Passive Smoking - Time to say NO!

One point that struck me recently, and one that I suppose should have been more obvious sooner is that if smokers, in the face of all the information available on the dangers of smoking and with the knowledge that they are slowly asphyxiating themselves, continue to smoke, what on earth makes us think they`ll be kind enough to not smoke when we ask them not to? I do know smokers who ostensibly respect other people`s right to clean air and who will not, say, blow smoke in their direction, but if they are voluntarily harming themselves, is it even reasonable for other people to expect them to respect anyone else`s right to life free of smoke?

its a free world bro.............smoke on or up!!

Good points. I quit smoking a month ago when I was smoking a pack a day. How did I do that? I slept 3 days in a row, so to speak, I would order food in just so I wouldn`t have to leave my room (since I live in a dorm, smoking is not allowed), bought 2-3 highly recommended novels for my past-time and hey, it worked. I`ve never thought anything in life is impossible; yeah, some things are definitely damn hard but not impossible; if you have the will, you can do anything and I mean it. For those who are trying to quit smoking, you`re doing yourself a great favor. And for those who are still on it, to tell you the truth, I do relish the times, sometimes.

i totally agree with the writer. non-smokers shud have the rights they deserve , whereas smokers can go 2 hell for all i care cuz smokers nowadays dont have the strength 2 quit. it just sickens me after looking at ads in the newspapers by the Pak tobacco company gloating over a few trees that they have planted, or the HIV testing facilities they provide, or some other piece of crap that doesnt make much of a difference to the millions of ppl that they kill every year. its pretty dumb that a country which doesnt have enough land for growing necessities like wheat and rice is wasting it on something as stupid as tobacco. what is this place coming to? i mean cmon even a kid wud hav enough sense to do the right thing here. coming back 2 passive smoking, i think it wud be a gud idea if someone set up an organization for ppl who want 2 protest for citizens rights like these. if anyone knows of an organization of the sort, then i wud be grateful if i was informed of it.

Dude, there`s nothing to say that could make smokers quit, whaddya think they don`t know what they`re doing to themselves and others? anyway, I am a smoker myself (lights though) but i always ask for permission b4 lighting up and i dont` smoke outta addiciton, cuz i quit for a whole year and then restarted because i WANTED to not because i needed to, and my fast is always so good wihtout any craving for nicotine

Ibrahim Suheyl (A.K.A Lord Voldemort II)

The fact of the matter is that any smoker..chain or no chain...will never ever stop smoking unless something happens either to him/her or someone close to him/her. I have seen countless people quit smoking and then start it again just because they don`t see any harm in it. Yes they should be more careful in smoking in the public areas in which I hail the effort put in by the GoP by enforcing the anti-smoking law...and then firing an officer of Ministry of Health for not abiding by the rules. But for someone who really loves smoking...okay...harm yourself but please consider the people around you... in conclusion...everyone has to die on day and on the time when the death is due...so does it matter whether active or passive smoking kill...one might just die....who will be blamed then...Osama Bin Laden...???

Now I need a nicotine break....Ciao!

Time for a smoke!

Passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking, thats why one should do the active smoking...

Found this letter to the editor in the DAWN today (30/4/00):

Cigarette ads and police

A Pakistani tobacco company has found a novel way to promote its products. The signboards which are meant to draw attention to the new emergency telephone number (15) instead highlight in conspicuous red a cigarette brand.

Now that the hot season is here, the policeman has been provided by the company a nice foldable umbrella which has, again in bright red, the name of another tobacco brand splashed across it for all the motorists to see. One wonders if the company also provides low-priced cigarettes for the policemen, thereby adding nicotine to the ever present lead that the policemen have to inhale on roads because of smoke emitted by vehicles.

Q. ISA DAUDPOTA

Islamabad

---end quote:

Q. Isa saab is right: There is absolutely no laws regulating the sale or promotion of ciggarettes in Pakistan. The industry runs rampant. A few years ago, the voice of some sanity, the Pakistan Chest Foundation, issued two writs against the Government to do something on the matter. The first was quashed, but the second (1997 CLC 1379) succeeded: The Lahore High Court passed an order banning the Pakistan Broadcasting Company (and, in thoery, any government institution) from advertising any ciggarette related commercial. However, since I have not been in Pakistan since then, I do not know whether the order was enforced or not. Whether it was or not is, however, a moot point since - as Q. Isa illustrates above - ciggarette companies will find other ways of advertising. Parenthetically, I should point out the the Police, and by extension the Government, are in violation of the High Court order by allowing cigarette advertising on official hoardings.

On another note, I must point out that I have just started smoking. It`s not something I`m proud of and, hopefully, I`ll kick the habit before it gets any worse. I do realise, though, that my permissive attitude towards smoking should not be in the way of a coherent policy working to ban the sale of ciggrettes in Pakistan. I think that other people who smoke should try and reduce the knee-jerk ``anti-smoking Nazi`` response to this article and try to realise that smoking leads to cancer and that tobacco companies in Pakistan are manipulating consumers. Of course, I do see the obvious hipocrisy of my words and actions, but I resign myself to the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: ``Lord, give me chastity, but not yet.``

Rafay Alam

fairdinkum: good hearing from you, my friend. Maybe someone needs to remind the good general that he needs to act like a role model as long as he is around. Would do his health good too.

Sobia: In the US, the tobacco companies it has been proven through use of their internal memos that tobacco companies target youth as a matter of policy. The ghastly reason being that they know that this is the prime age to get people hooked, and that their more established customers tend to die early as well. It is only through court orders and other legal actions that these companies are finding it increasinly difficult to continue this policy, at least in the US. I hope your friends realize what they are getting into before it is too late.

The way I see it, mother nature is employing homeostatic methods to regulate population. Let the old idiots smoke themselves to death. They`ve never done anything good for the country anyway. The new generation, now that`s something we`ve gotta save. I would suggest using pictures of old rotten organs and pasting them onto cigarette packets. If you wish I`d be more than happy to crack open a chain smoker`s sternum. Scissor my way through his connective tissues, grab hold of his rotten lungs, oozing with tar, take them out and place them next to his sides.

If that doesn`t put a person off smoking then let the fools kill themselves.

Take care

Omar Phoenix

Thanks you for your excellent, well-researched article. All the countries of South Asia need to enact aggressive anti-tobacco measures ASAP. I would like to hear from others how best we can ACT to remove this serious health hazard from our region.

Can we form a South Asians Against Smoking group?

A great place to start would be our college campuses in Bangladeshh,India, Pakistan. Anyone want to work on this?

ACT NOW!

Re: tahmed321 #5

The first ever pictures of Gen. Musharraf on world media showed him smoking like a chimney while shooting or testing a hand gun in the air... Ironic isn’t it?

Al, you`re so right. Smoking among women is the `in` thing nowadays and I`m talking of my age bracket (20-25)...I know girls who are chain smokers and who destroy thier lungs as well as mine because I`m sick of telling them not to light up when I`m around! Girls in Lahore (I can only tell about Lahore since I live here) are into smoking big time and this is very dangerous as they start at a young age (because it`s considered `cool`) and then they become so addicted that it becomes thier life line.

DEATH OF STATISTICS

In the west, every death has to be accounted for with a cause factor. It becomes, heart attack, cancer etc you name it and it is quoted arround by vested interests to get money for research etc. In the statistics ther is no concept of DIED DUE TO OLD AGE, congenital factors etc.

Only when there is a category of death due to old age, then only these statistics start to make any sense.

Qazi Daudpota:

Admitted your focus is on tobacco, but it is not the only carcinogen in both senses (a) An agent capable of initiating development of malignant tumours. May be a chemical, a form of electromagnetic radiation or an inert solid body or (b) Substances that increase the risk of neoplasms in humans or animals. Both genotoxic chemicals, which affect DNA directly, and nongenotoxic chemicals, which induce neoplasms by other mechanism, are included.

There is an interesting and related musing in TFT: We’re not having a baby by Nazli Mohsin. (www.thefridaytimes.com. Go to Opinion.)

rgds

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