AW>

AW> > convient lets start with outlawing cigarrettes, {*filter*} and all high fat
AW> > or high sugar food, that takes care of most of the leading causes of
AW> > death in the US.
AW>
AW> That's not a valid comparison.  The AIDS pandemic has a
AW> potential for a devastating demographic effect in some areas and
AW> amoung some populations, killing the young and early middle-aged.
AW> On the other hand, the primary "cause of death" in the US is,
AW> and is likely to remain, simply BEING ELDERLY.  

Yes, and the primary cause of getting elderly is living a long time. Duh.

AW> Although a
AW> fraction of smokers, drinkers, and high-fat/high-sugar consumers
AW> die when middle-aged, the main effects of tobacco, {*filter*}, and
AW> the Western "bad diet" are to complicate being elderly - maybe
AW> killing people, say, five years early, sometimes, but not
AW> always, in nastier ways.

Quite wrong, unless you only include chronic pulmonary disease and
cancer, the later consequences of smoking.

Drunk driving (ethanol abuse) kills all ages and is just as likely to
kill the younger and less experienced drinker/driver as the older
drunk. And cirrhosis can occur in 40-year-olds nearly as often as
elderly.

Smoking kills the middle aged and youg as well, not with cancer, but
with "early "myocardial infarction in men, and, in women, early
thrombotic events such as stroke and pulmonary embolism for those on
{*filter*}contraceptives plus nicotine.

If you currently smoke, you delude yourself over this one.