Passive Smoking

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As mentioned on another thread, I'm going on a trip to Edinburgh to see my father and my stepmother smokes. Is there anything I can do to reduce the risk(s) that come with passive smoking apart from not going?

Asking my stepmother to refrain from smoking is out of the question; she has a significant history of drug/alcohol addiction and can't function without tobacco.

I also feel that I can't refuse to go on this basis without driving a wedge between me and my father.

I'm a smoker, and I accept the rights of anybody who does not want to be subjected to passive smoking. Even if I was in my own house, I would go outside for a cigarette if I had a guest that didn't want to be exposed to passive smoking. If your stepmother is a reasonable person, she should take the same attitude..

Of course, if you have an issue with being in a room that smells of tobacco because smoking takes place there, that's another matter. I don't believe that's really a health issue, and you should try to be tolerant of this.

Do what i do, refuse to visit and make sure to tell why. Or go to a Hotel and in town and have them visit you where you (or the Hotel) can set the rules.

There's no long risk at all of getting lung cancer, emphysema, or heart disease from spending several hours every few years in a room with a smoker. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about. If you live in an urban area you certainly take in much more exhaust in a month than you would in a couple hours at a bar. Luckily long term exposure to exhaust gas won't give you lung cancer, unlike tobbacco smoke.

This message was sponsored by the tobacco lobby. Die young, smoke 2 packs a day, give your pension away.

I guess you are one of those unscientific people who measure the crap level through the filter. The thing is that everyone around you is not breathing through a filter. There are many toxins being released while smoking, please don't come here and spread your FUD. And there are other effects such as allergies and headaches caused by smoking.

That won't do any good at all to someone who is addicted.

It would be better to make the decision that you won't go and not bother to give a reason. It looks like you just want to hurt someone if you need to say something like that.

Either the person wants to visit his father, and could stay in a hotel and invite them without saying why, or just stay home if a couple days of her smoking is so onerous.

I believe that is a relatively safe statement. My wife has asthma, and I have stopped smoking in my own house just in case any so-called "passive smoking" might ever again even possibly cause her any trouble of any kind. However, even she would tell you her asthma is no worse today simply because I had smoked inside for many of our years together.

Go for a visit and do not worry about the smoking if you can at least tolerate the odor. Conditions permitting, ask to sit near an open door or window where some fresher air might be coming in, and do not hesititate about stepping out for a bit whenever you wish. The less you make of the issue, the less of an issue it will be.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.

1) I do not smoke. I don't wish to die young. If I was addicted I would be polite about the second hand smoke to those around me.

2) if you seriously believe that a few hours a year spent with a smoker can cause lung cancer then you are the one who is ignorant of science. As for those with allergies, the polite thing for the addicted to do is not smoke around them.

3) As for the toxins, we all breath in toxins everyday. It is the long term acumulation of large amounts of toxins that kills. My mother died because she spent hours everyday for about twenty years indoors in the company of a chain smoker.

4)I would most certainly be ignorant of the facts and most unscientific indeed if I thought a paper filter could protect me

5) The petty name calling and personal attacks are not based on logic but instead strong emotion. Facts win arguments. There is no truth backing your rude statements therefore there is no reason for me to become angry.

Never said you did.




Have you worked as a waiter in a restaurant? Have you been exposed to second hand smoking for several hours every day for several years? There is a bloody reason why the labour unions have been pushing for a smoking ban, and their only used to spend time with smokers "a few hours every day".




I do not care, it does not justify a minority of sociopaths causing problems for others with their "rights" BS. Its not like the fumes are made by vehicles that transport important commodities around society to make it work. And smoking is an intense local thing, not a minor background source of toxins.




There is a truth backing my statements, but the difference is that i live in a country which haven't got a strong tobacco lobby.

There seems to be some confusion about what is being discussed here. The inner quote is talking about "a few hours a year" and the outer quote is talking about "several hours every day for several years". Exposure every day (even for small parts of the day) is very different from exposure for a few days in a year.

Well, a few hours a year is probably not very damaging.