Before there is bloodshed I think I will cut this post off. Thanks for participating in the second great smoking debate (here was the first way back in 2005).

Cygnus, please consult the latest findings published in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

But heres’ the larger point: There is no “ball” and there is no “court.” On Feb. 1, 2008, Maryland’s non-smoking majority won, its smokers won by “losing,” and our nation’s Bill of Rights still somehow manages to survive. When you move to Nevada, you will find plenty of smoke-filled restaurants to feel “right.”

Why don’t you smoke, Cygnus? Seems you’d be a natural.

As the report itself makes clear, there is no evidence that brief, transient exposure to secondhand smoke has any effect on your chance of developing heart disease or lung cancer. The studies that link secondhand smoke to these illnesses involve intense, long-term exposure, typically among people who have lived with smokers for decades.

P.S. Last month, I went to Wags. The place was nearly empty, which says to me the smoking ban has hurt the restaurant. In fact, I, a non-smoker, genuinely missed having the smoke in the air at Wags. It just didn’t seem right.

“The researchers learned that in healthy nonsmokers, even
brief exposure to secondhand smoke resulted in blood vessel dysfunction and interfered with the activity of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which are believed to play a key role in repairing blood vessels.”

“Taken together, these findings provide further evidence that even a very short period of passive smoke exposure has strong, persistent vascular consequences,” the scientists write in the journal article.”

The scientists say, “our results help explain why there is a big immediate drop in heart attacks when smoke-free laws are passed.”

This new study provides further experimental support for this warning by the CDC: “‘Could eating in a smoky restaurant precipitate an acute myocardial infarction in a non-smoker? . . ., a growing body of scientific data suggests that this is possible . . . laboratory data suggest that even 30 minutes of exposure to a typical dose of secondhand smoke induces changes in arterial endothelial function in exposed non-smokers of a magnitude similar to those measured in active smokers.”

A similar warning appeared in an article in a leading medical journal entitled ‘Cardiovascular Effects of Secondhand Smoke – Nearly as Large as Smoking’ which found that ‘the effects of even brief (minutes to hours) passive smoking are often nearly as large (averaging 80% to 90%) as chronic active smoking,’)

Perhaps most tellingly of all, the US Surgeon General has stated in no uncertain terms:
* There is no safe amount of secondhand tobacco smoke.
* People who have heart disease should be very careful not to go where they will be around secondhand smoke.
* The bottom line is that breathing secondhand smoke makes it more likely that you will get heart disease, have a heart attack, and die early.
* Even a short time in a smoky room causes your blood platelets to stick together. Secondhand smoke also damages the lining of your blood vessels. In your heart, these bad changes can cause a deadly heart attack.

“Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found that healthy nonsmokers exposed to 30 minutes of second-hand smoke showed signs of blood vessel injury and impaired repair responses that persisted up to 24 hours after exposure.

Also this:

“Second-hand smoke poses a serious and pervasive health risk to children and adults according to the comprehensive 2006 report from the U.S. Surgeon General, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. The report highlighted how vulnerable children in particular are to second-hand smoke. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, worsening of allergies and more severe asthma.

“The report also links second-hand smoke to coronary heart disease and lung cancer in adults and notes that even a brief exposure to second-hand smoke has immediate adverse effects on a person’s cardiovascular system.”