Let's Ban Smoking!

refinnej

i understand your point. but i have a question for you. how long have you been smoking 3 packs a year? like for how many years have you been doin that?

EoinC

There are 2 issues here that require seperating. One is whether people have a 'right' (or whatever nonmenclature you want to use) to smoke. The other is whether people have a right to force those around them to smoke via 2nd-hand smoke.
On the first issue, it is legal (in most places I know of) for people (usually over a certain minimum age requirement) to smoke. In many Countries (such as Australia and New Zealand), they pay a very high tax quotient on the purchase of the tobacco products. This, supposedly, has 2 purposes - (a) The taxes are supposed to help aleviate the burden smokers place on the health system and (b) It makes smoking more expensive / less accessable. There is another rather irrelevant one - (c) It makes the Government happy because they love collecting Taxes. It is legal but, in many Countries, actively discouraged. Fine - if you want to smoke, smoke.
On the second issue (which is the one Carrera is having to face), I find it difficult to see how, given the information that is now available on the damage that smoking causes, well-informed smokers can think that it is OK to inflict their choice onto others. This is not acceptable. Even if the UK does not have regulations prohibiting smoking in the workplace, I would hope they would have something along the lines of Duty of Care in place. This basically means that your employer should not allow you to be unnecessarily exposed to situations in the workplace which endanger your health and / or safety. Before you contemplate leaving your job because your fellow workers are too inconsiderate to realise the problem they are causing you, I think it is worthwhile bringing it up as an issue with your management (and no, it doesn't matter if your management are smokers also). Even if it doesn't bring about results for you, you have made an attempt and a statement which may help you later, and may make things easier / better for those who follow. If you just walk away, nothing will change, and your management will not even know that it was an issue.

refinnej

i dont understand how people are allowed to smoke indoors. for all i know, its been done away with here in ny. only some places allow it, only if the employer him\her self smokes. at my last job, my employer smoked in his office and anyone was able to join him if they wanted. he would also buy us beers on fridays and smoke in his office!!! and it was a home health management agency!!! go figure!! anyway, it is inconvenient for the non-smokers, i agree. i am a smoker, and i know the damage it can cause, but it is a bad addiction. its like playing russian-reulet. some people can smoke for 20yrs+ and never get cancer in their life time. others can gaet cancer after only 10yrs of smoking. it is really never known who will get cancer, see? but it is known that you increase your risk by smoking. that's it. wolfix says that he smokes 3 packs a year? i dunno how. he will eventually become addicted, i believe. i said i never would and declared myself in control of the urge. i said i'll only smoke sometimes. sure. i started uying my own packs and that was it. i tried quitting twice b4 and it was futile. i'll get at it again, especially since i do cardio like 4times a week!!!!

Carrera

The worst thing about smoking as it just doesn't go with sport. Myself, I drink more alcohol than I ought to but I don't view it as being so bad as smoking.
The trouble with smoking is it's designed to be addictive. The companies hope moderate smokers will turn into heavy smokers.
This friend of mine is now terrified he won't be able to smoke in hospital. He has to go into hospital as a result of his smoking but his main fear is going without his packets.
I believe he'll try to smoke in the hospital itself and he hopes the nurses or doctors don't stop him. The truth is he can't go more than 5 minutes without his fix. His chest is filled with bile and he wheezes after the slightest effort.
Literally he's killing himself but can't stop.

refinnej

i've never heard of bile in the chest! he's in pretty bad condition. I think any liquid in the chest can eventually cause suffocation or something. drinking is pretty bad too, but for the liver. it gets swollen after a while. i was never a heavy drinker, but i used to have a few here and there. smoking is very difficult to stop. even if your health is in danger. it's pretty much psychological i think. however, you become physically agitated and uncomfortable when you dont smoke. so it's a combination of both. its a disgusting habbit but the media continues to encourage it. there's always something wrong with society.

Peka

The literature I've read shows clearly that the lungs (assuming normal and healthy) are not the limiting factor in exercise performance. So if you aren't a VERY heavy smoker, you may get away with it. My experience was that I was able to be competitive, and win, at national level (not cycling....) while smoking 20-25 cigs a day (which I have since stopped doing ). This made it even harder for me to quit, since my results seemed to contradict the 'smoking reduces your fitness' stickers plastered all over cig packets.

In any case, IMO, alcohol is much worse when combined with sports/exercise....

Carrera

I don't agree. Just because smoking won't immediately harm cycling performance doesn't mean it won't. Smoking is a slow killer not a swift assassin. You can get away with smoking for years but the addiction creeps ever onwards till the need to smoke becomes the focal point of the day. I know this as I'm the only person at work who doesn't smoke and I can see how addcted these people are. I've seen them trembling in the morning and desperate to get hold of cigarettes. There's also this mentality that the smokers are being trendy and hip as they collaborate on their habit.
Plus, smoking lowers testosterone which is also pretty bad for cycling.

Peka

I'm not disputing the fact that smoking is bad for you, otherwise I wouldn't have quit I'm just pointing out that your generalisation that smoking "just doesn't go with sport" is not necessarily correct. Smoking will most likely kill you in the long term, regardless of whether or not you do sport/exercise, but that doesn't mean you can't perform at a high level while being a smoker.

EoinC

Correct. I used to ride with a vet roadie back in the 80's who would light up before, during and after races - very frustrating when I was struggling to hang on the arse end of the peleton. I can't recall what he smoked, but it seemed to do the trick.

otherworld

It's banned in most if not all work places and indoor areas in Australia now as well. Looks like Europe and the UK need to do some catching up.

Just because this clown in your workplace is addicted doesn't mean he can make everyone else get sick as well does it?

Time to take action - it always just starts with individuals. Surely even in the UK employers have an obligation to provide a safe working environment.

Good Luck Jay

Carrera

The thing is, I don't particularly mind somebody having the occasional smoke, especially if it's in a bar where you can simply choose to leave.
What annoys me is the addicts who smoke in cars, buses and at work.
Yesterday I discovered this guy had spread ashes all over the photocopy machine and computer keyboards. He wanders around everywhere constantly smoking (consuming at least 100 a day!).
Now that I've seen how addictive the habit is, I've become fiercely anti-smoking. I mean, if someone faces surgery on account of smoking yet still can't stop, that suggests serious addiction.
If I complain about the photocopy machine, not much will be done on the lower levels. Those who smoke tend to support one another and it's me who's the odd one out.
And again, I can't understand anyone getting out of bed in the morning then puffing from dawn till dusk. It suggests a lack of regard for personal well-being and suggests the individual doesn't smoke in the same way I might have the odd coffee. It suggests an all-consuming drive to inhale nicotine at any cost.

Induray

One thing that irates me is finding all kinds of cigarette butts around my house and neighborhood. That is one thing about smokers. (it might be stereotyping or generalizing but it fits well), they are a very dirty bunch. They throw their cigarette butts everywhere without regards to the enviroment or community. At a stoplight in my area, you can look down fm your car and see an ocean of cigarette butts! For me that is more offending than their nasty habit!

Peka

Well, it has been said that nicotine is more addictive than heroin.

You really need to find another job!

Carrera

FLASH REPORT:
The work colleague whose smoking habit triggered this thread has been taken ill and is now absent from work. He will need to have a tumour removed that seems to have been caused by the chain smoking.
Last night was his last day at work for the near future. Again I had to evacuate the building as he was smoking continually throughout the shift. Despite doctors warnings and the risks he's now facing, he' determined to continue smoking, even in hospital.
Someone else spoke to me, complaining he himself had been ill due to having to spend time in the same room as this guy. The person who complained doesn't smoke but was exposed to fumes for 8 hours and winded up coughing through the night with a sore throat.
Smokers seem determined to commit suicide but also drag others down with them.
I say we should ban smoking outright and classify it as an illegal, toxic substance.