Cigarettes, electricity on the way to trapped miners

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN

Cigarettes, electricity on the way to trapped miners
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
September 12, 2010 2:35 a.m. EDT

Copiapo, Chile (CNN) -- The miners trapped for more than a month in Chile are getting a light in more ways than one.

The 33 men have received a power line that will allow them to install electric lights in their shelter 2,300 feet underground, mining officials said Saturday.

Officials are also granting the miners' longstanding request for cigarettes. Rescuers are sending down two packs a day to be split between the miners who want to smoke, Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

Cigarettes were among the first requests made by some of the miners, but officials have been supplying them with nicotine patches and gum instead. Upgrades made to ventilation in the mine led officials to decide to allow them to smoke, Manalich said.

A new compressor was improving air circulation in the mine, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said, and the addition of electricity will allow the men to have more lighting in the area where they are trapped, helping restore their sleep patterns.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/12/chile.miners/index.html?hpt=T1

[Skittles]

1. kicking for the working men

[deacon]

2. ...and I'll join you. n/t

[rasputin1952]

3. Thankfully, these guys are alive and apparently dealing with...

a horrendous situation. One bad thing, by the time theyt get these guys out, it's going to be a sewer down there. Not sure what they have done for sanitation, but it should be a pretty high priority.

Gotta hand it to these miners and the people they work for, they are doing a damn good job of working to get these guys out...:)

[Yeahyeah]

4. Too bad they sent back the peaches.Could've made booze.

[James48]

5. As a former smoker of 36 years....I gotta ask...

What in tarnation are these miners thinking?

Crap, if I had a way to quit smoking, I'd take advantage of it!

If they were out of smokes, there is no reason to send more down!

Quit while you are ahead

If the cave in and being trapped underground for six months doesn't kill you- the lung cancer will!

[MH1]

7. well it's going to suck for the non-smokers

but I guess they want to live through the next couple months or whatever it takes, and dealing with several comrades going through serious addiction withdrawal in a very small room might seem like a worse idea than living in a haze for the next couple months.

[Codeine]

16. Non-smokers don't count.

As long as the junkies get to feed that sweet, sweet life-controlling, all-consuming addiction.

[The Straight Story]

10. And I gotta ask

do you really think you should be telling others how to live?
Some smoke, some drink, some read their bible to get by - are we the new fundie missionaries telling others how to live and trying to save their 'souls' based on our own beliefs?

[Judi Lynn]

11. I was thinking the same thing! It's a wrenching experience quiting for most of us,

and they have the perfect situation for kicking it together! They could decide that they should take advantage of this "downer" experience and do something to help themselves, as in making lemonade when fate gave them a ton of lemons.

Maybe one or two of them will be able to creatively use the experience, still, by promising himself if he ever gets the hell out of there he's going to give up on the surface! Can always hope.

Congrats to you for beating your habit. I'll bet you'd never go back to it now if someone held a gun to your head. The psychological pressure of knowing you are actively hurting your lungs is overwhelming. It's a blessing to know that nonsense is finally behind you.

Much harder than it looks!

Welcome to D.U. :hi:

[HockeyMom]

13. Give it a break

These men may not make it out of there alive and you worry about them getting lung cancer? Hello? They are trapped in a MINE. Anything that helps them relieve the STRESS of that is HUMANE.

It is kinda like when I worked in a nursing home and some FORMER smoker nurse complained about 80 year olds smoking and dying of cancer. LUDICRIOUS. If they made it that far along in life, let them enjoy what pleasures their short time left on this earth had, and at 80 life IS short smoker or not

[harmonicon]

22. are you a former miner stuck a mile underground for over a month?

If not, I think you've got no fucking business telling these men what they should or should not do.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

[dbt]

8. For REAL!

Lemme see here: trapped underground, estimated rescue near Chri$tmas. Yep, they oughta at LEAST have some comforts down there.

[rainbow4321]

9. Eh, even as a smoker I question this

only because what happens if for some reason a whiff or more of a flammable chemical makes its way to where they are at? I'm sure there are tons of experts there who know about what is 2300 feet below, but it's still scary to think that they survived the mine collapse and are now could be at risk of a fire breaking out, even with the improved ventilation.

[Codeine]

12. If I were trapped in a mine and some asshole decided to

light a cigarette in a confined space I'd break his god-damned jaw. Straight rude.

[HockeyMom]

14. How you do know you are going to make it out of there alive?

But you worry about developing lung cancer from second hand smoke 40 years later? How about if you are that concered with your health, you don't work in a MINE AT ALL.

[Codeine]

15. Lung cancer?

Not even a consideration -- just clean, breathable air that doesn't stink. It's a rude-ass thing to do in an enclosed environment.

Not that smokers have even the slightest concept of considerate behavior.

[The Straight Story]

17. Nor do drivers or those who wear perfume (nt)

[boppers]

18. Smoking deadens scent glands.

If the non-smokers promise to not shit or piss, maybe the smokers will agree to not smoke.

[HockeyMom]

19. Don't you think it is an oxymoron

working in a mine and fresh air?????

[Skittles]

23. reminds me of my repuke neighbor

when I sent cigs to soldiers in Afghanistan, she told me I shouldn't because "cigarettes are not good for them". You can bet she's pro-war though.

[emilyg]

20. Clean air? They are not

in park. It's a dirty mine.

[Synicus Maximus]

21. I haven't smoked in almost 20 years, but if I was where they are

I don't know that I wouldn't take it up again.

[slackmaster]

24. Next to come down the line, booze and porn.

:hi: