The Bogus 'Science' of Secondhand Smoke

[Jenn! 918]

Prohibition doesn't work.

Thanks God!

[GaryC 7]

Prohibition doesn't work.

This is turning out to be a prohibition of inches. I just want some honesty here. If it's that bad then just get rid of it. If it isn't that bad then leave it alone.

[garya505 2]

She said a man smoking at the same bus stop where she was standing sent her into an asthma attack.

If her condition is that fragile then a lot of other things in a city would get her. I am sorry she has that bad of a condition but we can't ban a legal behavior because of a very few people that it may effect.

I have asthma. I almost died from it.

[peezey 0]

I think we are moving toward getting rid of it. The biggest market for cigarette makers now are new markets that don't include the US. Our market isn't dry, but there are significantly lower numbers of smokers each year.

[Peikko 1,575]

How do you suggest one gets rid of something that is available worldwide? Education on its ill effects is the best way forward.

[derekkj 0]

I wish that the smokers who drive in front of me would keep their windows closed while they smoke, so I don't have to breathe in their smoke! I love the people who drive with their cigarette out the window, blowing the smoke out the window, so they don't stink themselves up... but then it gets on me when I'm behind them.

What's even worse is when they throw their nasty butts out the car window because they don't want them in the car either!

[Robor007 0]

Yeah - second-hand smoking is nonsense. The doses are too low to make any difference.

I disagree. Short story...

Girlfriend lives with mom in smoking household

Girlfriend has chronic asthma and needs a breather to control it

Girlfriend becomes wife and moves out of smoking house

Shortly after wife's asthma problems begin to fade

Eventually asthma completely disappears

[GaryC 7]

How do you suggest one gets rid of something that is available worldwide? Education on its ill effects is the best way forward.

We do it with a lot of things. Some drugs are available in a lot of places but they are illegal here. If we outlaw the sale of cigarettes that would drive the remaining smokers underground. I wouldn't go around breaking down doors looking for someone with a pack but I would just outlaw the sale. In a generation the problem would be over.

If it's that bad then outlaw it. If it isn't leave it alone. Just be honest about it.

Edited February 1, 2007 by Iniibig ko si Luz forever

[Peikko 1,575]

I thought the US already had a huge problem with illegal drugs and gangs without adding fuel to the fire by banning cigarettes outright. It would be an expensive failure all around.

[mawilson 2,133]

Well, if we can't say conclusively that secondhand smoke makes people sick, what makes it any different than, say, strong perfume, or BO for that matter?

Indeed - there are lots of things that are carcinogenic and toxic, yet completely legal.

How about street cart vendors selling hot dogs and kebabs -- cancer on wheels?

[Peikko 1,575]

Not sure hot dogs and kebabs cause cancer...

[GaryC 7]

I thought the US already had a huge problem with illegal drugs and gangs without adding fuel to the fire by banning cigarettes outright. It would be an expensive failure all around.

It isn't the same as coke or pot. All we would have to do is make it illegal to sell them. I wouldn't put anyone in jail if they got caught with a smoke. The top penalty for possession is to just have it taken away from you. But if it is no longer available in every gas station and convinence store then it will drop off to almost none. It would go underground and at least the problem of second hand smoke would be over.

[garya505 2]

How do you suggest one gets rid of something that is available worldwide? Education on its ill effects is the best way forward.

We do it with a lot of things. Some drugs are available in a lot of places but they are illegal here. If we outlaw the sale of cigarettes that would drive the remaining smokers underground. I wouldn't go around breaking down doors looking for someone with a pack but I would just outlaw the sale. In a generation the problem would be over.

If it's that bad then outlaw it. If it isn't leave it alone. Just be honest about it.

We don't ban everything that's bad for us to do to ourselves, but we do restrict people's freedoms when they are doing something bad to others.

In other words, everyone has a perfect right to jump off a cliff as long as they don't drag anyone with them.

[garya505 2]

Well, if we can't say conclusively that secondhand smoke makes people sick, what makes it any different than, say, strong perfume, or BO for that matter?

Indeed - there are lots of things that are carcinogenic and toxic, yet completely legal.

How about street cart vendors selling hot dogs and kebabs -- cancer on wheels?

Nobody is making you eat the hotdog or kebab, but if you do eat one it doesn't harm me.

[mawilson 2,133]

Not sure hot dogs and kebabs cause cancer...

Are you kidding me? They burn the ####### out of them. The blackened / burnt parts are pure carcinogens

(heterocyclic amines).