Second-hand smoke still a blight on society
by Annette Germinario, features editor

     I have smoking and the tobacco industry on my mind.
     A recent visit to a bowling alley confirmed my view that cigarette smoking is the most toxic human behavior. This is not an insensitive slam to smokers. Nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug. But, I try to avoid places where I have to share air with smokers.
     This bowling alley was newly refurbished with a visually inviting atmosphere for a birthday party. It looked bright, clean and inviting. The “Lightning Strikes” evening combined current upbeat music, light shows and black light glowing bowling balls and a zany DJ. But the air stunk.
     I took home the memory of a fun, lively experience, itchy eyes, a burning throat and clothes that reeked.
     I haven’t recently voluntarily offered my lungs to second hand smoke. Yet none of our group’s children and teens complained, reminding me how tobacco companies recently got busted for targeting this demographic.
     It was a perfect plot: hook kids by pitching the idea that smoking is “cool” when they are at the age when they believe they “know everything” and feel invincible.
     Phillip Morris is the world's largest cigarette maker. British American Tobacco is No. 2. According to a MSNBC report, last week the World Health Organization (WHO) held public hearings in Geneva, where both admitted their cigarettes were addictive and deadly.
     David Davies, Phillip Morris’ corporate affairs vice president, admitted that cigarette smoking is not a matter of free choice, opposing the industry’s usual stance.
After years of denying any connection between smoking and addiction, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease and birth defects, the bills are only beginning to come due.
     The tobacco giants will now lose some of their stature as they dig into their coffers to pay individuals, families and state governments seeking reimbursement of money used from state budgets for sick, dying and dead smokers.
     U.S. smoking rates are declining. Government and corporate rulings have provided more smoke-free environments. Education results in social pressures not to smoke.
     What is a tobacco company to do? Why continue to grow by lying, preying on the naive and making themselves indispensable players in the economies of governments and institutions in other parts of the world.
     A little bad press back in the States will not deter their mission to bring the pleasures of tobacco in exchange for the local currency. Asia is now targeted as big tobacco’s next cash cow.
     Unless you’ve been living under a rock, smoking has touched you. A Mayo Clinic report blames smoking for 85-90 percent of lung cancer cases. The WHO estimates cigarettes kill more than four million people per year and forecasts 10 million annually by 2030.
     If you participate in this habit, you may see the personal accountability through paying more for many kinds of insurance. You may even be denied coverage.
     In the future health insurance may not cover smoke-related illnesses or hospitalizations. Nicotine addiction will not be an excuse.
     You will be expected to find help to quit. It may be viewed as a personal choice for which you must pay for your own consequences.
     Oh, and the asthma and respiratory infections family members suffer in a smoker’s home? Sorry, payment denied.
     Big tobacco answers to its bottom line. Healthcare answers to its bottom line. Bureaucracies take forever to settle this mess,
     Meanwhile, I want a place to bowl that doesn’t compromise my respiratory system. I called a number of lanes around the metroplex and found only one such place, the AMF Funfest Lanes on East Lamar in Arlington.
     Next time I want to bowl, I think I’ll go to Funfest. My senses will thank me.