Replacement smokers: Pauline Dekker and Wanda de Kanter at TEDxNijmegen 2013
[Music] [Music] I am a pulmonologist a lung physician I treat people with lung cancer and SE D COPD meaning chronic bronchitis and lung empyema the lung cancer patients usually die within a year of diagnosis and death can be painful and sometimes they suffocate the COPD patients on the other hand suffer for years on end their world slowly narrowing down to the confinement of their own home both patient groups the lung cancer and the COPD patients are seen nor heard and that despite lung cancer being the most common type of can cancer that wasn't part of the deal um being the most common type of cancer in in in males and females and despite COPD being the third most common cause of death and you know why why they're not seen or heard it's not just because the lung cancer patients die before they can organize themselves like the pink ribbon ladies do it's because my patients they're ashamed and they feel guilty they're told they invited the cancer in themselves by smoking in a world where addiction is called Freedom of Choice by politicians it's apparently also your own choice if you die due to that addiction I still can't believe it I really used to have it all I love my life I love my husband my children my friends my work I suppose I can say I was really happy until 6 months ago I wasn't feeling too well and then I thought I had the flu I started cuffing and I looked at my handkerchief I was terrified my father died of lung cancer I knew straight away I went to the doctor got an immediate referral to the hospital and then everything went so fast CT scan broncoscopy pet scanner and in the pet scanner I made a vow please God if it's not cancer I promise I'll give up smoking but the doctor said you're going to die what you can't mean that you can you can chop the tumor out you have such good medication you can send me to a big concer Center I want a second opinion I'm afraid it's not just in your lungs it's it's you've got a quite a lot of bone metastasis you know all these black spots and um well they're here and there you can see them everywhere then it dawned on me I would never see Janet get married I would not even see my son graduate from high school I called my friend Susan you know I cried it's lung cancer you know what she said what did you expect you are a smoker I felt so lonely so ashamed so guilty really I tried to quit I read alen Carr I went to all those sensation clinics I read the books took the pills but I couldn't give up the Habit it's an addiction you know I started when I was 13 everyone smoked back then how could I know well that's true the only moment there really is freedom of choice is when you start to smoke your first few cigarettes and that choice is usually made in puberty and we all know the brain isn't isn't working the way it should to make intelligent lifelong decisions when people are in puberty and all other cigarettes are smoked in addiction you told me I had to spend time with my family and do things I loved and every time I went out of the house and a new person came up to me to what what's wrong with you I have lung cancer and every time again they said were you smoker the first question well I was in and out the hospital all the time chemotherapy radiotherapy and at the end it was all in vain Christmas Day I got my first epileptic fit the MRI showed brain metastasis from then on it was all downhill I died two weeks after my 50th birthday I promise you I will do everything everything I can to make sure you did not die in vain I will tell the world your story and the story of other people killed by tobacco I will challenge the tobacco industry the tobacco lobbyists and the politicians that listen to them so help me God [Applause] almighty welcome welcome everybody Welcome to the annual shareholders meeting of big tobacco and boy do we have some great news for you although there's a big crisis out there I can guarantee you your money is safe with us and our Roi is under the double digits and stock prices are soaring Sky High and I want to introduce to you the person who has made this all possible our marketing whiz kid Mrs the cancer [Music] Ray thank you thank you we really had a marvelous year last year and I want to elaborate on a thing or two with with you we know the smoking sensation clinics are doing so well nowadays and our patient our smokers they die so young nowadays we really do need some replacement smokers and we know because it's very difficult to get them hooked after the age of 20 we really have to get them young and for that purpose what we did we designed a very girly lipstick like cigarette called glamour it's filled with honey Shar and spice everything nice and don't forget the third world where marketing is unrestricted what do you think there's growth Market out there wouldn't be lovely that all the Indonesian boys smoking our brand and in countries where marketing is restricted we become very creative we have excellent ties with liberal parties and we tell them it's a freedom thing to choose to start to smoke when you're young and we tell them it's a it's the most wonderful thing you can do it's liberal on every corner on every street in every Supermarket you can buy it and what we do we create doubt we tell them my grandfather smoked two packets a day and he died when he was high and I know someone only 30 years of age he got lung cancer and he never smoked that's what we do this has all got to stop right now every year 6 million people die due to Tobacco related diseases one in four smokers die due to smoking before the age of 65 please let let our children grow up in a in a future that is free from tobacco you are all shareholders of the future of your children you can make the difference let's prevent the avoidable