Remember when California illegalized cigarettes in most places on the same ballot where they legalized marijuana? Now there's a big push to legalize all the currently illegal hard drugs, mostly so they can be taxed. I lost respect for the whole anti-smoking lobby that day California showed its true colors. Health has nothing to do with their arguments. There was this one woman at work, a non-smoker, who would stand just outside the designated smoking area and cough up a storm. That's just dumb.  I've seen some of you non-smokers smoking a joint at a party and then complaining about smokers the next day.

I was a smoker for 10 years before I quit.  I hung around with many smokers over the years.  I don't think I ever met one that was inconsiderate to non smokers.  If around non smokers they always stayed away.  During those 10 years I also hung around with many non smokers, they can be very inconsiderate towards smokers however.

Posted By: edenri (March 26, 2009 at 12:32 PM)

@white trash.......yes I'm sure the smoke bothers you but to tell people what to do thats just ridiculous.  

WE ALL LIVE BY RULES, RULES TO PROTECT US.  IT IS NOT RIDICULOUS IN A PUBLIC PLACE, UNLIKE YOUR HOME - SMOKE ALL YOU WANT THERE.  CHILDREN, HOWEVER SHOULD BE, MUST BE PROTECTED FROM SMOKE.

If your not considerate to the smokers, no I'm not one, then why in the world would they want to be considerate to you?

CONSIDERATE OF SMOKERS????  I CAN'T CATCH A BREATH WHEN I LEAVE MY HOUSE.  SMOKERS ARE EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY AT JUST OUTSIDE OF EVERY RETAIL PLACE, WHICH MAKES ENTERING AN EXITING (AND WITHIN 20 FT INSIDE)  OBNOXIOUS TO TRY TO CATCH A BREATH.  EVEN OUTDOORS, WALKING ANYWHERE - IT BLOWS RIGHT IN A PERSON'S FACE!  

Your taking in just as much toxins sitting in traffic.  Sit a room with a bunch of smokers and you'll come out still alive.  Sit in a room with a bunch of cars and you won't walk out alive.

DON'T CARE TO BE SUBJECTED TO THAT CRAPPY AIR - OR CIGARETTE SMOKE.  BOTH ARE OUTRAGEOUS.  SOMEONE SMOKING IS NOT AS TOXIC AS A CAR - THAT'S TOUGH MATH!!!  DO YOU WANT TO DIE IMMEDIATELY, OR JUST OVER TIME?  BREATHING IN SMOKE IS INDESCRIBABLE.  WHEN I WAS YOUNG AND SUBJECTED TO IT CONSTANTLY IT I DESCRIBED IT AS TRYING TO SWALLOW CARPET.  THE OLDER I GET, THE HARDER IT IS TO BREATHE IT IN FOR EVEN A MOMENT.  I GET EXTREMELY NAUSEATED, LITERALLY, FROM BREATHING IT IN.  KNOWING THAT PEOPLE HAVE SUCH SENSITIVITIES TO THIS STUFF, WHY DO SMOKERS WANT TO BOMBARD FOLKS WITH THE NASTY, TOXIC AIR THAT COMES WITH IT?  YOU ARE PUSHING THAT CRAP ON OTHERS.  YOUR RIGHT TO SMOKE ENDS AT MY NOSE/LUNGS!!!!

Smokers really do need to be considerate of non smokers, but they do have a choice like you do, and it should be respected.

WHAT???!!!!

I really think all smokers know the dangers associated with it.  I don't think thats the point here.  Basically this article is stating that it is not JUST second hand smoke that kills.  Our genetic makeup may have a larger impact than we ever thought on our getting sick later in life.

I was an ex ADDICT as well.  It was pointed out earlier if I was an ex heroin user the gov. would love to see me at the clinic getting free methadone.  Funny thing is my tobacco taxes paid for that.  If you want to quite smoking though, theres a huge business out there of patches, gum, pills, etc.  all making plenty of money.  I live in a state that has 2 gambling facilities, these are the only places allowed in the state to still have a smoking section.  Why is that?  Probably because the huge amount of money the state gets from them.  Which in turn goes to programs that non smokers participate in.  My point is there is a huge double standard with smokers, they are good enough to milk money from, yet everyone wants them to quit.

It does little good to come at the problem of second-hand smoke by complaining to the smokers.  THey are, as you can see, very protective and defensive about it, as are all addicts. If you've ever smoked, you know how hard it is to quit, but also how wonderful it is to be "free" of tobacco.  

Instead of criticism, we need to EDUCATE smokers as to what damage they're doing to themselves.They do not really care what they are doing to YOU or ME.  Remember, it's an ADDICTION.  Point out the fact that even tho they may never get lung cancer, they are at risk for all diseases concerning the respiratory and circulatory systems, plus every major organ.  If you watched Patrickk Swayze on TV recently, you know that SMOKING was the cause of his pancreatic cancer, which surprised many.  We tend to think of it as only affecting the lungs.  NOT true!

We care about the health of all smokers, and hope you are soon free of this addictive habit.  I promise you that if you do, once you get past the first few weeks, you will never regret it for a moment.  You will only wish you had done it sooner.

I have to laugh outright at "Haughtymama."  Yes, you may be gregarious now.  So was I once, an energetic do-six-things-at-a-time sort of woman.  Smoking AGES you, both inside and out.  Smokers:  LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR and you can see it in your skin, your eyes, and those little pucker lines all around your lips.  U-G-L-Y!  As you age, those lines will become more and more pronounced.  I can actually tell you if anyone has ever smoked, just by looking for those lines around their mouths.

Women in particular, need all the beauty aids we can get.  QUIT SMOKING.  Besides, my non-smoking dates used to say that women who smoke smell like an ashtray.  Not exactly a turnon.  I guess it's all about what matters the most to you:  Your love life, looks and health, or your expensive nicotine habit?

Nicotine should be banned.

I used to be a smoker.  Smoked for 22 years, and quit when I was 37 years old.   I am now retired and able to travel all over the world and do the things I couldnt do while I was working.  I used to dislike non-smokers telling me my smoke bothered them too.  I used to become defensive, because I thought they were taking away MY rights.

Well, I wish I had listened.  I have been on oxygen for 3 years.  This makes it extremely difficult to travel within this country, and impossible to go overseas.  I wish someone HAD taken away my "right" to destroy my retirement years and my health.  THe stats show that most smokers don't  get lung cancer, but how would you like emphasema?  THe percentage of ex-smokers with that is MUCH higher, and it  will rob you of your most potentially pleasureable years.

There are lots of us smokers left and we were pretty gregarious people. Before the states passed their draconian anti-smoking laws my husband and I spent nearly 5000.00annually dining out and frequenting other public venues. We entertain at home now.

We buy our tobacco out of state now. Yet we both have full health coverage and provide the same to our employees. (some of whom smoke)

  We are thus no financial burden on the health system.

Since you rabid anti-smokers find us so abominable, why is it that you can't be satisfied with merely segregating us to "smoking establishments"?

Must you have access to every public venue under the sun, even if they only exist to serve a segment of the population you hold in contempt?

You state emphatically that we are disgusting murderes, so why do you need to be were we are?

You remind me of nothing so much as the nerdiest of high school kids that can't get into an "A" list

party.

I understand that you don't want to be aroud us, but why do you care if we socialize with each other. In New Jersey the anti-smoking lobby has invaded private clubs.

A little nanny law anyone?

Haughtymama

Smoking is linked to approximately 20% of cancers making it the leading "Preventable" causal agent. A more likely problem for a smoker is COPD or emphazema. Of the people who develop cancer, 80% wasn't caused by smoking, first or second hand, there was another causal agent, genetics, UV-radiation, environmental chemicals, asbestos, dust etc. If you live long enough, you'll likely develop some sort of cancer, they're not all fatal. If I quit smoking, that won't protect me from developing cancer. If I were adicted to heroine, there would be agencies trying to give me free clean needles. SInce I smoke, and therefore have no civil rights, I can be taxed to death which is more likely to kill me than smoking is. I'll smoke outside. You don't have to come anywhere near me. Trust me, I don't want to be near you anyway. Just let me off the financial hook for all the things you want that I don't agree with but you make me pay for. My wife's deathly allergic to most perfumes. Please stop drenching yourselves in them, That's where my medical costs are.

This second hand smoke garbage is so old..

IF it were true, which it is NOT,, then we should also make it illegal to drive in your car with your window down (like they do in Mexifornia every day for 2+ hrs/day), smelling other cars carcinogens and carbon monoxide..

Which is 100 times more dangerous than second hand smoke..

But it's not in the best interest of big-money auto makers to publish THAT study, is it?

Get over it people. I know 3 people who died of lung cancer and didn't smoke a day in their life.  My problem with all you people is that complain about it is that you can die from anything.  My friend died from another driver, should cars be banned because they are dangerous?!  Get a life. Be realistic.  I do not smoke, but also understand that if someone wants to smoke, feel free.

My mother , a  non-smoker, died of lung cancer caused by other people's smoking.  Back in the 60"s she worked for about 10 years  in an office where she was literally surrounded on all sides by smokers who puffed away all day enjoying their "rights"  to pollute the air.

I have no objection to smokers smoking as much as they want--so long as they swallow ALL of their own smoke. If they want to risk lung cancer, that's their right.  Smokers do not, however, have the right to "share"  their smoke with others and give other people the lung cancer that belongs to them.

This just in.....Second hand smoked caused the collapse of the housing market!

You guys are tough, so smoking is the #1 preventable death, smokers are not people who have choices?  Obesity was stated as #2, does that mean fat people should get faces made at them when eating a big mac?  Seriously we are all humans you know, even fat people.

As far as those statistics, looks like it was pulled off ACS maybe?  you can find anything on the internet.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Does-Secondhand-Smoke-Really-Cause-Cancer?&id=274289

Yes I understand smoking kills, but I think people blow it way out of proportion.  There are many other factors that add to our bad health in this country.  I just think we need to consider everything and anything that could affect our health.

I found this article very interesting.  I am  someone who has bladder cancer and since I never smoked my risk factors included second-hand smoke and the places that I have lived- long Island and Northern New England both have high rates of bladder cancer.  My parents smoked like fiends.  Because I am female and was younger- in my forties, I was misdiagnosed for six years.  Luckily, my type of bladder cancer is slow growing. Many other women when they are misdiagnosed that long usually die.  

Smokers you have all the right that you want to kill yourself, but please don't harm or kill others.  My mother never knew about my diagnosis, which I am glad about, it would have broken her heart.  

Every year the numbers of smokers dwindles, and few places tolerate smoking.  Few people will defend smoking--7 out of 10 smokers won't defend it. In the work place it makes one a pariah--a co-worker recently quit, and began nagging the few smokers left in our department about the loss of productivity involved in smoking.  My father quit after more than fifty years of smoking and could not stop apologizing to everyone in the house about his filthy habit.  There is nothing healthy, cool, or sophisticated about smoking.  Smoking is not a right; it is not a choice; it is an addiction.  A study like this will be meaningless in a few years because there will be so few smokers still around.  

Being a member of the only minority group officially sanctioned for discrimination, smokers, what bothers me is the way in which the government feels it's OK to tax us and then out the money in the general fund to pay for whatever their favorite thing is this week and claim that we have to pay because our healthcare costs more. In reality, we don't cost more overall. We're just an easy target. For instance, when Massachusetts got something like $350 million from the tobaco companies to fund anti-smoking programs, they actually spent $500 thousand on a study that concluded they couldn't stop people from smoking, so they just rolled the other $300 million into the general fund. I'm probably paying for everyone else's healthcare while I haven't needed much myself yet and I'm probably paying for the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel because people aren't driving enough to pay the gas taxes the state needs. I pay all my other taxes too, property, personal property, income, it's endless but on top of those, anytime the state or federal government can't balance their budget they say "Let's tax the smokers" nobody cares about them.

Secondhand smoke is classified as a Class-A carcinogen — the same classification given to

toxic substances like asbestos.1

• Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 69 compounds that are known

to cause cancer. Anyone who breathes secondhand smoke is breathing in formaldehyde,

ammonia, cyanide, arsenic, carbon monoxide, methane and thousands of other chemicals.2

The concentration of these carcinogenic chemicals is actually higher in secondhand smoke

than in the fumes inhaled directly by smokers.

• Secondhand smoke is a known cause of: lung cancer, heart disease, chronic lung ailments

such as bronchitis and asthma (particularly in children) and low birth weights. 3

• According to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with existing

heart conditions who are exposed to secondhand smoke, even for just 30 minutes, increase

their risk of a heart attack. The CDC experts advise persons with heart disease to avoid

indoor settings where smoking is allowed. 4

• Each year, exposure to secondhand smoke is estimated to result in at least 38,000 deaths in

the United States and over one million illnesses in children.5 In fact, more people die from

secondhand smoke than from car accidents or illegal drugs. In Pennsylvania alone, at least

1,800 deaths per year are attributable to secondhand smoke exposure.

• Secondhand smoke is especially dangerous to children, particularly for young children with

developing respiratory systems. Secondhand smoke can cause pneumonia; ear infections;

lower respiratory tract infections; irritate a child’s asthma and allergies causing longer and

more severe attacks; and is linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

• If you are pregnant and are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, you have a greater

chance of having a more difficult delivery; having a smaller than average baby; and having a

sick baby.

• The toxins in secondhand smoke can cause respiratory problems, including wheezing,

asthma attacks, shortness of breath, and excessive coughing even long after exposure.

Before California bars went smoke-free in 1998, 74% of San Francisco bartenders reported

experiencing respiratory symptoms. Within two months of bars going smoke-free,

complaints of these symptoms dropped by almost 60%.6

I completely agree with 'white trash'.

Smoking SHOULD be considered assault as far as I'm concerned. If I went up to someone and poured several carcinogens in their coffee or hid it in their food, I would DEFINITELY be charged with a crime.

But when a smoker blows those same highly dangerous chemicals in a person's face it's okay?

But if this suddenly became a crime then the tobacco companies would go out of business and the economy would suffer even more. The problem is that this disgusting and dangerous vice is good for business.

Smoking is the #1 cause of preventable death in the U.S., followed by obesity, yet so many people smoke!

If you want to smoke your death sticks then go ahead, but do it in your own house where you won't be killing others. You have the right to kill yourselves slowly, but don't do it to the rest of us who want to live healthy lives.

For edenri, I see no reason to be considerate to someone who is knowingly poisoning me. Smokers have the right to kill themselves, but NOT others.

People who smoke in public places where there is even ONE non-smoker in the area are selfish and knowingly hurting innocent people.

@white trash.......yes I'm sure the smoke bothers you but to tell people what to do thats just ridiculous.  If your not considerate to the smokers, no I'm not one, then why in the world would they want to be considerate to you?  Your taking in just as much toxins sitting in traffic.  Sit a room with a bunch of smokers and you'll come out still alive.  Sit in a room with a bunch of cars and you won't walk out alive.

Smokers really do need to be considerate of non smokers, but they do have a choice like you do, and it should be respected.

Breathers rights before smokers rights.  For an asthmatic, breathing in second hand smoke feels just like someone ran up to you, doubled their fist and socked you in the chest as hard as they could.  If I did that to someone, I would be committing a felony for assault and battery.  However, if the individual is assaulted in the chest, he can still breathe, whereas the asthmatic then begins to struggle to breathe.  The inherency to breathe without deep pain and difficulty should always be the first intrinsic right and freedom.

Smokers, stop killing innocent people; wear a patch because you are killing people!  Murder by any other name is murder, suffering and a struggle to even suck in a sip of oxygen!