# Are cigarettes doomed to extinction?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cigarettes-doomed-to-extinction/30933>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 27, 2000, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cigarettes-doomed-to-extinction/30933 "2000-08-27T15:32:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cigarettes-doomed-to-extinction/30933/21 "2000-08-29T13:24:16Z")

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You want links about second hand smoke, here are some links:

[http://www.advocatehealth.com/magazine/spring96/magazine/docssub.html](http://www.advocatehealth.com/magazine/spring96/magazine/docssub.html)

[http://www.ummed.edu/dept/cmc/webster/yourchild/!secondh.htm](http://www.ummed.edu/dept/cmc/webster/yourchild/!secondh.htm)

[http://www.netfinderusa.com/dynamic/offsite.cfm?go=/Health/Substance\_Abuse/Tobacco/Secondhand\_Smoke/Health\_Risks/Heart\_Disease&site=http://www.americanheart.org/Heart\_and\_Stroke\_A\_Z\_Guide/etob.html](http://www.netfinderusa.com/dynamic/offsite.cfm?go=/Health/Substance_Abuse/Tobacco/Secondhand_Smoke/Health_Risks/Heart_Disease&site=http://www.americanheart.org/Heart_and_Stroke_A_Z_Guide/etob.html)

[http://www.netfinderusa.com/dynamic/offsite.cfm?go=/Health/Substance\_Abuse/Tobacco/Secondhand\_Smoke/Health\_Risks/Heart\_Disease&site=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/315/7114/973?ijkey=zdKc.10Ii15r6](http://www.netfinderusa.com/dynamic/offsite.cfm?go=/Health/Substance_Abuse/Tobacco/Secondhand_Smoke/Health_Risks/Heart_Disease&site=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/315/7114/973?ijkey=zdKc.10Ii15r6)

[http://www.buffalostate.edu/~wahlstrl/eng101/smoke2.html](http://www.buffalostate.edu/~wahlstrl/eng101/smoke2.html)

[http://oncolink.upenn.edu/causeprevent/faq/secondhand.html](http://oncolink.upenn.edu/causeprevent/faq/secondhand.html)  
**from this one:**

> [@](#):
>
> How dangerous is second-hand smoke?  
> Second-hand smoke is a major source of dangerous indoor air pollution in the United States. It contains almost 5,000 chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Health and Human Services have compiled a list of the Top 20 Hazardous Substances. Seven out of the twenty toxins listed are found in cigarette smoke.

If you really think that you can take a cigarette, which has had all sorts of chemicals added to it, light it on fire and INHALE the waste products created by it - and NOT get sick… well, I dont know what to tell you. Maybe go inhale fumes from a burning tire or or melting styrofoam! Mmmmm Yummy!

Second hand smoke has been linked to respiratory problems in children, chronic ear infections, low birth weight.

None of this matters though, because for every link I find, there is one more out there with ‘evidence’ to the contrary. The tobacco companies have alot to lose by people being afraid to smoke - so of course they try to make it as non-threatening as possible.

The really sick part of all of this is if the friggin companies had left the tobacco in its natural form - the way it had been used throughout time - it wouldnt be so addictive, or as toxic. There wouldnt be 5000 chemicals in the smoke. Ideally, cigarette smoke should be no more harmful than burning hay. But it IS harmful - because of the addictive crap they coat it with.

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