62/Media Reports/Secondhand smoke is bad for your health

Media Reports
Bangkok Post, Thailand  April 10, 1996  (Originally in English)


Secondhand smoke
is bad for your health

DEAR Ann:

You certainly were ahead of your time. I am holding in my hand a column you wrote dated August 24, 1972. It was about secondhand smoke. I am sure it was the first time a lot of your readers had heard of it. I have kept the column in my files for nearly 23 years. I hope you will print it again.

    If the researchers had insisted on giving their findings the publicity they deserved back in 1972, just think of the millions of lives that could have been saved. How sad.

H.M.N.


Dear H.M.N. :

 

Sad indeed. I lost a beloved brother-in-law to cigarette smoking in 1976. The public had no idea in those days just how deadly cigarette smoke could be.

The tobacco lobby is rich and powerful. It was not, however, powerful enough to continue advertising on television. Concern for the health and welfare of the people triumphed over the almighty dollar. It will be a glorious day when no newspaper or magazine will accept an ad promoting a product that is deadly and addictive. Let us hope that day is not far off.。

 Here is the column that ran in 1972:

DEAR Ann:

How many times has someone asked, "Do you mind if I smoke?" And even though you'd rather not have smoke blown in your face, you say, "That's all right. Go ahead."

New evidence should be called to the attention of the reading public, and here it is.

Recent experiments at Texas A&M University indicate that 30 minutes in a smoke-filled room significantly increases the non-smoker's heart rate, blood pressure and the amount of carbon monoxide in his blood.

A team of researchers at the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre reported that smoke drifting from the burning ends of cigarettes, pipes and cigars contains cadmium, which could be harmful when inhaled by onlookers.

Another research team at Wayne State University in Detroit found that acute illnesses, mostly respiratory, were twice as prevalent among young children whose parents smoked at home than among children whose parents did not.

Please, when your readers are asked, "Do you mind if I smoke?" urge them to say, "Yes, I do mind. It's bad for my health."

Charles Kleasewetter.


Dear C.K.:

Thank you for providing the perfect response. For those who are too timid to say, "Yes, I do mind."

I suggest that you clip this column and have copies made. When asked the question, simply hand it over. That should clear a sinus or two.

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