An Honest Look at How Smoking Affects Everyone Around You

Last week I was driving to the post office to ship some customer
orders. I noticed a foul odor blowing out of my car's air vents
and I looked up at the car 5 car-lengths in front of me. Sure
enough, I saw a hand reaching out through the driver's window
flicking the ashes from a cigarette. That was followed by a
plume of smoke, headed straight for my car. I quickly reached
down and closed the outside air vent.

Perhaps you believe that your smoking habit is just YOUR
problem. Did you ever stop to analyze why non-smokers are so
outspoken about smoking in public? The secondhand smoke issue is
highly charged and still debated. But there's more to the issue
of how your smoking affects other people. This article is an
honest look--a chance for you to evaluate the impact your
smoking has on everyone around you. I encourage you to read the
articles referenced in the endnotes for additional details.

SMOKING AND THE UNBORN CHILD

The evidence continues to mount. Smoking during pregnancy does
affect your unborn child. Developmental growth and birth weight
in babies of smoking mothers is lower than babies of non-smoking
mothers. These same "smoking" babies are more likely to be
shorter in height, slower at reading and lower in "social
adjustment" than children of nonsmoking mothers.

Statistics show that infant mortality--the death of the baby
either at birth or through a miscarriage--is 50 percent higher
when the mother smokes. That means nonsmoking parents experience
half as many infant mortalities. The good news is that if you
stop smoking by the fourth month of pregnancy, you can
significantly reduce these dangers. (1)

"Women who smoke while pregnant pass NNK, a very potent
carcinogen, to their babies still developing in the womb.
Earlier research showed that offspring of animals treated with
NNK developed tumors of the lung, trachea, liver, and other
organs." (2)

A recent study even suggests that individuals, whose mothers
smoked during pregnancy, were predisposed to take up smoking
themselves. If you smoke while pregnant, you may be encouraging
your child to smoke, years from now! (3)

SMOKING AND CHILDREN

Newborn babies exposed to their mother's smoking through breast
feeding and environmental tobacco smoke show significantly
higher levels of urinary cotinine. Cotinine is a major
metabolite of nicotine, and is used as a marker for recent
cigarette smoke exposure.

A study examined 507 infants, finding urinary cotinine levels
during the first 2 weeks of life were significantly increased in
infants whose mothers smoked. Breast-fed infants had higher
cotinine levels than non-breast-fed infants, but this was
statistically significant only if mothers smoked. Urinary
cotinine levels were 5 times higher in breast-fed infants whose
mothers smoked than in those whose mothers smoked but did not
breast-feed. Babies definitely receive the harmful chemicals
found in cigarettes through both breast feeding and
environmental exposure. (4)

Children of smokers are also 2 1/2 times more likely to die of
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), or crib death. One study
found that nearly 60 percent of all SIDS cases could be
prevented if smokers stopped smoking around babies and pregnant
women. (5)

A meta-analysis of studies conducted after 1965 showed
significant risk to children exposed to secondhand smoke of
numerous ailments including asthma, tonsillectomy, lower
respiratory tract infections, plus many others. Children were
also at risk of death due to fires caused by cigarettes. (6)

One study reveals an incredible statistic: Children of smokers
are nearly three times as likely to smoke as children of non-
smokers. Parents, have you ever thought of yourself as a drug
pusher? (7)

SECONDHAND SMOKE

Does secondhand smoke cause cancer or other illness? Do we have
to ask? This issue has divided the pro- and anti-smoking lobbies
for many years. However, a study by the National Cancer
Institute(NCI) released in November 1999, presents conclusive
evidence, including 18 epidemiological studies linking
secondhand smoke to coronary heart disease.

Donald Shopland, coordinator of NCI's Smoking and Tobacco
Control Program, notes that the report estimates that each year
in the United States between 35,000 and 62,000 coronary heart
disease deaths occur due to secondhand smoke exposure, also
known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). "ETS exposures are
related to much more than heart disease. When the thousands of
ETS-related lung cancers and other diseases are considered, ETS
clearly is a major cause of death in the United States," said
Shopland. (8)
Read the full 430 page report here:
http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCI_MONOGRAPHS/MONO10/MONO10.HTM

OTHER EFFECTS OF SMOKING

Besides the obvious effects of smoking presented above, there
are many other effects that you probably never considered.

First, smoking stinks. Never mind the health risks. The
offensive odor intrudes on the noses of people all around you,
from your family and co-workers, to patrons at public places
such as restaurants and sporting events. While you may feel it
is your right to smoke in public places, consider how you would
feel if your next door neighbor suddenly opened a chicken farm
in his back yard. The stench can be sickening. The issue is not
so much a rights issues as much as it is a consideration issue.
Treat the people around you with respect, the way that you'd
expect them to treat you.

Aside from the smell of smoke, there's also the issue of
cigarette butts carelessly discarded along roadways and other
public places. While most smokers would probably never consider
tossing a used cup or hamburger wrapper out their car window,
many don't give a second thought to flicking one cigarette butt
after another out the window. Don't think one little butt
matters? Consider that it takes one to five years for a
cigarette butt to disintegrate, or biodegrade. (9)

What's that? You only throw out perhaps one cigarette butt per
pack. Ok, let's examine that. You litter one butt for every 20
you smoke. That's 5% of your cigarettes. Not much, right?
Consider that the worldwide consumption of cigarettes is
somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,050,000,000,000 per year. If
"only" 5% of cigarette butts were discarded improperly, that
means 302,500,000,000 butts are littering every street corner,
parking lot, public park, and beach in the world. The next time
you stop in your car at a stop light, look down next to your
car. You'll probably see dozens, if not hundreds of butts.

What do improperly discarded butts lead to, among other things?
Yes, fires! Thousands of fires are started each year by
carelessly discarded cigarette butts. Thousands of innocent
victims are killed each year as a result of these fires. These
fires and deaths are easily prevented if only you would take a
moment to properly discard your butts.

How else does your smoking affect other people? Consider that
your smoking habit costs hundreds or thousands of dollars per
year. Add this amount up over 20 or 30 years, plus tack on the
interest that money could have earned and you have wasted
perhaps $100,000 or more! Just think what that money could have
done for you and your family. One cigarette at a time, and no
one notices. But if you pulled $100,000 out of your bank
account, you'd be called a thief!

The financial costs don't stop at the cigarettes alone. You're
also probably paying double or more for your health insurance.
You're also much more likely to incur doctor visits and medical
expenses than are non-smokers. This costs you both for the
treatment as well as the lost wages from your time off from
work. The value of your car and home may also be reduced, due to
the odor and filth of cigarettes.

Have your personal relationships been affected? Smoking can be
very offensive to non-smokers. Many non-smokers won't consider a
smoker as a possible spouse. If you're in sales, smoking may be
killing deals because you smell bad, or have offensive breath.
People buy *you*, not just your product!. Your career may even
be stunted due to excessive smoke breaks. Smokers waste many
hours each week taking breaks to satisfy their habit. Don't
think that your regular absences go unnoticed by your colleagues
and your boss. While you're outside relaxing, your co-workers
are inside working. If you were the boss, to whom would you give
a raise or promotion?

Your smoking also cheats your family and friends. When you die
early (the average smoker will die eight years earlier than a
non-smoker), you rob your family and friends of--you! If you are
unfortunate enough to get sick at a very early age, you also
threaten your children's normal childhood, and seriously impact
your spouse's life. Consider your children, spouse, family and
friends when you smoke next.

Finally, don't forget that smoking cheats YOU! All of the
foregoing information affects you. When you smoke, you are
slowly robbing yourself.

The point of all this? Your smoking habit has far reaching
consequences. Quitting smoking can erase these negative
consequences and improve your life and the lives of so many
other people around you. Start making plans today to quit
smoking.

"If I Quit I'll Die!"

Do you take pride in your smoking? My guess is that if you
really examine it, you take pride not in smoking, but in making
your own decisions, and being your own person. Many people START
smoking to prove their independence and control over their own
lives. No one can tell you what to do, right? That's why the
decision to quit and the motivation to quit MUST come from
inside YOU, not someone else. If you are reading this message
you've probably made the decision that smoking stinks and that
getting help and advice from others is okay now. That's a huge
step toward quitting. Congratulations! Once you get past the
pride issue, quitting becomes a whole lot easier.

The last part of the emails says, "If I quit I'll Die." What an
ironic statement. Shouldn't it really be, "If I don't quit I'll
Die"? We all know what he means though: "I can't face the
thought of not having my friend, the cigarette. I need them to
relax. I need them to cope. I need them to fit in. I just need
them to live." That's the addiction talking. He's probably tried
to quit before and felt the withdrawal--mentally, physically and
emotionally. It can be painful, almost to the point that you DO
feel like you're going to die. But, rest assured you won't.

The next message reads "Remove me from this torture." I suppose
this one can be interpreted in a couple different ways. Perhaps
the guy just didn't like my writing. Ok, I can take the
constructive criticism. But the other interpretation is the one
I'd like to focus on. I think what he really meant was this:
"Every time you talk to me about quitting smoking it drives me
insane because I know I should quit. I've tried, believe me,
I've tried. I want to quit, but I like to smoke. I need my
cigarettes. I want to be my own person. I want to *smoke* on my
own terms and I want to *quit* on my own terms. Leave me alone
and just let me figure it out in my own way. I'm not ready to
quit right now."

Is that you? Does reading about this torture you? I've had other
people ask to be taken off this list because it made them think
about smoking too much, and made them want to smoke.

Quitting can be torture, but most anything worth doing does
involve some pain or discomfort. Some things worth doing require
LOTS of pain and discomfort.

I remember how painful football (American style) practice was
when I was in high school. I banged my head against a bunch of
other guys for two and a half hours each weekday afternoon, just
to get ready for a two hour game on Saturday. Now that was
torture! But it was worth it! Once the game started, I forgot
about all the hard work I put in the week before.

I bet all the women on this list who have had children can
relate (but magnified 1,000 times). You suffer for nine months,
feeling like you could explode any minute. You may even say that
you wish you never got pregnant because it's so miserable. But
when the big day comes and your baby is born you forget about
the pain and anguish you suffered. It was worth it!

Quitting is worth it! Remember, when you're feeling like you
could "die", that one day soon, all the pain and misery of
quitting will be forgotten, and you'll be a non-smoker for the
rest of your life!