Smoking ban In cars and general

Im all for people being allowed to do what they want,even if it means slowly killing themselves by smoking.Of course I also believe that if you smoke and get lung cancer,then you cant really whine when your the bottom of a long cue when it comes to a transplant.And certainly should be made to sign an agreement not to continue smoking if your given a second chance with a new set of lungs.
The latest call for the banning smoking in cars has three areas to be considered when smokers get angry about it.

Passive smoking for children.And the way children mimic their elders.Many more children end up smokers if their parents actively smoke in front of them.

Dangerous driving when many smokers decide to light up while driving.Ive seen a few no handed moves on the motorway.I even saw a woman putting on make up with her left hand while holding a fag with her right.She was undertaking me at the time.

The third reason smoking should be banned in cars,is the god given right smokers think they have to fling their burning stubbs out of the window.
Taken as a whole,the millions of stubs flung on the ground by smokers who drive is incredible.Thats not forgetting the ones on the street where people just flick them on the floor wherever they happen to be standing at the time.
I think smoking is one of a handfull of habits which benefits no one.Its a selfish dirty habit.And the sooner it burns out the better.


  • 13 years ago
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You're all missing one key fact... Smoking DOES make you look incredibly cool.
:-)


  • 13 years ago
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I watched my sister die of lung cancer a year ago. I gave up acting and moved from London to Oxfordshire to care for her. Her illness was caused by smoking cigarettes. There was no treatment: the cancer had spread to her brain and she had no alternative but to weaken and eventually die. This is a very common way of death for smokers. Please don't assume that, if you smoke, you can get a new lung. People who start smoking in their teens will probably die young: they have a greater than 50% chance of dying early. If you want to know more, read Richard Doll's work. He's the epidemiologist who first brought the cigarette scandal to light in the UK. There's nothing cool about it. The tobacco companies target the young, that's why the young smoke. Then they continue to smoke because they're addicted to nicotine. I'm interested in the liquid nicotine -- I've never heard of that. That seems a much better way of getting a nicotine fix, after all, smokers die because of the smoke, not because of the nicotine. I've read that being addicted to nicotine is similar to being addicted to heroin in that both induce a feeling of "well-being and euphoria".


  • 13 years ago
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Alan Brent
Actor

The problem here appears to be that everyone now blames 'smoking' and 'smokers' for everything from cancer to leprosy and anything else they can think of because they are now the minority in our society and not, as was the case 30 years ago, the majority.
However lung cancer incidence has maintained whilst the number of smokers has diminished significantly.
My point is that the 'smoke screen' of blaming smoking hides the massive number of causes of lung, breast, head and testicular cancer. You are all being conned into believing that if you give up smoking no one will ever get cancer in the future.....
Everyone knows what total tosh that is.
It is a temporary scare tactic allowing politicians and goody goodys the time to get re elected before the lie is found out. At which point they will then target another section of our recreation in order to control us further and erode our freedom of thought and action.
Please don't throw bricks at me because I stand up for freedom of speech, thought and actions. But please don't blindly follow outdated dogma that is so obviously trying to control you. Make your own decisions but make them on the FULL available information not the miniscule amount you are being drip fed.


  • 13 years ago
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Alan Brent
Actor

I should add to this that my aunt died of lung cancer .....but she never smoked. Lived in the same mining village as my gran and my uncle.
My gran died falling off the draining board in her kitchen putting her curtains back up. She was 94. Smoked 20 a day.
Her brother was 87 when he died....from a smoking related incident. Crossing the road to get his cigs which he did every day. 20 a day.
My mum was 83 when she died, 20 a day. Died of 'old age and cardiac arrest' according to her certificate.
My father has prostate cancer. Never smoked. But he is 87.


  • 13 years ago
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Alan, the reason the incidence of death has not fallen despite the falling number of smokers is because of the lump in the population remaining from the days when smoking was prevalent (1930s-70s). I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Are you saying that people who smoke don't have a high risk of dying from a smoking-related disease? Your relatives who have survived smoking have been lucky. Smoking is a slow killer. I suggest you read reports such as those published by the Health Education Authority, e.g. 'The UK Smoking Epidemic' by Christine Callum, published in 1998. Also work by Richard Doll, Richard Peto, Nicholas Wald.


  • 13 years ago
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The subject has staryed from the original core message that it should be banned in cars to protect child passengers. The smoking adults have the choice to smoke and the childeren don't have the choice to travel in the vehicle filled with the damaging smoke. Surely there is no argument here and our responsibility in a humane society for protecting the health of innocent childeren and future generations over rules the "choice" of the smoking adult?


  • 13 years ago
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To be honest, I don't think smokers do have a choice. How can an addict have a choice? How can a 16-year-old starting to smoke understand the issues when most adults don't? And you're right, the original post was about smoking in cars and I have gone off the point. I don't care where people smoke providing it's not near me, but I grew up in a house where both my parents smoked and it was truly horrible so yes, I think children need to be protected. Being stuck in a car with a smoker is horrible.


  • 13 years ago
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Alan Brent
Actor

Stopping everyone from smoking in cars to prevent children from it is ridiculous! I don't have children, never have them in my car....lots of people don't. So why penalise me and thousands of others because some thoughtless parent lights up?
There will soon be no life choices left to make for yourself in this country. Because you all seem to believe that 'the nanny state' is good for you! You can't see beyond your own prejudices and those imposed upon you because you are too lazy to research for yourself and fight against them!
Take off your blinkers....look around and don't be led like sheep down the garden path.


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So even though I am aparently a blinkered sheep being driven by a nanny state that can't make my own decisions the point is still valid. It should be banned! Arguing otherwise is the blinkered/selfish view and simply driven by your cravings for another ciagarette. Enjoy while you can.:-)


  • 13 years ago
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So, Alan, what research so you suggest we read? I'm curious because I've read a lot and haven't seen anything to suggest we're being led up the garden path about the harmful effects of smoking. Then again, I'm just a sheep... baa... ;-)


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You just shouldn't smoke in a car with children in.surely that's an obvious thing,i dont see why it needs to be an ironclad law!? I see alans point,he shouldn't have his right to smoke taken away when it affects only him. I think we can be trusted to make the morally right decisions and don't need this governing. I'm a smoker,but that doesn't instantly make me an immoral and bad person!

Simon

ps when I said earlier in the thread 'smoking makes you look cool' I was just trying to lighten the tone a little,please don't take offence.I sometimes wish I wasn't a smoker but do understand that it is an addiction, not a light switch!


  • 13 years ago
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You just shouldn't smoke in a car with children in.surely that's an obvious thing,i dont see why it needs to be an ironclad law!? I see alans point,he shouldn't have his right to smoke taken away when it affects only him. I think we can be trusted to make the morally right decisions and don't need this governing. I'm a smoker,but that doesn't instantly make me an immoral and bad person!

Simon

ps when I said earlier in the thread 'smoking makes you look cool' I was just trying to lighten the tone a little,please don't take offence.I sometimes wish I wasn't a smoker but do understand that it is an addiction, not a light switch!


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Alan Brent
Actor

You see. You are dragged in to the emotional responses of distraction not allowing yourself to be even for a second allowed to use your own imagination or judgement.
I don't smoke. But if I did or if I want to fart in public (which is much more noticeable in pubs since the ban) I should be allowed to do so if it affects no one else. Why castigate a legal habit whilst not advocating a ban on the most addictive and destructive of all of them...drinking alcohol!


  • 13 years ago
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Sorry Simon, I didn't mean to sound offended when you said smoking looks cool. I do know what you mean -- in those wonderful old movies it's the cool guys who smoke (such as lovely Humphrey Bogart). My postings are earnest though because it's coming up to the first anniversary of my poor sister's death, so the subject of smoking hits a raw spot. We're an odd lot in the UK -- we encourage nicotine, prescription drugs and alcohol but get very cross about cannabis. It's a funny old world. I believe people have the right to smoke because it's not illegal, but I don't think they have the right to force the smoke onto others. I think the smoking in cars issue is probably just as much about not being distracted by lighting up. I remember when the seat-belt law was introduced and the civil liberties issue was everywhere with polemic on both sides, but it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore. I expect no-smoking laws will go the same way.


  • 13 years ago
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Guy Press
Actor

Bob Newhart

http://www.we7.com/#/track/Introducing-Tobacco-To-Civilization!trackId=1148389

Says it all about Burning Leaves! ;-)


  • 13 years ago
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Farah Sardar
Actor

There's nothing cool about smoking. There are real life situations where people die or become seriously ill because of it. Both my teenage children do it, but my opinion remains the same -it's disgusting. And when your driving both hands should be on the wheel, because you never know; you may be taken by surprise and you'll need to act quickly.
Goodnight x


  • 13 years ago
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Guy Press
Actor

Totally agree with you Fuzz - listen to the Bob Newhart piece for free very funny and sets out how backward smoking actually is!
I (patronisingly in some ways I s'pose) feel pity towards smokers as whether they admit it or not they're addicts. Nicotine is chemically and psychologically more addictive than heroin. Not surprising it's so difficult for them to quit even when faced with death.


  • 13 years ago
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I am an ex smoker - gave up 29 years ago and I agree with no smoking in public areas. However, I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own home and also their car. We can't protect children from everything all of the time - education is needed. I have more objections to people spitting all over the place. A cyclist spat beside my car at traffic lights and it went all over my side window - had the window been open I would have been covered. The pavements are covered in spit - goodness what germs are lurking there. Smoking is an addiction - spitting is a filthy habit. Oh - and also blowing your nose with a finger - more disgusting than smoking in your car I feel.
Oh - I don't think there any double standards with the advert - it was work - actresses have very steamy sex scenes - they do it for the money - doesn't make them a prostitute in real life.


  • 13 years ago
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Thanks Famous Guy for the Bob Newhart link. I haven't heard it for years, it always cracks me up, such brilliant comedy.


  • 13 years ago
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Guy Press
Actor

No Worries Linda, I love Bob Newhart and that album (The Button Down Mind!) can be listened to (all the sketches!!) online for free!


  • 13 years ago
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