Winter Maladies: Natural Approaches
June Russell's Health Facts
Smoking - Smoking-related Hazards
Dangers of Passive Smoke
“Secondhand smoke” - Every year in the U.S., it is estimated that 37,000
people die from heart disease acquired by inhaling other people’s smoke. Worse yet,
heart attack deaths resulting from passive smoke occur much earlier in life than do
the lung cancer deaths caused by such exposure. Japanese researchers have shown
that even short-term passive smoking damages the inner lining of blood vessels, and
just 30 minutes exposure to secondhand smoke affects the lining of the heart’s
coronary arteries. In addition, they were able to link these changes to illnesses such
as death from heart attack and emphysema. So, if people living in your home smoke,
insist that they do so outdoors.
{Source: Journal of the American Medical
Association, 2001, in the newsletter ‘Health Gazette, October 2001}
Both smokers and non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke have lower levels of folate in their blood than non-smokers, concluded the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study (Nicotine & Tobacco Research - 2003). Even if you don’t smoke, exposure to smoke zaps your folate blood levels, reducing your protection against birth defects and some cancers. This finding provides biological support for recent studies linking tobacco smoke exposure to heart disease and breast cancer.
{“Passive smoke, folate deficiency,” Nutrition Hints - #1220, Betty Kamen, PhD and Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, MD, June 2003}
"Reaction to Smoke Dehabilitating" written in 1993 by June Russell, author of this Web site:
These extreme reactions are lessened now, partly because of the many years I have eliminated my exposure to secondhand smoke and other harmful chemicals. For many years these reactions were blamed on mental and emotional factors because these symptoms were extremely acute after individual smokers visited my home or I attended smoke-filled rooms at a social gathering. I was referred to a psychiatrist and encouraged to analyze my conflicts with these individuals as well as my problems with social settings. A great deal of emphasis was put on repressed sexual feelings. Needless to say, this psychotherapy was wasted and I found another doctor who looked for possible environmental causes.
Many times when I am exposed to passive smoke, even a small amount, I have only mild symptoms such as nausea, breathing problems or a headache. However, at times (and I never know when) these symptoms progress into extreme muscle weakness, disorientation and depression. Uncontrollable shaking and crying follow, with an inability to do the simplest mental tasks such as figuring out where I am, where I am going, or how to get home.
The toxins in passive smoke are so damaging to my system that it takes hours and sometimes days or weeks to return to normal. Each reaction causes a loss of recuperative ability, and regaining normal functioning becomes a little more difficult.
The days that follow one of these more severe reactions are filled with additional problems such as diarrhea, headaches, extreme fatigue, congestion, feeling drugged and lethargic, feeling overwhelmed by simple tasks, and increased anxiety and depression. Most of my life I was exposed to passive smoke from a father, then my husband who smoked, as well as the resulting toxic air from relatives, neighbors, friends, etc. who smoked, and my brain became sensitized so that I have extreme reactions. The fault is not mine: it was my continual exposure to a poison by those who were unaware (or didn't care) about exposing others to secondary smoke.
There are those who say, "It doesn't bother me," but I would remind them that every poison taken into the body takes its toll, and this sensitization can happen to anyone who breathes passive smoke. No warning can be strong enough. People should not expose themselves to passive smoke - research has proven that it is deadly!
The Supreme Court case of June 1993, Helling vs. McKinney, has made it clear that subjecting a person to secondhand smoke, even where the risks are only to future health, is considered cruel and unusual punishment, and persons have the right to sue the responsible party. It is too late for the many hundreds of thousands who are already sensitized but the risk can be lessened by not patronizing those places that allow secondhand smoke and by taking steps to sue if they do.
Restaurants
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that exposure to passive smoke for a period of just 30 minutes can damage a healthy heart by reducing the ability of heart arteries to dilate. There are many for whom a very minor exposure, for a few minutes, even seconds, to secondhand smoke can result in light to severe physical, mental or emotional symptoms - either immediately or even hours or days later. For those who say they are not affected, this study should alert them to the dangers to their heart, and there are warnings of the cumulative effect of such poisons.
Although there have been major accomplishments in the restrictions of smoking, Americans have become complacent about their ‘right to breathe clean air.’ In the United States, approximately 53,000 people (this includes about 1,000 in Virginia), will die this year from the lethal effects of secondhand smoke. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies passive smoke as a ‘Class A’ carcinogen along with arsenic, asbestos and radon.
Secondhand smoke contains a much higher concentration of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals than the smoke that is inhaled by the smoker. Only one-fourth of the smoke goes into the smoker’s body, the rest ends up in the environment. Medical reports confirm that breathing other people’s smoke is more than an annoyance, it is a serious health risk.
Those who eat at restaurants that allow smoking need to know the risks associated with passive smoke. Separating smokers and nonsmokers within the same airspace may reduce, but does not eliminate, the nonsmoker’s exposure. The only way to guarantee protection for nonsmokers is to make the entire eating space smoke-free or establish separately ventilated smoking areas. Many ventilation systems are unable to produce an acceptable level of air quality.
Restaurants that allow smoking can have as much as six times the amount of pollution as a busy highway and contain many of the poisons that are in toxic waste dumps. As more restaurants go smoke-free, the restaurants that continue to allow smoking may find their number of smokers increase, resulting in even more damage to employees and customers.
According to Cancer Institute, individuals who are routinely exposed to a lot of second-hand smoke, such as workers in bars and restaurants, can see their risk of lung cancer triple. There are no ‘safe’ levels of passive smoke since even very small amounts can cause cancer, and even an exposure of secondhand smoke for just 30 minutes can damage a healthy heart according to a study in JAMA.
Smokers can and do refrain from smoking for periods of time, such as going to a movie or church, so a policy that prohibits smoking for the time they are in a restaurant should create no hardship.
The National Restaurant Association advises that employers could be held responsible for workman’s compensation claims made by employees who have adverse effects from passive smoke, and there are laws by which a restaurant owner can be liable when their customers are exposed to passive smoke. In a 1993 Supreme Court Case it was made clear that subjecting a person to secondhand smoke, even when the risks are only to future health, is considered ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment and that individuals have the right to sue the responsible party.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cautions that tobacco companies try to convince restaurant owners that they will lose business if they do not permit smoking, yet Dr. Stanton Glantz, an author of scientific studies on smoke-free restaurants, says the sales tax data shows it is can be good for business. A growing number of bingo halls, bars, and gambling places report that participation is up since they banned smoking, and that customer comments are overwhelmingly in favor of their decision.
The public can influence restaurants to go smoke-free, or establish separately ventilated smoking areas, if they make it clear they will not spend money in places that jeopardize their health with polluted air. Many restaurant owners and managers have expressed a desire to be smoke-free, and state that it is the customer’s comments that make the difference.
Although there have been improvements in restriction and banning tobacco
smoke, there are many establishments that still allow smoking, and until their
business suffers they will continue to contribute to illness and death. It is the
responsibility of individuals to put a higher priority on their own health, and only do
business in places that also put a priority on the health of its customers.
In reviewing the tax receipts from 1992 to 1998 from more than 1,000 dining
establishments in Massachusetts, the conclusion was that smoking bans are good for business.
{ASH - Ash Smoking and Health Review, March/April 2001}
Simply sitting next to a smoker in a restaurant could use up the entire RDA of vitamin C in your body. This makes antioxidant supplementation important.
{Stephen Sinatra, MD, author of books on "Optimum Health" and Heartbreak and Heart Disease." healthwell.com - July 2001}