Have you seen the ads that indicate 30 minutes of second hand smoke can cause heart attacks? I keep seeing them all the time. I googled and found: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176034,00.html As little as 30 minutes of secondhand smoke can lead to hardening of the arteries in non-smokers, Japanese researchers reported at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting. While most people know that secondhand smoke can affect those living or working around the smoker, most say that damage only occurs with long-term exposure. However, Japanese researchers report changes that can lead to heart disease occur in as little as 30 minutes. “Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke can result in reduced blood flow and an increase in a marker for oxidative stress equivalent to what occurs in smokers,” says Toru Kato, MD, of the faculty of medicine at Saga University in Saga, Japan. Thirty healthy male Japanese men — 15 smokers and 15 non-smokers — were exposed to passive smoke for a 30-minute period. The researchers looked for the percentage of artery narrowing and for a marker of oxidative stress, which can damage cells in the body’s vessels and lead to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). What the researchers found was that the arterial blood flow was lower and oxidative stress was higher in smokers than in non-smokers at the beginning of the study. However, after 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke, the levels in non-smokers mimicked that of long-term smokers. “Second-hand smoke is dangerous,” Kato tells WebMD. “Thirty minutes is enough to produce damage, but repeated exposure is even more dangerous.”
If you ask me, the study suggests that non-smokers, who work and live in situations where they are around smokers, should take up smoking.
lol. i guess you might conclude that smoking is less hazardous to your health than actually smoking from this article.
Clif, Is there any relevance to the ideal that your right to swing your fist ends at the point where my nose begins? In this case, you should have the right to smoke up to the pint until it affects my health. I own't even bring up the cost of healthcare issues as it pertains. Third party externatilities affect us all. Untreated farm waste runoff affects the clarity and health of the estuaries, thus affecting the ability of down stream people to draw water or comerically shelllfish. Does a non point source polluter have the right to adversley affect those downstream? At the olfactory level, let's presume that you choose to smoke and because of gastric complications, another person has a quite frequent release of flatulence..loud..and less than flower scented! Although no studies are appparent to demonstrate that inhaling such flatus is a health issue, certainly people might have an objection to it. If you have the right to smoke and share, does not the person who toots mightily? H6
Actually I would say it's more relevant to say that your right to be bloody-nose-free ends at the length of my swinging arm. If I am swinging my arm, and you step within the arc, then you cannot claim that I intentionally hurt you, nor that I can no longer have the right to swing my arm. Similarly, I have the right to smoke. As you have the right not to. I do not go to your place and smoke, but if you come to my place you have no right to stop me from smoking. Or, more apropo... If I own a restaurant, and I choose to allow smoking, whose business is it of yours (no pun intended) for you to tell me that I can not allow smoking in my business? If you don't want to deal with second-hand smoke, then go eat somewhere else. If you're a waitress who doesn't want to work around smokers, then go work somewhere else. Just don't tell me what I can and cannot do in my own home, business, or car.
...and how long term was this study done for? Is it showing the changes in the levels for an hour, 3 days, a month, what? How many years was this study conducted? How many times were they exposed...that once? Several times a day? On a weekly basis? Truly, we need more info about the study before even talking about it. Frogger
That would be my luck... quit smoking then walk into the bar and sit in the "smoking" section and keel over from a "second hand smoke heart attack" :x :x :x :x :x :x I'd be really ticked off! :evil:
My point was that the actions that we take affect more than just us. I would hope that we can achieve some sort of agreement on a premise, before we can begin to debate. Is smoking a healthy thing to do? I am not rasing the argument as to whether it's legal or not, nor that it is a personal right to do or not do. We haven't even gotten to that stage yet. I submit that if it is unhealthy, as most learned people would agree, then your right to do so, affects others, in that if you develop smoking related disease, and you can't afford to pay for it, then others must. Similarly, except for state law requiring them, you can choose to not wear your seat belt. If you are injured in an auto accident, it is logical to presume that someone restrained in an accident is generally going to fare better than someone who is not. If, because of a choice to not be restrained, the injury suffered causes aggravation of costs of treatment which you can not pay, then others will have to pay that, which then affects my hospital charges, my insurance premuims, etc. Yep, in your own home, you can do as you please as long as its legal. And I will always support that. How about those who have to live in a smoking environment, who do not have a choice? I have a bonus child in that situation. Her noncustodial parent smokes heavily. When the child is there, she has no choice as to his smoking around her. Yet, her health is affected by his choice, and her health is my concern. When she returns from there, the stench is breathtaking, in a bad way. As for operating a business open to the public, that's a different matter. If you choose to be open to the public, then different rules apply.
One other key note that seems to be missing. How much smoke were they exposed to in that 30 minute period? As has been show recently with a radio stunt and drinking water, that enough of anything in a short enough time is bad for you. So where the non-smokers subject to a chain smoker who smoked 3 packs in 30 minutes? Or the casual smoker who may have one or two in 30 minutes? Craig
Just carry a bond that will cover your legal exposure for providing an unsafe workplace, which will result in later litigation for those exposed to the second hand smoke.
Bonus child? "what the hell is a bonus child?" I believe it refers to her step child. Bonus mom is a 2nd wife.
Gcoats go tit right. I have a "bonus" daughter. I've used the term bonus kids, etc fror years now. I guess the idea of having anything as a "step" anything was adversley affectd by how Disney looked at it. The evil ones were usually stepmothers, etc. Even the term "step" seems to imply a "lesser than" status. Bonus is more positive. And as unusual as it all may sound, you have no idea how much crap my bonus daughter gets from my wife's ex, for refering tome as her bonus dad. Of course, he's too chicken scat to discuss it with me. I know, I know...find anothe venue for that discussion...
jesus that is a propaganda story there. lol. it doesn't give anywhere near enough info. i mean really...they might have had those symptoms 2 minutes after the exposure...but was it like that the next month? or were they normal again. i find it hard to believe that 30 minutes of 2nd hand smoke is going to screw you up for the rest of your life ps- non-smoker here.
The concern is for the cumulative effect, in both smoking and exposure to second hand smoke. If one were only exposed to second hand smoke for 30 minutes in their lifetime there would be no big concern.
I'm with harley... smoke'em if you got'em. Which I quit and hate the smell of smoke now but I am sure if I didn't have kids I would smoke like a chimney. And what about those people like my daddy... he smoked ever since the day I was born. Then he quit almost 3 years ago and ever since then his health has turned into this great big pill case. He's gain tons of weight, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol... you name it. And to top it all off he can't drink his wine!! :lol: He says all the time that he tells his doctors that he was better off smoking! LOL
Well, ya'll know I quit but lately...it's been pretty tempting!! Smoke away, if that's what you want. Truly, life's already too short to argue about it. Enjoy what time you have and make the most of it. I'll never begrudge someone their smokes...just don't hang out with me at the bar...toooooo tempting after a few shots of my old bud Jose... Frogger
