Smokers must consider etiquette
One childhood privilege that I miss is the weekly splurge on the ice cream truck’s eclectic, albeit unhealthy, selection of Popsicles and candies. I felt pretty smug buying bubble gum in the form of a pack of cigarettes and showing off smoking etiquette to my younger brother.
This fondness for cigarettes wore off with the realization that carcinogens, not lethal levels of sugar, contribute to the unhealthy consequences of smoking.
Regardless of the consequences, smoking is a personal choice. But it’s a preference that must be regulated, as one puff of smoke can potentially – and unfairly – affect people in the vicinity. Smokers need to be more conscientious of other students, especially in large populated places such as in front of Powell Library or on Bruin Walk, considering that second-hand smoking is aggravating as well as harmful to non-smokers.
At UCLA, smoking is controlled in public places. According to the January 2004 enactment of the UCLA Policy for a Smoke-Free Environment derived from California AB 846, smoking is prohibited inside any public building as well as the area measuring 20 feet from entrances.
Community service officer Carlos Silva, who supervises the Powell and Young Research Library lobbies, told me he hears common complaints of smokers violating the 20-foot rule.
The concentrated volume of smoking – especially in densely populated areas such as Powell, YRL and Kerckhoff Patio – can be overwhelming.
I initially figured that designated smoking areas on campus, outside of the high-traffic areas that seem to be popular, would allow smokers to enjoy their freedom while allowing nonsmokers to savor their fresh air.
But when I sought smokers’ approval, they said they probably wouldn’t adhere to such regulations. Irfan Khan, fourth-year electrical engineering student, stated that the Powell steps are a common place for enjoying a cigarette to relieve stress before and during study sessions in the library as well as because of the central location.
I can empathize; if I were a smoker, I might light up outside of Powell while studying for a midterm, and I can understand that it would be inconvenient for smokers if designated smoking locations were enforced on campus.
However, while I acknowledge that various policies do place smokers under restriction, it seems nonsensical to not enforce these rules. Just one person’s decision to smoke harms a handful of other people who must breathe the contaminated air.
Secondhand smoke has frighteningly serious consequences. According to various sources, including the American Cancer Society, 35,000 to 40,000 nonsmokers succumb to heart disease and 3,000 succumb to lung cancer per year as a result of secondhand smoking.
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, citing a study conducted in May 2005 by J. Barnoya and S. A. Glantz, states that “the effects of even brief exposure (minutes to hours) to secondhand smoke are often nearly as large (averaging 80 percent to 90 percent) as chronic active smoking.”
Sure, nonsmokers can walk away from cigarette smoking if forewarned, but the problem is that cigarette smoking is not detected until inhaled in through the nose, when damage is already being done.
Instead of imposing further regulations on either group, greater awareness of courteous smoking should be considered, as Gena Hamamoto, first-year Asian-American studies graduate student suggested.
With a cigarette in one hand, Hamamoto stands about 15 feet away from Powell steps instead of relaxing on them like most others. She said she never sits on those steps because they are covered with spit and waste.
Indeed, cigarette butts adorn Powell steps, like the entryway to a bar or club instead of an esteemed library. Discarding cigarettes after smoking really isn’t too difficult.
Neither is practicing a little more consideration by taking care to minimize smoking near others who may potentially be asthmatic, unaccustomed to cigarette smoke, or just not too keen on exposure to material identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Group A carcinogen, a classification set for “only 15 other pollutants, including asbestos, radon and benzene.”
Ultimately, given the industry’s role in politics and the economy, cigarettes and smoking are here to stay. But for the sake of lungs, hearts and longevity, please practice smoking etiquette – because smoking isn’t child’s play.
E-mail Yoo at jyoo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.
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