Kicking the Habit
To the Editor:
June 24 at 2 a.m. is my 22-year anniversary of quitting smoking. I quit smoking through The American Cancer Society’s Fresh Start Program, which I have been running since 1994. I think that I am the only person still running this program. It really works! Read more
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
How I finally kicked my decades-long nicotine habit
“Don’t you want to be alive to dance at my wedding someday?” asked my 18-year-old son, Brett.
My husband and I were up in Cambridge for the first parents’ college weekend. Brett was apparently majoring in Jewish guilt at Harvard. “How can a mother possibly reply to that question?” I thought as I reluctantly snuffed out the cigarette I was smoking. Read more
Our Leading Cancer Killer
Q: Is cigarette smoke the only cause of lung cancer?
A: Radon and asbestos are causes, too. Radon is an invisible, odorless and radioactive gas that occurs naturally in soil and rocks. Asbestos has been used for fireproofing, electrical insulation, building materials, brake linings and chemical filters.
But cigarette smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer. Before cigarette smoking became popular in the early part of the 20th century, doctors rarely saw patients with lung cancer. Nearly 90 percent of people with lung cancer developed it because they smoked cigarettes. Read more
City Smoking
To the Editor:
A few comments about “The Benefits of an Outdoor Ban,” where, contrary to the title, you marshal several arguments against an outdoor smoking ban (Sidebar, “No Ifs, Ands or Butts,” Sept. 24).
The fact that New York City air is already polluted is not an argument against a ban. A high crime rate is not an argument for committing more crimes. And just because studies haven’t yet shown bodily harm from secondhand smoke outdoors doesn’t mean that no harm is being done. Any smoke is harmful for living things. When I walk behind a smoker I am getting a pretty concentrated dose of smoke from the cigarette, even if the smoker is not inhaling. Read more
No Ifs, Ands Or Butts
City smokers are being snuffed out, and if Mayor Bloomberg has his way, soon there may be no place left to inhale but your living room.
In 2003, New York City implemented in a smoking ban in all restaurants and bars, severing the sacred bond between nicotine and liquor and forcing the 17 percent of New Yorkers who classify themselves as smokers to take their habits to the curb. Read more
