IT simply read - "Smoking may be hazardous to your Health." They never said WHY. That didn't include my living in the "Steel Alley" of Chicago and NWest INdiana for me (about 20 companies - International and local manufacturers):
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/page...
. Or maybe later hobbies in both Automotive repair and spray painting businesses as well. OH well, WHO knows?. Could have been worse working on a Horse Ranch instead I guess! I was a Marlboro man, for sure.

You are so right!! Thank you. Cig companies used to pass out packs of 10 cigarettes outside of the bookstore at college.. that’s how I got hooked. Unless you have smoked you can’t know how addicting they are!!

Whether we like it or not, the fact is that the primary cause of COPD in the US is smoking. In other parts of the world indoor cooking fires are more cause than smoking, but we usually don't do that here. That's why smoking is the first question. If you can get over yourself to the extent that you realize people are simply asking for information rather than adding blame to the question, you'll be a lot happier. You can always add the fact that 25% of the people who have COPD never smoked.

I was privileged enough, as an electrician to also inhale some of the fine dust and chemicals that are used in the automobile assembly business. Worked in every plant in the Detroit area. Also breathed my share of poisons at the 2 year long jod at the waste water treatment plant. Also got to work in some fine steel mills. Dos tell me it 40% smoking, 40% air pollution, and I have about 20% useable lung tissue left. And that was a few years ago. So there's that...

If you are old enough (and I am) you grew up at a time when smoking was everywhere. This was before the time when smoking was known to be cancer causing and dangerous. Two of my doctors smoked! My pediatrician always had a big cigar in his mouth (scared me as a child) Smoking ads were on tv and in magazines, and they were glamorous.. Movie stars smoked. People smoked in the restaurants, airplanes, trains, buses, cars, office buildings, schools, churches and homes. We had permitted smoking areas in my high school. When the teacher's lounge door was opened, a smoke haze came out. Watch an old movie or two, or old sitcoms like I Love Lucy - they all smoked.While my parents quit smoking when we were very young, I remember my grandfather rolled his own cigarettes. When I went to camp as a little girl the older girls smoked, it was like a rite of passage. I personally did not smoke until college when I dated a smoker, but I certainly could have and I was around LOTS of friends who smoked from a young age.

It did not have the stigma it does now that we know how bad it is for you. So, I perfectly understand why that question is asked especially if you are old enough to have lived through that time period. No reason to be offended. Society has changed and you would think that there are less smokers now, but who knows. I still see lots and lots of smokers. At least now you don't have to breathe it in every restaurant, airplane and business you enter, but there are still "adult only" restaurants that allow smoking - and they are crowded. I wish I knew then what I know now......