ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: With all the news stories about cigars being such a hit, I have been smoking one once in awhile. The only warning I have ever seen on a package is from the state of California. Are cigars not as bad for you as cigarettes? I thought tobacco was tobacco, regardless of the type.
By the way, I smoke cigarettes, which I know are bad for me.
J.H., Hillsville
A: Are cigars safe?
No. There's a story that some CIA-type spooks with assassination on their minds once schemed to slip Fidel Castro a loaded cigar.
That questionable yarn aside, you'd have to walk a Camel mile to find anyone who could look at the cancer statistics and say sincerely that cigars are safe.
Are they less bad? Most cigar smokers don't inhale, so they get lung cancer less frequently than cigarette smokers do. But those who smoke five cigars a day still get lung cancer three times more often than nonsmokers.
Cancer of the mouth and throat occurs at the same rate among cigar and cigarette smokers.
A study by the American Health Foundation in New York found that people who give up cigarettes for cigars continue to inhale the smoke, usually. Cigar smoke contains more particles than cigarettes, so there's little to gain by switching.
Nicotine, whether absorbed through the lungs or the mouth, speeds up the heart and constricts blood vessels. For some people, that shortens life.
Nonetheless, the cigar industry now claims up to 10 million people are smoking its product. It boasts that celebrities with such names as Arnold and Demi and Whoopi are lighting up $8 cheroots, and that smart, slim, sexy, successful people are filling cigar bars in big cities.
The American Lung Association suggests the industry is oriented more to marketing than to accuracy. The last reliable data, from 1991, indicated there are 4.4 million cigar smokers, the lung association says.
By comparison, there are an estimated 50 million smokers and 40 million ex-smokers overall.
Your question about the absence of a health warning except for the California version is explained in the federal law that requires health warnings on cigarette packs. It exempts cigars and other tobacco products.
California, which is on the vanguard of environmental issues, required its own warning on cigars and all tobacco products in 1988. It reads: "This product contains/produces chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."
The California message shows up on many cigar packages here because wrappers are printed by the millions and distributing a batch for just one state is impossible in nationwide sales.
Wells Ave. flowers
Q: What are the hanging baskets of pink flowers on Wells Avenue by the Hotel Roanoke? Are they perennials? How can I get that kind of flower?| |M.B., Daleville A: They're called lila compacta geraniums, and they're perennials only if taken indoors over the winter, says Gail Clingenpeel of the Roanoke horticulturist office.
The color is lavender, and they're obtained in the springtime from local greenhouses. Plant them outdoors about May 1
Have a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RayR@Roanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB