All,
I stand corrected. It's obvious from STT Residents exhaustive study of 3 that smoking is actually healthy. This is based on the statement of an actual test subject. What better testimony could you ask for?

Those Bozos at CDC and the Surgeon Generals office don't know what they are talking about. They tested thousands and thousands of people over a period of 30 or 40 years but their test subjects were all wimps. After all they concluded that
"There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous."

So as you enter the "Drag and Drop Bar and Grill" just ignore the people sitting at the end of the bar with toxic fumes floating around their heads. They are doing their part to help us all be healthier. Oh, and the guy smoking the cigarette through the hole in his throat, he had that cosmetically installed so that he could smile at you while he puffs away and does his part.

And lets all encourage the next generation of our youth to join us in this healthy activity, its our right to smoke right?

OK tried my hardest to ignore this post but just couldn't do it!! i am a smoker i believe it is a business owners choice whether or not to make their place non smoking or not.just like it is my choice to visit these places. as a smoker i do not go to restaurants or bars that are all non smoking. my choice. if you are a non smoker you have the same choice.i do smoke at the beach but i make a choice to sit in a non crowded spot or around others that are smoking. if you come and sit next to me that is your problem. When i go to gamble and there are a group of people already there not smoking i step away from the machine to smoke. if i am the only one there and you come up and sit next to me and i am smoking well that was your choice and since it is a smoking area not my problem. we all have a choice to make. i sacrifice visiting many nice places due to non smoking but i am not bitching about it again my choice! we all have the right to choose where to go and what to do. there are and should be options for everyone!!!

While not denying any of the health information on second hand smoke, I do believe the studies reflect LONG TERM exposure to second hand smoke as a health hazard. Saying that someone smoking three tables downwind of you for an hour in an outside venue is seriously harming your health seems a bit of a stretch. Might you find it annoying and distateful? Absolutely, but as the original poster captioned "smoking is legal in the USVI".

pswirw,
You are absolutely right "smoking is legal in the usvi" at this point in time. However you are wrong about secondhand smoke only being a long term risk. As I cited above "There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous." This comes directly from the CDC website. The EPA website says the same thing. If you disagree please state your sources. I have included a url to my sources above.

The USVI is not the most progressive place in the US. In California there is a state-wide prohibition against smoking in the workplace. Smoking in any enclosed space is prohibited with a few exceptions. I believe that bars are an exception. Restaurants are not. So enjoy it while you can in the USVI.

In early 1993, EPA released a report (Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders; EPA/600/6-90/006 F) that evaluated the respiratory health effects from breathing secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)). In that report, EPA concluded that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adult nonsmokers and impairs the respiratory health of children. These findings are very similar to ones made previously by the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Surgeon General.

The EPA report classified secondhand smoke as a Group A carcinogen, a designation which means that there is sufficient evidence that the substance causes cancer in humans. The Group A designation has been used by EPA for only 15 other pollutants, including asbestos, radon, and benzene. Only secondhand smoke has actually been shown in studies to cause cancer at typical environmental levels. EPA estimates that approximately 3,000 American nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.

Every year, an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 children under 18 months of age get pneumonia or bronchitis from breathing secondhand tobacco smoke. Secondhand smoke is a risk factor for the development of asthma in children and worsens the condition of up to one million asthmatic children.

EPA has clear authority to inform the public about indoor air pollution health risks and what can be done to reduce those risks. EPA has a particular responsibility to do everything possible to warn of risks to the health of children.

A recent high profile advertising and public relations campaign by the tobacco industry may confuse the American public about the risks of secondhand smoke. EPA believes it's time to set the record straight about an indisputable fact: secondhand smoke is a real and preventable health risk.

rotorhead,
I'm back from the beach, I hope you were able to get outside today, The weather was great! Doesn't look like you were to busy today. I have no more comments on this thread about the subject at hand. I'll just sit back and read other peoples opinion's. However I have a new subject, I'm not going to post it yet because I Know "Weary is lurking in the shadows" and I don't want to upset any of her personalities. Talk to you later.

From this website: http://www.quit-smoking-stop.com/effects-of-second-hand-smoke.html

"Most experts believe that moderate, occasional exposure to second hand smoke presents a low cancer risk to non-smokers, but the risk is more likely to be significant if non-smokers work in an environment where cigarette smoke is prevalent. For this reason, many countries (such as Ireland) and jurisdictions (like New York State) now prohibit smoking in public buildings. Many office buildings contain specially ventilated smoking areas; some are required by law to provide them."

Again, I am not disputing that second smoke has been proven dangerous; however, I believe the move toward non-smoking workplaces is to protect non smoking workers (waiters and bartenders, for example) from prolonged exposure.

..as quoted by magee2u:

"OK tried my hardest to ignore this post but just couldn't do it!! i am a smoker i believe it is a business owners choice whether or not to make their place non smoking or not.just like it is my choice to visit these places. as a smoker i do not go to restaurants or bars that are all non smoking. my choice. if you are a non smoker you have the same choice.i do smoke at the beach but i make a choice to sit in a non crowded spot or around others that are smoking. if you come and sit next to me that is your problem. When i go to gamble and there are a group of people already there not smoking i step away from the machine to smoke. if i am the only one there and you come up and sit next to me and i am smoking well that was your choice and since it is a smoking area not my problem. we all have a choice to make. i sacrifice visiting many nice places due to non smoking but i am not @#$%& about it again my choice! we all have the right to choose where to go and what to do. there are and should be options for everyone!!!"

I could not of said it any better myself

lizard,
I went down to the Post Office in Gallows Bay. I went flying for an hour. And had lunch at Subway. Now I'm off to Cheeseburgers for dinner. The vi flying circus is meeting there tonight.

I'm getting tired of this thread also. Not much more to say. Most smokers are addicted to their cigarettes and have accepted this health risk for themselves so why should they care if they endanger the health of the people around them. The only arguments in favor of smoking come from addiction as opposed to reasoned thought.

If you are not already addicted please do not start smoking!

Rotor...the bottom line is it's none of your business what other people do.

If you don't smoke...GREAT for you! Just don't spray your Lysol around my table and in turn, I won't smoke near you.

There are polite smokers, but I guess you can't see that point.

Connie,
...the bottom line is it's none of your business what other people do.

As far as I know, spraying Lysol into the air is legal in the USVI. And it's not classified as a Group A carcinogen.

I prefer wearing my Crocs.

Rotorhead says, " It's obvious from STT Residents (sic) exhaustive study of 3 that smoking is actually healthy. This is based on the statement of an actual test subject. What better testimony could you ask for? "

I sincerely hope that you wrote that with your tongue very firmly jammed into your cheek with sufficient room left over for a facetious smirk to go along with it. Cheers!

What about farts, do they offend anyone? My family has a bad "gas" problem. Are there anti-fart restaurants in the USVI? Just curious.

EaglesLanded,
Farts are offensive but fortunately there are very few people who can fart continuously for an hour. Unfortunately I have seen many smokers who light a cigarette from their previous one and keep right on smoking. My mother-in-law would frequently lose her cigarettes, she would be smoking one and have several others sitting around burning in ashtrays that she had forgotten about.

STT_Resident,
I was very much trying to be tongue in cheek but also point out how incredibly lame some excuses for smoking in public venues are. Smokers argue for their right to smoke in public but get offended about my suggestion to spray Lysol. Think about it. The EPA classifies secondhand smoke as a Group A carcinogen. Along with Asbestos, Radon and Benzene. If I were to suggest to you that I was going to come into a restaurant and release benzene or asbestos into the air you would most likely get upset, but tobacco smoke is OK. Go figure. The addiction overrides the brain.

Rotor...
Joke...get it....you need to find your sense of humor again. We call that "chain farting" .

But I have to say that airlines definitely need to be the first to outlaw farts on a plane. Hand out corks or something. Sheesh. It is way too offensive. It's like it gets sucked into the air and recirculated again. YUK!

Weary, isn't this where you usually jump in?

So if you don't like smoke and are against smokers then why do you go to a place that allows smoking? I'm so sick and tired of hearing of bartenders and waitresses who take a job at a bar and then complain about the smoke. You know bars (typically, but getting fewer and far between) allow smoking then why would you go and work at a place that allows smoking and then complain about your health?! Get a different job, nobody made you work at a bar.

As for the beaches............If you respect the beach like with any trash and butt out and dispose off properly there should be no problem, it's open air, miles and miles of air, if someone is smoking on the beach and you are walking up towards them and are against smoking then situate yourself somewhere else on the beach, nobody is forcing you to place your towel near the "smoker" find somewhere else to sit........the USVI has miles of beach and we should all be able to enjoy it regardless of our habits and vices......do the smokers complain about the kids running around crazily kicking up sand into our towels? Do we complain about the loud conversations going on while we are trying to catch some "z's", do we complain when you stand directly in front of us while we are looking out into the ocean and admiring the view and you are obliviuos to us sitting there? Do smokers complain when others are drinking beer on the beach and getting loud and obnoxious?! It's a vacation and we should all be able to enjoy it together regardless of our habits, likes, dislikes and whatever else you want to throw out there. Bottom line..............if you don't like smokers, smoke, or the habit of smoking then don't sit near the smokers! This is America and smoking is not a crime!

Relax, your on island time.....!

And alcohol is the number one reason people die on the roads due to DWI's, we should ban alcohol! Aerosol spray cans have lead to the depletion of the ozone so we should ban all aerosol cans, and Bran at one point caused cancer so we should ban the "All bran cereals" and eating raw fish caused salmonilla so we should ban sushi bars, and Charmin has caused sewer back ups so we should stop using charmi toilet paper, and running with scissors causes cuts so we should ban the use of scissors..........................get over it........................if there is something you don't agree with in life then don't go there, use it, promote it, buy it, etc. but don't deny those that aren't agains it the right to enjoy the American life........

"Do smokers complain when others are drinking beer on the beach and getting loud and obnoxious?! "

Good point. I've never seen this happen. From what I've seen...it's usually smokers//drinkers that get loud and obnoxious and carry on. Have I missed a passive smoker? Tell me where they live and I'll go there.

Smoking and drinking although typically go hand in had aren't always the obnoxious ones. Are you saying only those that smoke and drink (together) are the only ones that get obnoxious? I drink but don't smoke.............I'm not obnoxious! What's your point?!

O.K.....this is getting a bit crazy.........People are offended by smokers, farters, drinkers, etc. Is this not the land of the free? If everyone had the right to pass a law on what they found offensive/rude/detrimental to your health/obnoxious etc. we'd all be living in plastic bubbles. If a smoker can't have a smoke then a women wearing obnoxiously rude perfume sholdn't be allowed to wear it. Men shouldn't be allowed to wear "banana hamics", over weight women shouldn't be allowed to wear bikini's, fat girls shouldn't be able to jump off a roof covered in vaseline and wear jeans 3 sizes smaller then what there are, men shouldn't be allowed to have comb overs, women with small breasts shouldn't be allowed to have breasts implants, skinny girls shouldn't be allowed to order double cheeseburgers, doctors shouldn't be allowed to make us wait for appointments, goverment shouldn't tax the poor, OJ Simpson shouldn't be allowed to make bail, Britney Spears should be able to have children and bottom line.........we shouldn't be allowed to leave our state of residence to enjoy another beautiful place on earth.........."Why can't we all just get along!?" and P.S. Kenney Chesney thread shouldn't be allowed to run on for months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (you should get fined for contributing to it) 🙂 Get over yourselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1