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Best Health Blog
Sidewalk smoking I’ve been inspired these last two mornings by my coworker who often walks to work. I’ve been doing it to get some healthy fresh air before being shut inside for the day. But it feels like clean air is the last thing I’ve got.I’m not a militant anti-smoker by any stretch, but these last couple of mornings I’ve been completely grossed out by the amount of second-hand smoke I’ve inhaled in my quest for fresh air. Literally every single time I waited at a street corner for the light to change, I was forced to do some creative maneuvering trying to duck and dodge the hovering clouds of cigarette smoke (on the positive side, possible toning benefits from all my maneuvers?).
This isn’t the first time I’ve been annoyed by sidewalk smoking. I’m a runner and find my path often takes me through clouds of smoke. In those cases, I exhale hard as I run through the smoke.
Research from the Canadian Cancer Society shows that outdoor second-hand smoke poses health hazards, and that the increased visibility of smoking outside promotes the acceptability of smoking. All that aside, I just find it really unpleasant – especially first thing in the morning.
I’m not sure I’d go as far as to advocate a sweeping smoking ban that included places like sidewalks, but I also do think it’s not fair to have to walk or run through cigarette smoke when you’re trying to enjoy the spring weather. Your thoughts?
7 Comments
It's a rare occasion when the air is calm enough to allow "a thick cloud of smoke" to form. When it happens, you might have to hold your breath for three seconds to pass through it. But you'd rather enjoy your sport of harassing smokers.
But these matters are governed by law, not your egocentric squawking.
Car pollution is toxic and could kill you long before a whiff of cigarette smoke. Both are too dilute in the open air to be of any consequence,
If you are annoyed by said whiff, try the annoyance of getting kicked around by Tobacco Nazis. We're getting fed up.
I remember the fracas over banning smoking on airliners back in the seventies. Non smokers demanded that smoking should occur only in the rear of the plane. Then it came to light that the front seat passengers are killed sooner in a crash, so the Nazis demanded the rear seats for themselves.
How long are smokers gonna put up wih this kind of abuse before adopting a policy of defiance? Not long, in my observation.
You are an example of the intransigent clowns who try to make an issue of "a thick cloud of smoke for me to walk through." For smoke to hang in a cloud would require the rare occurrence of dead still air in which case you can hold your breath for three seconds.
No, you say, I shouldn't have to hold my breath for three seconds. Ban smoking for me! For society to function smoothly requires a degree of tolerance. For smokers to be deprived of their pleasure because you can't hold your breath for three seconds is about as egocentric as it gets,
In any case . unless corrupt politicians legislate against a cloud of smoke, it's perfectly legal for smokers to tell you to stuff it,
You arent calling for a ban on a thick cloud of car exhaust or smokestack pollution because you'll get your tail stepped on. If it's true that smoke is a health hazard, you would be murdered by the above rather than a mere wisp of cigarette smoke. Your argument is abysmally silly.
It's barbaric for politicians to encourage your kind to attack smokers for fun. I'd be very afraid if I were you. .You're liable to make somebody mad.
To "Joe Camel": It is my business if I'm breathing other people's cigarette smoke because there's such a thick cloud of it in front of my office or other establishments I'm required to frequent that I can't avoid it.
And as for car pollution, that's a valid issue too, but a separate one. Don't distract from this issue just because there are others out there that are bad or worse.
You failed to mention car exhaust and industrial pollution in your rant. You're breathing 2 pounds a day of same plus cigarette smoke too dilute to measure.
Professional help won't make you smarter, but it might make you calmer. Give it a try, OK? And don't tell me to mind my own business, because you're not minding yours,
I agree, too. Here at my office, the smokers have totally taken over the balcony. Just when it's sunny and beautiful outside and all we want to do is take the sun, too!
I totally agree, and I'm a former smoker. What drives me nuts is sitting on a beautiful sunny patio and then being forced to sit in a cloud of secondhand smoke, because someone at the table next to me is chain smoking their way through an entire pack. I sympathize with smokers who must feel that there's no where left to smoke, but it's also extremely annoying as a non-smoker.