The Killer Hand-me-downs.

Smoking. Probably the most debatable topic. It reveals the dark side of the world doesn’t it?

Smoking isn’t good for you, the people around you or the environment.

A study shows that 600, 000 people are killed by second hand smoke. Article courtesy of CBC News.

Introducing third hand smoking. A pediatrician at the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Jonathan Winickoff & his team of researchers discovered this new deadly phenomenon. Third hand smoking is the toxins leftover after the cigarette has been extinguished. It can be the walls of a room, furniture, hair, clothes etc. So it is harmful for you to use a toilet cubicle that was occupied by someone smoking while taking a dump. The leftover toxin will be stuck on the walls of the cubicles and inhaling them is as deadly as smoking.

Smoking kills 5.4 million people in a year. This number is expected to climb to 6.5 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030. With second and third hand smoking, these numbers can only rise.

Burning question. So why isn’t smoking banned?
Is it because it’s bringing in lots of money? Maybe cancer, cardiac arrest, Tuberculosis and the whole list of other deadly diseases need a competition?

Ironically, tobacco manufacturing is the biggest and most profiting industry in the world. If smoking is banned, many will be affected. This picture shows the breakdown of how many people in the world depend on this industry for jobs. Even with cigarette tax rising, the cigarette manufacturers are still earning. This is a good figure of the money involved in USA.

Governments spend money on Anti Smoking campaigns, healthcare for those who fall ill due to the effects of smoking and imposed bans on smoking in public places but they don’t or can’t ban smoking completely. Is this a sign that cigarette taxation brings in a big share of income for the government and economy? In other words, we can’t live without the killer of millions of people per year?

Government’s ban on smoking in public areas is like creating a peeing section in a public swimming pool. In Singapore however, the bans on smoking are so excessive that the only place for smoking would be in the middle of the road. Smoking bans on publics areas in Singapore includes outdoor areas with eating utensils, playgrounds, air-conditioned areas, bus stops and approximately 5 metres from the entrance of any building.

Another reason for not banning smoking is freedom. Smoking does not kill you directly. It kills you slowly and indirectly. So smokers argue that if smoking is banned, then fast-food should be banned as well. Smoking should be a matter of personal choice. In other words, smokers have the right to be cool and die slowly.

Think about it. If dying slowly is a personal choice, I am sure most will choose to die as slow as possible. If smoking IS a personal choice, not smoking should be too.

Some says it’s cool, some say they can’t stop. Some, won’t admit it but they smoke only due to the pressure from their clique. We have to be honest with ourselves, some make it look cool, sexy or even like it doesn’t harm our body at all.

Truth is, it does harm our body no matter how cool or sexy it may be. If smoking is a personal choice then quitting is one too. I guess it takes time to understand that it’s not worth sacrificing your health to be cool, sexy or even settling into a clique. Very often you’ll hear smokers go ‘I want to quit but it’s so hard’, in Singapore I hear smokers say ‘Singapore’s ‘Quit smoking campaign’ is great, it really works! I’ve quit smoking about 10 times.’ Sadly, these people haven’t tried hard enough. Nobody said it was easy but it’s definitely possible. The air belongs to everybody, just because you can afford it doesn’t give you the right to take away clean air from others. Think about the loved ones man.

My dad smoked for over 25 years before stopping. I went to him one day, pat him on the back and said ‘Proud of you Dad, thank you for quitting for us.’ His reply? ‘Don’t count on it, kid. Doctors orders.’

I am the youngest in the family, I HATE hand-me-downs. The bad side of hand-me-downs? Depending on who I got it from, my eldest brother is small while my second eldest brother is big. So I either look like winnie-the-pooh or the after of a weight loss commercial (which I don’t mind at all). I might not have looked like the coolest kid on the block but at least those hand-me-downs didn’t kill me.