Fat People Smoking

Hi, and thank you in advance for reading my comment. I want to say I TRY to read your blogs daily if there are new ones, and would enjoy very much posting some of my own writings. I have an eventful life, so there is always something to talk about.

Now for my comment about this writer's blog...I realize that many smokers feel offended when people ask them to step outside. I realize that many smokers feel like the minority, that it's total discrimination to ask them to step out or for businesses to ban smoking in their building(s). Your writer suggests that people are just doing this to be mean or cranky or just to have something to complain about, or to satisfy the cause they were put on this planet for. Since there are usually two sides to every story, I think I deserve to be heard. I am not spiteful, cranky, mean, I don't have a cause that I know of, and I don't think I complain a lot. I have Hyperthryroidism, which has caused heart issues and central nervous system damage for me. My nervous system and heart cannot tolerate exposure to Cadmium. Cadmium is the main ingredient in the tobacco plant. It is highly toxic and can be deadly depending on the size of the dose. While my condition is not the fault of any person, not myself, only my genetic make-up, it has caused my family and me to make modifications in our lives. One of those modifications is that my husband does not smoke in our vehicles nor our home. If he did, I would have a heart attack and most likely not survive it, given my condition. Because of my condition preventing my heart and nervous system from tolerating Cadmium, we are forced to no longer dine out at our favorite places because they all allow smoking indoors. I am forced to use the pay-at-the-pump gas stations where I don't have to go inside. It's not that I don't want to go inside, I CAN'T go inside! We used to go on a long trip every summer. We can't do that anymore because since most convenience stores allow smoking inside, restroom breaks are not possible along the way. Your writer suggests that second-hand smoke does not have damaging effects on others. Contrary to your writer's belief, the chance of the person breathing the second-hand smoke getting lung cancer is 50% higher than the smoker. The smoker is not breathing in the smoke as much as the innocent child in the room is. I did an experiment in college for a health fair. My experiment was done by stuffing a clear plastic bottle with cotton balls and punching a small hole in the side of the bottle that would snuggly hold a cigarette. I did this experiment outdoors with a mask and full body gear on. Every time I squeezed the bottle,the cotton balls turned more and more brown. Another fact is that filling a room with cigarette smoke is no different than turning on your kitchen gas oven to heat your house. They both have carbon monoxide and they are both dangerous and deadly. I am also a teacher and I know which children come from families with one or more members of their household that smoke around them. I see the effects of the second-hand smoke in those children. Those children miss more days of school due to illness than any child from a nonsmoking environment. My daughter used to work in a restaurant that allowed their customers to smoke inside, and she missed triple the amount of days allowed from school in a school year due to respiratory infections caused from that environment. She stopped working there last summer and has not been sick at all. In closing, I would like to suggest that you check the facts instead of strictly using only your opinion.

Here's my comment to smokers. This topic get's me fired up. I used to smoke. I quit when I had children and their father now smokes outside, per my demands. My children are all the healthier for it. The main point I would like to make is this: Who the heck do you smokers think you are, blowing your carcinogens in my clean air? I mean literally in my face and my kids face when we're in public. I'm not saying smokers should quit smoking, but they should be so unselfish as to take their smoke away from other people who choose not to pollute their bodies. How about the time I had to go to the courthouse and walk between two smokers standing on either side of the door. As I choked on their smoke I excaimed, "Wow that stinks!" hoping they would "catch MY drift" I just can't understand why if you choose to smoke you would also to choose to force it on other people. It's a shame that anyone would be so self-centered.

Thank you to "supernaturally" for supporting my position!

I absolutely agree that if it is a place that a person has no choice but to go, the building should have a no smoking policy. There should also be an area designated outside for smokers so that we healthy nonsmokers know, "okay that is the entrance for the smokers and I know it will stink there and I don't want to smell like that or breathe that into my lungs and bloodstream, so I know to use the nonsmokers entrance." There is no reason why government buildings can't enforce this policy. I am a teacher and so of course I work in a government funded building. It absolutely has a no smoking policy. So again, there is absolutely no reason why all government buildings (where we don't have a choice but to go) can't do this.

Mr. Moyer...thanks for putting up with me!