In A Blue Haze:
Smoking and Baha'i Ethics
by Udo Schaefer
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chapter 4 | start page | single page | chapter 6 |  |
Chapter 5
On our Duty towards Others
1. Bahá'u'lláh called courtesy "the prince of virtues";[71] that smoking in the presence of others without their consent is rude and discourteous should require no further discussion. In the past if young people did not learn proper etiquette at home (not to smoke when entering someone else's home or room), at least they would learn it during their dancing lessons. Today hardly anyone seems aware of this common courtesy any more. Otherwise there would be no need for stickers in offices to confront visitors who smoke. But most of all, the commandments of justice[72], love of one's neighbour[73], compassion[74], and looking after the interest of others before one's own[75], all have in common the obligation to do our neighbours no wrong, to avoid annoying them and, above all, not to harm them.
To begin with, smoking in the presence of others is annoying. It is rare to find non-smokers who do not mind if someone smokes in their presence or especially in their homes. That smoking is most often accepted should not deceive us to conclude that it is not perceived of as annoying by those who do not smoke. Often it is tolerated out of courtesy. In most cases people just lack the courage to express their annoyance. After all, until recently smoking was considered socially acceptable behaviour. Those who opposed smoking risked being accused of intolerance, and the lack of tolerance for any behaviour is one of the worst sins in our society. That is how it is today: it is not the person who smokes in someone else's home without asking permission who is seen to be discourteous, but the person who fails to show enough tolerance and who asks others to refrain from smoking.
Smoking is a kind of violence. The passive smoker is compelled to inhale something he detests. But it is not only the inhalation. As can be seen after every visit to an inn, the annoying thing about smoke is that it remains in one's clothes, underwear, even in the hair, so that in the end one is "smoked" like a herring and forced to change, and air one's clothes and wash one's hair. Smoking in a non-smoker's home leaves smoke in the curtains, cushions, and carpets so that non-smokers are left with a home still smelling like a chimney for days afterwards. Today smokers hardly seem to be able to realize that all this is an extremely unpleasant encroachment on others. They have lost this sensitivity because for them, being enveloped in smoke is simply normal.
At a workplace shared with non-smokers, smoking is a serious imposition: the non-smokers are forced to spend a substantial part of their day breathing smoke-filled air instead of fresh air (which is already contaminated enough these days). What smokers do to their families, to so many children, is even worse. Even babies and infants are permanently exposed to their parents' smoke.[76] How often do we see cars in which the smoking father drives the family around. Smoking in a car in the presence of others is probably the greatest assault against non-smokers. It is equal to bodily injury.
2. This takes us to another aspect: smoking is not only an annoyance but also a danger. Passive smoking, as has been scientifically proven, is a great health risk. "Involuntarily inhaled tobacco smoke claims far more lives than all environmental pollutants combined", says the director of the Toxicologic Institute of the University of Tübingen, Professor Dr. Heribert Remmer.[77] Babies, infants, and school children of smoking parents suffer a significantly higher degree of respiratory diseases than others. The risks of heart attacks and cancer, especially lung cancer, are demonstrably higher for involuntary co-smokers, even though the nicotine stress of active smokers is about 200 to 300 times the level of passive smokers. It has been found that this astonishing result is due to the fact that passive smokers are forced to inhale secondary fumes originating from the ash tray as well as those of the cigarette held in someone else's hand. These fumes contain approximately a hundredfold concentration of volatile substances present in the main smoke.[78] Remmer estimates that in Germany the number of deaths due to lung cancer induced by passive smoking is 1200 annually. The renowned British epidemiologist Doll attributes half of the cases of lung cancer in non-smokers to passive smoking.[79]
As has been known for a long time, the most severe damage from smoking is suffered by life which is still developing. The foetus of a smoking mother also smokes through the blood circulation supply. Newborns whose mother smoked during pregnancy or while being nursed, are significantly lighter in weight, smaller, develop slower, and are far more susceptible to respiratory infections than other children.[80] Studies have revealed that suffering from secondary smoke during pregnancy coincides with an even higher risk of foetal malformation than if the mother smoked herself. Thirty percent of pregnant women are passive smokers.[81] Expectant mothers who smoke not only risk the health, but also the intelligence of their offspring. In a study of pre-school children, American scientists found that the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of children of smoking mothers was lower than that of nonsmoking mothers. The higher the cigarette consumption, the lower the IQ of the children.[82]
No matter how one looks at it, the only explanation for these smokers' behaviour is manifest egoism. Smokers, aside from harming themselves, do not control their passion when it comes to annoying or harming others, even others who are in need of special protection such as embryos and infants. Persons acting in such a way are not at all willing to relinquish their pleasure. In weighing a (supposed) increase in the quality of life against the basic rights of others, these smokers decide in favour of their own self-interest, as if perverting Friedrich Schiller's quotation: "The good man thinks of himself [until the] last."[83] Those who do not subordinate their pleasure to the legitimate interests of others act selfishly, and self-love and selfishness is a cardinal sin in all religions[84], the conquering of which is the task of every person. As Bahá'u'lláh impressed upon his followers:
"Renounce thyself[85] ... Forget your own selves, and turn your eyes towards your neighbour[86] ... Burn away, wholly for the sake of the Well-Beloved, the veil of self with the flame of the undying Fire, and with faces joyous and beaming with light, associate with your neighbour[87] ... Arise, O people, and, by the power of God's might, resolve to gain the victory over your own selves."[88]
3. Another aspect in relation to consideration towards others concerns the follow-up costs of smokers' self-inflicted damage.[89] This cannot be elaborated upon at length here. It is not necessary to dwell on the heavy financial burden smokers impose on society. A large number of premature deaths and an even larger number of premature disabilities of people no longer able to join the work force are caused by smoking. The burden on pension funds is especially high because of disability pay and support for dependants. Health insurance companies must also cover tremendous sums for doctors' fees and medications. The burden is placed on and, in the end carried by, all persons who pay premiums. For the general public to be liable for those who indulge in harmful behaviour against themselves contradicts the whole concept of social justice. Those illnesses (or accidents, e.g. by hang-gliding!) caused by self-induced or self-harming behaviour should be covered by the victims themselves. Individual blame must not be socialised. Current discussion on the introduction of an originator principle into the health insurance system is therefore quite appropriate.
From the stand-point of Bahá'í ethics, forcing the general public to pay for the consequences of irresponsible and self-damaging behaviour is untenable because it violates the well-being of society as a whole, to which Bahá'ís owe their highest allegiance. Persons who are called upon to dedicate themselves "to the service of the entire human race", "to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth"[90], to serve wholeheartedly "the public interest"[91], "the common good"[92], and to place their own interest last[93], would display a substantial ethical deficiency if their smoking habit caused harm to society as a whole. They would also violate justice, which according to Bahá'u'lláh is "the essence of all that We have revealed for thee"[94], "the best beloved of all things"[95], and "the most fundamental amongst human virtues"[96].
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