Second-hand Rant

It takes 4.6 minutes for a cigarette to be smoked according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The average human takes 12 breaths a minute (Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 6th edition, New York: Harper-Collins, 1990)

This means that there are approximately 55.2 breaths of smoke in a single cigarette.

[4.6 minutes times 12 breaths a minute equals 55.2 breaths to finish a cigarette]

I understand that there are all kinds of different variables that would affect the amount of time it takes someone to smoke a cigarette including the type of cigarette and the type of smoker. I also understand that the smoke from the end of the cigarette is different from the exhaled smoke. According to the Canadian Cancer Society the smoke exhaled by a smoker is only slightly less toxic then the smoke from the end of the cigarette as the smoke inhaled is pulled through a filter. The Cancer Society also mentions that of the 4.6 minute burn time of a cigarette only 30 seconds are inhaled by the smoker. So for the intent of this argument it is prudent to say that in each cigarette there is approximately 55.2 breaths of smoke, each containing more than 4000 chemicals of which several are know carcinogens.

Now like most people in North America I am subjected to second hand smoke despite my best efforts to avoid it. I work downtown and in my daily routine I, on average, inhale second hand smoke 8 to 10 times a day.

[I get my first hit as I get off the bus in the morning and walk by the University campus main building entrance, I get hit a second time as I enter my office building. I get a third hit as I leave my office building for my daily tea run and a fourth time returning from my tea run. I take my fifth “drag” leaving at the end of the day; my sixth is at the university on the way back to the bus stop. Once at the bus stop I am hit at least once if not twice by people either at the stop or walking by.]

These are my guaranteed drags and don’t include the random hits I get whenever I’m outside walking anywhere.

So if I am taking at least 8 smoke filled breaths a day that means that I am subjected to 188 smoke breaths a year.

[52 weeks/year minus 5 weeks of holidays equals 47 weeks times 4 work days/week equals 188 days a year]

That means in a year I take 1,504 smoke filled breaths which is equivalent to 27.2 cigarettes if we remember 55.2 breaths taken to finish a cigarette.

[188 days times 8 smoke filled breaths a day equals 1,504 smoke filled breaths a year divided by 55.2 breaths in a single cigarette equals 27.2 cigarettes]

27.2 cigarettes a year, that is #%@&#*@ insane!!!!!!!!

27.2 cigarettes a year just to go to work. How is this legal? I really want to hear a smoker defend forcing me to smoke 27.2 cigarettes a year against my will.

What about the alcoholics’. They should be allowed to pass out shots of whiskey on the street corner. Here kids have a swig, sorry you have no choice, it’s the price of walking down this public street, it’s my right to drink and thereby force you to drink….

Somebody please explain this one to me. If I were to stand out front of my office building and shout obscenities at passersby it wouldn’t be long before I was arrested and most likely fired, however, it’s perfectly legal to spew toxic cancer causing chemicals. I thought it was “freedom of speech” not “freedom to poison my fellow man”.

Cancer Society estimates 100,000 men, women and children die from cancer a year related to second hand smoke. Why are we putting up with this? Seriously…….

I spend 350 hours on the trainer improving my cardiovascular fitness so I can ride my bike faster, now if I could only quit smoking……