Danger of smoking

I very much enjoyed reading Mr. Alex Abraham's salacious report of Oct. 4 on the smoky Juanda Airport in Surabaya. Even if the estimate is, that 80 (a more reliable estimate would be 60) percent of men smoke, this would indicate that less than one- fifth of the total population are smokers. Hence, the allocation of 375 seats for smokers versus less than 200 for nonsmokers in the waiting lounge of the airport is disproportional and for the benefit of -- you guessed it -- the tobacco industries.

Likewise, the provision of most of the facilities being in the smokers section of the airport, requires nonsmokers to risk exposure to the unpleasant and harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) should they need those facilities.

Tobacco smoke makes hair and clothes smell foul. It also causes irritation of the eyes, sore throats, coughs, running noses, dizziness, headaches and nausea. In asthmatics, ETS can cause serious attacks requiring emergency medical treatment, and hospitalization. ETS can also induce a heart attack in patients with coronary artery disease. The long-term adverse effects of ETS are numerous, hence, are not listed in this letter.

Passive smokers (those who breathe in other people's smoke) suffer an increased risk of ETS. In particular, one research shows that mortality from causes of death related to smoking, including lung cancer and ischemic heart disease, was higher in passive smokers than in a controlled group of nonsmokers. Also the amounts of a certain nicotine derivative in the blood, found in nonsmokers exposed to ETS, were similar to the amounts found in light smokers.

Tobacco smoke contains toxic gases which are present in higher concentrations in the side stream smoke (from the burning tip of the cigarette) than in the main stream smoke as exhaled by the smoker. ETS has been classified as a "Class A carcinogen", along with, for example, arsenic and asbestos. Eventually, one out of two smokers will die prematurely from a smoking related disease. There is no -- as there never has been or never will be -- a commodity as dangerous as tobacco.

No wonder, that last summer, U.S. tobacco companies finally agreed to pay US$368.5 billion in compensation to sufferers of smoke-related disease. The companies had to admit that tobacco is addictive. They also had to accept a federal regulation over their products and their advertisements. The agreement calls for the companies to put on the front of their packages one of the following warnings: Cigarettes cause (fatal lung) cancer. Cigarettes are addictive. Smoking can kill you. Tobacco smoke can harm your children (The Jakarta Post, June 22, 1997).

Not smoking should be regarded as the norm in enclosed areas frequented by the public. Special rooms should be reserved for smokers but not more than one-fifth of the total space available. Nonsmokers should have the right to move about in airport waiting lounges free from the exposure to tobacco. Even if one would defend the smokers' right to smoke, the right of the nonsmoker to inhale fresh air supersedes the right of the smoker to pollute the air with hazardous smoke.

DR. MUHERMAN HARUN

Jakarta