No specific subject discussion

[duane1969]

I agree, but only to a point. When you start getting into cigarettes, a CHOICE that is a part of many people's daily lives, you're getting into sketchy territory. What can and can't the government regulate? Outlawing cigarettes is just like prohibition, which if done today, I'm quite certain the world would explode.

And to be fair, we're not OUTLAWING coal. Plus, the harvesting of tobacco and coal are very different. And smoking itself doesn't leave a large carbon footprint. I think driving one mile in a car is equivalent to smoking 80 cigarettes. So why not outlaw driving? Even the most hardcore environmentalist would say that outlawing smoking wouldn't do a tremendous amount to help the environment.

I know we are not "outlawing" coal but Obama's policy is to regulate it to the point that it costs more to use it than it is worth. I say outlaw, Obama says regulate, the end result is the same.

Smoke from cigarettes may not have a huge impact on the environment but everything else about cigarettes sure does...

*400 billion cigarettes per year equates to 400 billion cigarette filters releasing 600 different kinds of poisons and toxins into the environment every year (that is just in the U.S.)

While we sleep there are literally trillions of cigarette butts releasing heavy metals, pesticides, fungicides, and carcinogens into the soil and water. It takes approximately 25 years for a cigarette butt to fully decompose.

*Tobacco depletes the soil of nutrients more than any other plant, requiring heavy use of chemical fertilizers to produce crops every year. In some cases it takes 6 times as much nutrients as other crops for tobacco to grow. In certain areas where the soil is already depleted fertilizer may be applied up to 16 times in a single growing season.

*It takes one tree to produce the paper for 300 cigarettes. Multiply that by 400 billion and let me know how many trees are cut down just for cigarettes. Then factor in the CO2 that trees take from the environment and let me know if it is having an impact.

Brazil, which is the 3rd largest cigarette producer in the world, uses 60 million trees per year. A cigarette machine uses 4 miles of paper per hour to make cigarettes.

*Every year approximately 115,000 children are hospitalized with respiratory infections that are attributed to breathing second-hand smoke from their parent's cigarettes.

*And finally, cigarettes are the #1 cause of fatal house fires.

Tell me again how smoking isn't having much of a negative impact on our planet...

[mrveggieman]

I know we are not "outlawing" coal but Obama's policy is to regulate it to the point that it costs more to use it than it is worth. I say outlaw, Obama says regulate, the end result is the same.

Smoke from cigarettes may not have a huge impact on the environment but everything else about cigarettes sure does...

*400 billion cigarettes per year equates to 400 billion cigarette filters releasing 600 different kinds of poisons and toxins into the environment every year (that is just in the U.S.)

While we sleep there are literally trillions of cigarette butts releasing heavy metals, pesticides, fungicides, and carcinogens into the soil and water. It takes approximately 25 years for a cigarette butt to fully decompose.

*Tobacco depletes the soil of nutrients more than any other plant, requiring heavy use of chemical fertilizers to produce crops every year. In some cases it takes 6 times as much nutrients as other crops for tobacco to grow. In certain areas where the soil is already depleted fertilizer may be applied up to 16 times in a single growing season.

*It takes one tree to produce the paper for 300 cigarettes. Multiply that by 400 billion and let me know how many trees are cut down just for cigarettes. Then factor in the CO2 that trees take from the environment and let me know if it is having an impact.

Brazil, which is the 3rd largest cigarette producer in the world, uses 60 million trees per year. A cigarette machine uses 4 miles of paper per hour to make cigarettes.

*Every year approximately 115,000 children are hospitalized with respiratory infections that are attributed to breathing second-hand smoke from their parent's cigarettes.

*And finally, cigarettes are the #1 cause of fatal house fires.

Tell me again how smoking isn't having much of a negative impact on our planet...

Can I get an amen!!

[pghin08]

I know we are not "outlawing" coal but Obama's policy is to regulate it to the point that it costs more to use it than it is worth. I say outlaw, Obama says regulate, the end result is the same.

Smoke from cigarettes may not have a huge impact on the environment but everything else about cigarettes sure does...

*400 billion cigarettes per year equates to 400 billion cigarette filters releasing 600 different kinds of poisons and toxins into the environment every year (that is just in the U.S.)

While we sleep there are literally trillions of cigarette butts releasing heavy metals, pesticides, fungicides, and carcinogens into the soil and water. It takes approximately 25 years for a cigarette butt to fully decompose.

*Tobacco depletes the soil of nutrients more than any other plant, requiring heavy use of chemical fertilizers to produce crops every year. In some cases it takes 6 times as much nutrients as other crops for tobacco to grow. In certain areas where the soil is already depleted fertilizer may be applied up to 16 times in a single growing season.

*It takes one tree to produce the paper for 300 cigarettes. Multiply that by 400 billion and let me know how many trees are cut down just for cigarettes. Then factor in the CO2 that trees take from the environment and let me know if it is having an impact.

Brazil, which is the 3rd largest cigarette producer in the world, uses 60 million trees per year. A cigarette machine uses 4 miles of paper per hour to make cigarettes.

*Every year approximately 115,000 children are hospitalized with respiratory infections that are attributed to breathing second-hand smoke from their parent's cigarettes.

*And finally, cigarettes are the #1 cause of fatal house fires.

Tell me again how smoking isn't having much of a negative impact on our planet...

Wait. Before we go any further, I need to address something.

Did we switch bodies? Because I'm pretty sure that you sound like a liberal environmentalist, and I sound like someone who is a huge believer in deregulation.

Something is awry here.

[duane1969]

Wait. Before we go any further, I need to address something.

Did we switch bodies? Because I'm pretty sure that you sound like a liberal environmentalist, and I sound like someone who is a huge believer in deregulation.

Something is awry here.

Oh darn, it is daytime. By day I am a raging conservative, by night a sly liberal militant. I just got my costumes mixed up

You would never know that I hate cigarettes, huh?

[mrveggieman]

Oh darn, it is daytime. By day I am a raging conservative, by night a sly liberal militant. I just got my costumes mixed up

You would never know that I hate cigarettes, huh?

Duane is not such a bad guy afterall.

[pghin08]

Oh darn, it is daytime. By day I am a raging conservative, by night a sly liberal militant. I just got my costumes mixed up

You would never know that I hate cigarettes, huh?

Hahaha, couldn't have guessed. I'm not a smoker, myself. But I'm supportive of their rights, and I truly feel as if they've been squashed as time goes on. If you're smoking within 10 feet of my building, guess what? I can walk 20 feet away. Problem solved.

[pghin08]

Duane is not such a bad guy afterall.

Haha, Duane is a good dude.

[mrveggieman]

Hahaha, couldn't have guessed. I'm not a smoker, myself. But I'm supportive of their rights, and I truly feel as if they've been squashed as time goes on. If you're smoking within 10 feet of my building, guess what? I can walk 20 feet away. Problem solved.

I was waiting at a bus stop a while back and I had my back turned and the lady behind me was smoking a cigeratte. It was raining outside and I shouldn't have to get wet just because someone wants to smoke a cigeratte and endanger all the rest of us who are inside a small bus shelter.

[pghin08]

I was waiting at a bus stop a while back and I had my back turned and the lady behind me was smoking a cigeratte. It was raining outside and I shouldn't have to get wet just because someone wants to smoke a cigeratte and endanger all the rest of us who are inside a small bus shelter.

I'm sure all non-smokers have been in similar situations, I know I have. But still, for most of us, they happen on rare occasions.

[mrveggieman]

Hey readers here is a random thought. Which is more hyprocritical? Eating a veggie burger with cheese made from cow milk and pork bacon or playing grand theft auto on the xbox while listening to gospel music that you downloaded on your hard drive?