Dear Sir;
I do not want to labour this issue too much but I am now
convinced that tolerance seems to have gone out of the window. In your 14
May edition ‘Dr M’ advises us that a smoker in the park is polluting the air
for around 100 metres or so. I can’t argue with that if the doctor has the
proof, but I find the statistic a bit over the top.
However, when I was sitting in a baht bus at the
crossroads at Tops in Second Road the other night - trying to be a good
citizen using public transport instead of my car - I nearly choked to death
from traffic fumes and it made me feel quite ill. I really mean that.
Can someone therefore please tell me, is not that other
people’s pollution which is affecting me? How many of those vehicles pouring
out fumes were driven by non-smokers?
When I go to the Thai buffet with my wife and someone has
a cooker on the next table wafting loads of smoke over us, is that not
polluting my air?
As for the smoking ban in bars, that’s fine. However,
when I see people drinking beer after beer, and then staggering out to climb
on motorbikes and into cars, is that not a danger to me, given I refuse to
drink and drive?
My point is that the tone of many letters is obsessive
and intolerant. My experience is that most people who smoke are considerate
of others and we all have a responsibility to each other. I, like most
contributors, deplore people throwing away cigarette ends carelessly, etc.
Please though, let’s not have double standards about
pollution of other people’s air and risk to their lives. I would rather have
someone smoking in a park than a half ton vehicle going down the same road
as me with someone driving under the influence.
Consideration for others has to be the watch-word, not
demonising certain groups.
Hopeful
Nongprue
