Index for Insanity, Inc.

Clusty Site Search

Smoking

Why do they ban an artificial sweetner like cyclimate (sp?) because they say it causes cancer, yet they don't ban smoking? Perhaps it is because the politicians got money from the sugar industry and the tobacco industry and diabetics don't have as much money to give (payoff?).

It is clear that people are being hypocritical when it comes to smoking. They say it is bad and all that, yet they take no action to get rid of it. How could they stop people from smoking? One easy way is to allow those who are smoking to continue and to prevent new smokers. How is that easy? Simply increase the minimum age each year that you need to be in order to buy tobacco. In around 60-70 years there will be no more smokers, at least in the United States.

Smokers say that they have a right to smoke, which I agree with, with one exception. That one exception is that they must ensure that no one else has to breath their smoke. Non-smokers have a right to not breath the smoker, so if the smokers contain their smoke, then everyone would be happy. I think something like an upsidedown fish bowl would work. Adding a battery and a filter might make it possible for smokers to smoke a bit longer :-).

I really don't think that smokers know or care how much the smoke bothers others. I like sitting outdoors at restaurants, yet typically I can not do that because the area is filled with smoke from the smokers. It is also bad to be driving in rush hour traffic and then have the person in front of you emit a large cloud of smoke. Sometimes it is possible to get all the windows and vents closed in time, often not. It is always a wise idea to change lanes after that. There are often smokers who stand right outside buildings, which means the non-smokers are forced to walk through the clouds of smoke.

Perhaps if smokers were more concerned with others then there would not be the effort to stop them from smoking everywhere, step by step.

Weyco in Michigan has a policy which prevents employees from smoking, anytime or anywhere. The reason given for this is that health insurance companies charge extra for smokers. I can understand a company not wanting to hire someone who smokes due to the amount of time lost when the person goes out to smoke, often once an hour, which is far more of a break than non-smokers take or can get away with. One company I worked at it seems that the same people were always at the smoking area instead of working. While I think that correcting the situation which allows smokers to take so many breaks to ensure fairness with non-smokers, I don't think that refusing to hire people who only smoke on off times is the correct solution. I understand the reason, but it seems that our society prefers to have laws which restrict things rather than force personal responsibility. I think that the smart thing for people to do is to quite smoking, but then again you can say the same thing about many other things that people do. Not allowing smoking on company time is a reasonable request, except during normal breaks, assuming that the employer wants to keep and maintain a completely separate smoking area. In this case there are two options which would resolve the problem. The first is to deny health care coverage and reduce the sick time for people who smoke. The second is to have the employee pay the difference in health care coverage for smokers. Both of these options deal directly with the issue given and force the person to take responsibility for their actions. There might be other limits on benefits too, but the basic concept is to deal with the real issue rather than overkill.

I don't smoke and I personally like the idea of not hiring people who smoke for many reasons. I do think that the companies have a right to control aspects which affect the company and the work that is done. While it is legal to drink, you really don't want to have employees who have a hangover working for you since they will not be able to do the job as well. I think that in this case it is bogus based on the reason used. If they want to give other reasons, then perhaps it would be acceptable.


Previous

Next

Index for Insanity, Inc.

Written: 27-Nov-2003

Updated: 03-Feb-2005

If you want to submit your own article, please read the first article and send email

Send Mail

Copyright 2003 Fine Print Productions



Anti Spam