Smoking: America vs. Europe

[Aghris]

*Originally posted by sjc *
**Can I just say (because it doesn’t seem to have been mentioned so far) that I don’t find anti-smoking sentiment fascistic? I happen to dislike the smell of cigarette smoke and I don’t like having to experience it while in a public place, especially while eating. I feel that good smoking etiquette requires a smoker to ask the people around him or her if it is ok to light up. In public places this isn’t always feasible which is why I agree with laws that prohibit smoking in these places.

Look, either we regulate all drug use or we develop some societal norms regulating their use. That’s just my opinion, but I think it stands up pretty well.
**

And I think we did this quite successfully in the Netherlands. Coldfire might disagree with me here, but I think that smokers and non smokers in Holland respect each others habits fairly well.
Sure, I agree that people who do not like smoke should not be forced to breathe the stuff. However, non smokers should also realise that as long as it is your right to not smell smoke, it is the smoker’s right to light one up. Etiquettes go a long way with this. Ofcourse I ask you if I can smoke if we’re on the same table and you are still eating, but if you are at a table next to me, that would be not necessary. You dislike the smoke emenating from my cigarette? You should have picked a table in the non smoking section. In the mean time, I will do my best to blow my smoke in a different direction.

Good social etiquette go a long way, but there is always the problem that smokers and non smokers tend to have a disagreement on what is good etiquette. Personally, I think the best one is the ‘preference of the majority’. I will never light a cigarette when in a group with mostly non smokers. Not without asking anyway. But don’t force your non smoking habits on me if you are one of the few non smokers…

[Coldfire]

Oh, no worries, I agree with you, Aghris.
I was merely saying that if smoking would be made as impossible as it has been in the US (some states even have laws against smoking in bars, IIRC), there would be hell to pay. It’s kind of ironic, really, that a nation like the US -which prides itself on its lack of governmental interference in so many areas, and rightly so- choses to regulate the use of a legal substance as tobacco to this extend. Then again, the structure of the American legal system probably has a big stake in this development.

I’ve had one or two discussions with American tourists in restaurants regarding this. They’d ask me to please put out my cigarette, as it spoiled their appetite.

• “Well, sorry sir, but this is a restaurant without a non-smoking section.”

• “This is ridiculous. In the US, you’d have been thrown out of the place by now.”

• “Well, I doubt that, since I’m not doing anything wrong. And we’re not in the US, sir.”

Dirty looks from thereon until I left. Of course, I realise that this man is a minority, and in no way represents Americans as a group, or even American non-smokers as a group. But hell yes there are different attitudes on both sides of the Pond.

[Carina42]

*Originally posted by CheezedOff *
I wonder if anyone has done a study to determine what smokers get the worst health problems: those who smoke ‘natural’ untreated tobacco or those who smoke the average, heavily treated cigarettes

This is a little OT, but I only smoked handrolled cigarettes. I was living in Scotland when I started smoking, and as a poor art student could not afford “regular” cigarettes. Though I’m sure 25 years of smoking wasn’t good for me, I’ve had perhaps two colds in my adult life, and run daily. I ran a couple of 10k’s when smoking. If I ran out & smoked a pack of Camels, I’d cough for a day.

Also, my non-smoking friends tell me my house, cars, clothes etc don’t smell like cigarette smoke.

[sub]I quit 3 months ago and I am NOT HAPPY about it.[/sub]

[CheezedOff]

I have to say that even I don’t understand the absolute violation of civil rights of smokers in the US, where we get furious over anyone attempting to take them away. The American Civil Liberties Union usually jumps on the slightest violation and they’re unusually quiet over this one.

The antismoking campaign on TV has surpassed the level of antidrugs even! Even with there being other industries who have killed millions with defective products, the Tobacco industries are the only ones being sued into oblivion and we have laws to prevent that.

Americans can be ridiculously fanatical over some things. Like, because of so many lawsuits, our drug companies no longer are interested in developing better forms of birth control, and our physicians have to handle so many suits that their fees have gotten astronomical.

I’ve searched for ages to find out if there have been any comparisons with rates of disease from smoking in big, polluted cities and areas and in nonpolluted areas, which would confirm my theory that the levels of pollution contribute heavily to being susceptible to smoking diseases.

I’ve found no such research. All I have found are studies concerning general smoking. Period. Like no one wants to determine that other influences of environment might contribute heavily to smoking problems. Like, how they used to, and probably still do, have air quality warnings in places like San Francisco. Then, because of industrial pollution and the development of catalytic converters spewing sulfur dioxide into the air, the major problem of acid rain which killed off lakes, damaged forests and injured crops.

If it did all that to fish and greens, just might it not have some effect on people, especially smokers?

No studies have been done that I can find.

When I was a teen, cancer rates in people were like one in 100 and environmental pollution was low. As it increased and the Environmental Pollution Association was created, cancer rates went to one in 50. As pollution rates went up, concerning the atmosphere, cancer reached the current level of 1 in 3 or 4.

Still no research found concerning pollution contributing to smoking related diseases, though there are many studies examining how it causes cancer and other diseases alone.

Talk about tunnel vision!