ASH were at it again yesterday.

They were having little orgasms over a page published by some American Oprah Winfrey Wannabe that screeched about second hand smoke.

I read it.

Everyone knows that smoking can have a tremendous negative impact on your health.

Woaaa there Bub!  You’re falling at the first fence here.  Sweeping statements are not scientific.  If you had said “everyone thinks” I might have let you away with it, but in it’s strictest form it should read “A lot of people think” and that’s only because of all the propaganda.

And secondhand smoke? Even brief exposure can be harmful to your health.

Bollox!  It would possibly take more than a lifetime of exposure to have any effect, and so far they haven’t even proved that.  To state that as a fact is a blatant lie.

But here’s a question you might not have even thought of: Could you be exposing yourself to secondhand smoke… and not even know it?

No.  It never crossed my mind.  I have more important things to worry about.

“Most exposure to secondhand smoke occurs in homes and workplaces,” explains best-selling author and physician Dr. Ian Smith, who partnered with us and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to tell us more about secondhand smoke. “But there is risk for exposure in public places like restaurants, bars and casinos, as well as in cars and other vehicles.”

Prize winning writer and author Grandad says there is a risk of exposure to everything everywhere.

And the fact of the matter is, there is no such thing as a risk-free level of secondhand smoke.

Fucking hell!  And you call yourself a doctor?  There is a risk-free level of exposure to everything including the most deadly radioactive substances.  Never hear that the dose makes the poison?

“Even brief exposure can be harmful to your health,” says Dr. Ian. “When someone smokes, secondhand smoke can linger in indoor areas for several hours. It’s not like, ‘I stopped and I left. It’s still in there!”

Show me one single case where “brief exposure” has had any effect whatsoever.  Unless of course you mean someone who has been so brainwashed that they develop hypochondria?

Smoke can indeed linger for a while.  So?

That smoke, even just traces of it, are filled with chemicals — potentially more than 7,000 chemicals, in fact! Hundreds are known to be toxic and about 70 of them cause cancer. That’s why even secondhand smoke can cause stroke, lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults, as well as asthma, respiratory infection, ear infections and even sudden infant death syndrome (or SIDS) in children, says Dr. Ian.

That is possibly true.  If you have a gas chromatograph that can detect elements and compounds at molecular level you can find yourself surrounded by many thousands of chemicals wherever you are.  Did you know that the human body contains elements that are radioactive?  The fact that those chemicals and elements exist does not mean they are any danger whatsoever because they are at incredibly low levels.  The claim that a whisp of smoke can cause any of those things is just wishful thinking on the part of an anti-smoker fanatic.

Got your attention yet?

Only in so far as I am wondering whether you are a blatant liar or have been thoroughly brainwashed.  Probably both.  You are certainly little credit to the medical profession.

That’s why we wanted to share the story of Ellie, who’s part of the CDC’s “Tips From Former Smokers™ Campaign.” She was never a smoker, but exposure to secondhand smoke forced her to change her entire life.

This should be interesting?

“I started working in bars when I was 28 years old, and I enjoyed it. And I was very successful!” says Ellie.

Good for her!

But when she hit her mid-30s, she had her first asthma attack. “Realizing it was triggered by secondhand smoke was a terrifying and upsetting experience,” she says.

Ah!  So as well as being a bar worker she is also a qualified medical professional capable of self-diagnosis?

“Every night, I went into the bar and was surrounded by smoke, I could feel my lungs getting tighter,” Ellie continues. “It was getting to a point, after a number of years, that I knew I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Hmmmm.  So she hung around for years?  She could have quit?  No one forced her to stay?  I had jobs that were considerably more dangerous, where I ran the risk of electrocution or falling but I stuck with them because I was quite prepared to take those risks.  There again, I am a rational person who can weigh the pros and cons and not a whinger who wants the world to change because I have been inconvenienced.

Once again ASH are scraping the barrel.