The Wingham Advance-Times, 1983-03-30, Page 38H w seco
When your workweek
finally grinds to a halt and
Monday seems as far off as
your prospects for a raise,
it's nice to relax with your
friend Charlie in the little
restaurant around' the
corner.
The service is brisk and
smiling and, across the
table, Charlie is smiling too.
He unzips a packet and holds
it toward you.
"Cigarette?"
"Thanks. I don't smoke..."
. Oh?
Well, let's seen what
happens when Charlie lights
his cigarette.
Two Kinds
of Pollution
The flick of Charlie's
lighter touches off a two-
stage train of pollution in the
air you'll be breathing.
There is mainstream
pollution and there is
sidestream pollution.
Except for the fact that the
odor of exhaled tobacco
smoke can be stomach -
turning to some people,
mainstream pollution offers
the lesser hazard to a non-
smoker. It consists of the
smoke that Charlie draws in,
holds in his lungs for awhile,
and then breathes out.
It's to your advantage that
Charlie holds the smoke in
his lungs for, in so doing, he
acts as a kind of filter,
retaining within his own
body significant amounts of
gases and solid particles that
would otherwise be available
to you. For instance, he'll re-
tain 54 per cent of all the car-
bon
arbon monoxide he inhales and
over 90 per cent of all the
solid smoke particles -but to
his detriment, not yours.
Charlie's a `filtration"
takes off a lot of the edge of
mainstream pollution as far
as you are concerned. The
sidestream pollution is
another matter, though.
The sidestream pollution
represents all the smoke that
Charlie can't get into his
mouth: smoke that escapes
from the burning tip of his
cigarette and from its butt.
And that's where
problems begin
Think. Have you ever
noticed how the grey in
Charlie's hair has a blondish
tint? That's from his
sidestream smoke. Some of
the smoke is made up of
things that are in a gaseous
state when they are warm,
but which become sticky
solids when they cool off.
These "tars" condense on
anything that is at normal
room temperature --on
Charlie's hair, for instance,
and on his clothes, giving his
smoke
ffects non -
jackets a characteristic
musty aroma. All that tar
doesn't condense on Charlie:
there's plenty left over for
you...
Your health
is at risk
Besides tinting and
scenting your hair and
Every
cigarette ...
-makes your heart beat
faster
-shoots your blood pressure
up
-lowers your skin tem-
perature
-replaces oxygen in your
blood with carbon monoxide
-leaves cancer-causing
chemicals to spread through
your body
REGULAR SMOKING
INCREASES YOUR
CHANCES OF DYING
FROM A SMOKE -
RELATED DISEASE BY 70
PER CENT OVER A NON-
SMOKER.
THINK ABOUT IT!!
clothes, sidestream smoke
offers you some very real
health risks. You are bound
to suffer some discomfort
from eye irritation due to
smoke exposure, but if you
have allergies that affect
your breathing, such as hay
fever or asthma, you'll face
other problems as well.
Sidestream smoke triggers
nasal nuisances such as
irritation and a runny nose.
It makes you cough and
wheeze far more than a non-
allergic person. Odds are it
will even give you a mild
headache.
Carbon Monoxide
The big sidestream smoke
hazard lies in its carbon
monoxide content. Carbon
monoxide is one of the
simplest, yet sneakiest gases
known to chemists. It is
colorless and odorless, so
that you cannot tell when it is
around. One of the first ef-
fects is to make you dull and
perhapsa little sleepy.
Carbon monoxide. works
by robbing the body of.
oxygen that it needs. Red
blood .. cells normally carry
oxygen from the lungs to all
of the body's tissues. If there
is any carbon monoxide in
your lungs, the red blood
cells will ignore the oxygen
and pick it up instead.
As the carbon monoxide
content of your blood in-
creases, more and more of
your body begins to starve
for oxygen, including your
heart and brain tissues.
When this happens, you
may become more fumbling
and uncertain. Your ability
to sort out visual detail may
suffer.
To make matters worse,
carbon monoxide is a
cumulative poison. It builds
up in your system: you take
it in faster than you can get
rid of it. The carbon
monoxide that you inhale
from Charlie's sidestream
smoke will stay in your body
for hours. Each successive
cigarette he smokes in your
presence, adds to that
buildup.
There's More
Sidestream smoke causes
significant damage to the
lungs of nonsmokers exposed
to it. The smoke from
Charlie's cigarette per-
manently scars some of the
small airways in your lungs.
As this reduces your lung
capacity, it makes it
necessary for you to pub
more effort into breathing in
order to get the amount of
oxygen your body needs.
Furthermore, reduced lung
capacity is often a
forerunner of emphysema
and other serious lung
disorders.
If Charlie has children or if
his . wife is pregnant,
sidestream smoke around
his home may be cause for
concern. Impaired lung
functions have been found in
the children of parents who
smoke. And constant ex-
posure to cigarette smoke
can injure the health of non-
smoking wives and their
unborn babies.
How much can
you safely inhale
from sidestream
Medical authorities can't
answer that question. But
kers
they can tell you that the risk
of cancer increases right
along with the amount of
exposure to any carcinogen.
And, furthermore, they'll
tell you how deceptive
carcinogens can be. Some
seem to lodge in the body and
lie dormant for years before
producing a cancer. Only
recently, new cancers have
been traced to contact with
asbestos used in gas mask
manufacture during World
War II.
With tobacco smoke, the
only dose that you can
consider safe is no dose at
all. But, if you continually
breathe sidestream smoke
from others' cigarettes, you
are getting tiny doses day
after day...
There you
have it
Unwanted odors and tints
of tobacco smoke in your
hair and clothes. Irritations
of your allergies.
Cumulative carbon
monoxide poisoning.
Reduced lung efficiency.
And an increase in cancer
risk:
And all from other peoples'
cigarettes.
So don't smoke
Seems you only thought
you didn't! You are a
smoker, a passive smoker,
as long as you are in the
company of active smokers.
What can you
do about it?
Well, to start with, you
might begin by asking others
not to smoke in your
presence. Tell them that the
odor of tobacco smoke an-
noys you.
Then you could urge
smokers you know to quit.
There is plenty of literature
avail -We that tells -how and
plenty of organizations
willing to offer advice and
help. For instance, your
local office of the Canadian
Cancer Society can help you
out. Ask the owners of
restaurants and taverns that
you patronize regularly to
set up nonsmokers' sections.
They'll do it if enough people
urge them.
Phone or write your
elected officials to ask what
is being done about
prohibiting smoking in en-
closed public places and on
trains, buses and aircraft.
They want to hear from you.
And, above all, be sure to
discuss the problem with
your nonsmoking friends.
You'll be surprised at the
number of new and useful
ideas an enthused group can
develop to combat passive
smoking.
This information is brought to you with the kind co-operation of the following:
Commercial & Residential Swimming Pool Builders & Consultants
Rintoul's Pools & Spas
BILL RINTOUL President
RR 1, Wingham, Ont. NOG 2W0
Half Mile North on Highway 4
519-357-2628
BANK OF MONTREAL
John B. Pollard, Manager
SS Josephine Street, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0
(519)357-1750/3
161 Josephine St., Wingham
357-2841
HEAD OFFICE - LISTOWEL, ONTARIO
Branches in: Wingham. Goderich, Kincardine. Hanover. Ori//ia,
Owen Sound. Mount Forest. Midland, Bracehridge. Orangeville.
Barrie. Stratford.
WINGHAM MOTEL
George and Mary Romanik
Hwy. 4 S. of Wingham 357-1342
T. B. ALLEN LTD.
Londesboro, Ont.
Feed and Fertilizer
Call 482-3363, 523-9606 or
WINGHAM FEED MILL,
Wingham, Ont. Ca11,357-3060