Smoking On Spacecraft

[eytanz]

That depends on how you assess personal risk.  With all the dangers of being in space, why worry about something as marginal as lung cancer?

Study released in 2004 followed 34,000 subjects for over 50 years.  If you smoke, you will die on average 10 years earlier and will have a 50% chance of dying from a smoking related illness like lung cancer.  It ain't a marginal risk.

For people on earth, sure. If 85% of spacefaring people end up dying of typical space-related causes (such as the spaceboard computer going insane, facehuggers, and being choked by a Sith Lord), then smoking may be somewhat marginalized as a danger.

[Russell Nash]

That depends on how you assess personal risk.  With all the dangers of being in space, why worry about something as marginal as lung cancer?

Study released in 2004 followed 34,000 subjects for over 50 years.  If you smoke, you will die on average 10 years earlier and will have a 50% chance of dying from a smoking related illness like lung cancer.  It ain't a marginal risk.

For people on earth, sure. If 85% of spacefaring people end up dying of typical space-related causes (such as the spaceboard computer going insane, facehuggers, and being choked by a Site Lord), then smoking may be somewhat marginalized as a danger.

Well, if that's the neighborhood of space you're going to be in, then you might as well just start shooting herion.  In the nicer neighborhoods you only have to know how to avoid the tourists.

[jodymonster]

It's not exactly a cigarette in space, but in one of my favorite Outer Limits episodes (original series, in black and white) a very young William Shatner is a pilot who goes into space and is exposed to something that is slowly transforming him into a monster.  When he gets back to Earth all the doctors keep offering him a smoke and looking concerned when he refuses, taking it as a sign of his declining condition. 
Also- though this is totally off topic- in the same episode, Shatner has a line where he tells his wife he's going into space "...to seek out new life...new experiences...new civilizations... new knowledge."  I think Gene Roddenbury saw this one, or had some hand in it.  It's sooo close to the Star Trek TOS intro.  I dunno the episode title or # or anything, sorry, but if you find it you'll see what I mean. 
Sigh- I'm new here, this will be my third post, and two of the three are about William Shatner.  I think I need to stretch out a bit more. 

[bolddeceiver]

As of a 2002 article (discussing survey results in regards to the possibility of a ban), "Tobacco smoke has long been regarded as an acceptable contaminant on submerged submarines." (Norris, William D., Military Medicine, July 2002)

[Rigger]

That depends on how you assess personal risk.  With all the dangers of being in space, why worry about something as marginal as lung cancer?

Study released in 2004 followed 34,000 subjects for over 50 years.  If you smoke, you will die on average 10 years earlier and will have a 50% chance of dying from a smoking related illness like lung cancer.  It ain't a marginal risk.

For people on earth, sure. If 85% of spacefaring people end up dying of typical space-related causes (such as the spaceboard computer going insane, facehuggers, and being choked by a Site Lord), then smoking may be somewhat marginalized as a danger.

Well, if that's the neighborhood of space you're going to be in, then you might as well just start shooting herion.  In the nicer neighborhoods you only have to know how to avoid the tourists.

What I dislike about these statistics, is that they study people who have atrocious cigarette habits. For an example, when I was visiting Body Worlds 3 this summer, they posted the same study, along with the lungs of a person who smoked and yes, I am quoting this "... as few as 20 cigarettes a day.".

Now personally? I find this outrageous. Of course you are going to have an incredibly high chance of getting cancer if you are smoking (or exposed to 2nd hand) these vast quantities of burning toxins. But just because people with these incredibly bad habits are dying like flies, should not be a reason for you yourself to enjoy smoking.

Moderation is the key to everything. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day will probably be just as bad off as someone who drinks 20 beers a day.

Sorry if this is too pro-cigarette for anyone, but I dislike misleading facts.

[Russell Nash]

That depends on how you assess personal risk.  With all the dangers of being in space, why worry about something as marginal as lung cancer?

Study released in 2004 followed 34,000 subjects for over 50 years.  If you smoke, you will die on average 10 years earlier and will have a 50% chance of dying from a smoking related illness like lung cancer.  It ain't a marginal risk.

For people on earth, sure. If 85% of spacefaring people end up dying of typical space-related causes (such as the spaceboard computer going insane, facehuggers, and being choked by a Site Lord), then smoking may be somewhat marginalized as a danger.

Well, if that's the neighborhood of space you're going to be in, then you might as well just start shooting herion.  In the nicer neighborhoods you only have to know how to avoid the tourists.

What I dislike about these statistics, is that they study people who have atrocious cigarette habits. For an example, when I was visiting Body Worlds 3 this summer, they posted the same study, along with the lungs of a person who smoked and yes, I am quoting this "... as few as 20 cigarettes a day.".

Now personally? I find this outrageous. Of course you are going to have an incredibly high chance of getting cancer if you are smoking (or exposed to 2nd hand) these vast quantities of burning toxins. But just because people with these incredibly bad habits are dying like flies, should not be a reason for you yourself to enjoy smoking.

Moderation is the key to everything. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day will probably be just as bad off as someone who drinks 20 beers a day.

Sorry if this is too pro-cigarette for anyone, but I dislike misleading facts.

First off. 20 cigarettes a day is a pack a day.  I have never known a smoker who smoked less than 5 packs a week.  I have known people who "only smoked socially".  They're not what is referred to as a smoker.  A smoker is someone with the habit.  Moderation is out the window.  Social smokers also aren't included in the statistics of how many people smoke.

The study I quoted before was for a study of doctors.  People with substantially better knowledge of health practices, better health care, and a fairly high standard of living.  They still died 10 years earlier than the normal person.  I couldn't get the link for the study of normal people. (Damn Lancet is a pay site) That study with over 40,000 subjects over forty years came up with different results.  In that study the smokers died on avaerage 22 years earlier.

Anyway, I glad smoking is getting banned everywhere.  It has nothing to do with the health aspects of it.  It has everything to do with the fact that smokers stink.  If I came in from a run and smelled as potently as cigarette, everybody would tell me to get how, and would make comments on how disgusting I was.

[bolddeceiver]

You know, I look at the topic of this thread, and it seems to me to be the plausibility of smoking on spacecraft, not why smoking is or isn't bad for you.  Guess what, just about everyone knows that to some extent or another it is.  And yet people still do it.  So we can generally assume that people might still do it in the future, and hence it's worth discussing whether in-space smoking is likely or not.  I really don't see where the health risks play into that discussion.

I think the biggest concern would be fire.  Zero-g fire is BAD.  All the flames become spherical instead of pointed, so they go out in all directions instead of straight up.

Actually, it sounds like fires are generally weaker in microgravity...

[Simon]

You know, I look at the topic of this thread, and it seems to me to be the plausibility of smoking on spacecraft, not why smoking is or isn't bad for you.  Guess what, just about everyone knows that to some extent or another it is.  And yet people still do it.  So we can generally assume that people might still do it in the future, and hence it's worth discussing whether in-space smoking is likely or not.  I really don't see where the health risks play into that discussion.

Just jumping in to say "Here, Here"...  I had taken it as read that smoking was on the decline, and that the idea of smoking on a spacecraft is bound to be way outside most peoples SF mindset now, whereas more common in old school SF.  One nice example i've noticed since starting this thread would be Foundation (I am re-reading this), which seems to have someone lighting up a pipe every 1/2 page. 

However, the militant anti-smoking crowd really will take any excuse to go on an anti-smoking tangent.  I am not a smoker, I have never been a smoker... I have to admit to finding anti-smokers frustrating.

[Russell Nash]

I think the biggest concern would be fire.  Zero-g fire is BAD.  All the flames become spherical instead of pointed, so they go out in all directions instead of straight up.

Actually, it sounds like fires are generally weaker in microgravity...

The American who spent the most time on Mir (sorry I forgot his name) saw several uncontroled fires during his stay.  According to him they are extremely nasty, but not for the reasons we're thinking about.

Since heat doesn't rise, the flame doesn't cause it's own draft.  This means it doesn't get as much fresh air this way and won't naturally "climb the walls".  However the smoke doesn't either.  This means you can't drop to the floor to get fresh.  Spaceships usually have lots of fans blowing to help with air circulation and this circulates the smoke and feeds fresh air to the fire.  The fire itself will take longer to cause real damage, but will kill you faster.

[Rigger]

First off. 20 cigarettes a day is a pack a day.  I have never known a smoker who smoked less than 5 packs a week.  I have known people who "only smoked socially".  They're not what is referred to as a smoker.  A smoker is someone with the habit.  Moderation is out the window.  Social smokers also aren't included in the statistics of how many people smoke.

I personally smoke between 2-4 cigarettes a week day (American Spirit organic, additive free), and usually only hookah once on the weekend. I do smoke more when I am around my friends who have pack a day habits, but even then I max out around five... it honestly starts to make me sick if I have much more. This is the habit I have had for the last two years.

I think that people can have healthy[ish] habits with vices; but moderation is not something we idealize in our society. We still seem to see things in black and white.

Since heat doesn't rise, the flame doesn't cause it's own draft.  This means it doesn't get as much fresh air this way and won't naturally "climb the walls".  However the smoke doesn't either.  This means you can't drop to the floor to get fresh.  Spaceships usually have lots of fans blowing to help with air circulation and this circulates the smoke and feeds fresh air to the fire.  The fire itself will take longer to cause real damage, but will kill you faster.

The way I see it, the biggest obstacle to smoking in space is the type of air reclamation system that the ship would theoretically use. I watched Sunshine shortly after hearing the review on Escapepod, and I have to admit I fell in love with that plant room. But even in a heavily circulated area, you will get a buildup of tar and the smell would permeate the ship (especially if you have pack a day smokers). I honestly do not see smoking becoming a regular thing unless some sort of heavy duty filtration system was devised.

It would be more feasible when we start building larger stations (or ships), capable of filtering the air for dozens of people; but not for anything with a crew under ten.