The iVillage debate between smokers and non-smokers has really lit up. Stacey Teale finds out what you had to say on the vexed issue of tobacco

It’s ironic that while campaigners are fighting for the right to legalise cannabis, the issue of smoking is still a hot potato. Bring up the subject anywhere and you’ll spark vehement arguments from both sides of the divide. Our iVillage debate, spurred by research that recently revealed passive smoking for just half an hour dramatically affects the circulation of blood within the heart, certainly took off.

‘I’d like to see smoking banned in all public places,’ says one iVillager. ‘Ideally I’d like it made illegal. As an ex-smoker, I know just how awful it is.’
‘I think smoking should be banned from all public places and smokers should only be able to smoke in the privacy of their own homes,’ adds another.Other iVillagers jumped in to agree. ‘Smoking is a selfish habit that might give my kids lung cancer,’ says one concerned parent. ‘I think it’s reasonable to ask smokers to restrict their pollution to their own homes, smoking areas of restaurants and pubs and less-crowded streets. I don’t think it is fascism in any degree to wish to protect myself and my kids from cancer.’

Perhaps not surprisingly, such demands got short shrift from many smokers – the battle lines were drawn.‘Non-smokers should be glad that so much has been done to stop smoking in most places, but give them an inch and they want a yard,’ responds one fed-up smoker. ‘I’m a lifelong smoker but I believe in personal freedom,’ adds another. ‘For everybody. That includes smokers.’

But what of those non-smokers who face passive smoking in pubs and restaurants? How much personal freedom do they have?‘Smokers are very hot on the issue of freedom – the freedom to smoke, the freedom to pollute other people,’ says one. ‘What about my freedom? Do I not have the freedom to enjoy smoke-free air? If I choose not to smoke, what right have you got to pollute my lungs?’

Another member feels smokers have to get a grip. ‘Just recognise how this chemical has control of your mind, just like a heroin junkie who will argue anything to get the money for his fix.’‘If you’re addicts, get help,’ agrees another. ‘Other addicts that don’t accept help are ultimately ostracised by society, for better or worse. If you’re not addicts but are instead making a lifestyle choice, stop whingeing about the fact that the rest of us find your habit repellent.’

That view proved too extreme for many people. ‘How about instead of the whole smoking witch hunt, we, as a society, concentrate on squeezing out the people who do real damage – the rapists, muggers, terrorists,’ responded one stung smoker. ‘These people are much more dangerous than a room full of smokers. And think about it, if everybody who smoked suddenly stopped, wouldn’t the government be up the creek with the loss of revenue?’

Retorted another: ‘I object to militant smokers too but do you ever think about your air when driving a car? If you do drive, you’re causing more pollution than even the most dedicated smoker. Do you shout at yourself every morning, demonising yourself for your weak will in not being able to catch a bus? If you don’t drive a car, do you turn your nose up at your neighbours who do? Or do you, as most of us suspect, apply a different and certainly hypocritical set of morals to other pollutants and polluters?’

But talking about the rights of smokers to puff ignores the health implications. And smoking can have heartbreaking consequences. ‘I’m not going to preach to anyone as I don’t have the right,’ says one ex-smoker. ‘I was a heavy smoker until 1986 when I was seriously ill with bronchitis and pleurisy. I was told if I didn’t stop smoking in six months I would be dead. It took that long to stop and it was hell on earth, but I did it. Great, you’re thinking, but it wasn’t. In 1987 I started wheezing again and I was eventually told I had bronchial asthma. Today, it’s just as bad and I have “died” on three occasions. There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by without an attack. Most are mild, but I also end up in A&E. I regret the day I started smoking. I had such dreams of a future with my son but I blew that. Still, I don’t dwell on what life could have been like, I’m just lucky to be alive.’

The last word goes to another iVillager who has seen the price of smoking first-hand. ‘My father died of lung cancer due to smoking. The cancer also had metastasised his bones. He died trussed up in the hospital bed, unable to move any limbs due to the fact that the cancer had eaten away at his limbs and bones.
‘Yet he begged the nurse for a cigarette.’

Are you trying to quit? Why not get some extra support from fellow iVillagers on the Stop Smoking Message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions happening right now on the board: