Is Car Exhaust More Dangerous Than Second-Hand Smoke...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
April 8, 2008 10:21am CST
I responded to a discussion this morning concerning second-hand smoke and how dangerous it is. In answering it, another question came to mind.
If second-hand smoke is so dangerous and ppl are so afraid of getting poisoned then why are they not going after carmakers. After all exhaust fumes put out way more toxins then a cigarette does and having lived in Dallas and been in traffic jams you can get downright sick from the overwhelming amount of fumes.
As I pointed out in the other discussion, if you sit two ppl in a garage and one is smoking the worst that will happen to the non-smoker is maybe some eye irritation from the cigarette smoke. If you sit two ppl in a garage with a car running and the exhaust blowing into the garage your gonna have two dead bodies before long.
It would seem that car exhaust is much more dangerous then second-hand cigarette smoke. Last night I read an article about a couple that sued a woman for smoking in her apartment claiming that the second-hand smoke was seeping out into the spacious hallway and poisoning their 4 year old son however they live in the city right near all kinds of transportation that add exhaust to the air.
I grew up with smokers and Hubby is one as well and my lungs are in great shape. I don’t smoke but I’m certainly around it and haven’t seen any ill effects from it.
What about the new laws making it child abuse to smoke if you have a kid in the car? Is this just ppl bullying other ppl to try to get their own way or is it a legitimate complaint? If you have any legitimate links that you think would shine some light on this, by all means share them.
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
14 people like this
16 responses
@nova1945 (1612)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I, too, was raised around smokers. Both of my parents smoked. Dad quit in his fifties, but mom never was able to do it. I have suffered absolutely no ill effects and have smoked more than 40 years now. My brother never did smoke and he is allergic to every airborne allergen on the planet. Go figure.
Non smokers started pushing us out of everyplace in the 80's and are still not happy. I firmly believe that there is much more danger in the pollution we breathe, food we eat, and the water we drink than in second hand smoke. If a person has a propensity to develop deadly respiratory diseases smoke will certainly affect them, but if not then it's not likely to happen. Thank goodness I am not one of the genetically "at risk" group.
You know what really irritates me are the government sanctions on smokers that are now the trends. Education on the dangers is fine, but if the government spent less money on enforcing all the new non-smoking legislation and put that money into Social Security and Medicare those programs might not be going bankrupt. Just my opinion.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I did hafe a news paper form our local Indian smoke shop that says 2nd hand smoke is not really a killer as they would make you beleive it is wish I scould find it for it had a YRL to go to to look into it.
Yup there is more toxins in the air other than cig. smoke
And people are just trying to make other cowtoe to their way of thinking.
3 people like this
@cjsmom (1423)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I know what you mean. I'm a smoker as well; have been trying to stop but it's hard. It's the old scenario of 'money'...The carmakers/oil and gas companies wouldn't make as much money if we demanded a cleaner environment. Everyone talks about cleaning up the atmosphere, etc. but when it comes to losing out on all the money they're making from poisoning us, they don't want to do it.
It's the same with all the foods we purchase from the store with all the chemicals and poisons we ingest and all the vaccines that have ammonia, mercury, etc., that's going into our's as well as our children's bodies.
It will never end...there's nothing we as a people can do because we will never have the influence or monies these major companies have to buy-off the government.
3 people like this
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
8 Apr 08
Yes exhaust fumes are more dangerous than second hand smoke.
The effects of second hand smoke has been greatly exaggerated by junk science and by researchers with an anti smoking agenda.
The science does not back the claims by the anti smoking Nazis.
The effects of car exhaust have been well documented and are a known killer, especially in and enclosed space.
Diesel exhaust in particular has been linked to cancer, where the links to cancer from second hand smoke are tenuous at best.
3 people like this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
10 Apr 08
I was taught long ago about being in a closed-in area with a car running or putting your face down by the back of a car while it's running (to look at the license plate or something) and I've actually seen ppl choking from the fumes off the large buses that run in the cities. I've yet to see ppl choking like that from someone smoking at the next table or across the room. I've never even seen a kid in the car choking b/c someone was smoking. I think it is just alot of whiney ppl that want their own way. I think we should close off one state and let them all go live there LOL
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
@pismeof (855)
• United States
9 Apr 08
The non-smoker's propaganda has gotten completely out of hand.The more pressure the lobbyist can put on the smoker the happier they become.
The trouble is the smoker hasn't fought back and just taken the public abuse.There are tons of carcenogenes in the air but heck they're making someone money so of course it's allowed to continue.
3 people like this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
10 Apr 08
Wait until the they lose the money from all the smoker's taxes and then all these second-hand whiners will be wishing they still had all the tax money. After all if smoking taxes are lost, it means that they will have to raise taxes on everything else to make up for it...food, gas, ect.
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I agree with you about the second hand smoke and the car exhaust. I do know if you see a car with smoke coming out of their tail pipe you can report them and we have free exhaust checks ever so often for those who want to drive by the machine and test their car or truck.
As for the woman in the apartment, I saw about this on television the other night. There is no way that her smoke traveled way down the hall to where this lawyer lived. This lady has done so many things to her apartment so smoke won't seep out anyway and she has tried to stop smoking. She was living there way before that lawyer and her family moved in also.
I don't agree with the law saying it is child abuse to smoke in the car with children in there. I smoked with my kids in my car and we always rolled windows down.
I do think that smokers as well as non smokers have rights but come on people, until you make my house and or car payments let me do as I please.
3 people like this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I've heard of those checks as well.
They finally reached a compromise and settled. The couple (who are both lawyers) dropped it and they finally reached an agreement.
I also grew up with smokers and I'm as healthy as can be... or at least my health problems have nothing to do with second-hand smoke.
Thanks for responding!!
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
1 person likes this
@nannacroc (4049)
•
8 Apr 08
Oviously car exhaust fumes are much worse than secondary smoke. because they are outside people seem to forget about them. The people who sued their neighbour for second hand smoke have forgotten that children in pushchairs get the worst of the car fumes as they are on a level with the exhausts. The governments make far more money from car owners than they do from smokers so they wil not acknowledge the damage car fumes can do.
3 people like this
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
31 May 08
Car exhaust is more dangerous to dogs.... Chasing cars is just to darn risky!
Enough kidding, I have seen more people die from smoking and second hand smoke. I grew up in a household of smokers and I had bronchitis all my growing up years. I had asthma and was constantly sick. I hate to think how I must have smelt to the other people in school. No wonder I was an outcast.
I chose to give up smoking two years before I had my children and they never had ear problems or respiratory problems like their friends whose parents smoked. I am thankful I did not subject them to the same problems I had growing up.
We have a choice to be around those who smoke, children do not.
@Perry123 (363)
•
31 May 08
if what you say is true how do you explain the massive increase in childhood asthma and allergies in california where smoking has declined the most?
The World Health Organisations own statistics, though they have tried to bury them, show that passive smoking actually has the opposite effect: that some exposure appears to give an immunity to some illness such as asthma and surprisingly lung cancer.
http://www.forces.org/evidence/files/pas-smok.htm
and here by the way are just some of the health benefits of smoking:
http://www.forces.org/evidence/evid./therap.htm
BILLIONS of people on the planet today grew up healthy despite having parents who smoke and it beggars belief how people can seriously think smoking is as bad as car xhaust fumes.
Of course, it is easy enough to do an experiment. Try sticking 50 people in a garage smoking for 24 hours and see what happens to your child. Okay, he may get runny eyes. Then try the experiment with a car exhaust runnng n that closed garage. He won't last twenty four minutes.
@Cajunhellcat (2073)
• United States
8 Apr 08
Yes it sure is worser then cig smoke people kill thereself with the exhaust from cars
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
9 Apr 08
I am sorry second hand smoke can kill people and give them disease, I have lung problems and I don't even smoke but I live with a smoker, and that is what caused it,
the reports are coming in, it is bad on children as well,
more and more people are getting asthma and other related lung problems all because of second hand smoke,
and yes car exhaust is bad, but you don;t make one problem go away just by saying another one is worse, they are both big problems.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
10 Apr 08
because 5 different doctors have told me, I am not doing or anything but I have chronic bronchitis and asthma like symptoms that are caused by second hand smoke, so all 5 doctors told me.
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
11 Apr 08
it seems to me that that you asked a question but really only wanted people to answer yes to your question,
we have different opinions and mine is back by research they are both bad,
I will not say which is worst because I don't have any research on that, which is worst, but there is enough research to say that both are bad.
1 person likes this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
10 Apr 08
I just have to ask...how do you KNOW that your lung problems are b/c you live with a smoker? I have lived with a smoker for 8 years and have no lung problems. My Niece and Nephew have lived with their father who is a smoker for the last 12 years and neither of them have lung problems.
I also never said that one problem would go away by saying another is worse...what I said is why are ppl not putting as much outrage, energy and gusto into going after other sources of pollution? They are causing health problems yet no one is banning ppl from driving or manufacturing certain things b/c of the pollution.
If you have a direct link to any reference of where second-hand smoke has killed someone I'd really like to see it b/c I've never heard of it actually killing someone.
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
1 person likes this
@Eskimo (2315)
•
28 Jan 12
I don't smoke (although my mother did), and can't stand being near anyone who smokes, I find it irritating and unpleasant. Here in Scotland smoking has been banned in public places for some time, also banned in work places (including any vehicle being used as part of your work). It's also banned in hospital grounds (including private cars in the grounds) although this doesn't seem to be acted on. While people have a right to smoke, I have a right not to inhale second hand smoke.
As for car exhausts, most modern cars now use catalytic converters and exhaust is almost completely carbon dioxide and water, so not as dangerous as older cars which also had emitted carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide will suffocate in an enclosed space but is not poisonous like carbon monoxide. Planting trees, bushes and grass in cities should help eradicate carbon dioxide fumes and other pollutants as well.
@callarse1 (4783)
• United States
9 Jun 08
I hate car exhaust and I hate second hand smoke. I think car exhaust stinks very bad. I think people don't think about it---but it has bad things in it that can kill you, too. I don't like the smell of smoke, either. I wish we could use something else instead of gasoline because I don't like the car exhaust at all! Thanks for your discussion.
Pablo
@shaggin (71655)
• United States
25 Feb 11
Very good point. I dont smoke any longer but I used to. I think they are taking to many rights away from the smokers to make it better for the non smokers. I think as long as people are polite and dont blow smoke in other peoples faces on purpose then they shouldnt have a problem with someone smoking near them especially if they are outside. What isnt good is when you sit in your home smoking around your kids all the time day in and day out that is when second hand smoke is a problem not just once in awhile when you walk in a building and someone is smoking outside the door and you happen to get a light wiff of the snoke. Car exhaust is everywhere. In the summer if I leave my windows open during heavy traffic periods the exhaust will come in my windows. When my van runs the exhaust fumes are terrible breathing it for a few seconds makes me feel sick. That is surely harmful as well for kids to breath the polluted air of car exhaust going by all the time.
@libertarianfreedom21 (3198)
• United States
8 Apr 08
I'm getting tired of seeing people talking about second hand smoke and they dont want people to smoke in public anymore. I dont know if this is true, but its no better than second hand smoke. I usually use that as my argument though, if your so worried about your health and what you breath in public, than car exhaust, and polution from factorys need to be attacked by these people, before smokers. I think that even if its not as bad as ciggerate smoke, the amount that is put into the atmosphere would make it worse on us than ciggerate smoke. I think they are going OUT OF HAND trying to controll people even more by telling them where they can and cant smoke, STUPID. i searched is car exhaust worse than second hand smoke, and all i found was articles people wrote trying to say its worse than car exhaust, and that it should be illegal to smoke in public. they need to stop its just going out of control. to many people trying to control others, and im getting sick and tired of it.
3 people like this
@alienstar (5142)
• India
31 May 08
In fact, both are dangerous and car smokes are to be monitored evry now and then and even the trafic police have taken strict rules on vehicles on giving out more smoke and one shoudl also be conscious on smoking more as it will get effected to healtha nd anytime quitting is good for health and its easier said than done isnt it?
@meme0907 (3481)
• United States
1 Jun 08
Hey t68,
I agree-my Momma smoked all her life it had no negative affects on any of her seven children w/ our childhood health like ppl saying it can give your children asthma I just don't believe that but put someone in the garage w/ the car running & I bet they'll be outta there quicker than mustard on a tee shirt at the county fair b/c it hurts to brathe that stuff in.
+'s
:)
