Waiting to inhale

The IU campus is filled with a population that often stands out in the cold, rain or other unwanted weather so it may breathe that sweet, winding taste that is tobacco smoke. Having been a cigarette smoker in my lifetime, I'm not critical of this group, which is simply exercising its own rights as American citizens. Being addicted to nicotine is no crime, and many on this campus are ... or are they?\nA common trend that can be observed on campus is the practice of lighting up a cigarette, taking a puff and immediately allowing the smoke to fill the air without so much as the slightest inhale. Continuing this pattern throughout the cigarette, the smoker finishes and throws the butt to the ground, moving on with his or her life. With second-hand smoke in the lungs of the passersby and the smoldering filter on the ground, that smoker thinks nothing of the possible harm that is caused by this "habit."\nIt's understandable why so many would take part in this practice. It can be difficult to strike up conversation as new students or easy to be left out of talks with friends and business partners when on cigarette breaks. According to Dr. Sheila Bonas of Coventry University, smokers are socially conditioned to view smoking as a positive because they see parents or role models partaking in cigarettes. In social settings, people tend to associate smoking with other activities, such as going to bars or drinking coffee, and are compelled to do so when these activities are going on. It's no wonder that some IU students are compelled to "fake" smoking and not inhale. The action is a social instigator. \nThe dangers involved are exponential, and it might be that such non-inhaling smokers are unaware of the harm they might be doing to their own bodies or to the general population. \nIn a 1983 British Medical Journal study by Nicholas Wald, Marianne Idle, Jillian Boreham and Alan Bailey, it was found that among light smokers who are self-proclaimed noninhalers 14 percent of each milligram of carbon monoxide inhaled was transferred into carboxyhemoglobin, the compound formed when carbon monoxide combines with hemoglobin in the blood, as compared to the only slightly higher percentage of (19 percent) of light smokers that do inhale. Carboxyhemoglobin results in the inability of blood cells to combine with oxygen. It's simply untrue that by not inhaling, smokers are protecting themselves from health risk.\nAccording to the American Lung Association, second-hand smoke is responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,600 heart disease deaths in the United States each year. The current Surgeon General Report explains that short exposures to second-hand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier and reduces heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack. \nScience proves that the risk for the smoker is high despite misconceptions about health risk, and second-hand smoke facts still hold true. Noninhaling smokers should be privy to this information before they continue to light cigarettes in the name of social gain.