I know how well this subject goes over with smokers -- the dangers of second hand smoke.
So I'm at a relative's house, who didn't know I smoke a pipe or smoke at all. And she's going on about the dangers of second hand smoke, how people around the smoker have it worse than the smoker him-/herself does (I've never figured that one out. Apparently smokers, unlike nonsmokers, don't breathe).
All the time I'm noticing the thin column of dense smoke rising from an incense holder on her entertainment center. She loves those long stick incense things. There is the box of them next to the holder. There is a wicker basket on one of the shelves that is loaded with many boxes and long plastic ziplocs with many more. It occurs to me she almost always has incense going.
I don't like it, but I've never said anything. The scents are too strong, cloying.
But then I interrupted her to ask, "So isn't the incense bad for you, too? Aren't you always breathing *that* smoke? Doesn't it cling to your walls and furniture? What happens to your lungs when you breathe *that* smoke in?"
She laughed out loud at me. Incense isn't bad for you. Why would they sell it if it were bad for you?
So I was wondering, has anyone ever studied health risks associated with incense smoke? (Not that I want the government to start regulating more stuff. Just seems fair to call smoke, smoke).
Oh geez. Of course they have. So here's one argument where I have ammunition to shoot back:
N Carolina study finds incense harmful
Cancer risk associated with incense
Squamous cell cancers and incense
So I'm at a relative's house, who didn't know I smoke a pipe or smoke at all. And she's going on about the dangers of second hand smoke, how people around the smoker have it worse than the smoker him-/herself does (I've never figured that one out. Apparently smokers, unlike nonsmokers, don't breathe).
All the time I'm noticing the thin column of dense smoke rising from an incense holder on her entertainment center. She loves those long stick incense things. There is the box of them next to the holder. There is a wicker basket on one of the shelves that is loaded with many boxes and long plastic ziplocs with many more. It occurs to me she almost always has incense going.
I don't like it, but I've never said anything. The scents are too strong, cloying.
But then I interrupted her to ask, "So isn't the incense bad for you, too? Aren't you always breathing *that* smoke? Doesn't it cling to your walls and furniture? What happens to your lungs when you breathe *that* smoke in?"
She laughed out loud at me. Incense isn't bad for you. Why would they sell it if it were bad for you?
So I was wondering, has anyone ever studied health risks associated with incense smoke? (Not that I want the government to start regulating more stuff. Just seems fair to call smoke, smoke).
Oh geez. Of course they have. So here's one argument where I have ammunition to shoot back:
N Carolina study finds incense harmful
Cancer risk associated with incense
Squamous cell cancers and incense