smokers know it's killing them?

Question

RE:my previous question about smoking; people make choices, why take that choice away? smokers know exactly how bad it is for them, it's annoying to keep being told. Non smokers have a choice not to go near smokers, just as smokers have the choice to smoke. telling us we're going to die won't change many peoples minds. i just don't understand how non smokers get the choice....

Answer 1

Non-smokers are deluding themselves if they believe that by getting away from cigarette smoke they will not get cancer. The fact is that environmental factors like radium in drinking water, when heated creates radon gas. Radon gas is a carcinogen. When factories (like candle factories for example) release byproducts into the air, many of them are carcinogens. When waste transfer stations and dumps put perfume in the air to reduce the noxious odors, the interaction of these chemicals with other chemicals in the air can cause cancer. Bug sprays, cleaning chemicals we use in our homes all can cause cancer. Even foods you eat and the waxes they put on apples can cause cancer. Drugs you take prescription and otherwise can possibly cause cancer. Read the side effects of drugs, read the warning labels on drugs. We used to say that everything is illegal, immoral or fattening and fat was about all we had to worry about. Now, the cancer rate went from 1 in 100,000 40 years ago to 1 in 3 today. There are many people who have cancer who have never been around smoke. Apparently, our government would rather push laws than get to the heart of the matter.

Think about it, if we got rid of all the cancer, the drug companies could not make money. The medical profession couldn't make money. The government wouldn't have to legislate and the cigarette manufacturers would not have to contribute so much money to congressional campaigns and pay so much to settle lawsuits that possibly have as much to do with the water we drink, the air we breathe, the chemicals we use, the foods we eat, the carcinogens we put on our fields, and everything else as they do with cigarette smoke. Cigarettes are a matter of convenience and discerning people need to ask questions and get samples of their soil, the chemicals in their water and get an understanding of chemical interactions so that we can make educated decisions and possibly prevent cancer. Personally, I think it would be great if we could put the drug companies out of business. Think of the money we'd be saving on healthcare if we all learned the dangers of mixing chemicals, drugs, and really took ALL the POLLUTERS to task. Cure Cancer, medical bills plummet.

It's not time to legislate smoking or drinking. It's time to legislate education and promote interaction with our government so we don't keep getting smoke blown up our butts and money taken from our already thin wallets.

Answer 2

I think that smokers are missing the point, people that don't smoke only want to be away from the awful smell of smoke, I don't want to be any where that people are smoking and if I am in a public place and smokers are permitted to smoke then they will smoke, they mostly do not even consider my comfort or well being so the only way for non smokers to be protected is to legislate as they are doing, I have spent most of my life being subjected to breathing in the residue of this foul habit, now that is coming to an end I am really glad.
I fully appreciate that others have the right to smoke and I think that it would be wrong to ban smoking altogether, maybe if smokers had been more considerate of people that don't smoke then we would not be discussing this at all.
Fumes from traffic is of course harmful but at this time of our evolution it is a necessary evil and measures are being taken to make traffic fumes safer and cleaner, smoking is totally unnecessary and contributes nothing but ill health and suffering to the human body, of that you can be sure don't kid yourselves otherwise the evidence is overwhelming, sorry but its true.
To finish, non smokers are not taking away your right or choice to smoke, only your right or choice to make me suffer from your habit.
Chris

Answer 3

~Non smokers have a choice not to go near smokers, just as smokers have the choice to smoke. ~

Just so you know that non-smokers do NOT always have a choice.

Non smokers do not get the choice when you & I are standing outside in a queue waiting for a bus and I have to breathe the filth you are deliberately blowing towards me.

When you go outside to smoke during your work break, you drop your butt right before you come back in. But the fumes from your breath still waft all over me as you sit down - makes me sick. And this is inside as well.

Same thing when I am sitting next to you on a train or bus ride - a long one. Everytime the bus stops, you have a smoke outside and I am subjected to disgusting fumes emanating from you when I return to my seat. I have no choice but to sit in my assigned seat next to you.

I dont give a sh*t how you die. I do give a sh*t that I have the RIGHT TO BREATHE CLEAN AIR and you are taking that right away from me!!!

Answer 4

I'm sick!! Sick of people telling me I'm going to die of Lung Cancer or a heart attack! I could quit tomorrow, after 5 years the risk of cancer would be the same as if I'd never smoked but the chances of me having a heart-attack will change very little! It's as high for my non-smoking sisters as it is for me!!
The one thing I find really annoying are the calls for Medicare (US) or health treatments to be withdrawn from smokers or the obese yet a visit to any Casualty department on a week-end shows that it is Alcohol that costs the most in treatment, usually to others besides the drinker! As non-smoking doesn't mean non-drinking why should they be given BETTER treatment???? I'm not even talking about addiction as in the case of Alcoholics just general accidents caused by a couple of drinks!

Answer 5

Again, is anyone knocking on your door, ripping the cigarrette out of your hand and telling you that you can't smoke it?

I don't think that non-smokers care all that much if smokers want to smoke. Smoke it up, get cancer, emphysema, COPD, whatever. I don't care because, like you said, it's YOUR choice. You're an adult, you can decide what your priorities are.

Non-smokers also have the right to choose NOT to smoke. However, when we go out in public and are forced to walk through clouds of second hand smoke to complete even the most basic tasks of living, then you are taking away our right to remain "non-smokers". It's not like I can choose not to breathe because you're smoking around me but you don't HAVE to smoke. It's not like you'll die from going without a cigarette for a short period of time.

Answer 6

Non-smokers and ex-smokers a pshycologically disturbed, I'm an ex-smoker myself, and it upsets us to see peole enjoying themselves by the simplistic action of taking a drag on a cigarette.

You see it's unfair that smokers should find such instant relief from tension and stress, while we the untainted have to spend a fortune at the gymn, psychiatrists, or booze for years, not five minutes.

The fact that banning smoking in public places is unlawful as it breaches your right to enjoy your poperty without interference from the state, is irrelevant. All rights except our right to deprive you of your rights, do not apply to smokers.

And for god's sake do not download a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or you'll find a whole list of rights that have been illegally curtailed.

So just puff off somewhere else, but just give me a second to mell that sweet arouma of.... Aaaagh!

Answer 7

smokers do, unfortunately, have the right to smoke, yes.

for whatever reason they have, they are allowed to smoke.

however, i have made the non-smokers have made the decision to keep there lungs healthy, therefore smokers should respect that and move away from anybody who doesn't smoke.

its horrible to think that my body has to be polluted by seocnd-hand nicotine just because some other person has chosen to do that to themselves.

i know that smokers have the right to smoke, but its putting other people's health at risk and therefore their rights should be lower than non-smokers.

I'M SORRY THAT I AM RAMBLING ON BTW BUT...

taking your point of...
"non smokers have a chioce not to go near smokers"
thats perfectly true, and i know that as it is the non-smoker who has the problem with it, they shoudl move away.

but the point is, we shouldn't have to move away because we are the ones that have made (what is debately) the right decision.

thank you for reading my long winded answer

Answer 8

I dont smoke and choose not to go near smokers but some seem to think that its alright to blow out their second hand smoke in my face when im out and about, so, no we non-smokers dont always have the choice to keep away from smokers, some are just pig ignorant, perhaps us non-smokers should think about how smokers would like it if we were to belch in their faces or maybe fart in their direction? would they like that? I dont care if people want to smoke themselves to death, its their choice, just dont spread the nasty habit my way.

Answer 9

i agree, but unfortunately the majority of the people side with the non-smokers and feel that they are the people that get the right to go to all non-smoking places. in the us most larger cities have converted to non-smoking and several states are non-smoking (including the one i live in) i hate having to go outside in the middle of winter for a smoke but there is nothing that can be done about it. you are totally right, non-smokers have the choice to not go somewhere because they allow smoking, but the lawmakers do not see it that way. they see it as smoking is bad and we need to protect people from it. i know it is bad for me but banning it in the bar or restaurant just made me go outside, not quit. i will quit when i decide to quit.

Answer 10

I hear ya. The government is trying to make us feel like criminals for smoking. Unfortunately they still haven't figured out that tax increases on cigarettes only make us poor people poorer. They need to jack up the prices on the really foul pipes and cigars the rich bastards smoke.