Editor,
This is in response to all the smokers out there who think the particulate matter they exude is simply inconvenient or unpleasant, and that we who choose not to smoke are fussy, neurotic and unreasonable.
Environmental allergies and asthma are on a steep increase in our society. My own environmental allergies are so severe that if I am exposed to cigarette smoke - or cats or fragrances - for more than a few moments, my eyes swell shut, my bronchial tubes close, and the back of my throat ulcerates and actually bleeds.
Once, when trapped with a smoker for almost 15 minutes, I had to be rushed to the emergency room, gasping, bleeding and blind. If I open my office window for the lovely spring weather, I have to jump up and close it every few minutes, as smokers hang out upwind of me. When faced with a smoky exterior doorway, I have to either find alternate routes without smokers barricading them or hold my breath, cover my eyes and run through clouds of smoke. Even then, I may have some breathing or visual difficulties.
True, I won't get cancer from briefly passing a doorway of smokers. I won't have the luxury of waiting that long. I'll be just as dead, but in a matter of moments, not years.
My condition was caused by my mother - a medical professional, no less - who, despite my chronic respiratory problems, continued to smoke during my childhood.
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I am over 50 and still have those respiratory problems, and they have gotten worse over the years. My siblings also have respiratory problems. For many years, I have had to engineer my life - including my friendships, my romantic relationships, and even contact with family, including my mom - to exclude smokers.
This is not about snotty, holier-than-smokers attitude problems. Every single day I wish this was not a problem for me.
I was raised to believe that a person's rights end when they impinge upon another person's rights. My right to safe breathing conditions in no way prevents you from poisoning yourselves somewhere else - and allowing your kids to remember what you valued more than their health.
Smoke-free campus? Yes, please.
G.R. McNeil
UNM staff
