#12432
Anonymous

    Chloe said:

    Re smoking: I'm staggered at the number of people who think it is Ok to inflict their own self-destructive behaviour on others.  Smoking is banned in many places because it is injurious to health. If my neighbours want to poison themselves, that is up to them as long as no-one else is affected, (apart from the health care costs to all of us when they do get sick),  but I greatly object to having to breathe in the toxic fumes  from their balcony. I value my health and try to look after it. There may be some things I cannot control, such as breathing in traffic fumes, but I expect to be able to safeguard my health in my own home. I choose not to sit with smokers outside restaurants and avoid smoke wherever I can.  Why should I not be able to do so in my own home?  It is NOT Ok to say “live and let live” and “strata living involves give and take” in this instance. Breathing in even second-hand smoke has been proven to harm health. No-one should have to put up with this selfish behaviour.


     

    If it makes you feel any better the amount of taxes they pay for outweighs the costs associated with smoking related illness! I guess the thing is I do subscribe to the live and let live theory. The impacts from secondhand smoke outdoors is pretty minimal – internal in a smoky room it’s a different story – and it is really only long term exposure in large amounts that has any impact. I agree – I sit inside at restaurants (except in my local area – Mosman council has a smoking ban within 10m of outdoor dining areas, good thing it is too) but I also can see that smokers are reaching leper status, and if they can’t smoke within their own property, or on the streets, or at parks, then where can they smoke. I don’t like the smell, I think it’s a waste of money, and I hate the impacts butts have on the environment, but I will also defend an adults right to do what they want to their own body.

     

    I’m sure if we could work out a way of fixing the massive budget black hole that would result when smoking is outlawed then it wouldn’t be an issue, but until then I think we are all just going to have to put up with it. It is interesting that the rates of lung cancer is higher amongst non-smokers in an urban area than in a rural area, so I wonder if that air pollution has more of an impact than anything else?

     

    I find closing the door for 5 minutes when the neighbours are having a cig works ok for me, but then they aren’t chain smokers either so I might be lucky in that respect.