Originally Posted by deprav

I'm peronally pretty skeptical about second hand smoking being a major health issue. Smokers generally try not to blow their smoke in people's face and far from children (at least I do), and even tho you'd inhale less thant 1/10 or 1/20 of the quantity of smoke a regular smoker does.
I understand the smell being repellant for non-smoking people tho.

But I think there are way worst substances we inhale everyday in our current atmosphere : car gaz, industrial rejections, chemical products etc... hell even barbecue causes cancer.
I'm not saying second-hand smoke is only bullshit, I'm saying I don't think it's the only cause of "breath" related cancers for non-smoking people.

I smoke reasonnably, I'm not one of those smoking a pack of cigarets daily. I think it's like any other substance, it's all about control and not smoking in excess. Humans have been doing drugs since the dawn of time afterall, it's his industrialisation that allows us to use more than reason allows.

And to asnwer your question : do you think smoking is worth a shorter life and possibly endangering the lives around you?

I personally think that smoking or not, we'll most likely get some cancer from something else considering our actual way of consuming industrial shitty stuff. And life can be shortened by so many things... accidents, unexpected diseases, bad choices, cataclisms, and in some countries : wars and bombings etc...
So I think smoking is a lesser problem for me, as long as it stays reasonnable and still allows me to do some sports without breathing issues, and if it does someday I'd probably cut back a lot. But then again, it's only my opinion.

Originally Posted by Oracle

It may not be anything more than an issue of comfort for most people when exposed to secondhand smoke, but for some, it is a serious health issue.

When I was younger, my asthma was bad enough that I had to carry an emergency inhaler, and take daily doses of some drug where I had to strap a mask to my face and spend 30 minutes inhaling it. Excluding heavy physical exertion, the most common reason I would need to use the inhaler was because of breathing too much secondhand smoke. If I wasn't paying attention and I walked into a group of smokers and took a breath, I would be hacking and wheezing within a minute. This isn't exclusive to just me either; any child with asthma risks having an attack when exposed to secondhand smoke, and risks increasing the severity of their asthma, as second hand smoke can reduce lung function by reducing the size of the respiratory tract.

In addition, even outside children with asthma, secondhand smoke can increase the odds of contracting a respiratory disease, increase the odds of developing asthma, and is a known carcinogen.

http://www.epa.gov/smokefre/healtheffects.html


Secondhand smoke is definitely not something that should be taken lightly.

Besides, you can't really be pro smoking and then tell fat people to change their lives. It's the same thing. Fat people damage their own system directly and may cause some harm to others indirectly. Smokers cause worse damage to their own system directly and damage to others directly as well. I could expand it to some of your points of views and say that if you can't smoke, you're a "worthless, spineless quitter and you are inferior both mentally and physically to other people. I will deny you your job just because you smoke." -> not much difference there (should banned post in here).

Originally Posted by deprav

I'm not sure Oracle is participating to the obesity discussion so I'll take a guess and take it for me ;p But I think you mixed up with some other dude.

I was precisely arguing you can't tell obese people to change their lives and judge them, they of course can and I'd encourage them if they feel like it's a problem for them, just like I'd encourage a smoker to quit smoking if he feels he has to. I'm not "pro-smoker", smoking is bad but around I think we're aware enough not to smoke near people bothered by cigarets, and I think we all have the right to choose how to fuck our health up.

Originally Posted by deprav

And to make the link with obesity even further, just as tobacco companies aren't allowed to make TV advertisements for cigarets (around here at least), maybe food companies shouldn't be allowed to make advertisements for their crappy unhealthy food ;o

Originally Posted by deprav

On a personnal note, I'm more of a cigaret smoker by default : I prefere smoking pot, and I actually smoke way less tobacco when I've some hash/weed in stock. If it was entirely up to me I'd grow my own shit and smoke sporadically to reduce my consumption to a minimum.

Now that you guys said it, I remind hearing/reading something about second hand smoke being more nocive at same quantity (10ml of 2ndhand smoke being more nocive than 10ml of the smoke someone directly inhale from a cigaret) ; And it sure is bad for people already having breathing issues and heart diseases, no questions asked. People just have to be "civil" and respect the fact some people don't want to breath our shit, but we have the right to dispose of our body as we wish imo.

But I still think car pollution and chemical rejections are more nocive than 2nd hand smoke.

Originally Posted by Thellian

In response to OP: I can't tell whether you think we should just outright ban smoking or not.
My personal view is that people are free to do as they please as long as they are not ostensibly hurting others. So, people should be able to smoke privately. Publicly, however, it should not be tolerated because it affects the health of others.
Another thing that shouldn't be tolerated is parents who smoke around their children. You have the right to harm yourself as much as you want (short of suicide, but that's a different discussion), but you don't have the right to harm your children.

Originally Posted by Arglax

Sure, but this is about passive smoking. I'm not taking away anybody's right to smoke, I just think you shouldn't smoke in anyone's presence.

Originally Posted by Banned

I don't know any parents who smoke around their children, or in the house.

Originally Posted by Banned

I also believe in my town there was a law or ordnance that required you to be 20 feet from public building or storefronts that did not want you smoking in front of there store.