Yet another ranting (or musing, depending on how you look at it!) from me today...Well, today I'm going to talk about one of the toppers on my list of things I hate - smoking.
Here in the UK, we currently have a law that prohibits smoking in all public places, which is a step in the right direction, but in my opinion, not a step far enough.
The ban for "all public places" is in fact not as good as it sounds. To me, all public places would mean you can't smoke anywhere except for in your own home, but in reality the law only prohibits smoking in places such as pubs/clubs, shopping centres, bingo halls, shops, bus/train/coach stations, airports and the like. For me this is a good start, but I think smoking should be banned everywhere except in the smokers own home.
I am a sufferer of asthma and for years my enjoyment of going to a shopping centre, going to the bingo, going to the pub or even just travelling on public transport was spoilt by selfish smokers polluting the air and making it difficult for me to breathe.
But it's not just about me - what about children - who really wants their childrens lungs exposed to the harmful substance in cigarettes? Second hand smoke inhalation is actually a big problem for many people.
Speaking of children, more should be done to prevent them (at all costs) from being exposed to smoking to limit the likelihood that they will pick up such a rotten habit. If smoking was made to look less "cool", then children wouldn't toy with smoking. It would also help if the sale of cigarettes was more strict and also if tighter import regulations were made to stop people illegally smuggling them in and then selling them for cheap.
Cigarettes contain many harmful substances such as methane (sewer gas), methanol (rocket fuel), tar (road surfacing), hydrogen cyanide (poison as used on death row), stearic acid (candle wax), hexamine (barbecue lighter), toluene (industrial solvent), cadmium (think batteries), nicotine (pesticide), butane (lighter fluid), acetone (rat poison), radon (radioactive gas), ammonia (think toilet cleaner), carbon monoxide (like from car exhausts) and formaldehyde (used to pickle dead bodies). Knowing what is in a cigarette, if you are a smoker, are you still so keen to go out and buy a pack of fags?
I would be glad to see all cigarette companies go out of business and no-one smoking anymore in public places or anywhere else.
Now there is supposedly "greener" smoking - which to me is just companies (such as Green Smoke) trying to justify smoking and make it sound like a healthier way to smoke as well as trying to make it as fun as having a mobile phone (it's electric, you can change the filter tip to the colour of your choice, USB chargeable etc.). I think this is just wrong!
Copyright ©2009-2012 Yvonne Brownsea
