The Dangers of Smoking Cigarettes

[Gonzolo]

I don't smoke but I do believe a bit of alcohol is healthier than none.

 

[JasonRox]

Why not drink?

Feynmann did, and look how he turned out.

Are you scared?

Note: You can't say you hate alcohol because that makes no sense. There are more than enough drinks to choose from. Hating beer is not an excuse.

Drink and Laugh!

 

[Monique]

Sorry but this is very weak...Either your friend's collegues are complete *******s who do not respect his physical constellation or your friend has no spine to walk out himself or tell them...

I smoke and i completely agree with the banning of sigarettes in public places. I understand the nuisance and non-smokers should come first. Really i agree with this. But don't blame this situation of your friend on others. He is a big boy, he should have reacted himself...This is a childish argument and it is to some extent his own fault...

marlon (runs and hides)

The argument is that smokers block from their mind what damage they're doing (why else would one use a product on which it says in huge letters it will destroy your lungs). Not until they started wondering why he was at the doctors all the time, did they realize the extend of the damage they were doing.

When one doesn't believe how they're damaging their own lungs, how would they believe they're damaging another's?

 

[franznietzsche]

Why not drink?

Feynmann did, and look how he turned out.

Are you scared?

Note: You can't say you hate alcohol because that makes no sense. There are more than enough drinks to choose from. Hating beer is not an excuse.

Drink and Laugh!

Or you can say you hate drunk people, or if you had family killed by a drunk driver, there are perfect justifications for not drinking.

That said, bring on the rum.

 

[Integral]

Add another to the nonsmoker list.

They're talking about possibly following CA's and NY's example and banning smoking in bars and restaurants here,

I believe that Corvallis Or. was one of the first places in the nation to ban smoking inside of any business open to the public. this included bars and restaurants as well as stores of all types.

 

[Echo 6 Sierra]

The argument is that smokers block from their mind what damage they're doing (why else would one use a product on which it says in huge letters it will destroy your lungs).

For those of you that haven't seen them, I believe smokes packaged in the Netherlands have one-half of the front of the pack in bold, black, attention grabbing letters that say something to the effect that "this product can kill you" or the like. I'm not sure of other countries packaging.

For Monique, in the US the warning is in a tiny font on a side or the bottom.

 

[Moonbear]

Second hand smoking can be very harmful, especially when you already have an intollerance to irritants. It's annoying when people are completely oblivious of that. My friend was on his way to developing chronic bronchitis due to second hand smoking at work, because they were too lazy to step outside and just kept standing in the doorway.

Aargh, I can't stand when the smokers stand right outside the door to the building to smoke! The stench comes into the building every time the door is opened, plus you have to walk through it to get in and out. It annoys me more when they are sitting right underneath the NO SMOKING sign! I work on a medical campus, there isn't supposed to be smoking anywhere, not even outside the buildings, except for one "hut" that looks a bit like a bus shelter that's outside the hospital (so the smokers don't have to huddle near doorways on cold or rainy days and can stay still get their nicotine without being in the way of the nonsmokers). Does anyone go there to smoke? NO! Well, I guess that's a long walk away when you have reduced your lung capacity by smoking. Unfortunately, there's not much that anyone can do to stop it since you can tell one person, and it's someone else the next day. I've known very few smokers who have been considerate enough to stand far from the doorway.

 

[Moonbear]

For those of you that haven't seen them, I believe smokes packaged in the Netherlands have one-half of the front of the pack in bold, black, attention grabbing letters that say something to the effect that "this product can kill you" or the like. I'm not sure of other countries packaging.

For Monique, in the US the warning is in a tiny font on a side or the bottom.

Every country I've been in other than the US has the warning in those giant letters that take up most of one side of the box. Obviously, it doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

[franznietzsche]

I'm pretty sure anyon still smoking is well aware of what their doing.

A thought: If one dies from lung cancer caused by smoking, and you knew it would happen, is that suicide?

An argument to force religious smokers to quit perhaps? Or just reveal their hypocrisy i suppose.

 

[marlon]

When one doesn't believe how they're damaging their own lungs, how would they believe they're damaging another's?

Very simplistic view if i may say. I think every smoker with a rational "clear" mind is very well aware of the impact that tabacco has on our health. The argument that they don't know this and therefore they wouldn't "believe" the damage caused to others, really is shallow and simplistic in nature.


marlon

 

[marlon]

I've known very few smokers who have been considerate enough to stand far from the doorway.

Maybe "they" are not the problem here...

marlon

 

[the number 42]

A thought: If one dies from lung cancer caused by smoking, and you knew it would happen, is that suicide?

The thought has crossed my mind that smoking may be a form of tentative or unconscious suicide. Its a well established fact that smoking is associated with depression and overt suicide. (Note: "associated with" suicide, not 'causes' or 'caused by').

 

[the number 42]

Updated count :

I SMOKE          I DON'T

tumor              42 ?

I used to smoke, but quit when I thought about how while I was ruining my chest (wheezing like a squeeze box), losing money, getting bad breath and lovely yellow teeth, some callous b*****d was living the life of Riley on a yacht somewhere - on MY money! Not an equitable deal, folks, and one I wanted out of.

 

[Smurf]

I experimented with it when I was younger, fell in with a bad crowd, but now I have very low tolerance (it makes me sick) to tobacco smoke and (everyone else in my familly smokes) it infuriates me to no end how inconsiderate smokers are.

I have very low tolerance to a lot of 'drugs' for some reason, marijuana not being the least, and recently it seems to caffein too.
Moonbear, your the biologist here; what do you think? Am I mutating into a man-eating fish with 6 arms? or developing something psychological?

 

[Evo]

Am I mutating into a man-eating fish with 6 arms? or developing something psychological?

It's ok Smurf, you're just turning into my mother, she's the same way.

 

[Moonbear]

I have very low tolerance to a lot of 'drugs' for some reason, marijuana not being the least, and recently it seems to caffein too.
Moonbear, your the biologist here; what do you think? Am I mutating into a man-eating fish with 6 arms? or developing something psychological?

It's called sensitization. It's sort of the opposite of building up a tolerance. When you are exposed to a drug (I don't know if any studies have been done to specifically address nicotine in this sense, most focus on narcotics), and then stop using it for a while, when you are re-exposed, the effects are much stronger than if you had never taken it at all. Though, if you notice gills and some extra arms, I could be wrong.

 

[tumor]

In Europe looks like everybody is smoking, but there are less cases of lung cancer in general populace.

 

[Gokul43201]

Why not drink?

Feynmann did, and look how he turned out.

Hold it there, just a sec.

Somewhere in his thirties, Feynman gave up alcohol.

He was walking back home from a bar (after successfully hitting on some hot chick or the other, I guess) one night, when he came to the "realization" that the human body was a thing of beauty which he was destroying by getting himself drunk (kind of like the way Einstein felt about putting in the cosmological constant by hand). So he quit.

 

[franznietzsche]

Hold it there, just a sec.

Somewhere in his thirties, Feynman gave up alcohol.

He was walking back home from a bar (after successfully hitting on some hot chick or the other, I guess) one night, when he came to the "realization" that the human body was a thing of beauty which he was destroying by getting himself drunk (kind of like the way Einstein felt about putting in the cosmological constant by hand). So he quit.

Feynman was notorious for loving the night-life.

Great man he was, hero and idol for me.

I love that reference to einstein and the cosmological constant. Makes me feel like a physicist to actually get it. Yay.

 

[Gokul43201]

I had to rack my brain for the right analogy. Glad it didn't end up like a diagonal frog.

 

[Gokul43201]

2nd Updated count :

I SMOKE          I DON'T

tumor              42 
arildno           Gokul
marlon             Evo
                   SA 
                   Chi
                  franz
                 Boulder
                 dexter
                  Andy
                 check
                  Polly
                 Gonzolo
               Moonbear
                Monique
                mattmns
                Integral
                 Smurf
              Evo's Mother

 

[hypnagogue]

I started off smoking cigarettes only as a means of augmenting the effects of alcohol or other things. Then it got to the point where I would bum a cigarette off of a friend even when completely sober, until one day a few years ago I started buying my own packs. (God, this sounds like a bad after school special, doesn't it?) Nowadays, I rarely even go out for a drink, but the habit of smoking remains with me. I am starting to make a concerted effort to quit, though.

For the record, I consider myself a very considerate smoker. I smoke outside, and I always make an effort to meander to a vacant spot if people (especially children) happen to be passing by. When I'm finished, I put the cigarette out and throw it in a trash can rather dropping it on the ground.

I'm completely in favor of laws against indoor smoking in restaurants and the like. Nonetheless, I don't like laws against smoking in bars. If there's any place you should be allowed to smoke indoors, it's in a bar. If some bars wish to be non-smoking, that's fine, but I think they should at least have the option of allowing smoking. Banning smoking in bars seems to me like banning popcorn and soda in a movie theater. Sure, the frills make things a little messy, but they complement the main attraction so well for such a significant portion of the audience! (Disclaimer: Even if you drink, don't smoke.)

 

[Polly]

What Hypnagogue you smoke?! But I have always thought you're a goodie goodie...wow. Maybe smoking is cool after all .

 

[the number 42]

For the record, I consider myself a very considerate smoker. I smoke outside, and I always make an effort to meander to a vacant spot if people (especially children) happen to be passing by. When I'm finished, I put the cigarette out and throw it in a trash can rather dropping it on the ground.

Call that considerate? When I used to smoke I made a point of never exhaling.

 

[franznietzsche]

Call that considerate? When I used to smoke I made a point of never exhaling.

Lose many brain cells that way?

 

[Polly]

It doesn't matter now.

 

[Polly]

never mind.

 

[Polly]

...

 

[Polly]

Sorry folks.

 

[hypnagogue]

What Hypnagogue you smoke?! But I have always thought you're a goodie goodie...wow. Maybe smoking is cool after all .

I'm a goodie goodie? Who knew? Maybe nowadays I am... not quite so much in my teenage years.

Seriously though, smoking isn't cool. Don't smoke, you'll just wind up regretting it.

 

[Polly]

*regains consciousness* Look what a couple of fags have done to me!

 

[JasonRox]

Although Feymann quit, he would most likely agree he had great times he would never regret.

 

[hypnagogue]

*regains consciousness* Look what a couple of fags have done to me!

Are you sure those were nicotine fags?

 

[the number 42]

Lose many brain cells that way?

Can you lose brain cells just by holding your breath? I probably used to know the answer to this...

 

[Monique]

Very simplistic view if i may say. I think every smoker with a rational "clear" mind is very well aware of the impact that tabacco has on our health. The argument that they don't know this and therefore they wouldn't "believe" the damage caused to others, really is shallow and simplistic in nature.


marlon

Then tell me why certain smokers go smoke in places where they bother other people, if it is not ignorance or denial?