Pipe Smokers Intelligencer

DR BOB’S DIAGNOSIS ON SECOND HAND SMOKE

Much has been said about the effects of second hand smoke exposure(sse) including the various surgeon general reports and the crusaders against smoking.  I am attempting to read the latest surgeon general report and that is daunting because of its voluminous contents.  The executive summary helps.  So we need to look at what some of that report said and then what the crusaders are claiming.

2006 Surgeon General’s Report (SGR)

When looking at conclusions, it is important to understand the terms of sufficient evidence to infer a casual relationship to disease or insufficient evidence to infer a casual relationship or suggestive evidence but not sufficient to infer a casual relationship to disease. The major conclusions from the SGR include are many but one of the important ones is the following:

• “The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship between second hand smoke exposure and lung cancer among lifetime nonsmokers.
• This conclusion extends to all secondhand smoke exposure, regardless of location.  The pooled evidence indicates a 20 to 30 percent increase in the risk of lung cancer from secondhand smoke exposure associated with living with a smoker…   The evidence is sufficient to infer a causal     relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and increased risks of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality among both men and women.  Pooled relative risks from meta-analyses indicate a 25 to 30 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease from exposure to secondhand smoke.”

The key statement in the SGR is “lifetime nonsmokers.”  That is THE fact, nothing more nothing less.

Then there was the press release of the SGR which stated “Even brief exposure to second hand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and increases the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.”  Then there was the remarks by the surgeon general to the press which stated “breathing second hand smoke for a short period of time can damage cells and set the cancer process in motion.  Brief exposure can have immediate harmful effects on blood and blood vessels potentially increasing the risk of a heart attack.”

We are living in a time of unprecedented attack on truth and it shows everywhere from average Joe American who believes what he wants to believe and calls it truth (largely from Post Modern thinking) to the highest ranking physician in the USA who abandons integrity and scientific honesty to outright lie in the press release.  The heart (no pun intended) of the SGR clearly puts a time relationship to risk by the phrase “lifetime exposure.”

Most of you know about all this anyhow but it is worth reviewing especially from a physician like myself.  Some of you have emailed me to thank me as a physician who is willing to discuss these smoking related issues.

The attack on truth comes about as self has been elevated to an extreme degree and in that sphere the ends justify the means, the process is of no value.  No where more obvious has this emerged then at the level of our national leaders who openly defy process (the Constitution and what the people want) and press on with complete abandon to accomplish what is in their political sights.  For me the health care bill is a prime example of this and at stake is the fall of our nation yet with narcissistic like abandon they push on.

This level of self indulgence blows my mind as many of them are self-terminating their political careers, I guess to be in the history books as the ones who changed health care.  Soooooo… I have said all this to say that in our little world of pipe and cigar smoking all the same principles apply.  That is anyone who doesn’t like the smoker will abandon truth and integrity and honesty to  engage in the crusade, as I have eluded to before, to win the battle at all cost.  Thus the bottom line is when a crusader gets in your sight, blow him away with a blast of truth.

The relevance of my comments can be seen with the continual emergence of new crusader tactics.  We are not seeing any new study showing the immediate horrid effects of shs as all of them have been disproven and/or even retracted.  So now the attacks are coming from the legislature in a variety of states.  Utah passed a bill that leaves wide open the ability to rule a miscarriage by a smoker a criminal homicide and thus could come with life in prison!! Oklahoma passed a bill that smoking on a smoke free campus is a misdemeanor.

Another state has a bill that prohibits the sale of tobacco in a pharmacy but not in other stores.  Other attacks are from the huge groups of antis.  You know the one about banning smoking outdoors; I don’t understand why these people are not concerned about looking stupid.

How about third hand smoke, the leaching out of tobacco byproducts from the furniture and clothing of smokers.  This is pushing the envelope of extremism as that is just not close to truth.   How about one of the groups who has put out a statement that there is danger of third hand smoke from e-cigarettes, that is the nicotine in the vapor from e-cig.

And then there is the newer fourth hand smoke.  This means that fourth hand smoke exposure occurs in a place where no smoking has occurred, thus the smoker entering this space brings the exposure .  Third hand exposure occurs in a space where smoking previously occurred.  Supporting the fourth hand exposure theory, one of the anti groups put out a press release supporting policies that prevent adopting a child by a smoker who smokes but only out of the house.  This implies that this style of smoking would carry the horrid toxins to the unsuspecting child.

What is this bizarre and crazy stuff about?  Crusader mentality!!!!  Watch for it as it is “coming to theatre near you.”

Dr. Bob