Yeah this is a tricky subject.
I'm a smoker, and we all know that cigarettes is bad for us, just like Limos said. We all have our own reasons for smoking.
Telling me I can't smoke a cigarette because it is bad for me is like telling me I can't eat a cheeseburger for the same reason.
There's been a good amount of effort recently, in the US at least, to eradicate cigarettes from public areas, like parks and sidewalks.
This is a total restriction on our personal freedom. They rally around SHS(second-hand smoke) as being the reason, which people are happy to agree with. What most people don't realize is that SHS studies have rarely been studied outside, and all of these studies admit that they are inconclusive. They all agree on one thing however, that outdoor levels of SHS are highly localized to the source. This should be obvious.
Here's some relevant passages from one of these reports:
Basically, your exposure to outdoor SHS is barely measurable unless you come sit right next to me or its blowing in your face.
I'm a smoker, and we all know that cigarettes is bad for us, just like Limos said. We all have our own reasons for smoking.
Telling me I can't smoke a cigarette because it is bad for me is like telling me I can't eat a cheeseburger for the same reason.
There's been a good amount of effort recently, in the US at least, to eradicate cigarettes from public areas, like parks and sidewalks.
This is a total restriction on our personal freedom. They rally around SHS(second-hand smoke) as being the reason, which people are happy to agree with. What most people don't realize is that SHS studies have rarely been studied outside, and all of these studies admit that they are inconclusive. They all agree on one thing however, that outdoor levels of SHS are highly localized to the source. This should be obvious.
Here's some relevant passages from one of these reports:
1) It is difficult to measure ETS removal rates in outdoor settings since outdoor conditions are highly variable and change rapidly. (Page III-13)
2) [C]igars and cigarettes, the primary source of ETS [environmental tobacco smoke], are smaller sources that emit pollutants near people and thereby exposures to ETS are very localized. (Page II-4)
3) Overall, the results indicate that concentrations of nicotine correspond to the number of smokers in the smoking areas, although factors such as the size of the smoking area and wind speed affected the results. (Page II-3)
4) For each sampling period, two samplers were situated adjacent to the outdoor smoking area, with a third sampler located away from the smoking area as a background sampler in the expected upwind direction. … At most sites, the location of the background monitors, due to physical obstacles and/or meteorological conditions, were close to the smoking areas. … However, even at the background site locations, background concentrations were substantially lower than measured in the smoking areas. (Pages V-7 to V-8)
Basically, your exposure to outdoor SHS is barely measurable unless you come sit right next to me or its blowing in your face.