[thaumaturgy]

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm :

> In the United States, cigarette smoking is linked to about 80% to 90% of lung cancer deaths.

> People who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke.

> Cigarette smoking can cause cancer almost anywhere in the body. Cigarette smoking causes cancer of the mouth and throat, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, liver, pancreas, voicebox (larynx), trachea, bronchus, kidney and renal pelvis, urinary bladder, and cervix, and causes acute myeloid leukemia.

And https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/heal... :

> Smoking causes more deaths each year than... [HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol, automobile injuries, and firearms]

> Smoking causes about 90% (or 9 out of 10) of all lung cancer deaths.

> Smoking causes about 80% (or 8 out of 10) of all deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The second link includes a lovely list of other smoking-related health risks.

[pessimizer]

That's not a direct response to "Only something like 10-15% of lifelong heavy smokers in the United States develop lung cancer." Instead it's a copy-pasted list of large numbers.

Jet ski riding causes 100% of jet ski accident deaths, but that tells me very little about the safety of riding a jet ski.

Not here to defend smoking, but to defend argument.