Can we ever be free of this hazard?

Have you ever felt your throat closing and you were unable to breathe? Have you tried to take shallow breaths to avoid inhaling the poisonous fumes around you?

Then you know what I mean. The smokers are still King even though public buildings and air-conditioned restaurants and malls have been decreed as non-smoking areas. Even the schools are not smoke-free areas. I have seen workers and parents stand just outside the fence, puffing away. The wind carries the pollutants into the classrooms that are just meters away.


In coffeeshops, in the airwells and staircases of public buildings, the odor is so heavy that you feel you are being gassed to death.

Cigarette packets now carry the mandatory health warnings of the consequences of smoking and taxes have been raised year after year but these measures have little effect as more and more young people, especially girls, are taking up the bad habit.

When asked why they smoke, some say it soothes their nerves and calms them. Others say that they think and concentrate better. Some just cannot do without a cigarette from the moment they wake up until bedtime.

I used to live with a chain-smoker and it was most unpleasant. There were many squabbles over this. One day he fell ill while we were on holiday and he had to hole up in the hotel while the children and I had a fun time in Disneyland. Then he decided to quit cold turkey and for that I had to admire him.

My brother (another chain smoker) also quit cold turkey after a mild stroke and so did my brother-in-law.

So you see, anyone can quit if they are determined to do so. Saying that they will grow fat if they quit, that they will get severe withdrawal symptoms are just excuses. If there is the determination and will power to quit there and then, one surely can. Granted the first couple of days are hardest but think of the future, think of good health, not only your own but your family's.

To a non-smoker and an ex-smoker, the cigarette fumes are now obnoxious. In fact non-smokers who inhale the smoke are at greater health risks than the smokers themselves. Secondary smoke is worse.

So to live longer and to stay healthy, one should give up the habit of smoking. Feel your body become detoxicated and clean. No more nicotine-stained fingers or ugly yellow teeth, no more bad breath.

To the ladies who smoke, you don't look sophisticated; on the contrary you look most unattractive and cheap. Your skin dries out and puckers around your mouth. You will not have healthy babies. Don't short-change them even before they are born.

Give up smoking and we will have healthier societies and cleaner surroundings.