"LIFE'S TOO SHORT TO EAT BAD NUTS"

current | archives | profile | notes | guestbook | photos | rings | contact | host

Perching here and gathering my thoughts ...

There�s no smoke without fire

09 July 2003 ~ 22:54

Recently on the forum of a website for American ex-pats (not that I myself am one!), we had a fierce discussion about the proposal by our chief medical officer (the equivalent of the Surgeon General) that smoking be banned in all public places. The topic had to be locked by the moderator because of the strength of opinion.

I have to say, I came down well in favour of the ban. Both the UK and US have good and bad points but that�s one of the things I prefer about America�their common sense dislike of the filthy habit. Bans have been in force for years in California and New York is now catching up. I really think Britain should be next.

Yes, it is a free country, but that includes the right of the non-smoking public to go out for a quiet drink or meal in a pub or restaurant without smoke drifting about, getting down their lungs and maybe even causing cancer due to passive smoking. Just having non-smoking sections hasn�t worked. You still come home stinking of tobacco because the smoke drifts around. Pubs won�t ban smoking because most of their customers smoke, as the non-smokers keep away because they hate smoking. It�s a vicious circle. Once a ban is in place I�m sure pubs and clubs will find they actually attract more customers.

Pubs with two completely separate bars could still have a smoking section, or restaurants with two floors, and smokers will be free to smoke at home and outside (not on stations; it�s too crowded). But I really think smoking areas should be the exception rather than the norm, as it is now. After all, more people don�t smoke than do. Nobody kicked up much fuss when smoking was banned on planes, subways, trains and in the workplace, so why should we be making a stink about it now?

I also firmly believe that parents should not be allowed to smoke in the same room as their children. It�s child cruelty to cause asthma etc., just as it would be to beat or starve a child. Kids are too young to ask mum or dad not to pollute them, so the Government must protect them. If they can�t, then they are not much of a government.


Stored nuts | Future acorns


-