European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 04, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday september 4,1977 letters to the editor it s a matter of life and breath you May have rights and your buddies May Back you up but you won t get any sympathy from the Well informed people who do research for easter seals it s a matter of life and breath or the cancer society or from widows whose husbands died of lung cancer or from the nonsmokers who get fed up with smoke burning their eyes and making the air around them hard to breathe. We nonsmokers do not need oxygen tents. That is not the Point. What we Are defending makes a whole lot More sense than what you Are frantically defending. We Are saying we have a right to breathe fresh clean unpolluted air. Normal air has no cigarette smoke in it. That is some thing added by smokers. To Many Intelli gent people your statement that if anyone s eyes and nose Are that sensitive they should be in an oxygen tent and not walking around the streets is positively  amazes me. Really it does. I can just hear you mocking me As you read this. I know the Type it s just dried up crushed tobacco wrapped up in a paper. Then you set fire to it and puff on it to help it Burn. Sort of like a human Bellows i guess. You spend hundreds of dollars on this habit. What it boils Down to is rolling up a Dollar Bill and setting fire to it and smok ing it. And so Many smokers will defend this habit As if their life depended on it. How ironic. I had a respiratory infection in 1954 and the doctors told my parents it would More than Likely flare up again if i Ever took up smoking. I was 6 years old at the time and when i m around smoke my breath ing becomes very difficult and shallow and my eyes Burn. I do not belong in an oxygen tent. My body is merely reacting normally to something foul. I taped Christmas Day at Home one time a few years ago. And when i played it Back i could hear my Mother coughing constantly in the background. She s a heavy smoker she asked who was doing All that coughing. I told her she was. She did t believe me. She does t even realize How much she coughs. You la notice a lot More people who tripes european edition col. Billy e. Spangler. Usa editor in chief it. Col. J. C. Taylor Usan. Deputy editor in chief Mert Proctor managing editor Elmer d. Frank production manager Henry s. Epstein circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for . Armed forces overseas. The stars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces information program of the department of defense. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. 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Raf Mildenhall c o  Sports office Apo own Mildenhall 7125h ext. 2231 or civilian Mildenhall 713m2, telex 1652 Washington d.c., John Hart. Oast a the Penta gon room 2e756, Washington 20301, Tel. 202 697-669s. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 331�46, Mil 6187 Bremer Haven Civ �516i, Mil 8119 Frankfurt Civ 691665 or 691660 Kaiserslautern Civ 57617, Mil Vogel Weh 6050 Munich Civ 6w1503 or 6901504, Mil 6556 Nuernberg Civ 706666, Mil 7256 North German Region Rhein main Mil 7103 or 6025 Stuttgart Civ 814596, Mil 6030. Greece Athens Civ 9923390 and telex 216892. Italy Vicenza Civ 559346. Spain Madrid Civ 2057546 or Torrejon air base Mil 7546. Turkey Istanbul Civ 664372 United kingdom Greenham common Civ 44768, military 46263 ext. 209. Smoke cough More often than those who Don t smoke. We Don t allow smoking in our Home. Our guests have always accepted this very nicely. My husband s Mother smokes and when she visits us if she feels likes smoking Shell take a walk alone outside or Shell suggest we All go for a walk. She s very Nice about it. It shows there Are some very considerate smokers. We know several. Why Are you complaining anyway non smokers Aren t Banning you from smoking altogether. You can have your own Little Smokey areas in restaurants air planes Etc. I would think you d be perfectly Happy puffing away to your heart s con tent. Smoking is not a Normal part of living. Breathing is. Smoking is a habit you pick up. Breathing is something we All do and it s something we All have a right to do. Nonsmokers have a right to breathe fresh clean air free of smoke. If you want yellow stained fingers car windows House windows if you want Raunchy cigarette breath yellow Teeth if you want your clothes hair and House to reek of that stale old smell of smoke. Fine. You can have it. Just Don t feel that because you love to smoke that everyone else has to As you put it suffer for it. Just As you Don t understand nonsmokers they Don t understand you. But nonsmokers have a lot More ground to stand on As far As rights go. Smoking is something that can be stopped. Breathing can be stopped too. It s called death. Go ahead and smoke. It s your right. But respect other people s rights too. Smoking is the one habit attacked so much because of evidence found about it and because it directly affects people near the smoker. Chewing gum is something that bothers people too. But something that bothers your hearing in t quite As bad As some thing that bothers your breathing it seems. I can ignore the snapping of gum chewing. I can walk away from it not reek ing of the smell of gum. But smoking. Please be considerate of my right to breathe unpolluted  Wagner Hahn a Germany rights infringed i too believe in the rights of others but i am also a believer in my rights. I work in a four Man office. Three of us do not smoke. The fourth smokes non Stop so do his visitors. By the end of the Day there is a smoke Haze that pervades the room our clothes and hair. One person s right to smoke has thereby infringed upon our rights not to. If i go after work to the no club or a Gasthaus i am again surrounded by a gagging environment which is some times formed by a minority of the people there. I think it is super that there Are designated smoking areas on buses planes Chow Halls Etc. This enables people of opposite views on smoking to co exist wit the utmost fairness on both sides. As for the Bill that is pending on abolishing Al Public smoking. That is about As controversial and Long in the making As the billow pending on abortion. It is a fact that doctors have not As yet proven that breathing in other cigarette smoke causes cancer. But it is also a fac that doctors have proven that breathing in smoke filled air does inflame lung tissue worsens asthma attacks and causes sinus  recent letter writer was worried about the rising Cost of his habit. I wonder if he has noticed Coffee and meat prices lately. Of. Demerrit Ramstein a Germany smoking Issue peace proposed let there be peace smokers and  i would like to respond to two recent let ters Public smoking Burns Reader up by a Reader from Hahn and smokers have had to suffer by a Reader from Wei  of All i d like to say that even when it s a known fact that something is wrong or harmful said to be by people who should know because they Are experts in the matter people will still do As they please. These Are the people who need prayer and understanding and it s not because non smokers Are better or that we want to be discourteous to smokers just to satisfy  i could be like the Reader from we Brucken and use unnecessary remarks like screwball but he s right in one Point he should have the right to smoke if he wants to. But you Are wrong when you say that non smokers want you to give up one of your pleasures because you do have  All we non smokers want is the same rights you say you should and do have. And that is to have the pleasure to breathe clean air. And As far As the fact that smokers sit in the backs of planes trains and buses it is a Well known fact that most airlines along with train and bus companies do not always make smokers sit in the Back. Then the fact that your pleasure has in creased in Price is not the non smokers  the matter of if anyone s eyes and nose Are that sensitive they should be in an oxygen tent and not walking  i As one of the Many people do have my eyes Burn and my nose run when around a smoker and i do walk away with the smoke smell on me. And As far As smoking in Public places to use your own words we non smokers Are paying customers  i think it s Only fair to both of us that there be a stated place for smokers and non smokers to keep everyone Happy in what pleasures they please. And the simple fact that eyes and noses have to get used to the smoke should Tell you some  to answer your question just who do you people think you Are. The answer is people with rights wants and needs just the same As . L. Swanner Hahn Germany special smoker sections needed this is in response to smokers have had to suffer from we Brucken. Have you Ever heard of being consider ate of others feelings simply because it s the polite thing to do no one is asking you to give up your habit. But Why should we non smokers be subjected to a habit we Don t particularly care for you would t Force a non Drinker to drink with you just because you needed one. Or would you special sections Are needed for smokers in Public transportation because we people Don t like to sit next to smoke fac tories. Especially when we Aren t even asked if we  you so rude and narrow minded that you can t realize people who Don t smoke find Billows of cigarette smoke in the face rather sickening there is nothing More stomach turning then to finish a delicious meal and have a Cloud of smoke blown in one s face. Since Many smokers insist upon finishing a meal with a cigarette Why should the non smokers have to share in that undesirable dessert to a smoker maybe cigarette smoke is not offensive to the eyes and nose to a non smoker it is very offensive. Contact lense wearers can Tell you How sensitive their eyes become in cigarette smoke. You have every right to do whatever you wish to your body. But you Don t have the right to do it to our non smoking bodies at the same time. I Don t think the the Large body of non smokers could be called screwball simply because they believe in the right to exist in a somewhat smoke free space. We Are simply asking for a Little common Courtesy that it seems a lot of smokers won t give us without the appropriate enforcing legislation. I have my own opinion As an sex smoker who no longer needs the habit and no smoker is going to blow smoke in my face and with the same breath Tell me that their rights Are being jeopardized. I be seen both sides. Think about it next time you Light up in a Public . 4 Lynn Mcmillan Wurzburg Germany breathing Point is overlooked i would like to add my two cents concerning the smoking Issue especially the letter smokers have had to  i think the main Point being overlooked by the writer from we Brucken is breathing is a Normal and involuntary body function smoking is not How can people really believe they have the right to foul up the air More than it already is Correct me if i am wrong but Haven t the medical authorities discovered that chemical irritants in the air can harm and or irritate a person s Throat and that includes smoke from cigarettes and pipes also if you think it is Only for scare tactics you re partially right. The letter writer claims he should not have to give up something he enjoys Why should we non smokers give up something we enjoy being Able to breathe relatively fresh air. Sylvia j. Deitze Schwabish Amund Germany asthma victim blames smoke i am one of Many people in which the smell of tobacco smoke brings about asthma. I Don t care How much people enjoy smoking in the open air where i Don t have to breathe their  avoid going out any More than is Neces sary. I can t even eat out because the Hanau snack bar does not have a no smok ing  than 50 times this year i was treated As an emergency patient and have been hospitalized for three weeks be cause of someone s  time i go to the dispensary i have to take Between two and six shots so i can breathe normally again. So As you see i also suffer because of smokers. I can Teven travel from Hanau to the Frankfurt allergy clinic on the shuttle bus because of people smoking. Which is More important people s right to smoke or mine to breathe Velma a. Hastings Hanau Germany