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Bella Class Act, Are you a smoker? You certainly have denial issue. Yes, smoking causes cancer. If you don't want to quit, that is your choice. Doctors are not making up stories about cigarette smoking causing cancer.

well, yeah Smoking does cause cancer, but then again, what doesnt cause cancer? now adays you get cancer from walking outside, from using electronics, there isnt much that doesnt give cancer, and soon there wont be anything that doesnt give cancer

We do not all have "cancer cells" in our bodies.

I believe you are referring to "free radicals" which can certainly contribute, but they are NOT "cancer cells."

And secondhand smoke is a problem, not just because of the cancer issue, but because of asthma, emphysema, COPD and so on.

If you choose to smoke, fine.

But do it by yourself, not where my family and I have to smell you or breathe your fumes.

Bella, you're right, the lowly little cigarette gets blamed for EVERYTHING! When in fact everything we eat, drink, and the air we breathe is full of carcinogens, and not from the small amount of smoke emitted from a cigarette. Our ground water is laden with chemicals and carcinogens from the fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides used in farming, and all the crap people put on their lawns to produce a "healthy" lawn. Our air is polluted with chemicals emitted from industry and the millions of cars on the road today. The ground water saturated with all the agricultural chemicals is what is used to grow our our vegetables and the corn used to feed our livestock.

I happen to live in an agricultural region and believe me all the cigarettes in the world can't hold a candle to all the chemicals used to produce a bumper crop of wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans and livestock.

Most people are ignorant as to what they are eating, drinking and breathing on a daily basis. As a matter of fact tobacco in it's "natural" state produces very little toxicity when burned or inhaled. It is the CHEMICALS used in growing and processing the tobacco plant that make it a carcinogenic product, right up there with all the foods we eat and the air we breathe.

Enjoy your ciggies, try not to smoke in a confined area and make sure you have plenty of ventilation, no need to add insult to injury, and don't worry about what ignorant, naive people have to say. You will succumb no sooner to smoking, then eating, breathing and drinking the vast array of pollutants you're already consuming.

I know of several people in this area alone who have never smoked a day in their lives and yet died of various forms of cancer, including that of the lung, and others who have smoked a lifetime into their 80's and 90's and died of old age. So unless you have a genetic predisposition to lung cancer, I wouldn't worry too much.

Do smoke in moderation, get plenty of exercise, "eat healthy" ( I don't know if that's possible, unless you grow your own food organically in chemical free soil, and eat NO processed food) and don't let it bother you. Stress will kill you faster then anything else on this earth.

Face it, it's far easier to blame the lowly little cigarette for all of mankind's ills, then address the real issues, and clean up this earth; and far cheaper as well. I can promise you if every person on this earth quit smoking tomorrow, the incidence rate of cancer would only be 1 or 2% less. Then they would just have to find something else to blame everything on. It's always easier to blame the lesser of the evils, then to tackle the real problems.

Have a smoke for me and enjoy!

I hope you don't live in Minnesota. We were one of the first to pass the Clean Air Act back in 1975. I guess people must really enjoy smoking if they can do it in minus 30 degrees.

Oh, how sweet! Ms. Class Act sent me a private little nastygram all her own. And no, I do not mean her Comment.

Listen, "Class Act," I have something to say to you right back. And unlike you, I will say it in public.

I don't smoke. (I have scar tissue on my lungs from severe bronchitis and tuberculosis.) My friends and family don't smoke. My ex mother-in-law used to smoke; she is now dying of emphysema. My grandfather also smoked. He rolled his own cigarettes and he lived into his 90's. So yes, I am perfectly aware of the fact that smoking is a choice and that not all people who smoke will die from it.

I am also perfectly aware of the fact that there are carcinogens and bacteria and accidents and chemicals and every other sort of thing lurking around in this world, and that some people will die from them and some people will not.

But the fact remains, as DB Lady said, that secondhand smoke is an issue because it CAN cause cancer.

If you want to smoke, fine. If my neighbors want to smoke, fine. But I don't want to have to walk past them and their cloud of smoke to get into my unit. And I don't want my grandson to pick up their cigarette buts that they've tossed on the ground. And I don't want to listen to them coughing their guts out every single morning when they're outside having their first smoke of the day.

Would I ever insist that they quit? Absolutely not. It's their right to do whatever they want to their bodies.

But I WILL insist that I have rights, too, meaning that I should be able to live in a smoke-free environment. Take your damn butts inside and let me breathe in peace.

hi bella

i liked your answer very much annette.  it is all true.  also they think that raising the price of cigareettes is going to stop people from smoking,  it won't ,  the people that can afford them will buy,  the others will steal even if it is a pack at a time.  i think if a person is old enough to vote and use their judgement,  then they can use their judgement about other things like drinking and smoking.  i think there is alot more danger in letting teenagers get a drivers licence that are not mature enough and don't get the right supervision of learning to drive , and yet with all the teaching to people and to teenagers have.....they still have the radio up so loud they couldn't hear a horn honking at them ,  also looking at theirself in the mirrow,  but mostly  the worst.....they uses drugs and drinking before getting behind that wheel..........how many tickets do they have to get away with, by paying a little fine and how many deaths from crashes on the ground and hiway and in the air  ARE GOING TO BE ALLOWED??  some of us are still left with a brain to use to decide what is best or not for theirself.  a person should not offend others tho,  espically children and seniors.  but to each their own ABOUT MODERALY SMOKING AND DRINKING  " THAT IS THEIR CHOICE " 

god bless

nanadee 

I have received an explanation from Bella regarding the message that was sent to me.

While I cannot explain what happened or why, I accept her words and offer my remarks in public to say that I apologize to her if my post caused her any distress.

I believe we shall just agree to disagree regarding the issue of this question's topic, but that neither one of us wishes to continue to make nasty remarks to, or about, one another.

Enjoy your evening, Bella.