Would it kill you to put that cigarette out?

My guess is it wouldn't, it would probably kill you to keep it lit. And the surgeon general agrees with me on that one. Yes, people could argue that the proposed smoking ban would only impact you for say “six out of 168 hours” of the week. But by the end of the year, by those statistics, you will have sat through 312 hours inhaling a mixture of more than 4,000 known carcinogens. That's the equivalent to spending 13 days in a room filled with chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. That doesn't sound that bad, does it?

So do you think that they could stand to smoke outside?

Exposure to the poisons in secondhand smoke puts them at immediate risk of severe respiratory diseases and can hinder the growth of their lungs.

According to the University of Rochester, tobacco use kills more people than the total number killed by AIDS, alcohol abuse, motor vehicle accidents, illegal drug abuse and suicide combined.

And 13 percent of Americans who die of lung cancer are nonsmokers.

It's sad that people have become so indifferent about their health that we can merely pass off the ill effects of such a harmful habit by saying “it's my choice and I'll do what I want.”

Or even the nonsmokers who claim, “Well, it doesn't bother me that much.” I just want to remind people that this is not about just one person and their cigarette; this is about the overall health of our community, our families and our children.

Smokers, remember, you have every right to smoke, but nothing gives you the right to hurt others in the process.

Kassidy Carter

Bowling Green