Since I started writing seriously in August, 2006, I have written about 210 articles...and about 20 of those articles...I have quoted from a newspaper article to get it right.  This is again the case here, because I think the subject is so important, that I have to try to pass the word along. 

The article was written by Maria Cheng, of the Associated Press, and the piece was published by the Albuquerque Journal on November 26th...2010...the day after Thanksgiving.  Unfortunetely, there will not be many people around to enjoy Thanksgiving or the holidays...for that matter...because of smoking!  The title of the article is as follows;

"Second-Hand Smoke Deadly"  The sub-title reads; "600,000 Die Every Year Worldwide, Study Finds"

The article reads:

"LONDON: Second-hand smoke kills more than 600,000 people worldwide every year, according to a new study. 

In the first look at the global impact of second-hand smoking, researchers analyzed data from 2004 for 192 countries.  They found 40 percent of children and more than 30 percent on non-smoking men and women regularly breathe in second-hand smoke. 

Scientists than estimated that passive smoking causes about 379,000 deaths from heart disease; 165000 deaths from lower respiratory diseases; 36,900 deaths from asthma and 21,400 death from lung cancer a year. 

Altogether, those account for about 1 percent of the world's deaths.  The study was paid for by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and Bloomberg Philanthropies.  It was published in the British medical journal Lancet. 

'This helps us understand the real toll of tobacco," said Armando Perga, a program manager at the World Health Organization's Tobacco Free Insitute, who led the study.  He said the approximately 603,000 deaths from second-hand smoking should be added to the 5.1 million deaths that smoking itself causes every year.

Perguga said WHO was particularly concerned about the 165,000 children who die of smoke-related respiratory infections, mostly in Southeast Asia and Africa.  "The mix of infectious diseases and second-hand smoke is a deadly combination," Peruga said.  Children whose parents smoke have a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections; pneumonia; bronchitis and asthma.  Their lungs may also grow more slowly than kids whose parents don't smoke. 

Peruga and colleagues found the highest numbers of people exposed to second-hand smoke are in Europe and Asia.  The lowest rates of exposure were in the Americas, the Eastern Mediteranean and Africa. 

Second-hand smoke had ist biggest impact on women, killing about 281,000.  In many parts of the world, women are at least 50 percent more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke than men. 

While many Western countries have introduced smoking bans in public places, experts said it would be difficult to legislate further.  "I don't think it is likely we will see strong regulations reaching into homes," said Heather Wipfil of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, who was not connected to the study.

She said more public smoking bans and education might persuade people to quit smoking at home.  In the U.K., the British Lung Foundation is petitioning the government to outlaw smoking in cars.'"

END OF ARTICLE;

If a smoker dies from smoking...I really don't give a damn...they know the risks...and that attitude includes family members...they make their bed...

The definition of a smoker...

stupid; (definition); characterized or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless;

Need I say more?

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