
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993                   TAG: 9304210333
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SMOKING A GREATER THREAT THAN AIDS

IN RESPONSE to Thelma Martin's March 13 letter to the editor, "Take it easy on smokers":

There's a difference between AIDS and cigarette smoke. You cannot get AIDS from going to restaurants and other public places, but you can get lung cancer from a smoker's smoke. Why should I be forced to inhale someone else's smoke?

I also think it's insulting that she would say that nonsmokers are "probably doing things that are a lot worse than cigarettes." What can be worse than purposely putting smoke into your body? I can honestly say that I have never used drugs or smoked a cigarette in my life. Cigarette smoke makes me very sick, and I'm tired of having to leave a public place because someone else insists on lighting up. Why should someone else have the right to give others lung cancer?

True, the government does get a lot of money from tobacco companies, but why should those who are in power or have money be allowed to give others disease?

I think comparing AIDS to smoking is very lame. First, someone doesn't knowingly put AIDS into his or her body. Second, you would get cancer from a smoker before you'd get AIDS from sitting in the same room with someone who has it. There are scientific studies to prove that you can get cancer from second-hand smoke. JESSICA M. STRAIN COVINGTON

by CNB