me wanna

prohibit smoking in his/ her waiting area. Enormr- age your physician to support no-smoking regula— tions in health care fac- ilities. In hospitals always request a roam free from tobacco At work, encourage consider- atim for the non-smoker. Post signs in your office or work area. Urge man- agement to provide Stoke- free facilities for non- smokers. If tobacco smoke affects your health, bol— ster your position, with

a note from your physi— cian. At meetings pro— pose a "no—smoking motion.

If this is not pra’c’ticalj’ _'

suggest a smoke break in anoflmer‘areari- Patronize Stoke—free stores andoom‘ mend the managementw on th- eir no-smoking' policies. Write letters to those places where you find that smoke is affecting you as an individual. Write let- ters to the editor, etc. And remember that non- smokers are the majority, even among adults.

"Want to give me some more reasons for joining the majority?"

"Sure, emphysema, chron- ic bronchitis, and lung cancer."

"Canton, not all smokers get those. Besides, my unc1e smoked two packs a day and lived to 85. And what about those miners who get cancer “and never smoked at all?!

"Smoking increases the risk of'developing these conditims. All heavy smokers after a period of time, develop atphysema to some extent. Emphyse- ma impairs the lungs' cap- acity for oxygen absorb— tion, so the oxygen from . the air just doesn't make it into your bloodstream as well as it once did. 'Ihis means the lungs and circulatory system have to work harder with less oxygen to keep the body running, especially not- able during periods of p '- sical exertion - but as the condition worsens, it

.7

impairs normal non-strenous activities as well. Chronic bronchitis is an irritation of the bron- chial tubes, the airways to the lungs, that mce it appears, doesn't usually go away without the remo- val of the primary irri— tant in many cases, cig— arette smoking. Both of these conditions can re-, sult from exposure to ir- ritants and smoke that . are not a direct result of the individual's own smo- king, but and chronic bronchitis are most frequently seen in heavy smokers. Exposure to tobacco smoke worsens these conditions even when they are not caused by personal cigarette smoking. Primary lung cancer, that is, a cancer that starts in the lungs as op— posed to me that matasti- cizes, or spreads, from another original site, is often the result of inges— ting air-born carcinogens. (‘Ihe relationship between smoking and cancer is still under active inves- tigatim.) Nb‘st often, the air—laden carcinogens are derived from tobawo smoke, while industrial wastes dumped into the air can also result in lung can- cers, smokers are even more susceptible to these cancer causing agents; for example: most people who die of lung cancer resul— tant from exposure to ra- don daughter gases are smokers just as it is true that not all people ex— posed to the working con-

ditions in the asbestos

mines develop lung cancer, not all smokers develop lung cancer. Sa1e are lucky, or some deVelop bladder cancer instead. Nine out of ten people who are found to have cancer die within five years of the discovery of their

The UPEI smnhummarcm $6,1978ipage 13

"When you say smoking, you mean jsut cigarettes, don't yw?"

"Primarily cigarettes, but not only. Pipes and cigars are included, to some extent, in all my statements. Pipe and ci— gar etokers tend to in— gest less smoke, partly because they use less to— bacco and partly because they inhale less deeply, so only a smaller portion of the more potent smoke gets into the lungs. Cigar and pipe smokers have a higher incidence of lip and buccal (mouth) cancer than non—Stokers though. But there is a bright side to it. . .those cancers are frequently curable with a minimum of disfigurement. All or most pipe and cigar smokers state. that they don't "inhale", meaning that the smoke isn't car— ried into their lungs but rather contained wholly in in their mouths. Anyone ' - who's been in a room with a pipe or cigar fiend will have noticed the irritation caused by the smoke to some people's lungs and/or bron- chia. You haven't? What

, about the people who were

coughing?"

"Oh ya, them. "

"So that if the smoke is in the ambient air, and the non—smokers are inha— ling, so are the smokers. Also, it's nigh unto im— possible to keep all the smoke in the mouth while inhaling it. lIleclru'lically, it isn't possible because the pressure to inhale has to come from somewhere and the air (& smoke) being inhaled have to go some— where. So far the body hasn't developed a way of filtering out all the smoke before it gets to the lungs. It tries though. Nasal hair and trachial cilia (the minute hair— like strucuires on the

W

W ‘—‘——“

cancefifi? die within six months. 'Ihis compares to 50% 5 years survival rate for breast cancer and an almost 100% 5 year survi- val rate for skin canoer.

So you may not get lung cancer but if you do, it's most likely to be game over 'by the time it's dia- gnosed.

Bladder cancer is another nasty with a low survival rate mce it's been diag— nosed. .

cells lining the air pas- ages) are supposed to fil- ter out some of the air— laden pollutants but their action on the particles in tobacco smoke is impair' ' ed by the smoke itself, be— cause it contains substan- ces which curtail the ac- tion of the cilia, which ordinarily move ryttmu'cally to kick the hunk and mucus out of the lungs and air-‘- ways. 'lhe smoker's mom- ing cough is partially a

result of the lack of smo- king during the night that has allowed the cilia to at least partially reacti— vate and start clearing the pulmonary system of contaminants and mucus. 'Ihere's also i'njestion without the burning of to- bacco, snuff and chewing tobacco: 'Ihe nicotine in these mo substances still enters the blood stream through the buccal and nasal linings, so that the deleterious effects of nicotine are still in evi— dence, such as constric- tion of the peripheral blood vessels." "What?" "The blood supply to your extremeties, feet and hands is lessened. Wrink- les appear at an earlier

age for some reason in persons who ingest tobac-

co in some manner. Also, the incidence of heart and related diseases is greater among nicotine ad— dicts, as are the number of tiny blue veins that appear just under the skin at an earlier age, in sm- oke ingesters. All of the effects of tobacco seem to be greater the more it is used."

"OK so far we've talk- ed about tobacco. Is that all you think people smoke or is it just that that's all people smoke with harmful results."

"Nope. Here comes the dope talk. Marijuana smoke treats the lungs more harshly than does cigarette smoke but is often used in a much smaller amount than tobacco. Also the 'IHC otherwise known as tetrahidracanabanol the critical ingredient in hash, marijuana, tai stick, or anything else from can— nabis sativa, is a bron— chiol dilator, which means it expands the bronchial mbes. Normally these airways contract when their owner is exposed to some irritants or fearful.

When certain irritants produce extreme contrac- tion of the brcnchial tubes this is called an asthma attack. 'll-IC is a long acting antiasthmatic agent that can be used in minute quantities, so that the effect of dope smok— ing seems to be less. irri— tating in some ways, than it actually is. Dope is hard on the lungs, but

as said before this smoke is rarely ingested at the

same rate as tobacco smoke is.

"So you're encouraging me to smoke dope instead of cigarettes."

"I didn't say that."