Safe Cigarettes?

CDPatten writes "The UK Times Online is reporting that we could see a 'safe cigarette' next year. From the article: 'BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) is to launch a controversial 'safer cigarette' designed to cut the risk of smoking-related diseases such as cancer and heart failure by up to 90%.' I wonder if this will have any impact on the no smoking bans we have seen in recent years?"

Comments

Cause or Risk Factor? (warning pro-smoking)

[dada21]

No one in my family smoked ever, I was the first. I recently "quit" because of financial reasons, no health. In terms of health, I don't see the causation connection, especially in second hand smoke.

My physician smokes 2+ packs a day. He's 80. He runs, avoids trans fats and high glycemic foods. Many of my older customers smoke but also maintain good diets and exercise.

I started smoking at 21. I had bad bouts with kidney stones that no medications or diet helped. A San Francisco quack Chinese herbal nut told me to smoke. 5 years with zero kidney attacks. Giving it up at 26 gave me 3 years of kidney pains. Smoking again relieved it. Since I stopped a few weeks ago, the pains are back.

My TMJ was also reduced from smoking. It has affected me since the age of 11.

I'm not saying smoking is safe or healthy. I am saying it has some benefits, and the high carb high trans fat diet of most Westerners is far worse. If it wasn't for high taxes and tort suit payments, I'd continue to smoke. I know I live a healthier life because of it.

By the way, I ran a half marathon while smoking 10 cigarettes, and am in great physical shape (good blood pressure, cholesterol, etc). Don't believe the hype.

Re:Cause or Risk Factor? (warning pro-smoking)

[slamb]

I couldn't care less if it's totally harmless to me in the long term - in the short term it gives me what feels like an allergic reaction (stuffiness, watering eyes, lethargy) which isn't very pleasant. [...] But in enclosed public spaces, please refrain from it - those of us who don't smoke find it at best smelly, at worst, feeling a bit ill.

Some of us more than a bit ill. Second-hand smoke causes me real short-term problems. I've heard people say that cigarette smoke isn't an allergen; it's chemical sensitivity. Whatever you call it, the effect is the similar to - but more potent than - my other allergies. My eyes burn and water, I cough and sneeze, and my sinuses fill, which often leads to a sinus infection, which means a week of misery and $100 of antibiotics. Probably a day missed from work. I used to live in Iowa, so there were a number of places I just couldn't go - bars, bowling alleys, etc. I had sinus surgery to to prevent the infections, with disappointing results.

I've moved to California, where they have seen reason. I can go anywhere. I'm incredibly sensitive to smoke, so I do have occasional problems still. I'll smell smoke and see a coworker who walked past and is now 100 feet away; the smell lingers. If I smell it, I know it will cause me problems. If I don't smell it, it still might. (I once had a pretty bad reaction to a hotel room that smelled just fine to me. Never found out why.) I deliberately shun people who smell like smoke. If I am forced to be near them, I take a shower as soon as I get home.

Environment

[GenKreton]

And how will this even attempt to address the environmental issues concerned with smoking?

Not only is it a useless and harmful pastime to people, it greatly hurts the environment. Up here in New England (USA) we even have stories of deer venturing onto roads to eat cigarette butts and causing accidents, all because they are addicted. It is also just unsightly to see them all over roads and sidewalks. All things considered it is harmful to everything and everyone.

Re:tobacco still sucks - canabis

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of us use tobacco to mix with canabis. this makes it burn in a better way, and helps us to regulate dose...

we'd like to see something nicotine free, but burn well. we're going to do canabis whether it's legal or not, as will other smokers smoke. I think this sort of thing is a good thing for most involved.

if they legalised pot, and made better ways of regulating the doses I'm sure we'd all be a lot happier!

Re:tobacco still sucks

[UttBuggly]

" It makes you cough, stink and die. What's not to like? " Absolutely...and does so very effectively and insidiously. Nicotine is amazingly good at the addictive-formation onslaught to the human brain. From personal experience, I can tell you that nicotine is a life-long template in your brain whether you're smoking or not. I smoked 22 years. And I wasn't a "light" smoker. 2-3 packs a day, more when I was drinking alcohol. I quit in 1994. I was thrilled to redsicover the taste of food, drink, and the air in general. I got into incredible physical shape and life was good. I got remarried in 2004 and discovered the wife was "a social smoker". I had only ever known two kinds of people, smokers and non-smokers. I had no idea a SMALL fraction of people get addicted to nicotine so slightly, that they APPEAR to be able to "take or leave" cigarettes. And, to top it off, she smoked my favorite brand. A few months ago, I found myself smoking 2-3 cigarettes every evening after dinner. Right up to the second I lit one up, I'd actually think "I won't be smoking any more of THESE" and do it anyway. I finally quit again 4 weeks ago as has the wife. Nicotine sucks.........

another threat from smoking

[SethJohnson]

Tobacco addicts endanger our lives more than by the carcinogens they exhale into the air. Their habit also is the leading cause for fire-related deaths. If you live in an apartment building and smokers also live in that building, you are depending on them not to fall asleep with a cigarrette burning in an ashtray on their beds. It's really common for an entire building to go up in flames due to unsupervised cigarrettes. So, yeah, smoking is a pretty significant threat to non-smokers.

Seth