Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.1
Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen).2
Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.3
Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.4
A study found that nonsmokers exposed to environmental smoke were 25 percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases compared to nonsmokers not exposed to smoke.5
heh ... I assume this is humor ... if you can get cancer from your neighbor smoking on his porch, we are all doomed, and actually we should all have cancer by now.
Thre are claims that consistent exposure to second hand smoke in the work place or home can increase heart disease by 25% and lung cancer by 25% or so. Other views (which make more sense to me) believe these are non scientific results or biased results ... basically junk science. There seems to be a nanny state desire to pressure smokers to stop, so some feel it is good to stop them at home and work.
In Illinois legislation was just passed that makes smoking in even small bars illegal. Many bar and restaurant owners and patrons are quite upset.
Here is a link to a search of junkscience.com on the subject
That's why I chew Skoal Mint. I started smoking somewhere around 7-9 yrs old. Smoked for 20 years. When I finally quit, I started dippin'. I also had started doin' that around 9 yrs old. But quit while in the Army circa 1974 @ 18 yrs old.
In the 10th Corps, I smoked like a house-a-fire. Didn't make through the interim year and had to re-apply to go back in for the 14th Corps.
Apprentice yr, I quit smoking on a regular basis. Decided I'd become an occassional smoker. Got down to about 2 paks a year. Went back to Copenhagen.... preferred breathing over not.
First year in residence, I was the one walking around on campus with a leather pouch attached to my belt to hold the can of Copenhagen (much more easy on the Jeans and suit pants if you don't put that huge can in your pocket; after a while there is a huge ring where you put the can in your pants.
During the interim year, got the word no one in the Corps would smoke in residence.
That was ok with me. Listened very close to see if Copenhagen was ever mentioned.
After the Rock, we were tearing down the ROA equiptment. About a week into it, we had a campfire out in the woods. Some guys wife (she hated the idea that her husband dipped) stood up and asked if there was a 'no smoking' rule, what about Copenhagen?
About a dozen of us at the fire almost got up and went over to string her up by her heels.... her husband would have led the way. Can you imagine the first mob riot in the Corps?
The ruling came down.... NO TOBACCO of any kind! ! ! ! ! !
So, I became a covert dipper. Got careless a few times, but always managed to avoid detection. While at HQ, I'd run into New Knoxville after SNS, before the after meetings. At Emporia, I'd run accross the street to the pharmacy and grab a can.
I remember there was a rotation for each twig to take bless patrol during lunch. I almost always got Emporia Hall so when I saw the first person come out of the dinning hall, I could dart over to the pharmacy before they reached Emporia.
The beauty of Skoal or Copenhagen is people don't die from second-hand spittle. I mean really! ! ! When that's in your mouth and a girl knows it, she ain't gonna kiss ya.
And even if you are picking a fight, you are aiming for the guy's eyes. So, the only one taking a chance on it, is the individual dipping the stuff I mean 'snuff'....
I admire your concern for your health and well-being of others. But while I was smoking the only thing more rude than a smoker was an arrogant non-smoker dictating my rights.
All the smoking bans make this a serious issue around Illinois lately, but outdoor air is never really considered as a second hand smoke environment. Even indoors in a second hand smoke situation, evidence is not very solid as I see it. One article said the indicators of smoke found in the blood were 70 times higher in a smoker than a "second hand smoker", yet they put the increase risk of disease at nearly the same level. There could be 20 things "linked", and none or ten might actually be part of the cause of increase risk of disease.
They say that marker in the blood links these non smokers to the second hand smoke problem, but they don't account for the exteme difference in exposure levels. It seems to me many things that become politically accepted are not based on sound science. But it could be an interesting topic for discussion. :)
Here's a suggestion. Since it is so evil and smells so bad and is so dangerous, then why not just make the stuff an illegal drug?
(sorry for the interruption, I had to have a cigarette)
Until that time, shaddup!
But, you know what? It'll never happen.
Nobody, NOBODY out there says: let's make cigs an illegal drug.
Why? Because they like the taxes.
If you don't like the smell of cigarette smoke coming from a nearby car...roll your window up.
If you don't like the smell of ciagrette smoke coming from a pedestrian, change your pace so that you are upwind...or slow down so you are well behind the person.
If you, as a customer, are offended by cigarette smoke in a restaurant or bar, then go someplace else and, on your way out, tell the owner that you'll be back when he/she bans smoking in his establishment. There are LOTS of places that voluntarily ban smoking (and if a business owner decides to do so in his establishment, I"m all for it)
If you, as a taxpayer, are concerned about the health about somebody who works in a restaurant or bar, then do something real...insist that the government enforce ALREADY EXISTING exposure limits for airborne hazards for their employees. The EPA already has exposure limits on hazardous chemicals. Those exposure rates can be measured and controlled. Employees are in more REAL danger from exposure to airborne caustic soda from the dishwashing chemicals than they are from ciagrette smoke. But I see no call from the anti-smoking nazis to put vent-a-hoods in the dishwashing areas. Why?
I liked the quote regarding the 2nd hand smoke statistics Now, if they could prove it, I'd be even more impressed.
Evidently, the EPA has broken down the elements to discover the cancerous bi-products in smoking.
GRANTED! ! ! ! Smoking is caustic and brutal on lungs. I fully agree with that. It would be smart for everyone to stop smoking. I also know the link to smoking and cancer is very obvious. But good grief! ! !
The quote from your post:
A study found that nonsmokers exposed to environmental smoke were 25 percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases compared to nonsmokers not exposed to smoke.5
That is about as vague as a horoscope............(You'll have a great day today, but watch out for transportation issues)..................Does this mean the other 11 zodiacial wonders out there don't even have to think about red lights????????????????????........................
What study? Who did the study? How was it controlled? What kind of environmental smoke? Where these bar maids? Factory workers? Miners? How many stay at home moms with smoking husbands were found to have lung diseases? (For this one, I'd love to see the stats)
Every year thousands of men die from prostrate cancer and even more women die of breast cancer. My studies in this are conclusive. These cancers are from a low or non-existant sexual activity. Now, watch that be on 20/20 in a few months.
I would venture a guess that most of the people yelling about 2nd hand smoke have most everything in their lives going well and this and global warming are the only things they can complain about.
I want to start a movement to ban cheap french wh0re perfume in the workplace.
Stuff gives me a headache...makes my eyes water and makes me sneeze.
OMG when I am in an elevator with a woman who has doused herself, I am almost dead by the time I get to the eighth floor.
And at work, the windows can't open up so that I can't get fresh air.
Not only does it offend, it has got to be a hazard since it gives me such a bad reaction.
Let's ban Charlie, Tommy, Brittney, JLo, and all that other cheap trashy stuff!
The use of them is in no way medically indicated. They have so many hazardous chemicals in them it's not even funny. And they cause allergic reactions in some.
But, wait, no. We don't want to ban it. Let's get the trial lawyers to start lawsuits against the perfume companies.
Let's get local governments to ban their use in restaurants and bars and workplaces.
And let's apply a tax on it that triples the price. We'll say that we are using it to educate kids about the disgusting nature of cheap perfume. And maybe if it's expensive enough, young girls won't get into the habit of hiding poor hygiene by adding different smells.
What do you mean, there's no scientific evidence to back me up? What do you mean that I'm being a prude? Well, I'll hire some scientists and get them to write a report that backs me up!
After all...how many people out there who die were exposed to secondhand perfume. Want some backup? Make a lab rat swim in the stuff...inject the junk in it's bloodstream...you can force cancer on it. There was once a study that said that peanut butter causes cancer in lab rats.
If a person wants to wear cheap, trashy perfume in the privacy of her own home, that's ok...as long as there are no kids around. But NOT in public.
I hear ya though, Im a smoker, but its like having AIDS today, more and more states I go to dont allow smoking inside any public building. Friends of mine have had to shut down their bars and restaurants because their clientele leaves when some puppeteer makes a law telling them what they can and cant do in their own place of business.
In my own town your not supposed to even smoke on the sidewalks.
I know some people genuinely are sensitive to smoke so I dont flaunt it, but it gets old being treated like a leper and the root cause of everyone elses misperceived problems and imaginary ailments.
I wouldnt be surprised if there are leper colonies for smokers in the not too distant future
I hear ya though, Im a smoker, but its like having AIDS today, more and more states I go to dont allow smoking inside any public building. Friends of mine have had to shut down their bars and restaurants because their clientele leaves when some puppeteer makes a law telling them what they can and cant do in their own place of business.
In my own town your not supposed to even smoke on the sidewalks.
I know some people genuinely are sensitive to smoke so I dont flaunt it, but it gets old being treated like a leper and the root cause of everyone elses misperceived problems and imaginary ailments.
I wouldnt be surprised if there are leper colonies for smokers in the not too distant future
Thanks for the still prayin' thing. It is making a difference...big time.
Hey, look. I don't want to flaunt it either. But, darn it, it's legal! And, seriously, go to an anti-smoking legislative action website...and you will NEVER see them call to just making tobacco an illegal drug. NEVER.
Why? The trial lawyers want those massive fees from litigation. The lawmakers want that tax money.
Make it illegal and the cash flow stops to the trial lawyers and goes to the criminal prosecutors (who have a far smaller lobby in DC). Make it illegal and the tax dollars disappear.
Seriously, though, if they come up with scientifically defenseable exposure limits on the smoke and make business owners meet those exposure limits, then I have no problem with it. Because it is up to the owner to decide how to comply with that law. If he wants to come up with a expensive filtering system, great. If he wants to have his employees wear HEPA masks, great. Or if he, the owner, wants to eliminate the source (read that ban smoking), that's great. But it's the owner deciding how to do it. Not the nanny state.
And if a customer doesn't want to breathe it, the customer can go elsewhere. They say 70% of the population doesn't smoke. Restraunt owners and bar owners are not stupid: a lot of them already cater to that 70%.
And if the government wants to ban smoking in government buildings, well, in that case, they're the owners. And it's their right to do so.
But as to outdoors? Well, I say show me the money! In other words, exposure can be empirically measured. Hazard levels can be scientifically determined. If they can demonstrate, in a provable or repeatable method, that my smoking on a sidewalk or in a park is a hazard to somebody that's 6-10 feet away, then that's fine...so be it.
Until that time...I say ban the public use of cheap perfume!
I work in an office where perfumes are banned, for which I am grateful. I have fairly severe asthma,and floral perfume, smoke of any kind and cleaning chemicals can be an issue. They do use some deodorizing cleaners at work in the bathrooms, but I try to avoid the recently cleaned ones.
I watched my dad die of copd. I don't even like to watch anyone smoke.
You guys are great on this board. This is the best board I've personally ever seen. Love the responses! The kind ones, the angry ones, the appeal-to-reason ones, the comparisons.
I know smoking is a very touchy issue and I'm really not the controlling type. Any addiction feels close to impossible to control, let alone give up, whether it's food, alcohol, or drugs; in this case, nicotine. They're all about the same to my way of thinking.
But I agree with those who have commented on the horrors of certain chemicals and colognes. I'm really grateful that people seem to wear so much less cologne and perfume these days, at least in the places I go. I'm far less sensitive to chemicals and specifically colognes than I used to be but when you're sensitive to them it really makes you feel sick to be around them.
I wrote the following a couple years ago and posted it to a pro smokers forum to a smoking nanny who invaded us. I will update it to present day at the end:
This story is about a lady who fell in love with a nice young man back in 1994. They loved all the same things and did everything together, but they had one problem. He wasn't a smoker. In fact he was an anti smoker. He gave her a choice, quit smoking or they had to break apart. He was sensible enough to realize her 1 1/2 to 2 pack a day habit wouldn't allow for her to go outside every time she wanted to light up.
Blinded by love she agreed and went to visit her doctor. She asked him to put her on the patch so she could stop smoking. Her boyfriend surprised her with a trip to The Florida Keys as a thank you and they had a wonderful weekend vacation together. This also helped take her mind off smoking and the patch did work.
After a couple weeks the violent reaction she had to the patches was becoming apparent. The skin under each patch applied was bubbling up and becoming raw and bleeding. At only 5 feet tall even and 96 to 98 pounds, there were only so many areas of her body above the waist left to apply the patches. Each raw area was taking a couple weeks to heal, even with special prescription cream her doctor gave her.
After a month, down to the 2nd step of the 3 step patch system, she was starting to have such bad gut pains she was left screaming in agony. She went to see her doctor and he gave her pain pills for the gut, more cream (at 75 bucks an ounce tube) for the raw spots on her body and told her to quit using the patch and start smoking again, quitting was going to be the end of her.
She started smoking again, lost her boyfriend, moved into her own apartment and tried to find a part time job she could do while dealing with the gut pain that wasn't going away. Full time work was out of the question, she was too sick. Tests were also out of the question with no health insurance.
Now, let's fast forward a bit. It's now 1998 and she is living in Los Angeles and on the state health care, sicker still and trying to find a doctor to help. Over the years we skipped she had used ER's and seen a doctor on the rare occasions she could afford an office visit. She put up with being called a drug seeker, a liar and asked if she wanted to talk to a shrink. All she wanted was to find out why her gut hurt so badly.
The docs at UCLA ran a few minor tests, but since she didn't have insurance, just the state care, they really weren't much help. She got lucky for awhile and got some pain pills to help the pain, but the docs would never really try to find out what was wrong. She was reduced to eating one meal a day and then lying, curled up in a ball, screaming for an hour till the pain passed. (This was while on pain pills, they didn't touch that chronic pain that eating caused.)
She then met a nice man online and moved to Phoenix. He got her on the state health care there and took her to the local teaching hospital. By then she was down to 72 pounds, unable to walk under her own power (he carried her in his arms), and the pain was relentless. There she found the resident doctor willing to listen and believe in her. He ordered the barium gulp, iodine push, CT scan that found her Crohn's Disease. After being ignored for so many years, the only choice was surgery. Here is what was removed from inside her:
That is the last foot of her small bowel and a bit of her large (colon). You can see the outside and how it was covered in scar tissue and held into the U shape from the Crohn's. The inside was 90% filled with scar tissue and the reason for all the pain as food tried to move thru it after she ate.
She went into remission after the surgery, but still had pain. It took 5 more years and 6 to 7 OB/GYN docs to find the one that realized what the rest of the pain was from. The doc ordered a test on an Xray taking toilet that showed how her uterus was tilted into her colon, causing bowel obstructions. She also had a rectocele, a breakdown of the wall of muscle/skin between the vaginal and rectal openings so it formed a pouch that caused even yet worse obstructions of stool. She was put into surgery again and the doctor fixed the rectocele and removed her uterus. She found out then that this is something that happens to some women with Crohn's and was related and considered a side effect to the disease.
The skin of the palms of her hands and fingers was also getting covered in little water type blisters, same as what she got under those nicotine patches so many years ago. It's called EBA, a bubbling skin disease 4 out of every million people with Crohn's gets and she never goes a day now without some raw areas on her hands that are painful.
Finally she was painfree in her gut and she did a detox off the high amounts of painkillers she had been on. 400 mg a day of morphine and 2 Vicodin ES every 4 hours. She got her weight back up to 84 pounds when she started absorbing the food she ate. Then the Crohn's flared again.
I'm that woman.
I got the word I was approved for SSI, but my husband makes too much money at 9.50 an hour for me to get any from them, which then translates into no state medical unless I get SSI monies first. I'm again passing out from the pain after I dare to try to eat something. I feel they will have to surgically remove more of my small bowel that this flare has destroyed. I'm not sure what I will do at this point and may die from a non fatal disease or end up in emergency surgery at the last minute when my guts explode from scar tissue obstruction.
To the nannies who don't like smokers, I say this: Well, enjoy paying for my furture medical care one way or another, because trying to appease an anti smoker, I have more than paid the price. Before I tried to quit I was never sick. I was teaching dance in a club and dancing non stop for 6 to 8 hours every night. I rode a bike 20 miles a day, today I use a wheelchair to get around.
Smoking HELPS those with Colitis and some with Crohn's. Those who don't smoke are put on the patch if they can handle it. Smoking helps them get into remission or stay there IF they haven't previously tried to quit and then flared, such as in my case. There is no hope for me, I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life. I take it day by day and deal the best I can. I'm homebound, I watch the world go by me as I look out my window.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for caring so much about me and my health that you and your type talked me into trying to quit smoking. It's ok that I have no life any more, it's ok I can't go anywhere with all the smoking bans in place, it's ok because YOU are paranoid of 2nd hand smoke which has been proven not to be harmful, it just doesn't smell good to you. Unless you have a breathing problem, it won't hurt you and even that has now been questioned. I realize you don't care the cost to me, in fact I'm sure you are overjoyed I won't be anywhere near you with my cigarette that keeps me a little healthier. You aren't capable of thinking of anyone else when it comes right down to it, you only care about yourself and your selfish reasons.
Just remember when they decide to take away your alcohol or your soda or tell you to diet. It's no different than taking away my cigarettes. If it offends someone, get rid of it. Don't you dare utter a word of complaint or expect me to have your back. It won't affect me, I can't go out any longer and have a good time, smokers aren't allowed inside most buildings these days.
Present day:
My husband and I are now separated and getting divorced. This way I was able to get the SSI and medicare, since I no longer had income (they considered his mine too). I was down to 76 pounds by the time I started on the medicare and got started back going to doctors for the various medical problems I have. (Crohn's of course, the skin probs from it, the Fibromyalgia, the IBS and the migraines.)
Today, 7 months later I'm at 101 pounds. I've never weighed this much in my entire life, unless I was pregnant. I feel great and look normal again, instead of like I just walked out of a death camp. I still have good and bad days, but my new G.I. doc is running tests and will figure out what he thinks is best for me soon, meds or surgery. The pain will always be there, if the Crohn's isn't acting up, the Fibro will be. Haha. I was referred to the best pain doctor in the state and he's not scared of my high tolerance to pain meds and has me on 120 mg of methadone a day. I'm now able to walk 3 blocks to the grocery store on really good days, but most of the time I ride my mountain bike, which I'm able to go 5 or more miles now without breaking a sweat. My goal is to get back to the 20 miles I used to ride a day. I only get 623 bucks a month from SSI, so I know I will never be able to afford a car on that. It is just enough to cover my bills and the 99 bucks of food stamps takes care of my food each month.
I talked to my sister last week in IM. She said to me 'now I know why you told me to never quit smoking'. She didn't listen, she quit and her pain level went from something a tylenol would handle to having to take Lortab every 4 to 6 hours and her tolerance was building fast. She knew she'd end up like me soon on the hard pain drugs for life if she didn't do something. She started smoking again and now she's almost back to 'normal' for her where over the counter pain meds are enough to work for her pain. She has Ulcerative Colitis, which is almost the same as Crohn's, except it only affects the Colon, not the entire digestive system as my Crohn's does. I am happy my experience helped her realize quickly what was causing the pain increase and she went right out and bought a pack of cigarettes. Had I known that all those years ago, I wouldn't have waited as long as I did, which was too long. I'll never be like I was, but smoking keeps me a LOT healthier than I would be if I didn't smoke. That would kill me and I'd really hate to die from a non fatal disease, just to please some smoking nanny's sensitive nose.
(Note: I do not consider people with breathing problems anti's and nannies. I will NOT light up around them or make sure we are outside and I'm downwind, then smoking after getting their permission. Krys and I have talked about this at length and she can confirm what I'm saying if anyone should question it.)
My heart broke hearing that from my sis. It's bad enough one of us has to live like this, but she's catching up with me with her Colitis and Fibro as the years go by and I hate seeing it. So I guess at this point you can also apply my above story to my sister too now that she's quit and also went from doing anything she wanted to being homebound in chronic pain.
There are quite a few other diseases they have found that smoking helps keep at bay, but do you ever hear about it on the news? Of course not, that would prove how much the nannies and antis have lied to the general public about 2nd hand smoke and we smokers would possibly get some of the laws repealed and get some of our rights back.
For those smokers here, if you don't mind generics, are you aware you can order cigarettes online from the Indian reservations and after tax and COD charges the cost comes to about 15 bucks a carton. I've been buying from allnativesmokeshop.com for years now and have saved a bundle. I smoke 6 cartons a month and they cost me right around 90 bucks. The government won't allow credit card companies, UPS and FedEX to work with online smoke companies anymore, so you pay via COD/money order when they arrive by US Mail. I order and the box will arrive in 3 days times .. sometimes even in 2! I smoke their Seneca Menthol brand and really like them. They are comparable to any name brand I smoked in the past and don't cost me 40 bucks a carton that I'd pay locally. So if y'all want to save some bucks, check out their website and try them once at least. I will tell you I prefer to call their 800 number (it's 24 hours) to place my orders rather than using their website, but that's just my personal choice. I prefer dealing with live people when possible and as soon as my order is put in, sometimes even before we hang up the phone, I have an email confirming it. They have a very nice system set up and they do NOT give out clients names to the government, they don't have to by law because they are a reservation, their own nation. Not all companies online that sell smokes are run by Indians, you must be careful, the ones that aren't have to give out client info when asked by the Government, then those clients get huge tax bills of 3000 or more bucks the Government feels they owe for buying online and avoiding their state tax. They can't do that when you buy from a reservation.
I am completely against second-hand smoke. I really don't understand why smokers feel their right to smoke is more important than my right not to smoke. In certain public places, it should be banned. However, I wouldn't say that it should be banned in bars or in certain areas outside and such. I used to not care, until a friend introduced me to his mom who has bad asthma that gets triggered by cigarette smoke even outside. She can't even go to a park without the risk of someone smoking while walking by triggering an attack. We really need to balance the perceived right to smoke with everyone else's right to breathe.
However, the second-hand smoking statistics are generally only for people who are in close proximity with smokers. E.g. the children of smokers, people that work at bars, etc. They are the ones most at risk. It's also laughable to complain about cigarette smoke coming into your car from another car while sitting in traffic since cars emit so much more pollution, including carcinogens, than cigarettes do.
The reality is that there are a lot of things that cause cancer, including cigarettes. Cancer rates are through the roof for a variety of reasons. I haven't looked at the statistics lately, but I'd bet that colon cancer rates are through the roof as a result of our diets while lung cancer rates are high due to primarily air pollution. Smoking is certainly a part of it, but we have to put everything in the proper balance and try to tackle the biggest issues first. Smoking bans are a good thing, when done correctly. However, it doesn't help if we blow the impact of second hand smoke out of proportion with reality and discredit the facts that indicate smoking is dangerous.
I am completely against second-hand smoke. I really don't understand why smokers feel their right to smoke is more important than my right not to smoke. In certain public places, it should be banned. However, I wouldn't say that it should be banned in bars or in certain areas outside and such. I used to not care, until a friend introduced me to his mom who has bad asthma that gets triggered by cigarette smoke even outside. She can't even go to a park without the risk of someone smoking while walking by triggering an attack. We really need to balance the perceived right to smoke with everyone else's right to breathe.
However, the second-hand smoking statistics are generally only for people who are in close proximity with smokers. E.g. the children of smokers, people that work at bars, etc. They are the ones most at risk. It's also laughable to complain about cigarette smoke coming into your car from another car while sitting in traffic since cars emit so much more pollution, including carcinogens, than cigarettes do.
The reality is that there are a lot of things that cause cancer, including cigarettes. Cancer rates are through the roof for a variety of reasons. I haven't looked at the statistics lately, but I'd bet that colon cancer rates are through the roof as a result of our diets while lung cancer rates are high due to primarily air pollution. Smoking is certainly a part of it, but we have to put everything in the proper balance and try to tackle the biggest issues first. Smoking bans are a good thing, when done correctly. However, it doesn't help if we blow the impact of second hand smoke out of proportion with reality and discredit the facts that indicate smoking is dangerous.
Mister P-Mosh I realize I entitled this thread "Secondhand smoke kills so many people" then referred to heart and lung disease; so you have every right to assume that all of my complaints about having to smell or breathe cigarette smoke are about being concerned about getting some disease.
But that is not the case; I apparently ran two thoughts together - I just don't like the smell, and I was saying it's everywhere I go. So in that case, it's not laughable that I would mind smelling the smoke even if I am in traffic where odorless toxic emissions are present.
Different things bother different people. Does anything in your environment bother you? Maybe noise pollution?
Secondhand smoke or not minding their own business?
Got any stats on that?
YIdon'tgotochurch...
Better watch that dippin'. Somebody's gonna step where you spat and slip and fall and get killed, then we're gonna be hearing silly stuff about secondhand dip.
Secondhand smoke or not minding their own business?
Got any stats on that?
YIdon'tgotochurch...
Better watch that dippin'. Somebody's gonna step where you spat and slip and fall and get killed, then we're gonna be hearing silly stuff about secondhand dip.
I just never seems to end.
Yeppers! Thank goodness Big Brother is looking out for our best interest. <_<
Recommended Posts
Jim
Could you please give some links to secondhand smoke statistics?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Siouxzahn
Oh, sure Jim, coming right up.
:)
Here's one for starters
American Lung Association
Here's an excerpt from above link:
August 2006
Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rhino
heh ... I assume this is humor ... if you can get cancer from your neighbor smoking on his porch, we are all doomed, and actually we should all have cancer by now.
Thre are claims that consistent exposure to second hand smoke in the work place or home can increase heart disease by 25% and lung cancer by 25% or so. Other views (which make more sense to me) believe these are non scientific results or biased results ... basically junk science. There seems to be a nanny state desire to pressure smokers to stop, so some feel it is good to stop them at home and work.
In Illinois legislation was just passed that makes smoking in even small bars illegal. Many bar and restaurant owners and patrons are quite upset.
Here is a link to a search of junkscience.com on the subject
Edited by rhinoLink to comment
Share on other sites
Siouxzahn
Here's another link for you Jim, as you requested.
http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/secondhand...ndhandsmoke.htm
Thanks.
:)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YIdon'tgotochurch
Souix,
You must be right! ! !
That's why I chew Skoal Mint. I started smoking somewhere around 7-9 yrs old. Smoked for 20 years. When I finally quit, I started dippin'. I also had started doin' that around 9 yrs old. But quit while in the Army circa 1974 @ 18 yrs old.
In the 10th Corps, I smoked like a house-a-fire. Didn't make through the interim year and had to re-apply to go back in for the 14th Corps.
Apprentice yr, I quit smoking on a regular basis. Decided I'd become an occassional smoker. Got down to about 2 paks a year. Went back to Copenhagen.... preferred breathing over not.
First year in residence, I was the one walking around on campus with a leather pouch attached to my belt to hold the can of Copenhagen (much more easy on the Jeans and suit pants if you don't put that huge can in your pocket; after a while there is a huge ring where you put the can in your pants.
During the interim year, got the word no one in the Corps would smoke in residence.
That was ok with me. Listened very close to see if Copenhagen was ever mentioned.
After the Rock, we were tearing down the ROA equiptment. About a week into it, we had a campfire out in the woods. Some guys wife (she hated the idea that her husband dipped) stood up and asked if there was a 'no smoking' rule, what about Copenhagen?
About a dozen of us at the fire almost got up and went over to string her up by her heels.... her husband would have led the way. Can you imagine the first mob riot in the Corps?
The ruling came down.... NO TOBACCO of any kind! ! ! ! ! !
So, I became a covert dipper. Got careless a few times, but always managed to avoid detection. While at HQ, I'd run into New Knoxville after SNS, before the after meetings. At Emporia, I'd run accross the street to the pharmacy and grab a can.
I remember there was a rotation for each twig to take bless patrol during lunch. I almost always got Emporia Hall so when I saw the first person come out of the dinning hall, I could dart over to the pharmacy before they reached Emporia.
The beauty of Skoal or Copenhagen is people don't die from second-hand spittle. I mean really! ! ! When that's in your mouth and a girl knows it, she ain't gonna kiss ya.
And even if you are picking a fight, you are aiming for the guy's eyes. So, the only one taking a chance on it, is the individual dipping the stuff I mean 'snuff'....
I admire your concern for your health and well-being of others. But while I was smoking the only thing more rude than a smoker was an arrogant non-smoker dictating my rights.
I think that's 'snuff sed
Link to comment
Share on other sites
rhino
Hey Siouxzahn ...
All the smoking bans make this a serious issue around Illinois lately, but outdoor air is never really considered as a second hand smoke environment. Even indoors in a second hand smoke situation, evidence is not very solid as I see it. One article said the indicators of smoke found in the blood were 70 times higher in a smoker than a "second hand smoker", yet they put the increase risk of disease at nearly the same level. There could be 20 things "linked", and none or ten might actually be part of the cause of increase risk of disease.
They say that marker in the blood links these non smokers to the second hand smoke problem, but they don't account for the exteme difference in exposure levels. It seems to me many things that become politically accepted are not based on sound science. But it could be an interesting topic for discussion. :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
markomalley
Hey, smoking Nazi!
Here's a suggestion. Since it is so evil and smells so bad and is so dangerous, then why not just make the stuff an illegal drug?
(sorry for the interruption, I had to have a cigarette)
Until that time, shaddup!
But, you know what? It'll never happen.
Nobody, NOBODY out there says: let's make cigs an illegal drug.
Why? Because they like the taxes.
If you don't like the smell of cigarette smoke coming from a nearby car...roll your window up.
If you don't like the smell of ciagrette smoke coming from a pedestrian, change your pace so that you are upwind...or slow down so you are well behind the person.
If you, as a customer, are offended by cigarette smoke in a restaurant or bar, then go someplace else and, on your way out, tell the owner that you'll be back when he/she bans smoking in his establishment. There are LOTS of places that voluntarily ban smoking (and if a business owner decides to do so in his establishment, I"m all for it)
If you, as a taxpayer, are concerned about the health about somebody who works in a restaurant or bar, then do something real...insist that the government enforce ALREADY EXISTING exposure limits for airborne hazards for their employees. The EPA already has exposure limits on hazardous chemicals. Those exposure rates can be measured and controlled. Employees are in more REAL danger from exposure to airborne caustic soda from the dishwashing chemicals than they are from ciagrette smoke. But I see no call from the anti-smoking nazis to put vent-a-hoods in the dishwashing areas. Why?
Because you LOVE the tax money.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YIdon'tgotochurch
I liked the quote regarding the 2nd hand smoke statistics Now, if they could prove it, I'd be even more impressed.
Evidently, the EPA has broken down the elements to discover the cancerous bi-products in smoking.
GRANTED! ! ! ! Smoking is caustic and brutal on lungs. I fully agree with that. It would be smart for everyone to stop smoking. I also know the link to smoking and cancer is very obvious. But good grief! ! !
The quote from your post:
A study found that nonsmokers exposed to environmental smoke were 25 percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases compared to nonsmokers not exposed to smoke.5
That is about as vague as a horoscope............(You'll have a great day today, but watch out for transportation issues)..................Does this mean the other 11 zodiacial wonders out there don't even have to think about red lights????????????????????........................
What study? Who did the study? How was it controlled? What kind of environmental smoke? Where these bar maids? Factory workers? Miners? How many stay at home moms with smoking husbands were found to have lung diseases? (For this one, I'd love to see the stats)
Every year thousands of men die from prostrate cancer and even more women die of breast cancer. My studies in this are conclusive. These cancers are from a low or non-existant sexual activity. Now, watch that be on 20/20 in a few months.
I would venture a guess that most of the people yelling about 2nd hand smoke have most everything in their lives going well and this and global warming are the only things they can complain about.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
markomalley
Tell you what?
I want to start a movement to ban cheap french wh0re perfume in the workplace.
Stuff gives me a headache...makes my eyes water and makes me sneeze.
OMG when I am in an elevator with a woman who has doused herself, I am almost dead by the time I get to the eighth floor.
And at work, the windows can't open up so that I can't get fresh air.
Not only does it offend, it has got to be a hazard since it gives me such a bad reaction.
Let's ban Charlie, Tommy, Brittney, JLo, and all that other cheap trashy stuff!
The use of them is in no way medically indicated. They have so many hazardous chemicals in them it's not even funny. And they cause allergic reactions in some.
But, wait, no. We don't want to ban it. Let's get the trial lawyers to start lawsuits against the perfume companies.
Let's get local governments to ban their use in restaurants and bars and workplaces.
And let's apply a tax on it that triples the price. We'll say that we are using it to educate kids about the disgusting nature of cheap perfume. And maybe if it's expensive enough, young girls won't get into the habit of hiding poor hygiene by adding different smells.
What do you mean, there's no scientific evidence to back me up? What do you mean that I'm being a prude? Well, I'll hire some scientists and get them to write a report that backs me up!
After all...how many people out there who die were exposed to secondhand perfume. Want some backup? Make a lab rat swim in the stuff...inject the junk in it's bloodstream...you can force cancer on it. There was once a study that said that peanut butter causes cancer in lab rats.
If a person wants to wear cheap, trashy perfume in the privacy of her own home, that's ok...as long as there are no kids around. But NOT in public.
OK, I'm done ranting now.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YIdon'tgotochurch
Mark:
Agreed, when women bathe in the stuff it's as bad as cigarette smoke. Combine the 2 and it can be even worse.
You said:
"Stuff gives me a headache...makes my eyes water and makes me sneeze."
But if a woman's wearing the right perfume lightly donned on her wrists and on the pulse areas of her kneck....I get a............different response.
Edited for content
Edited by YIdon'tgotochurchLink to comment
Share on other sites
mstar1
Mornin Mark!
Work thing gotja a lil riled?
sorry--i am still prayin'
I hear ya though, Im a smoker, but its like having AIDS today, more and more states I go to dont allow smoking inside any public building. Friends of mine have had to shut down their bars and restaurants because their clientele leaves when some puppeteer makes a law telling them what they can and cant do in their own place of business.
In my own town your not supposed to even smoke on the sidewalks.
I know some people genuinely are sensitive to smoke so I dont flaunt it, but it gets old being treated like a leper and the root cause of everyone elses misperceived problems and imaginary ailments.
I wouldnt be surprised if there are leper colonies for smokers in the not too distant future
Link to comment
Share on other sites
markomalley
I'm only half way joking.
And you'll note that I said cheap perfume.
I can't count the times I've had to hold my breath in the elevator on the way up (or down).
Link to comment
Share on other sites
markomalley
Thanks for the still prayin' thing. It is making a difference...big time.
Hey, look. I don't want to flaunt it either. But, darn it, it's legal! And, seriously, go to an anti-smoking legislative action website...and you will NEVER see them call to just making tobacco an illegal drug. NEVER.
Why? The trial lawyers want those massive fees from litigation. The lawmakers want that tax money.
Make it illegal and the cash flow stops to the trial lawyers and goes to the criminal prosecutors (who have a far smaller lobby in DC). Make it illegal and the tax dollars disappear.
Seriously, though, if they come up with scientifically defenseable exposure limits on the smoke and make business owners meet those exposure limits, then I have no problem with it. Because it is up to the owner to decide how to comply with that law. If he wants to come up with a expensive filtering system, great. If he wants to have his employees wear HEPA masks, great. Or if he, the owner, wants to eliminate the source (read that ban smoking), that's great. But it's the owner deciding how to do it. Not the nanny state.
And if a customer doesn't want to breathe it, the customer can go elsewhere. They say 70% of the population doesn't smoke. Restraunt owners and bar owners are not stupid: a lot of them already cater to that 70%.
And if the government wants to ban smoking in government buildings, well, in that case, they're the owners. And it's their right to do so.
But as to outdoors? Well, I say show me the money! In other words, exposure can be empirically measured. Hazard levels can be scientifically determined. If they can demonstrate, in a provable or repeatable method, that my smoking on a sidewalk or in a park is a hazard to somebody that's 6-10 feet away, then that's fine...so be it.
Until that time...I say ban the public use of cheap perfume!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
markomalley
BTW, one other note: in Prince George's County, Maryland, they banned smoking in all restaurants and bars. All indoor public places.
Except one. The cigar lounge Skybox in Redskins Stadium.
things that make you go hmmmmm.....
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bramble
I work in an office where perfumes are banned, for which I am grateful. I have fairly severe asthma,and floral perfume, smoke of any kind and cleaning chemicals can be an issue. They do use some deodorizing cleaners at work in the bathrooms, but I try to avoid the recently cleaned ones.
I watched my dad die of copd. I don't even like to watch anyone smoke.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kevlar2000
Don't worry, Mark. When the new state law goes into effect next year, even that will have to go smokeless.
Not sure if there's an exemption for smoke shops or not, but I wouldn't think the skybox would qualify.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Siouxzahn
Ha ha....
You guys are great on this board. This is the best board I've personally ever seen. Love the responses! The kind ones, the angry ones, the appeal-to-reason ones, the comparisons.
I know smoking is a very touchy issue and I'm really not the controlling type. Any addiction feels close to impossible to control, let alone give up, whether it's food, alcohol, or drugs; in this case, nicotine. They're all about the same to my way of thinking.
But I agree with those who have commented on the horrors of certain chemicals and colognes. I'm really grateful that people seem to wear so much less cologne and perfume these days, at least in the places I go. I'm far less sensitive to chemicals and specifically colognes than I used to be but when you're sensitive to them it really makes you feel sick to be around them.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BikerBabe
I wrote the following a couple years ago and posted it to a pro smokers forum to a smoking nanny who invaded us. I will update it to present day at the end:
This story is about a lady who fell in love with a nice young man back in 1994. They loved all the same things and did everything together, but they had one problem. He wasn't a smoker. In fact he was an anti smoker. He gave her a choice, quit smoking or they had to break apart. He was sensible enough to realize her 1 1/2 to 2 pack a day habit wouldn't allow for her to go outside every time she wanted to light up.
Blinded by love she agreed and went to visit her doctor. She asked him to put her on the patch so she could stop smoking. Her boyfriend surprised her with a trip to The Florida Keys as a thank you and they had a wonderful weekend vacation together. This also helped take her mind off smoking and the patch did work.
After a couple weeks the violent reaction she had to the patches was becoming apparent. The skin under each patch applied was bubbling up and becoming raw and bleeding. At only 5 feet tall even and 96 to 98 pounds, there were only so many areas of her body above the waist left to apply the patches. Each raw area was taking a couple weeks to heal, even with special prescription cream her doctor gave her.
After a month, down to the 2nd step of the 3 step patch system, she was starting to have such bad gut pains she was left screaming in agony. She went to see her doctor and he gave her pain pills for the gut, more cream (at 75 bucks an ounce tube) for the raw spots on her body and told her to quit using the patch and start smoking again, quitting was going to be the end of her.
She started smoking again, lost her boyfriend, moved into her own apartment and tried to find a part time job she could do while dealing with the gut pain that wasn't going away. Full time work was out of the question, she was too sick. Tests were also out of the question with no health insurance.
Now, let's fast forward a bit. It's now 1998 and she is living in Los Angeles and on the state health care, sicker still and trying to find a doctor to help. Over the years we skipped she had used ER's and seen a doctor on the rare occasions she could afford an office visit. She put up with being called a drug seeker, a liar and asked if she wanted to talk to a shrink. All she wanted was to find out why her gut hurt so badly.
The docs at UCLA ran a few minor tests, but since she didn't have insurance, just the state care, they really weren't much help. She got lucky for awhile and got some pain pills to help the pain, but the docs would never really try to find out what was wrong. She was reduced to eating one meal a day and then lying, curled up in a ball, screaming for an hour till the pain passed. (This was while on pain pills, they didn't touch that chronic pain that eating caused.)
She then met a nice man online and moved to Phoenix. He got her on the state health care there and took her to the local teaching hospital. By then she was down to 72 pounds, unable to walk under her own power (he carried her in his arms), and the pain was relentless. There she found the resident doctor willing to listen and believe in her. He ordered the barium gulp, iodine push, CT scan that found her Crohn's Disease. After being ignored for so many years, the only choice was surgery. Here is what was removed from inside her:
http://www.xworld.org/pix/guts3.jpg
That is the last foot of her small bowel and a bit of her large (colon). You can see the outside and how it was covered in scar tissue and held into the U shape from the Crohn's. The inside was 90% filled with scar tissue and the reason for all the pain as food tried to move thru it after she ate.
She went into remission after the surgery, but still had pain. It took 5 more years and 6 to 7 OB/GYN docs to find the one that realized what the rest of the pain was from. The doc ordered a test on an Xray taking toilet that showed how her uterus was tilted into her colon, causing bowel obstructions. She also had a rectocele, a breakdown of the wall of muscle/skin between the vaginal and rectal openings so it formed a pouch that caused even yet worse obstructions of stool. She was put into surgery again and the doctor fixed the rectocele and removed her uterus. She found out then that this is something that happens to some women with Crohn's and was related and considered a side effect to the disease.
The skin of the palms of her hands and fingers was also getting covered in little water type blisters, same as what she got under those nicotine patches so many years ago. It's called EBA, a bubbling skin disease 4 out of every million people with Crohn's gets and she never goes a day now without some raw areas on her hands that are painful.
Finally she was painfree in her gut and she did a detox off the high amounts of painkillers she had been on. 400 mg a day of morphine and 2 Vicodin ES every 4 hours. She got her weight back up to 84 pounds when she started absorbing the food she ate. Then the Crohn's flared again.
I'm that woman.
I got the word I was approved for SSI, but my husband makes too much money at 9.50 an hour for me to get any from them, which then translates into no state medical unless I get SSI monies first. I'm again passing out from the pain after I dare to try to eat something. I feel they will have to surgically remove more of my small bowel that this flare has destroyed. I'm not sure what I will do at this point and may die from a non fatal disease or end up in emergency surgery at the last minute when my guts explode from scar tissue obstruction.
To the nannies who don't like smokers, I say this: Well, enjoy paying for my furture medical care one way or another, because trying to appease an anti smoker, I have more than paid the price. Before I tried to quit I was never sick. I was teaching dance in a club and dancing non stop for 6 to 8 hours every night. I rode a bike 20 miles a day, today I use a wheelchair to get around.
Smoking HELPS those with Colitis and some with Crohn's. Those who don't smoke are put on the patch if they can handle it. Smoking helps them get into remission or stay there IF they haven't previously tried to quit and then flared, such as in my case. There is no hope for me, I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life. I take it day by day and deal the best I can. I'm homebound, I watch the world go by me as I look out my window.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for caring so much about me and my health that you and your type talked me into trying to quit smoking. It's ok that I have no life any more, it's ok I can't go anywhere with all the smoking bans in place, it's ok because YOU are paranoid of 2nd hand smoke which has been proven not to be harmful, it just doesn't smell good to you. Unless you have a breathing problem, it won't hurt you and even that has now been questioned. I realize you don't care the cost to me, in fact I'm sure you are overjoyed I won't be anywhere near you with my cigarette that keeps me a little healthier. You aren't capable of thinking of anyone else when it comes right down to it, you only care about yourself and your selfish reasons.
Just remember when they decide to take away your alcohol or your soda or tell you to diet. It's no different than taking away my cigarettes. If it offends someone, get rid of it. Don't you dare utter a word of complaint or expect me to have your back. It won't affect me, I can't go out any longer and have a good time, smokers aren't allowed inside most buildings these days.
Present day:
My husband and I are now separated and getting divorced. This way I was able to get the SSI and medicare, since I no longer had income (they considered his mine too). I was down to 76 pounds by the time I started on the medicare and got started back going to doctors for the various medical problems I have. (Crohn's of course, the skin probs from it, the Fibromyalgia, the IBS and the migraines.)
Today, 7 months later I'm at 101 pounds. I've never weighed this much in my entire life, unless I was pregnant. I feel great and look normal again, instead of like I just walked out of a death camp. I still have good and bad days, but my new G.I. doc is running tests and will figure out what he thinks is best for me soon, meds or surgery. The pain will always be there, if the Crohn's isn't acting up, the Fibro will be. Haha. I was referred to the best pain doctor in the state and he's not scared of my high tolerance to pain meds and has me on 120 mg of methadone a day. I'm now able to walk 3 blocks to the grocery store on really good days, but most of the time I ride my mountain bike, which I'm able to go 5 or more miles now without breaking a sweat. My goal is to get back to the 20 miles I used to ride a day. I only get 623 bucks a month from SSI, so I know I will never be able to afford a car on that. It is just enough to cover my bills and the 99 bucks of food stamps takes care of my food each month.
I talked to my sister last week in IM. She said to me 'now I know why you told me to never quit smoking'. She didn't listen, she quit and her pain level went from something a tylenol would handle to having to take Lortab every 4 to 6 hours and her tolerance was building fast. She knew she'd end up like me soon on the hard pain drugs for life if she didn't do something. She started smoking again and now she's almost back to 'normal' for her where over the counter pain meds are enough to work for her pain. She has Ulcerative Colitis, which is almost the same as Crohn's, except it only affects the Colon, not the entire digestive system as my Crohn's does. I am happy my experience helped her realize quickly what was causing the pain increase and she went right out and bought a pack of cigarettes. Had I known that all those years ago, I wouldn't have waited as long as I did, which was too long. I'll never be like I was, but smoking keeps me a LOT healthier than I would be if I didn't smoke. That would kill me and I'd really hate to die from a non fatal disease, just to please some smoking nanny's sensitive nose.
(Note: I do not consider people with breathing problems anti's and nannies. I will NOT light up around them or make sure we are outside and I'm downwind, then smoking after getting their permission. Krys and I have talked about this at length and she can confirm what I'm saying if anyone should question it.)
My heart broke hearing that from my sis. It's bad enough one of us has to live like this, but she's catching up with me with her Colitis and Fibro as the years go by and I hate seeing it. So I guess at this point you can also apply my above story to my sister too now that she's quit and also went from doing anything she wanted to being homebound in chronic pain.
There are quite a few other diseases they have found that smoking helps keep at bay, but do you ever hear about it on the news? Of course not, that would prove how much the nannies and antis have lied to the general public about 2nd hand smoke and we smokers would possibly get some of the laws repealed and get some of our rights back.
For those smokers here, if you don't mind generics, are you aware you can order cigarettes online from the Indian reservations and after tax and COD charges the cost comes to about 15 bucks a carton. I've been buying from allnativesmokeshop.com for years now and have saved a bundle. I smoke 6 cartons a month and they cost me right around 90 bucks. The government won't allow credit card companies, UPS and FedEX to work with online smoke companies anymore, so you pay via COD/money order when they arrive by US Mail. I order and the box will arrive in 3 days times .. sometimes even in 2! I smoke their Seneca Menthol brand and really like them. They are comparable to any name brand I smoked in the past and don't cost me 40 bucks a carton that I'd pay locally. So if y'all want to save some bucks, check out their website and try them once at least. I will tell you I prefer to call their 800 number (it's 24 hours) to place my orders rather than using their website, but that's just my personal choice. I prefer dealing with live people when possible and as soon as my order is put in, sometimes even before we hang up the phone, I have an email confirming it. They have a very nice system set up and they do NOT give out clients names to the government, they don't have to by law because they are a reservation, their own nation. Not all companies online that sell smokes are run by Indians, you must be careful, the ones that aren't have to give out client info when asked by the Government, then those clients get huge tax bills of 3000 or more bucks the Government feels they owe for buying online and avoiding their state tax. They can't do that when you buy from a reservation.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mister P-Mosh
I am completely against second-hand smoke. I really don't understand why smokers feel their right to smoke is more important than my right not to smoke. In certain public places, it should be banned. However, I wouldn't say that it should be banned in bars or in certain areas outside and such. I used to not care, until a friend introduced me to his mom who has bad asthma that gets triggered by cigarette smoke even outside. She can't even go to a park without the risk of someone smoking while walking by triggering an attack. We really need to balance the perceived right to smoke with everyone else's right to breathe.
However, the second-hand smoking statistics are generally only for people who are in close proximity with smokers. E.g. the children of smokers, people that work at bars, etc. They are the ones most at risk. It's also laughable to complain about cigarette smoke coming into your car from another car while sitting in traffic since cars emit so much more pollution, including carcinogens, than cigarettes do.
The reality is that there are a lot of things that cause cancer, including cigarettes. Cancer rates are through the roof for a variety of reasons. I haven't looked at the statistics lately, but I'd bet that colon cancer rates are through the roof as a result of our diets while lung cancer rates are high due to primarily air pollution. Smoking is certainly a part of it, but we have to put everything in the proper balance and try to tackle the biggest issues first. Smoking bans are a good thing, when done correctly. However, it doesn't help if we blow the impact of second hand smoke out of proportion with reality and discredit the facts that indicate smoking is dangerous.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Siouxzahn
Mister P-Mosh I realize I entitled this thread "Secondhand smoke kills so many people" then referred to heart and lung disease; so you have every right to assume that all of my complaints about having to smell or breathe cigarette smoke are about being concerned about getting some disease.
But that is not the case; I apparently ran two thoughts together - I just don't like the smell, and I was saying it's everywhere I go. So in that case, it's not laughable that I would mind smelling the smoke even if I am in traffic where odorless toxic emissions are present.
Different things bother different people. Does anything in your environment bother you? Maybe noise pollution?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
dmiller
.
Edited by dmillerLink to comment
Share on other sites
Ron G.
I'm curious.
What do more people die from?
Secondhand smoke or not minding their own business?
Got any stats on that?
YIdon'tgotochurch...
Better watch that dippin'. Somebody's gonna step where you spat and slip and fall and get killed, then we're gonna be hearing silly stuff about secondhand dip.
I just never seems to end.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
Yeppers! Thank goodness Big Brother is looking out for our best interest. <_<
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.