Thursday, December 12, 2002

Smokers Suck, Continued

"Because of this legislation, it's literally true that something like a thousand people will not die each year that would have otherwise died." -- Mayor Bloomberg

Read about it here in the NY Times.

Hopefully, San Antonio will get its act together and pass something similar soon.

In the meantime, here is a list of smoke free restaurants.

I only wish there were a few smoke free pool halls -- even though it seems like an oxymoron. I hate reeking after league night and the physical repercussions of second hand smoke are pretty scary.

Here are a handful courtesy of the fact page at the smoke free San Antonio site:

Secondhand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death in the US, killing over 53,000 non-smokers each year.

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in America. It kills more Texans than AIDS, alcohol, auto accidents, illicit drugs, suicide, handgun murders, and fires combined. (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health)

Secondhand smoke causes 30 times as many lung cancer deaths as all regulated air pollutants combined.

Regular exposure to secondhand smoke increases your risk of heart attack by 90%.

Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers.

The smoke from the burning end of a cigarette is 5 to 20 times more toxic that what the smoker inhales.

My dad's stance on this issue is smoking sucks, but legislation is worse and if non-smokers would show their feelings with their wallets, more places would become smoke free.

While I am pretty leery of legislation myself, this argument would only work for me if smoking was just a nuisance making my hair smelly. Unfortunately, it isn't and many of the thousand saved lives from the Bloomberg quote will be bar and restaurant employees who should not have to choose between their job and their health.

Here is the Smoke Free San Antonio Factoid on them:

Restaurant, bar and hospitality workers are exposed to the highest levels of secondhand smoke of any occupational or demographic group.

Mothers got "MADD" about far fewer deaths per year caused by another perfectly legal vice -- alcohol.

(Currently their web site attributes 16,500 deaths per year to drinking and driving. I am not sure where they get their number and it probably includes the drunks who die as well as the "innocent" or sober "victims." Either way, the number is a fraction of the 53,000 non-smokers killed yearly by secondhand smoke.)

Free will, personal choice, and the right of an individual to do to their body what they wish are all high on my list of positive goods. In many ways, people's choices in life prove Darwin out every single day and I think you have the right to kill yourself slowly (or quickly) any way you wish.

However, when a person's choice directly impacts the quality and quantity of other's lives while in public places, screw the individual.

For first timers who are not part of the small, but devoted Bohica fan base -- here is a link to another posting detailing a compelling reason to stop smoking -- Smokers Make More Female Children.

Update: The link above takes you to the right archive page but for some unknown fargin' blogger reason doesn't take you down to the actual posting which is from April 14th.

posted by Bohica at 10:59 PM