I saw an interesting little item a day or so ago.
‘Many people don’t believe social smoking is harmful – as a doctor, I know that’s not true‘
Okay, so we have a bit of a double negative here which is confusing. Does he mean that many believe smoking is harmful, or just that smoking is harmful? I think I can guess.
I SEE MANY children with different respiratory conditions such as asthma at my respiratory clinic in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.
Right. So he’s a kiddy doctor. Fair enough.
When I ask parents if they smoke, the answer is often “no” which is great as their children are not being exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke.
I wonder if he asks the parents about all those chemicals around the house? Does he ask them about carpet cleaners, air fresheners, washing powder or all those other little nasties? I doubt it because I think our good doctor has an agenda here.
However, if I drill down a bit further and ask “do you ever smoke occasionally?”, I tend to get a different answer and some parents admit to being a “social smoker”, or “only smoking when out socialising with friends”.
Those dirty little people bringing their snot gobblers into his nice clean surgery. Of course they are lying when they say no so it’s necessary to “drill down a bit further”. Force them to “admit” to their dirty little secrets.
So they say they are a “social smoker”, or “only smoking when out socialising with friends”. In my book that tends to be one and the same. They go out for a pint and hang around with the smokers [because that’s where the craic is] and have a fag or two. So how does that affect their kids’ health? Are they bringing their kids with them? Or do they bottle up some smoke to bring home to their kids as a present? I think our doctor is letting his agenda cloud his reasoning? But there again, if the parent is a social smoker then he can jump to the conclusion that he has found the cause of the little brat’s cough and needn’t do any further tests.
He then waffles on with such nonsense as
… most occasional smokers tend to continue this pattern of smoking for many years, often not realising the dangers associated with their habit. This group of smokers are at a higher risk of becoming regular smokers and young adults who occasionally smoke are three times more likely to progress onto daily smoking compared with non-smokers.
First of all, if it’s “occasional” then it’s not a habit. And if they continue that pattern for many years, why should they suddenly become a forty a day smoker? Why is it any of his business anyway? He’s a fucking kiddie doctor and he’s hectoring parents about their futures?
Ireland is frequently near the top of the league table when it comes to alcohol consumption rates. We have a significant problem with binge drinking and this is adding to our smoking rates as binge drinkers are much more likely to smoke than non-binge drinkers are. People who binge drink have increased craving for tobacco and vice versa.
Frequently? Do we float up and down like the tides? Actually I think we are fairly average but don’t let that spoil an argument. So now we have the cause of occasional smoking – alcohol. Let’s ban alcohol to protect those nasty smokers from themselves.
I’m intrigued by the “vice versa”. Is he saying that people who smoke have a craving for binge drinking? Can he quote us figures on this phenomenon?
I really don’t know why they publish crap like this. Was it a slow news day? Did someone feel a need to fill a quota?
Do read the comments under the article incidentally.
Not quite the reaction the good doctor was seeking?
