Misleading statistics by the CDC

Comparative Causes of Annual Deaths in the United States

Note: All mortality data are for 1990, except alcohol, which is for 1987.
Source: HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report; National Safety Council Accident Facts; Monthly Vital Statistics Report; SAMMEC; Alcohol-Related Death Index.

From the CDC's Tobacco Information & Prevention Sourcepage

Notice how the CDC statistics are being skewed and presented in a misleading way. If you just look at the graph alone without evaluating what it's saying, you would have to conclude that smoking is THE leading cause of death among Americans. But, is that true?

Where are the numbers for heart disease, cancer, and stroke in people who NEVER smoked? What about people who simply died from old age? How convenient. What is appearing to be a consistent approach by liberals is to simply ignore any statistics that do not fit their preconceived result.

I'm sure the CDC would like you to infer that heart disease, cancer, and stroke is really caused by smoking, as the following graph depicts. But, is that true?

Deaths Attributable to Cigarette Smoking---United States, 1990

Source: CDC SAMMEC, MMWR 1993; 42:645-9.

I'm sure the CDC would be ecstatic if I were just to blindly accept their version - but I don't! They expect me to find a terrible crisis when of the more than 1,623,095 deaths attributable to heart disease, cancer, and stroke - 25% are smoking related? What causes the other 75%?

Sure, they might be able to say that 25% of those who died from these diseases were smokers, but what does that prove? What percentage of those who died also regularly ate junk food, ate red meat cooked over charcoal, drank coffee, tea, or soft drinks, ever flew in an airplane, or took asprin? Are we to blame these things on their death? Or, hey 100% of them drank water. Might the water be contaminated?

One of the cardinal rules of environmental toxicology is to identify the specific chemical(s) of concern, because biological responses are highly specific. The simple exposure to a given chemical, even if it is an established carcinogen, is by itself usually not associated with development of cancer. Everyone is exposed to potentially toxic or carcinogenic chemicals every day. Risk is not established by exposure alone; it is established thru a dose-response relationship.

Folks, you can make statistics say whatever you want them to say, and the CDC along with others wanting your money are simply using that fact to manipulate and frighten you with misleading and incomplete graphics.