A Billion Thanks
Billionaires Bill Gates and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that they would pool their resources and dedicate $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.
That's the way to do it! Put your money where your mouth is!
The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.
This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia.
In an effort to cut that number, the mayor's foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.
Smoking is just all-around bad. And, keep in mind you vain Perezcious ones, smoking=wrinkles.
Yuck, yuck!
[Image via WENN.]
Heath's Legacy
FIRST!!!????
At last!
1st?
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SMOKING?? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?? What about real issues like ones that are way more difficult and complicated to prevent like homelessness, obesity, and numerous other more vital issues. Smokers know what theyre doing people who are homeless and unemployed need help, especially if they have fat kids.
Its called natural selection…if people want to be stupid enough to smoke then let them…theres already over 6 billion people on the planet.
kind of him
That's like trying to stop people from drinking and doing drugs…aint gonna happen. Why don't they feed the hungry? They'd appreciate it more.
Morons!
I love Bill Gates…he helps a lot of people out…but as always on this site lol let the hating begin…
I like smoking but that's cool too
WHAA WHAA "smoking = wrinkles" yet you gays smoke and snort METH like nobodies business. STFU!
DOES THAT INCLUDE SMOKING COCK, PIGEZ?
HUH?
there wasting there money on THIS???? and people call leona helmsley crazy for donating 12B to animals- this 2 morons are crazy. what about homelessness, adult reading, animals abuse, soldiers in need? there are a million causes here in the US that need this money. guarentee you all of this money will go overseas b/c it's not cool to help here at home.
According to my friend, a pediatrician, smoking is on the rise amongst teens again. Despite the cost of smokes and new health findings, yes, the "plague" is coming back.
Just about everyone i know (who smoked) has quit now,
Nights out are soooo much better, everywhere should have a smoking ban in public spaces it really changes things!
I quit almost 6 months ago, breathing easier every day!
If people want to kill themselves, let them! Spend the money where it would be appreciated and on people who aren't digging their own graves!
Leona Helmsley WAS allowed to DONATE her money to WHOMEVER she WANTED to….even if you think what she did was stupid, why do you care?
What YOU do with your pennies when you croak is your business. Put that in yer pipe and smoke it.
wow smoking kills almost as many people as war. So if we all stop smoking then can we finally agree that war is bad for you too?
Yeah, but it's okay to smoke pot, right? Fucktards….
jesus…thy could use that money towards something else for real!
I agree with babnb. Too many people on this planet. Let the stupid ones weed themselves out. And let's tax the hell out of them in the meantime and put the money to a healthcare fund to pay their medical expenses when they get emphysema and lung cancer, so the average taxpayer doesn't have to pay for their sorry ass medical expenses!
Its cool and all, but why not feed the countries who are starving? The countries that have no government or resources for anything? Not because they picked to live that life style.
They probably smoke anyways to stop from starving all the time.
I LOVE to smoke! I do it every chance I get! yee haw!!!!
I love that some of your readers feel that can say where people should spend their money but I don't see them giving millions to the poor or hungry oh wait that's right they don't have it but feel they can say what should be done with other people's money…
I was just joking, do really think this is an intelligent use of money? People starve and we will tell them to quit smoking so they won't die……………….this is a really low priority when you look at lives lost from starvation and lives cut short from smoking. they can do what they want with their money, but if they think they are building self esteem by announcing what they do with their money, I would inform them that they are merely like the rest of us. we are all just being floating through space, its just a miracle that we are even here.
THAT COULD FEED ALOT OF HUNGRY CHILDREN.
Are you serious? They cannot find anything better to spend their money on? I can think of many other things to spend it on that is for sure!
What about HUNGER??!!
Wow! That's a lot of cash…
My grandfather just died from smoking-related illnesses. It was a long, drawn-out, extremely painful way to die. It was so terrible to watch him suffer.. he started smoking in the '40s and quit in 1980, but still 30-40 years of smoking did its deed and he suffered so much because of it! The sad thing was, seeing all the family and friends at the funeral lighting up! Like, hello? Don't you see what happens. I have very little compassion for people who make this choice, especially now with all the knowledge we have.
Just plain stupid. And this lifestyle is literally killing our healthcare system! So, I'm paying for stupid people's choices.
What a huge waste of money. The people who want to quit, will quit—on their own! I know people who have used the patch, the gum, prescriptions etc. etc. and nothing has worked because deep down they haven't wanted to quit. I'm not saying it's easy, but some smokers seem convinced that it's impossible. All this money could be put to such better use. There are so many people around the world who actually deserve the help that this money could get them—and their problems have nothing to do with smoking.
F That! We don't need a billion more people on this earth!! People dying is a natural thing and it helps overpopulation, sorry to say. If you're dumb enough to enjoy the cool, refreshing, inhale of a cigarette, then that's your decision.
fuck that i love to smoke! help people with real issues you rich fucktards. go back to being a computer nerd and help kids! Fucktard!
Stop from smoking pot or tobacco.Either one of them are going to be a lost cause,spend it on something better ,like helping Ed McManon out lol
Why don't you get on your God, Barry Obama, to stop smoking…after all, isn't he going to be KING OF THE WORLD? Listen up, people…you should be VERY, VERY afraid of this guy.
Re: ken – THATS BULLSHIT FUCKTARD. tHEY ASSUME SMOKING KILSS PEOPLE WHEN THEN DIE FOR CERTAIN REASONS BUT CAN NOT BE 100% CETAIN THAT IT IS THE CAUSE. ENVIROMENT AND OTHER FACTORS PLAY APART BUT IT IS EASIER TO BLAME SMOKING!
Re: Rio – LOVE YOUR USE OF FUCKTARD! GOOD JOB!
Re: LettyB – LETTY YOU MADE A LOT OF SPELLING MISTAKES AGAIN!
So lame. Why don't they pull their money into curing cancer instead? Or doing anything else remotely useful. Anyone still smoking either 1.) doesn't give a shit about getting cancer or 2.) WANTS cancer. And I am a smoker, so I can say it.
Yeah that's really great… A bunch of self-serving, cancer-smoking people deserve all that money towards something they'll never end up quitting…..
Interesting…. So glad they are concentrating on GLOBAL WARMING and giving back to the ECONOMY…..
Re: LettyB – lol. seriously.
why should those scumbags choose whats right or wrong for you??
they can take that money and shove it up their ass, this is the united states of america no one should be able to decide for you.
Fuck you and your anti-smoking tirades Perez and fuck Bill Gates and Fuck Bloomberg.
If I want to smoke then I'm going to smoke. All 3 of you should stay the fuck out of my business.
I'm lighting up in your honor right now.
I HATE smoking! The people that smoke are not all bad, it's the habit that is so dirty.
My dad is killing himself with cigarettes. It is horrible to watch. He can't breath, his coloring is sorta purplish gray, and he has zero stamina to play with the kids.
PLEASE DON'T SMOKE!!
Also, like it or not, the tobacco industry is a big part of the US (and world) economy. Less smokers = more people out of jobs.
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LeonA'$ GHo$T, yeah, back and BETTER THAN EVER, Biyatches!!! sez…
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I SMOKED FOR 22 YEARS AND TOOK CHANTIX UPON MY DOCTOR'S RECOMMENDATION. AFTER EIGHT DAYS I NEVER SMOKED AGAIN AND HAVE BEEN CIGARETTE-FREE FOR OVER A YEAR AND A HALF. YOU TAKE THE CHANTIX PILLS FOR 12 WKS. I KNOW IT GETS A LOT OF BAD PRESS BUT I THINK IT'S ALL ORCHESTRATED BY THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY BECAUSE IT WORKS…TALK TO YOUR DOCTORS PEOPLE ABOUT GETTING A PRESCRIPTION. AND IF YOU NEED TO QUIT DRINKING ASK ABOUT
CAMPRAL–THAT WORKS TOO. LOVE, LEoNA
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$500million to stop people smoking!
if people want to smoke there gonna smoke
how about using your $500mill and rebuild new orleans - just a thought
ugh. whatever. as if that money couldn't go to something much more deserving. fuck this.
I am an adult. My home, vehicle and belongings are paid for, no credit card debt, and my son is very well clothed, fed and schooled. If I want to smoke cigarettes (WHICH ARE NOT ILLEGAL)…I will. You kids need to get rid of the 'smoking stinks' t-shirts, which were distributed over 20 years ago….it's getting old.
I don't mean to sound rude but….500 million dollars would be better spent to provide clean water or go towards poverty or children who are starving. I commend them for donating so much money towards a cause they feel strongly about, but smokers kill themselves. Put your money towards something more important than such a selfish addiction.
Ridiculous. Couldn't they use that money for better causes. People make a conscious choice to smoke. They are adults and can make their own decisions.
Re: itsonlyme – TOTALLY AGREE, YOU SHOULD VISIT A SITE CALLED MYCHOICE.COM!
There are better issues that $500 million could have been donated too. Homelessness, starving kids around the world…damn it give some free gas with that money!!
Ooh! Ooh! I'll stop smoking!! How much money do I get?
Re: ArmyGirl – I DON'T KNOW IF YOU GOT MY LAST POST, BUT MUCH LOVE FOR GUYANA!
Re: bunse – LOL!
its all about personal power, if you can figure that out, you can quit
How about curing cancer?
If someone is dumb enough to smoke it's there problem. Why should they help someone who can help himself?
Fuck these old ass bitches, and what is this country coming to? trying to control what other people do to themselves? it's out choice! first saggers now this fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuu and LEGALIZE WEED!
OK, stopping smoking is a good cause. BUT REALLY??? It's a personal problem people have to deal with.. There are so many more important public issues that could benefit from the money. If people want to smoke–who cares!! Let them!! Next it will be stop drinking, then drugs, then anorexia, cutting and all sorts of personal problems that people do to themselves to escape their droll lives.
Pardon me, I'm going to have a smoke, while sitting at my Mac, not in Manhattan.
I thought the higher taxes they imposed on cigarettes were suppose to do that. But it didn't because the money they said they would make off of the taxes for education and anti-smoking just turned into another tax for everything eles. Our goverment dosent really want you to quit because it would cost them Billions in lost taxes. It's such a joke. That was why they raised the taxes, it was just another money grap.
Re: LettyB –
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LeonA'$ GHO$T, yep, back and BETTER THAN EVER, biyatches!!! sez…
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BIRTHDAY WISHES AND CAVIAR DREAMS ONCE AGAIN DARLING!
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Wasted money. It's a choice to smoke or not. I quit 10 years ago. But still, it's a choice and I don't know those who do smoke. And if they save a billion people from dying because of cigarettes, particularly in poorer countries and middle class areas, then who will take care of them? Food, clothing, shelter? Will there be educational opportunities for these people? Job placements? Especially if they're focusing on the poorer countries. You can't just keep 1 billion people from dying from a bad habit and expect them to be productive members of society on their own. I don't know. There are better charitable causes to slap 500 million down on.
That's great. Send more American money to the rapidly growing third world. It's only fair because the rest of the world does so much to help America. They demolish American buildings for free, they help keep our country from overpopulating by killing our citizens, they give us more time at home with our families by taking all of our jobs, they send us their products filled with all sorts of surprises (like lead), they provide medical jobs here by sending their AIDs and Ebola and bird flu…they're great to us.
The world is over populated as it is…If peeps want to smoke let them. Then if they get cancer or something as a result just let them die naturally. I like my smokes and if they kill me,there is one less person to consume the resources. I say spend the money on educating kids and protecting them from f'd up parents..laters
smoking also= very yellow teeth YUCKKKKKKK
Re: FReal – Agreed
seriously? fucking morons.
it'll become just like all the other drugs that are illegal. what a waste of time and money.
i also agree with babnb (and i'm a smoker.)
Re: lily – WHY DON'T YOU AGREE WITH ME, MY COMMENTS WERE GOOD I AM A SMOKER TOO! FUCKTARD!
Oh yeah..that's much more important than helping people who're starving..
This is so wonderful! Thanks for this news Perez. My mother smoked, all four of her kids have allergies and asthma from second hand smoke. She finally quit, too late, she had COPD and emphasyma. SMOKING KILLS, not just you, but severely harms the health of anyone in the vicinity of your second hand smoke.
Re: **LG* – SORRY I DIDN'T SAY THANKS! BUT THANKS FROM ONE BITCH TO ANOTHER!
Re: opi – FUCK OFF FUCKTARD! THAT'S BULLSHIT! YOU SHOULD ONE OF CANADA'S BULLSHIT HEALTH COMMERCIALS! AND BLEED US DRY WITH BULLSHIT TAXES MADE UP FROM SMOKING PROPAGANDA!
This is pointless, people choose whether they want to smoke or not. No one is shoving a cigarette in their face and making them smoke it. Well, maybe, but that's probably an extremely rare case. Anway. there are far worse things going on in the world. Example, Darfur, Uganda crisis, starving people all over the world. What a waste of money. If people want to smoke go ahead and let them. It's their fucking choice. And someone suggested obesity crisis? That's not a crisis! That's just overeating, it means they have plenty of food, too much food in fact. Starving is where the real issue is at. ughh Stupid stupid people.
Re: opi – New flash guy, not everyone gives a flying fuck about "killing" others with second hand smoke, I sure as hell don't
Re: opi – EVERYONE KNOWS THAT SMOKING IS BAD….if your mother was a weak piece of shit, why is that my problem? Our country is so two faced…MAKE IT ILLEGAL if it's so freaking bad. But no, they want the tax money. So if they don't want to make it illegal, STFU. Lots of things are bad for you…..including GAY SEX. Why don't they donate millions of bucks to turn gay men around? Get what I'm saying?
And right above this posting you have another promoting a bar being opened in Brooklyn (apparently in memory of Heath Ledger) named after a gimmick in a cigarette packet which tells you when you need to buy more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: LettyB – Get a Fucking life! It's getting sickening to read You beg for people to wish You a H* B*-I won't! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: LettyB –
my dad dies of lung cancer after smoking for 50 years…no, it wasn't the environment…i sure miss him…any smokers in yuor family?
Who gives a fuck if people want to kill themselves with cigarettes? Why don't they try to stop the genocide in the Congo?
What a fucking huge waste of money!!!! People smoke because they want to, it's not like people are oblivious to the fact that it can and will eventually kill them. No amount of money being poured into ads and whatnot will stop it. Just money down the drain.
Ok yeah smoking kills, but most people who smoke know this and do it anyway. So maybe they could allocate there resources somewhere better.
More and more non smokers are getting lung cancer and smoking related illnesses and dying, like Dana Reeve. It's a public health issue when non smokers are harmed by tobacco smoke in the workplace, like Dana Reeve as a singer.
Can I have $20K of that to go to Canyon Ranch's smoking cessation program?? I know I could do it being pampered for a month!
This is stupid.
Re: opi – Got news for you. My mother smoked during all 4 of her pregnancies, and gave birth to 4 healthy children. She smoked in the house, car…hell…she even sprayed aerosol hairspray, with a butt hanging from her lips. NOT one of her kids has allergies, emphysema, cancer, etc. In fact, the only one who has ever been admitted into a hospital was me….when I gave birth to my son. And, my son was an extremely healthy 21", 10lb 4oz baby.
Re: plume –
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LeonA'$ GHO$T, yep, back and BETTER THAN EVER, biyatches!!! sez…
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The BIRTHDAY GIRL already said SHE was a smoker.
Can't you read…FUKTARD!?!?
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Rather have wrinkles and cancer then be FAT!!!!!!!!
Biggest WASTE of money I have EVER heard about. Way 2 go assholes. Why not donate that money 2 Children's causes or AIDS fondations? SO STUPID! I hope the both of these dudes gets elephantitus. For shame guys, for shame…(But not Bill Gates cuz he's just awesome, yay Bill!)
Re: LettyB – I looked up mychoice.com….and it was for 'Hallmark Insights'…was that the correct website addy, LettyB?
fuck that they needta be spending it on the whole climate change and cleanin up the damn planet…if ppl who smoke wana kill themselves let them…smokin is fuckin trifflin…
Perez, what you don't seem to realize is that your little website here is ultimately promoting cigarette smoking. Celebrities, most of whom smoke, are responsible for a good amount of today's smokers (especially the younger crowd). Most people refuse to realize that cigarettes still have a trendy/glamourous vibe about them. Viewing photos of Lindsay, Paris, or Mary Kate lighting up can have a highly subconscious influence on your readers!
smoking is a decision people make on their own, so if they want to deal with any consequences of smoking, then let them! 500 mil could be MUCH BETTER SPENT on issues like starvation, or setting up homeless shelters, or doing something else that isn't a direct effect of someone's bad decisions!!
They need to put $500 mil towards stopping people from screwing each other in the butt, ya perverted felcher
I am a firm believer in population control. If people gotta die than so be it natural selection. We ALL in theory know smoking is bad and unhealthy and if people want to continue FUCK IT! Let them it is THEIR choice and it's natures way of weeding out the weak. The way I see it less of you less idiots on the road causing traffic. Oh and if I gotta go so be it that's mother nature's way of say buh bye! I'm so sick of all this death prevention programs. Why not help people and soldiers with mental problems or children in the system that are abused in many more ways than we'd like to imagine. Death is a natural part of life you can't be born and not die people!!!
You can judge smokers all you want, but it's there choice so F off.
wow - i never realized how ignorant the readers of perezhilton are. ask yourself - what have you done to help anyone lately? at $6 a pack - don't smokers have a better way to spend THEIR money?
Would be great if that actually happened. Smoking is the most revolting habit ever.
what a terrible waste of that money!!
Re: Willy – Oh no no no. Actually, FIVE HUNDRED KAZILLION TRILLION needs to be spent to figure out how to transplant a rat's brain into your polluted head to hopefully give you a lick of sense. Still I doubt that would be enough to fix you. Shit-head mother-effer.
That's you on your best day!