors in the UK were smokers.

And, naturally, the medical profession have been forced into the intolerable position of using dead smokers lungs to prolong another human beings life.

"We're not in the luxurious position in transplantation to turn down organs because they're not absolutely perfect -- there are very few perfect organs,"

That is very telling Chris, “THERE ARE VERY FEW PERFECT ORGANS.”  So why pick on smokers lungs?

So how many lung transplants are done here in the UK and what are the survival rates for all transplants, regardless of whether the donor smoked or not?

Each year, around 150 lung transplants are carried out in the UK, mainly on people in the final stages of lung disease such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other conditions.

And one wonders what the survival rates are?

Today, more than 80% of lung transplant patients survive one year after surgery; at least 60% survive for five years, and nearly 50% survive for 10 years.

 

And, of course, CNN plucked out of their shadowy anti smoker drawer the one transplant recipient who died less than a year after receiving the transplant after finding a tumour, Corporal Matthew Millington.

Hmm, Cpl Millington dying just under one year of receiving his transplant seems good odds to me as 80% of all lung transplants survive up to one year, (they could go on to live longer, and most probably do, but this is never spoken of.)

Chris Watson, of whom I wrote earlier is more than happy to use smokers lungs for transplanting.

Watson is happy to use the organs that are available. He told CNN that data shows that transplants using smokers' lungs are just as effective in the long term as those using lungs from non-smokers.

And as for the unfortunate Cpl Millington Mr Watson says:

"In the case of Corporal Millington, the donor had a chest X-ray, bronchoscope and a careful inspection of the lungs once they were removed," Watson told CNN.

"When they found the tumour in Corporal Millington it was seven millimetres across and it was likely to have been two or three millimetres when it was transplanted. To find something that small you'd need to chop the lungs up into fine pieces, and then you can't transplant."

Don’t forget reader what Chris Watson said about all organs used for transplant:  “THERE ARE VERY FEW PERFECT ORGANS.”

Go tell that to the Puritans Chris!

H/T to the Pro-Choice Smoking Doctor

Blogger Tags: Lung Transplants, Smokers Lungs, Puritans, Smokers lungs used in transplants

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