I don’t smoke.
I know however that your President walked away from any chance to help clear the air.
Smoking = air-pollution. Allowing factories unlimited space to fuck up our air = BAD air-pollution.
Tell that to your kid.
Even though good & bad are very relative term and are defined many ways by many people, I can attest to the fact that neither of my children are asthmatic nor allergic to smoke and I do smoke in their presence. I can also assure you I am a good parent.
I guess by your logic, 90% of parents in the 40’s, 80% of parents in the 50’s more than 50% of the parents in the 60’s & early 70’s were rotten too.
If someone told me I was a bad parent for smoking in front of my kids I’d tell them to shove it. And if, God forbid, that same (upstate NY) family court / divorce judge handed a non-smoking decree, I’d tell him where to stick his gavel.
The difference is that, back then, parents were unaware of the harm it was doing to their children. You, unfortunately, are not.
Here are some cites (I’m sorry, they’re from a subscription database, I can’t give you URLs):
**“Even a little secondhand smoke is dangerous” **
Journal of the American Medical Association; Chicago; Jul 25, 2001; Stanton A Glantz; William W Parmley.
This article discusses findings that second-hand smoke contributes to heart disease. Quote: “The investigators demonstrated that, in healthy young volunteers, just 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke compromised the endothelial function in coronary arteries of nonsmokers in a way that made the endothelial response of nonsmokers indistinguishable from that of habitual smokers.”
**“Secondhand smoke may increase periodontal disease risk” **
American Dental Association. The Journal of the American Dental Association; Chicago; Apr 2001; Anonymous.
abstract: Secondhand smoke may increase a person’s risk of developing periodontal disease, according to a recent study. Nonsmokers who inhaled tobacco smoke at home or at work wre found to have a 50 to 60 percent increased risk of developing periodontal disease.
"Environmental tobacco smoke linked to adverse health outcomes in children"
Journal of Environmental Health; Denver; Apr 2000; Anonymous.
abtract: Also called secondhand smoke, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is associated with low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory problems, and middle-ear infections in children, according to a recent report. Additional findings from the report are discussed.
"NCI monograph links secondhand smoke to cancer and other diseases"
Journal of the National Cancer Institute; Bethesda; Jan 5, 2000; Mike Miller.
abstract: new report from the National Cancer Institute, “Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke,” links secondhand smoke not only with lung cancer but with heart disease, sudden infant death syndrome, nasal sinus cancer, and a host of other diseases in both adults and children.
**“The detrimental effects of ETS exposure on children in the home” **
Journal of Products and Toxics Liability; New York; 1995; Fusco, Jennifer R.
*part of abstract: A discussion focuses upon the detrimental effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), also referred to as secondhand smoke or passive smoke, on children who are adversely affected by ETS due to their living conditions at home. As more and more parents become educated about the effects of ETS, parental smoking is increasingly being recognized as an unacceptable form of conduct and will soon be viewed as falling below societal standards of decency. It is only at this point that state intervention would be accepted to remedy the harmful health effects of ETS on an exposed child.
*
Want more?
The RADON in your house, the fluoride in your water, the preservetives in your foods, Cosmic rays… Smoking is bad for people. Move on people, nothing to see here.
Great thread Doperchic…This subject…smoking around others bothers me big time…KILL YOURSELF BUT NOT OTHERS.
The following is from a poster I saw in the office of one of my professors. I’m recalling this from memory, so it isn’t exactly word for word.
You choose to smoke because it brings you pleasure. The byproduct of your pleasure is nasty putrid smoke. The smoke permiates the air, stinks up my clothes and hair, and fills my lungs with toxic fumes.
I DID NOT ASK FOR THIS!
I find pleasure in having the occasional alcoholic drink. The byproduct of my pleasure is urine. Now how would you like it if I came over to you and pissed all over your hair and clothes?
Thought so.
Jeezo-Pete, don’t any of you people remember being four or five years old and stuck near an adult smoker; especially in an enclosed space like a car? I do. I remember it clearly.
It was sheer torture.
And I’m not exaggerating a bit. It stank, it hurt to breathe, I tried as hard as I could not to breathe. It felt like strangling. I would have vastly preferred a spanking. And no, I am not/was not asthmatic.
It gets a lot easier to tolerate that burning choking stench as you get older (at least it did for me; heck, now I can hang out in a smoke-filled bar and not suffer unduly), but I still remember how awful it was to endure when I was little. It was agonizing. It was painful. It was torture. And I didn’t do anything to deserve it, except be little, and thus the selfish convenience of adults came first.
Yes, it’s child abuse. Ask a little kid.
Yes, I think it’s wrong to smoke around children. And non-smokers. I think it’s about time smoking was restricted to private homes and clubs containing consenting adults only, because on a physical level it equates to porn exposure in terms of harm/damage/offence.
But I don’t agree with the judge’s decision that the woman should have to not smoke even while her child was not there. However, if he didn’t like the smell of her smoky flat, he should be legally allowed to refuse to go there.