Non-smoker explains why he has "zero sympathy" for smokers
I'm driving to Birmingham this morning so I'll leave you to comment on an email that was sent to Forest:
I just came across your website by chance. I agree with you when you say that adults who wish to smoke have a right to do so, albeit knowing the health dangers. However I would make the following comments, as a non-smoker.
1. I wish that legislation to ban smoking in a room (not just a car) with children had been in force when I was a child. My mother, as an adult, had a right to smoke, but I as an asthmatic child had to suffer the inhalation of second-hand smoke which aggravated my asthma. In those days children were supposed to be "seen and not heard", so my right to breath in clean air was not even considered.
2. When I was about nine I was brought in to a hospital to visit a dying uncle - I think he was dying of lung cancer - and even at that age I couldn't believe that other patients in the ward were allowed to smoke. Even a man dying from the poison of cigarettes couldn't get away from second hand smoke on his deathbed.
3. For some years I worked in a small office with a smoker and his right to smoke took precedence over my right to breath clean air. If I went home for lunch he had other colleagues in at lunchtime ands they all smoked so I came back to an office with the disgusting stench of smoke. Whenever I complained I was laughed at - again non-smokers had no right to breath clean air. The smokers didn't care about me or my asthma. Even a simple request to open the window while they were smoking was refused. When I came home from work my wife could smell the smoke on my clothes.
4. For years going into a restaurant for meals meant risking second hand smoke as the cigarette smoke didn't understand the concept of a no-smoking area. Now with the smoking ban we can go into a restaurant without our evening (and meal) being spoiled by smoke drifting over our table and poisoning our air.
5. As a taxpayer I also have an interest in this because there is a huge drain on scarce health resources which could be much reduced of smoking could be eradicated. Smoking and alcohol related illnesses (and accidents in the case of alcohol) are a huge cost to the taxpayer and waste healthcare resources which should be available to treat people who are ill due to no fault of their own. (I am not anti-alcohol, only the abuse of it - alcohol in moderation is fine, whereas every cigarette is harmful.)
6. Smokers also tend to litter the streets - look at all the cigarette butts lying around. A sweet wrapper can be put in your pocket until you find a bin, but who wants to put a dirty cigarette butt in their pocket, so it ends up in the gutter.
He finishes by writing:
I am all for the smoking ban - the more restrictions placed on smoking the better. In any situation where second hand smoke is being forced upon non-smokers then a ban is appropriate. For years the smokers had it all their own way - they could pollute the air around them and anyone complaining was seen as a crank. In the last few years non-smokers have at last won the right to breathe in clean air. As a non-smoker who for years had to suffer the inconsiderate attitude of smokers I have zero sympathy for them now.
Over to you.
Update: The email was sent to Forest Eireann. On behalf of FE, John Mallon has sent a reply which I have also posted in the comments.