Passive smoking kills one bar worker a week

[Courtesy Flush]

And that's just in the UK. Can't imagine how that would translate to US deaths.

Secondhand tobacco smoke kills at least 3600 people a year in the UK, according to a new study, including the death of one pub or bar worker every week.

Konrad Jamrozik at Imperial College, London, UK, says exposure to secondhand smoke in all workplaces leads to the deaths of around 700 people a year.

He examined all deaths in 2002 from lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease and stroke in British people under the age of 65, and combined this data with data on exposure to smoking at home and work.

The study is the first to calculate deaths as a result of secondhand smoke in bar staff, says Jamrozik. But it "is a conservative estimate" he told New Scientist. The findings, presented at a conference at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Monday, have led to renewed calls for a public smoking ban in the UK.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4998

[razors edge]

1. When smoking is outlawed completely

will these same investigative bodies look into how many people die prematurely from other causes and work just as hard to outlaw them?

contaminated water. no more tap water.

contaminated food. no more food.

[LoZoccolo]

2. This is such a lame argument that you are going on my ignore list.

No more tap water bah.

Who's next?

[Katherine Brengle]

3. I don't put people on ignore, but I heartily agree with you.

[razors edge]

8. Please, no

not the dreaded

[Courtesy Flush]

4. Sure, DiktatrW. I'm going out and buying some DDT and asbestos :-)

[razors edge]

7. I have swam through every contaminate you can list.

and at 43 my doctor would trade bodies with me in a heartbeat. Smoke two packs a day with the lung function of a teenager, spent four years remediating Superfund Sites, worked another 16 years soaked in petroleum derived products.

I don't recommend you try this at home, I'll probably die next week, but how many French men died trying to dig the Panama Canal before DDT was used to clear the mosquitoes?

My father worked 32 years on the ladle pouring steel in an asbestos suit, guess it has something to do with your ability to withstand the compounds interacting with your body.

[JohnLocke]

9. Two points

First, anecdotes aren't evidence.

Second, about 90 percent of workers on the French Project for the Panama Canal were Afro-Caribbeans from the West Indies. Not Frenchmen.

[razors edge]

14. OK, how many Afro-Caribbeans from the West Indies

died prior to the use of DDT to clear the mosquitoes?

Evidence of cholestoral in eggs put many farmers out of the egg business.

[karlrschneider]

17. The "latest" and "official" take on eggs is, gasp, they're GOOD for you.

Hey, I don't have a dog in THAT fight, I don't particularly like eggs...I eat maybe 3 a month but
the hot poop changes as often as the wind does on that. :eyes:

[Courtesy Flush]

19. So you're saying smoking is safe?

Not sure what point you're trying to make. So smoking hasn't killed you yet. Does that defend exposing people to second-hand smoke?

Let's say you're immune. Well, my mom wasn't. When she was in her thirties, she'd get winded climbing a flight of stairs. She died of lung cancer a few months ago, at age 64. Maybe she didn't get enough DDT in her diet.

[razors edge]

20. I don't believe anything is safe.

The leading cause of death is is life.

But I have never understood how second hand smoke could be as dangerous as first hand since as a first hand smoker I breath more second hand smoke than any non smoker. I breath second hand smoke from every cigarette I smoke, as well as second hand smoke from other smokers, as would any non-smoker who would be in a smoking area.

The math just isn't there in terms of parts per million.

I'm sure there is some danger. We could live like John Travolta as the boy in a bubble, not for me.

We come into this life owing one thing, our own death. If thats morbid or uncaring to you I'm sorry.

I care about the rest of humanity the same as I care about my own existence, we are only here for a short time so enjoy it, don't fuck it up for the next guy, or the next dominant species.

Like I said before, I have spent a lot of time cleaning up toxic shit others put down to make a buck and provide all our families with the way of life we have known. I have monitored contaminated groundwater samples from industrial sites that operated for over a century migrating to the public water supply in major metropolitan communities from Tampa to Buffalo, Valley Forge to Lincoln Nebraska. Nobody can escape the chlorinated solvents, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, and the myriad of other shit we dumped over the last hundred years that doesn't show up on gas chromatography.

You are so contaminated at birth that every single above ground atomic blast that has taken place can be traced individually in your bones.

But it's all my fault, jump on my ass for pointing it out. A high school drop out who spent his life cleaning the shit up, inventing and patenting recovery methods to keep you from drinking the nasty shit, because I smoke cigarettes.

Glad to know my work is appreciated.

[Courtesy Flush]

23. Appreciated?

You're not doing charity work. I'll bet you're paid big bucks for what you do. You're no different than anybody else who's trying to pay his bills. I'm a CPS caseworker, and believe me, appreciation is not part of the benefits package. It's a job that pays the bills.

Judging by your tone, you don't seem to think toxic waste is hazardous in the first place. So you can't play hero for getting paid big bucks to work in it.

Truck drivers keep us supplied with necessities.

Water company employees, keep the toilets flushing

Deck hands keep marine traffic going.

We all have an important role. This is America. If you're not making movies, nobody really cares what you do.

</cynicism>

[MadHound]

5. I would like to see the actual studies and methodology for this study

I'm very curious to see how they are able to differentiate people dying from secondhand smoke and those who died from other reasons, air pollution, enviromental contaminents, poor diet, etc.

[Seeking Serenity]

6. I agree.

Would also have to eliminate any genetic predisposition.

Correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

[Devlzown]

10. I've worked in bars and several casinos.

I would say at least half of the people who work in those establishments are smokers. It's the nature of the beast. If you want to work in a smoke-free environment, I suggest you get a job in another industry.

[karlrschneider]

11. Will anybody bother to study the effects of automobile exhaust?

I doubt it.

[SidDithers]

12. How is that relevant...

unless, of course, you mean automobile exhaust in bars.

Sid

[karlrschneider]

15. It is relevant if I'm walking on a sidewalk next to a street.

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

[Big Pappa]

22. I have always

wondered if car exhaust was so bad why are there so many flowers, trees and grass on interstate medians? I mean they are surrounded by fumes 24/7.

[mondo joe]

24. Hasn't this been done? Are you unaware of any legislation around

minimizing the negative impact of car exhaust?

[SidDithers]

13. Oooh, now you've done it...

the tobacco industry supporters will be all over you like stink on a monkey.

Sid

[karlrschneider]

16. And the nanny-staters will happily fall in line behind, singing

Kum By Yah...

[BlooInBloo]

18. Does the barworker smoke?

[jpgray]

21. Hmm. The 156 weeks I worked in a smoky bar seemed to produce zero fatalities

I guess we were all just lucky.