Editor,
"New study reveals secondhand chatter may cause brain cancer."
The preceding statement is just about as credible as believing you're going to get lung cancer by passing by a smoker in an outdoor environment.
Let's leave behind the fact that the studies on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke are hopelessly flawed, and jump to proposing a ban on driving to campus.
I inhale more carbon monoxide waiting for the bus than I ever would passing by a smoker on campus.
I do agree that outdoor cigarette smoke is a nuisance to the nonsmoker. I'm sure it's just as annoying as having to listen to someone's personal conversation on a cell phone.
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I would ask my fellow smokers not to leave butts on the ground - there are plenty of trash cans. Also, please don't walk and smoke in major thoroughfares or near open windows.
But please, whatever you do, don't let this anti-smoking witch hunt go unchallenged. This is nothing more than an attempt to punish smokers and to harass them into quitting.
Excuse me, but I don't need the government making my health choices for me. The harmful effects to the individual smoker are well advertised. The adult smoker makes a rational cost-benefit analysis.
What is not well advertised are the toxins in our food, our water and our soil. I do not have a choice about ingesting these toxins. Maybe the insurance companies, the intrusive government and the holier-than-thou anti-smoking fanatics should consider these dangers next time they get together and enjoy a chemically decaffeinated, genetically engineered soy latte.
Julie Ball
UNM student
