Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!mcnc!unc!bch From: bch@unc.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Smoking is not "evolution in action"!!! Message-ID: <5439@unc.UUCP> Date: Sat, 25-Jun-83 00:50:39 EDT Article-I.D.: unc.5439 Posted: Sat Jun 25 00:50:39 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 28-Jun-83 19:51:05 EDT Lines: 26 Dear Frodo: I was not defending smoking. My letter was in response to someone's query about the effects of alcohol on the unborn, not an excuse for an anti-smoking flame. Hopefully someone who might have considered drinking while pregnant will reconsider before doing so. The facts are not debatable. I can cite references if you wish. Alcohol consumption during the first trimester of pregnancy is proven to be the leading cause of birth defects. There are no ifs ands or buts about it. Children of smoking mothers are shown to have a slightly lower birthrate, but catch up in the first few months of life. These are the facts. I can understand, and sympathize, with your annoyance at smokers. However annoying it may be that I smoke, I am much less dangerous behind the wheel of a car with a cigarette in my mouth than with a bottle in my hand. The pack of cigarettes in my desk drawer impairs my work perfor- mance (and that of those around me) much less than were it a flask. The costs, both direct and indirect, of smoking are much less than those of drinking. That does not mean that smoking is good, however. More seriously, in your rush to deliver YASF (Yet Another Smoking Flame) unto the net you may have obscured the important information I was trying to impart. Hopefully most folks will have read the original letter as I intended it, and not take a letter by someone using a pseudonym too seriously. Byron Howes UNC - Chapel Hill