A young asthmatic woman who collapsed and died shortly after arriving for her shift as a waitress at a bar may be the first reported death to be reported nationally from acute asthma associated with environmental tobacco smoke.
This case report by a Michigan State University physician, published in the February edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, not only outlines circumstances under which the woman died, but also raises a number of issues regarding safety in the workplace.
The report states the woman arrived at the bar in Michigan and, according to co-workers, seemed happy and healthy. About 15 or 20 minutes later she collapsed and within a few minutes died.
"This is the first reported acute asthma death associated with work-related ETS," said Kenneth Rosenman, an MSU professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. "Recent studies of air quality and asthma among bar and restaurant workers before and after smoking bans support this association."
In 2006, the surgeon general’s report concluded that ETS causes coronary heart disease, lung cancer and premature death. But at that time there was little hard evidence linking ETS to the exacerbation of asthma in adults.
However, Rosenman and colleagues believe this case provides plenty of evidence to link secondhand smoke to this death.
"The autopsy clearly indicates she died from asthma," Rosenman said. "There was no other cause of death. Her death is consistent with what we know about exposures in bars like this. We know asthmatics are more susceptible to irritants and other particulates in the air.
"We know that particulate levels from secondhand cigarette smoke in bars like this reach sufficient levels to set off an asthma attack."
As an occupational and environmental health physician, Rosenman said he also is concerned about the long-term effects of ETS on all employees, not just those with pre-existing conditions like asthma.
"As a consumer, I don’t have to go into that bar," he said. "But is it a safe environment for the employees? We have federal laws that say employers have to provide a safe and healthy workplace. This was clearly not a safe and healthy workplace for this employee.
"This death dramatizes the need to enact legal protections for workers in the hospitality industry from secondhand smoke."
In the United States, 23 states have already banned smoking in restaurants and bars. A number of other states, including Michigan, are considering it.
While many bar and restaurant owners say a smoking ban would hurt business, Rosenman argues that just the opposite is true.
"Consider that 75 percent of the population doesn’t smoke," he said. "Banning smoking could actually serve to increase business. Studies of restaurants and bars in Boston, New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C. all show business up since they banned smoking. Chicago went smoke free the beginning of this year.
"We’re behind the times if we want to attract tourists and help businesses be more profitable."
Three public health disease-tracking systems in Michigan were used to gather information for this case report.
Other members of the research included Martha Stanbury, Michigan Department of Community Health; and Debra Chester and Elizabeth Hanna of MSU’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The project was funded by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Comments
total scatology
June 22, 2009 by Anonymous, 1 week 5 days ago
Comment id: 37488
incidence of SUDDEN DEATH among the asthmatic population has been increasing annually and most likely IS DUE TO their meds.
WHAT did the autopsy reveal and why would an astmatic anything be working with irritants or tobacco smoke wasn't as provoking as perfumes etc ?
what a joke of a SCIENCE blog.
where's the scIence ?
And it's amazing how many
May 24, 2009 by Anonymous, 5 weeks 6 days ago
Comment id: 36820
And it's amazing how many non-smokers think that they're going to contract lung cancer from ETS. Maybe something like this story will bring them to their senses and show you only need asthma and to forget your inhaler when you leave your home. I certainly hope so anyway.
Let the market decide
May 8, 2009 by Anonymous, 8 weeks 1 day ago
Comment id: 36554
The free market ensures that there will be exactly as many non-smoking bars as people want. Everyone wins!
This is such a no-brainer it defies comparison.
If there was such a demand for non-smoking bars, why wasn't there plenty of them to begin with, instead of having to mandate that they all become smoke free?
Because that isn't what the majority of the people who go to bars want, that's why.
In Iowa, the Democrats just imposed a smoking ban on all bars, while leaving the state owned, cash-cow casinos exempt from the ban.
I'm not making this up. They said, with a straight face, that they don't think the smoking ban will hurt the bar business -- while at the same time exempting the casinos from the same law. And so they left themselves WIDE OPEN for a lawsuit which is being filed by the bar owners association, citing the unconstutionality of the smoking ban and the casino exemption.
Democrats: What a bunch of boobs!
What a bunch of boobs!
63,000 people die every year
April 17, 2009 by Anonymous, 11 weeks 1 day ago
Comment id: 36201
63,000 people die every year from second hand smoke, really? How do you that? Who told you that? How do you know that is correct? At what age did these people die? Were there other conditions that might have contributed to their death such as asthma, a pre-existing heart condition or a family history of disease related to their death?
How precisely does a whiff of tobacco smoke kill a person? Yes, smoking for 50 years will kill a person, this fact has been correlated beyond reasonable doubt, but how does just a whiff every now and then kill someone, precisely? The correlation between secondhand smoke and death is exceedingly weak, and correlation has never equaled causation, although it can be a damn good indicator when it is overwhelming like the relationship between smoking for many years and developing a health problem. Given that the same chemicals present in tobacco smoke are also produced by other sources including but not limited to burning anything carbon based, and all the same chemicals are present in nearly everything is it really rational to point out cigarettes as the cause?
Assume that there is a slight increase in risk of death as a result of second hand smoke, there is risk in everything that we do, and other behaviors are far more risky than being exposed to smoke. Should the government also ban those risks? Being a bar maid is hardly the most dangerous job in America and workers in other industries are exposed to far more hazardous work environments.
Deaths per 100,000
Timber cutters 117.8
Fishers 71.1
Pilots and navigators 69.8
Structural metal workers 58.2
Drivers-sales workers 37.9
Roofers 37
Electrical power installers 32.5
Farm occupations 28
Construction laborers 27.7
Truck drivers 25
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; survey of occupations with minimum 30 fatalities and 45,000 workers in 2002
Perhaps the government should ban these occupations as well? Of course Farmers and fishermen are on there, so we will all starve to death, and truckers, and construction workers are on there so nothing will ever get delivered or built, but in the name of safety all is well right? Maybe they died because they were smoking on the job, eh?
Another thing that we might consider, is the possiblity that it might not be a good thing to have people living into extreme old age, and the less time they live after 70 or so, is a net benefit to the living. On average smokers kick the bucket at about 72, while the average person will live into their 80s. At first being old is not that big of a deal, people can get around drive themselves but as time goes on, they require more care from other people, more medicine, more doctors, more nurses, more social security and medicare. Is it really good economically to have a whole bunch of old people consuming the productive effort of the young? Smoking is a net benefit even without taxation because smokers check out earlier, and do not prove to be a drain on the economy.
The government's obligation with smoking begin and end with informing people that health risks exist with smoking, and being around smoke might shorten your life. They might even add a tax to cigarettes to isolate their behavior by providing smoking areas, require better ventilation in smoking areas and businesses that cater to smokers, but the current governmental goals of "Creating a Smoke-Free America" is not in the interest of future generations of Americans, and the way they are currently trying to create a smoke free America is oppressive on the verge of being tyranical.
second hand smoke
April 6, 2009 by Anonymous, 12 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 35871
okay well yelling at him doesnt make it better, lisen to the teacher ma'am.! hahahha. hmm... yeah and astablish ment ma;am. an astablish ment!!! (:
BY THE WAY..
April 6, 2009 by Anonymous, 12 weeks 5 days ago
Comment id: 35870
Oh, and by the way, capitalizing your words DOESN'T help get your point across.
OKAY.???????
First of all, a young woman
April 5, 2009 by Anonymous, 12 weeks 6 days ago
Comment id: 35852
First of all, a young woman dying because of second hand smoke is in fact a shame. But more than that, it's horrible. Do you know that 63,000 people die from second hand smoking related deaths each year?
I understand that you're upset about your right to smoke being taken away, but it's the government's job to provide and tend to the safety and well being of Americans, and so many people being killed from the 6,000 chemicals in second hand smoke, you can understand their reasoning.
And you make it seem like she didn't care whether she was in a smoky bar with her asthma. Of course she did, but for some people that's the only way they can make a living. Regardless of her asthmatic condition, the smoke she was exposed to had a huge effect on her health.
If you want to have a smoke, do it in the privacy of your own home, that's your choice. There's no law against that.
second hand smoke and asthma.
June 2, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 4 weeks ago
Comment id: 30462
an asthmatic dying of 'exposure to second hand smoke' is a SHAME.
exposing yourself to a KNOWN IRRITANT, and that's what second hand smoke is, no more, no less, is STUPID if you KNOW YOU ARE AN ASTHMATIC.
now, you have SEVERAL CHOICES in what to do next.
1. open a non-smoking bar. money should be easy to get seeing as since EVERYONE IN MICHIGAN thinks that non-smoking bars are a good idea except the bar owners who actually risk their money.
2. open your own venue to play, make it non-smoking, and only play there. you could probably rent a high school auditorium for a couple of hundred bucks a night, not bad for a 'big time' musician, and you can control who smokes and when.
3. you can make the committment to better health (yours) and drop the committment to taking away rights (mine).
if you need more suggestions, just ask.
Second Hand Smoke Deaths
April 15, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 11 weeks ago
Comment id: 29060
"Suspected to", "believed to". And still, no scientific proof. Forget scientific consensus (the antithesis of the scientific method), as that doesn't mean a damn' thing.
If you don't like the smell of smoke (and I don't blame you, it stinks), don't go to the fucking bar. What are you? Stupid? Some form of congenital idiot? Or do you just want everything your way? What makes *you* so fucking special? Got asthma? Don't work where there's smoke (and yes, there *is* a fucking choice). Don't walk downtown where you breathe the diesel fumes. Carry your inhaler, you idiot. Make choices. Be an individual.
Go to a non-smoking bar, where you can pick up hot-looking "member-of-sex-you-find-attractive" after drinking metabolic poisons and eating additive-loaded, pre-packaged-excuses-for-food, take the hottie home, screw them and hope to whichever deity you pray to that you don't catch some STD. And in the morning, praise-be, you won't smell of smoke. Nope. Stale alcohol, body odor, dried "dressing du jour", but not smoke. Whoop-de-fucking-do.
*Wake up*, you morons. Start taking responsibility for your lives. If you don't like something, *don't do it*. Stop whining like a herd of pre-pubescent teenagers, and have an original thought. Although I doubt one in fifty of you is capable of even that now.
smokers....
April 15, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 11 weeks ago
Comment id: 29053
smokers will say anything to make themselves sound right. about the girl above who died-it is hard finding a good job especially being a waitress-and if there are any smoke free restaurants i bet they are fully staffed. for B that said: "i grew up with friends and we all smoked and so did our parents and none of us died". first of all-you don't know how they died, they could have had a heart attack-which was caused by blocked arteries, which was caused by second hand smoke! in your day-that was then...today thousands of people are dying each year. The media has nothing to do with how people feel...the truth is what makes people speak out against smoking. i am writing an argumentative paper for an english class, and after doing a lot of research I cannot believe I smoked when i turned 18. i did socially when i went out to a bar(which is now smoke free!) and i just can't beleive i smoked at all. it is very hard to find a restaurant to eat at that is smoke free. there are only about 3 or 4 good places to eat at that are smoke free in my city. i think it would help businesses-though I hate tourists, they would bring more money to our city and restaurant owners would make a lot more money. me aving a 2 year old son now-i will never smoke again, and hope he doesn't grow up to be like the little punks out here that are smoknig when they are 13 and 14.
i am right...smokers are wrong : )
Sarah-virginia Beach
Saying this is the first
March 24, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment id: 28283
Saying this is the first death caused by secondhand smoke is in itself ridiculous. Anti-smoking groups say 3000 people die each year from second hand smoke yet this is the first actually attributed to it.
One of two logical options are possible. Either this really is the first death from second hand smoke or this isn't the first death. If it is the first death, then one death after 200 years of smoking is hardly a public health concern. If it isn't the first death then anti-smoking lobbyists are trying to scare people into accepting the stripping of freedoms by holding up one particular case and saying this is you... when in reality it isn't. Its simply bad statistics and bad science. Any scientist or statistician will tell you one person out of 300 million is an anomoly and not the rule.
In my opinion (and this is just my opinion, not fact) second hand smoke, while it does have negative side effects, is no different from anything else we do. Risk is a part of life. I refuse to live in fear of every little thing that can go wrong. And make no mistake, it is fear that anti-smoking, anti-terrorist, anti-abortion, anti-alcohol, all the anti-something groups are using. If the statistics were hard fact, smoking would be banned by now, same as any other illicit drugs. That being said I do believe that second hand smoke can be detrimental to particular demographs. I don't smoke around children or the elderly (unless they're smoking themselves). Out of courtesy and not concern for public health, I don't smoke in restaurants where people are enjoying a meal. I find those reasonable concessions to make.
For me the real problem is choice. It's something that is being taken away from us with all these laws. I ask, in all seriousness, why not give the business owner this choice? Some places will choose to ban smoking, some won't. Smokers will congregate to the places they can smoke while the non-smokers will go to the smoke-free environments. To me this seems like a reasonable compromise over an issue that has caused so much bad blood between both sides.
People Can Smoke Outside
March 7, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 17 weeks ago
Comment id: 27999
Is it really too much to ask for people to smoke outside in order to avoid tragedies like the one mentioned in this story. Is the convenience of not having to get up and go outside every couple of hours really worth putting lives at risk. I don't think so. Think about it for a minute.
Smoking in Bars
February 25, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 18 weeks ago
Comment id: 27759
Well you probably say I shouldn’t be playing in a Bar but unfortunately I have to because I love music and I didn’t make it to the big times. This is my story. I ‘m a singer and musician I’m also asthmatic and I’m at a point where I have to give up playing in bars in Michigan because I been having asthma attack and I’ve done my research every time I’m at bars that allows smoking I have an attack now I love playing music for people and people say they love what I do but the problem is when I leave I’m sick and when they leave there entertain I’m sick right now because I play at a bar in Michigan the other night the Bar was so filled with smoke I had to leave all of my equipment out side and the clothes I had on as well and I have to take breathing treatments right now .I’m also on the computer looking for ways to not have to give up my profession .So I was searching for something to cover my face or whatever works and I seen this forum .All I’m saying is if this was a smoke free State the singers and musician who don’t smoke could be around a little longer I ‘m very health focus because I was born with asthma and it is so unfair to me as a person who had no choice if I wanted asthma or not to have to lose my extra income because people want to smoke I’m not saying ban cigarettes I’m say please don’t make me smoke them….
Thankâ€s
Second Hand Smoke
February 25, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 18 weeks ago
Comment id: 27758
Well you probably say I shouldn’t be playing in a Bar but unfortunately I have to because I love music and I didn’t make it to the big times. This is my story. I ‘m a singer and musician I’m also asthmatic and I’m at a point where I have to give up playing in bars in Michigan because I been having asthma attack and I’ve done my research every time I’m at bars that allows smoking I have an attack now I love playing music for people and people say they love what I do but the problem is when I leave I’m sick and when they leave there entertain I’m sick right now because I play at a bar in Michigan the other night the Bar was so filled with smoke I had to leave all of my equipment out side and the clothes I had on as well and I have to take breathing treatments right now .I’m also on the computer looking for ways to not have to give up my profession .So I was searching for something to cover my face or whatever works and I seen this forum .All I’m saying is if this was a smoke free State the singers and musician who don’t smoke could be around a little longer I ‘m very health focus because I was born with asthma and it is so unfair to me as a person who had no choice if I wanted asthma or not to have to lose my extra income because people want to smoke I’m not saying ban cigarettes I’m say please don’t make me smoke them….
Thankâ€s
Second-hand Smoke
February 14, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 20 weeks ago
Comment id: 27529
I'd like to add this to the fray: I'm 50 years old. While I was growing up in the 60's my parents smoked as did every one of their friends. They smoked in the house, in the car, at their work, in restaurants....everywhere. And you know what? Not ONE of us kids died from it. In fact, most of us are STILL alive and if not, the deaths had nothing to do with second hand smoke.
There are 79 million baby boomers like me. I'd bet most of us grew up in smoking households. I would think that of any demographic - we'd be perfect for a study. According to the non-smoking lobby, we should all be dead by now having been exposed to so much second-hand smoke.
God...I wish people would just stop and think every now and then instead of blindly believing everything the media wants to shove down our throats.
B
Exploiting a Tragedy: they should be ashamed.
February 12, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 20 weeks ago
Comment id: 27462
The death of this girl was tragic, but what's almost worse is the way it is simply being abused by the antismoking lobby for their own ends. She had asthma, and asthma has many different sorts of "triggers" for different people. It's unlikely that smoke was a trigger for her since she was regularly working in a bar that would get much smokier in the course of an evening than it was at that early point (remember, the DJ was still "setting up") and she said nothing about smoke.
The smoke connection is purely a concoction by antismoking extremists seeking to take advantage of her unfortunate and sad death. It's just a small variation on the abusive game they play with children, using them as weapons against their parents. The idea is to present a puppy dog in the hope that someone will kick it and make themselves look bad.
She had an asthma attack and it happened by pure chance that it occurred while she was at work in a bar. It could just as easily have happened out on a bar patio in the winter (at which point a "lack of patio heaters" could have been blamed), as she was parking her car in a parking garage (at which point the anti-car folks could claim she was killed by automobile fumes), or after she'd jogged (asthma attacks ARE often brought on by exercise you know).
Her death is simply being exploited, much to the harm and detriment of the people she worked with who were probably her friends, and much to the potential advantage of lawyers who will seek to cash in either on her death or on similar ones that occur in ANY situation where smoking is allowed... regardless of exposure or whether the victim was a quiet smoker him/herself. Antismokiing lobbyists have been pushing the concept of fear at employers for a long time: "Your employees will SUE you when they get sick from ETS!" and this is just another chip in the game to them. They care nothing for the people involved.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
Mid-Atlantic Director, Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc.
Director, Pennsylvania Smokers' Action Network (PASAN)
Lies.
February 10, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 20 weeks ago
Comment id: 27430
A woman in her late teens died from an acute asthma attack triggered by secondhand cigarette smoke shortly after arriving at her job as a waitress in a bar in Michigan, researchers reported on Friday.
Okay, here's your first clue--if you have asthma, a bar is probably not a good workplace for you.
And, uh, isn't it illegal for underage kids to work in an environment where alcohol is served?
They said it was the first reported case of an immediate death caused by secondhand smoke.
“She didn’t have any other possible known causes of death,†said Dr. Kenneth Rosenman, a Michigan State University professor who oversees three state public health surveillance systems.
No other causes but the ASTHMA.
Cigarette smoke is known to trigger acute asthma attacks.
THEN WHY WORK IN A BAR WHERE SMOKING IS ALLOWED?
“We know that particulate levels from secondhand cigarette smoke in bars like this reach sufficient levels to set off an asthma attack,†Rosenman said.
THEN WHY WORK IN A BAR WHERE SMOKING IS ALLOWED? Whose fault is that? The smokers? The bar? The state? Uh, no, it's the fault of the dead chick.
He said the woman was a student who had a job at a fast-food restaurant, and worked a second job as a waitress at the bar. “She was perfectly fine when she went to work,†Rosenman said in a telephone interview.
PERFECTLY FINE EXCEPT FOR THE ASTHMA...and the probably obesity she suffered at the hands of all the evil fast food she most likely ate. She probably absorbed a lot of second-hand lipids at her other job.
“After about 15 minutes, she had an acute asthma attack and collapsed on the floor. The autopsy clearly indicates she died from asthma,†said Rosenman,
Then why is PMSNBC and Reuters--under the thin guise of some imaginary "researchers" trying to blame this woman's death on second-hand smoke?
Rosenman said the woman had asthma since age 2. Her asthma was poorly controlled. She had made four visits to her doctor in the year before her death for flare-ups, and had been treated in a hospital emergency department two to three times that year.
So that's 6 to 7 visits--she made so many they actually lost count--in one year...for asthma, not second-hand smoke syndrome.
SO WHY DOES THE HEADLINE OF THIS ARTICLE SCREAM: AHHHHHHH, SECOND-HAND SMOKE WILL KILL YA, I SEZ.
Although she had prescriptions for an assortment of drugs to prevent and treat asthma attacks, she was reported to only use them when she was having breathing difficulty.
No way, it wasn't patient negligence--it was second-hand smoke...some "researchers" said so!
On the evening of her death, she had no inhaler with her. When she became sick, she told the bar manager she needed to go to the hospital, then collapsed on the dance floor.
See, other people were dancing in this awful haze of second-hand smoke--and presumably raising their heart rates in the process--AND THEY AREN'T DEAD.
Rosenman, who wrote about the case in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, said 24 U.S. states prohibit smoking in public places such as bars. A number of other states, including Michigan, are considering it.
Yep, by God, let's curtail the rights of people who want to smoke because some dolt who can't take their own fucking medicine and shouldn't be working in such an environment anyway, dies as a result.
This is as intelligent as banning school buses because one school bus driver who was a well-known drunk and had been arrested 6 to 7 times last year for drunk driving, drove a bunch of kids off a cliff, while drunk.
He said a smoking ban could prevent future deaths.
No, motherfucker, banning asthmatics from smoky bars would though.
“There are a lot of statistics out there about secondhand smoke. Here is a human face.
Except she's not a human face. Because, you know, we can't see her in the article and um, she isn't named. She's probably not even real.
She died acutely. It is a tragic death,†Rosenman said.
Every death is a tragedy, every million deaths is a statistic...sorry, went all Stalin on ya there.
No, she died because she was asthmatic, didn't medicate, didn't bring her inhalers and shouldn't have been working in a smoke-filled bar, you lying sack of fucking dogshit with an agenda.
In another article, Rosenman says:
“As a consumer, I don’t have to go into that bar,†he said.
And you know, it's nice to have that CHOICE, isn't it?
“But is it a safe environment for the employees?
It is if you don't have acute, terminal-stage asthma, apparently.
We have federal laws that say employers have to provide a safe and healthy workplace. This was clearly not a safe and healthy workplace for this employee.
Well, then she SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE THEN! And just because one broad is so stupid she ends up dead, does that mean THE STATE has to curtail the rights of millions?
I don't recall seeing the part where this broad was press-ganged and forced into servitude. Did she or did she not willingly apply to this job, get this job and then continue to show up for this job? And at any time did she tell the owners she had some sort of OBVIOUS FUCKING DISABILITY THAT MIGHT REQUIRE 6 OR 7 VISITS TO THE ER? I doubt it.
“This death dramatizes the need to enact legal protections for workers in the hospitality industry from secondhand smoke.â€
Drama--that's the first true thing he has said in the article.
How about making bar employees wear a filter or some other sort of gas mask/breathing apparatus, dipshit? Or maybe we could just hire illegal immigrants to do it, since they aren't American citizens and don't have to follow federal law in any other regard.
In the United States, 23 states have already banned smoking in restaurants and bars.
And those bars suck. They are no fun. They might as well ban drinking in those bars, too. If I was still a drinker, I wouldn't go to those bars--except, SOON, I'LL HAVE NO CHOICE ANYWHERE! Whoops! So much for freedom.
The study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Great, our taxpayers money is so well-spent.
Also notice something--no name on the deceased girl, no name on the bar, no name on the bar owner, no town where this bar is located, no nothing. Might not even be real.
While I'm not a huge fan of
February 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 20 weeks ago
Comment id: 27429
While I'm not a huge fan of second-hand smoke - not for particularly pressing health or moral reasons, although I could easily make such arguments, but because I find the odour unpleasant - I'd have to agree with you about this case. The anti-smoking agenda should *not* overshadow careful consideration of all the facts of the matter.
Got news for you!
February 9, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 20 weeks ago
Comment id: 27426
I am from Cincinnati, Ohio and moved up here to Lansing about 3 years ago. I love going home and going out to a bar or a club and being able to breathe. I also enjoy not smelling bad after I leave the bar.
When I go out here in Michigan, I can't breathe AFTER I enter the bar. And I have my asthma under control. I take my prescribe asthma medication and still suffer at the bars.
The fact that this girl only worked at this bar FURTHER proves this study. When you don't take your asthma medication as prescribed and start having breathing problems that are caused by a trigger such as allergies (SMOKE) or infections it's a hard hill to climb back up to normal lung function. This girl struggled with her asthma all the time before working in the bar, but the NEW added trigger of the second-hand smoke was the final nail in her literal coffin. I am willing to guarentee you that if this young lady would have not been employed at this bar she would have gone through the same cycle of asthmatic troubles year after year ALIVE until she either started religiously taking her medication or was harmed by a different asthma trigger.
Smoke can trigger an asthma attack. PERIOD. And I understand she was not properly taking her medication and was having difficulties before entering the bar. But if someone was on fire would you throw gasoline on them? Smoke didn't start that fire...it just made it worse. Sure the smoke in the bar didn't cause her asthma but as an asthmatic the simple truth is it didn't help her asthma.
We all know smokers have their rights, but guess what... so do I. I didn't choose to have asthma. But I do choose not to smoke because of my asthma. And I have the right to go to the bar just as much as the next person. And I don't think I should have to take an extra hit off my inhaler (which is intended for emergency use) because someone else was so self-conscience at one time in their life to "fit in" and "be cool" that they started smoking and now can't stop even for one evening. And it's not like you don't even have to not smoke! Just do the polite thing and go outside. I don't go up to you and rip a stinking fart in your face, so don't put your gross HEALTH HARMING smoke in mine. But that's the thing about you Michigan folk, you are so far distanced from the South and their manners and morals that you don't even consider the fact that smoking indoors is rude, let alone unhealthy.
My challenge to the nay-sayers is this:
Go on a road trip to one of the many states who have outlawed smoke in bars. Have a nice night, have a couple drinks and whine about having to go outside and freeze while you take a smoke break... and at the end of the night you will still appreciate the fact that your eyes don't burn, your clothes smell like you and that you aren't coughing.
We all have seen the effects of long-term second-hand smoke, but it's about time that people can see what I feel like everytime I go out to a Michgan bar. It's just a shame someone had to lose their life to prove a point like this.
No Such Thing As Second Hand Smoke Deaths
February 8, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 21 weeks ago
Comment id: 27406
Are you also aware that no measure of tobacco smoke PMs were made at the time of her death?
Were you aware that the girl had only worked in this place for three months -- part time? She had been asthmatic since she was 2, and had not brought her inhaler with her, even though she was having difficulty a scant 15 minutes prior to her entering this bar.
So, the FACT is that the "case" doesn't link the woman's death to ETS, the people with the anti-smoking agenda do.
Second Hand Smoke Deaths
February 8, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 21 weeks ago
Comment id: 27404
It's amazing how many smokers still seem to think that their smoke has no effect on anyone else. Actually some even seem to think that it doesn't even make the smoker themself ill. Maybe something like this story will bring them to their senses. I certainly hope so anyway.
Second Hand Smoke Deaths
February 8, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 21 weeks ago
Comment id: 27401
There've been many other cases suspected to be caused by long term exposure to secondhand smoke. What reason is there to allow smoking in any restaurant? The negative health effects are well known. Even some of the tobacco companies are admitting that heart disease, respiratory problems and even lung cancer are the consequences of inhaling passive tobacco smoke. Staff who work in smoke filled environments are at high risk from working in these unsafe environments.
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