On the beaten path

American Lung Association statistics flashed through my mind like a reoccurring dream that eaves you sticky and shaking: About 1,200 Americans die daily from smoke-related illnesses, which claim an estimated 438,000 American lives yearly. In 2004, around 44.5 million adults were smokers. About a third of the male adult global population smokes, with smoking-related diseases killing 1 in 10 adults. By 2030, that could increase to 1 in 6 if current trends continue.

I actually quit smoking a few months ago, though I smoked steadily for six years, quit, started, quit, started again, quit.

But while I myself am currently smokefree, I can’t help but recall my walk last summer. As I smoked, I remember picturing myself a shark swimming through society’s waters, the “Jaws” jingle pounding my brain with dark thoughts:

Duh duh — lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke kills about 3,000 nonsmokers yearly.

Duh duh — it causes up to 300,000 lung infections in infants and young children each year.

Duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh — cigarette smoke fills the air with many of the same poisons found in the air around toxic-waste dumps.

Why are my hands clammy? Is that a pain in my chest? Is my breathing labored?

I’m not a bad person. When New York began debating whether to eliminate smoking from public buildings, including bars and restaurants, I fully supported the idea.

Why should nonsmoking employees have to inhale unwanted substances? Why should nonsmoking patrons have to keep out of local bars lest they open the doors to becoming a statistic.

Now, some parts of the country are considering eliminating smoking in public whatsoever. Smokers would be restricted to grabbing a puff in homes and cars.

Smokers instantly decried this further chipping away of their rights in a free society, and I initially agreed, until my walk.

As my prey followed me, sifting through my exhalations, a burnt bulb popped in my head: I am inadvertently sending secondhand smoke this person’s way. What if this person doesn’t want to risk life and limb by inhaling secondhand smoke?

I spotted a child up ahead, veered widely and stepped onto the grass, extending my cigarette hand to save the kid from inhaling active ingredients and additives that, when burned, create toxic, harmful chemical compounds.

There are more than 4,800 chemicals in cigarette smoke, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.

Each inhalation — second or firsthand — brings with it tar, which is the same thing used to pave streets and driveway; hydrogen cyanide, used to kill rats; benzene, a chemical used in manufacturing gasoline; acetone, which is in nail-polish remover; formaldehyde, used to preserve dead bodies; and carbon monoxide, which is in car exhaust.

I grimaced as I pictured corpses driving gas guzzlers under a dark grey sky just below a giant hole in the ozone layer, the sun sitting back and smiling in the knowledge we would all shortly be burnt to a crisp.

Nicotine once had me chained to a thick tar wall, and I emphasize with those who continue to be enslaved or perhaps simply choose to smoke, despite the impact on their bodies.

But, what I don’t think any of us should be allowed to do anymore is endanger innocent bystanders with cigarette-smoke chemicals, which is why I support the elimination of public smoking altogether.