For Your Health

It seems the good (and healthy) City Council in Bangor, Maine made the decision this week to ban smoking in cars with the intention of making it safer for those of us not looking to get lung cancer; more specifically, the children of Bangor. Now I'm not a smoker nor do I think I will end up being one, but it strikes me that we are going a little far in some of our decisions to make the world a healthier (though not necessarily happier) place. Part of the rationale behind the decision is that smoking is harmful, particularly for young children and as a result, smoking in a confined space such as a car increases the likelihood that they would develop ailments such as lung cancer. Thus the city council decided to make it a crime by banning smoking in cars with young children.

Smokers argue that this bill is passed not so much with children in mind but rather with the hope of increasing the stigma against smokers. Smoking is already banned in offices and restaurants and many cities have now begun banning smoking in bars as well. Walk around to the back of many an office building and you will often be greeted by a cloud of smoke hovering over the group of dedicated smokers who are hanging out in the one place they have left to them. Even in the dead of winter they'll be out there with a cigarette chomped in their mouth while shivering to keep warm. I'm happy smoking has been banned from offices; I can't imagine the days when smoking was permitted in offices. Still, I feel that the measure in Bangor is a bit much.

To give the arguement that smoking can cause cancer thus should not be done in the vicinity of children in a confined space begs the question, 'why stop there?' Recent studies have also shown that prolonged exposure to the sun these days has resulted in higher incidence of skin cancer due to the slow depletion of the ozone layer. Ultraviolet rays are beaming down on us and overexposure means definite cases of cancer. Can't we say that drivers with young kids in the car are putting their kids at risk by driving them around in cars that don't have tinted windows? But wait, there's more! What about the radio, children's ears are still developing at young ages and it is necessary to protect their development. If a driver listens to the radio too loudly then isn't it possible that their hearing could be damaged? I sense another bill before the county council.

Most of what we do to ourselves is rather dangerous. The long term effects of whatever we do, ingest, or experience is bound to have long term results; there's just no way around that. I suppose the theory that everything in moderation would still apply. It just seems that with good intentions we can sometimes take things too far. Most smokers know the effects and consequences of what will happen to them given the amount of time they have been smoking, the frequency of their smokes and such. It can almost become a mathematical equation. However, the vast majority of them are smart enough to know that smoking near children increases the chances that the kid will develop problems. Hence most wouldn't smoke in front oft kids. Give them the benefit of the doubt; and if they don't know these things, then there are many more problems that are bound to crop up.

Lots of things can have ill effects over time. Eating eggs everyday could increase your chances of a heart attack. So can having too much red meat or fried foods. Does that mean that we should ban the sale of these items? Of course not. We should exercise some sound judgement as to when to intercede and when to let families handle things on their own. I can only assume that the majority of smoking parents in Bangor have been smoking with their kids in the car and that led to the decision to pass the new city law. Hopefully though, this is nothing more than an attempt to keep the kids happy and healthy and not the beginning of a trend to dictate how people handle their kids.