Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 6

SceinieEiniteirtaiiniimiieinit fa) is)g Non-smokers suffer oofou By Sue MacDonald Gannett News Service For a person who smokes cigarettes, the act of digging into a package, pulling out a cigarette, lighting it up and taking a few puffs is almost instinctual. The cigarette itself will burn an average of 12 minutes. The smoker will inhale an average eight, maybe nine times, for a nicotine fix that lasts about 24 seconds. Where does the rest of the smoke go for 1 1 -plus minutes? It drifts up into the air, unfiltered, full of particulates and toxic chemicals, and into the noses, mouths, lungs and eyes of bystanders who may, or may not, be extremely annoyed by its presence. In the past 10 years, it has become known as "secondhand smoke," the byproduct of burning cigarettes, cigars and pipes.

It is the smoke that fills homes, bars, public meeting rooms and other spaces inhabited by smokers and non-smokers alike. Secondhand smoke has also become a matter of concern among health professionals who once confined their worries about smoking hazards to smokers themselves. Now the concern is spreading to non-smokers, and research is fast telling a tale of potential lung damage, eye and nose irritation, respiratory dysfunction and allergies among non-smokers subjected to the wastes of their smoking co-workers, spouses, neighbors and friends. No conclusive disease links have been established, but problems have been reported. Last November, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that from non-smokers die each year of lung cancer caused by others' cigarettes (making it the second-leading cause of lung cancer deaths).

A 1980 study found that non-smoking workers chronically exposed to tobacco smoke suffer long-term damage to the small airways in their lungs. Children of smoking parents are sick more often and suffer up to twice the rate of acute bronchitis and pneumonia, particularly as infants, as those of non-smokers. Additionally, smoking parents contract more respiratory infections that they can pass to their children. A 1982 study by the Centers for Disease Control said that burning tobacco produces radioactive polonium, which can collect in the linings of the bronchial tubes for eventual passage to the entire body of heavy smokers. Accumulated radioactivity, they said, can be a catalyst for malignant tumors.

They estimated that a lV4-pack-a-day smoker receives a yearly dose of alpha radiation equivalent to 300 chest X-rays, adding that "the American public is exposed to far more radiation from the smoking of tobacco than they are from any other source or sources combined." A 1984 study in Japan found that non-smokers living with smokers had detectable levels of cotinine, a metabolized byproduct of nicotine, in their urine. Cotinine levels showed a definite rise in homes where smoking exceeded a pack a day. In homes where smokers consumed two packs a day, non-smokers showed cotinine levels similar to people who smoked one or two cigarettes daily. Children exposed to secondhand smoke in a small room for 30 minutes experienced increased heart rates and blood pressures, in one study. Pregnant women who smoke have a higher likelihood of miscarriage, stillbirth and delivering underweight and abnormally small babies.

Secondhand smoke produces irritating side effects in smokers and non-smokers alike, including itchy eyes, nasal irritation, headaches and coughing and can aggravate existing allergies, angina (chest pain) and asthma, emphysema and other respiratory problems. Spokesmen for the U.S. tobacco industry and cigarette companies deny that non-smokers face health hazards from other people's smoke. Secondhand smoke can be costly that is inhaled and filtered by a smoker's lungs before it is re-released into the air, according to the American Lung Association. Burning tobacco also releases benzene, cadmium, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen sulphide, toluene, acetone, 2-butanone, acetylene, hydrogen cyanide, pyridine, pyrene, aldehydes, hydrocyanic acid, napthalene and many other gases and particles into the air.

One study also found it contains radioactive polonium, enough that a smoker who smokes 1 35 packs a day gets a yearly dose of alpha radiation equal to 300 chest X-rays. In the workplace and home, smoke and its irritating odor can increase air-conditioning demands by 600 percent in one room. A national study has determined that indus try pays an extra $657 a year per smoking employee ($307 for excessive company insurance, $80 for increased absenteeism, $166 for lost productivity, $55 for other insurance and $49 in miscellaneous costs that include heating and cooling costs and increased maintenance). Smokers have twice the accident rate of non-smokers in the workplace, attributable to loss of attention, preoccupation of the hand for smoking, coughing, eye irritation and flammability of smoking materials. Direct health costs for smoking-related illnesses are estimated at $13 billion a year, and lost productivity and wages for smoking employees total another $25 billion.

The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that 87 million workdays are lost each year due to health problems from smoking. By Sue MacDonald Gannett News Service What exactly is secondhand smoke? To non-smokers, the answer to that question can be highly unsettling. The unfiltered "sidestream" smoke that drifts up from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe is more toxic and contains higher concentrations of harmful substances than "mainstream" smoke inhaled directly by a smoker. The sidestream smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds, some known and some still unknown. In fact, sidestream smoke contains twice as much tar and nicotine, four times as much benzopyrene, five times as much carbon monoxide and 46 times as much ammonia as smoke 'Mr.

Belvedere' may prove to be costly to Brewers "Mr. Baseball" may be doing "Mr. Belvedere" fulltime by fall. At least one national TV columnist is predicting ABC-TV's "Belevedere" is certain to be added as a regular series. That means Bob Uecker would be leaving the Milwaukee Brewers radio booth by late season.

Bill Haig, the Brewers vice president of broadcasting, said he's aware of the possibility. But he added it's strictly for his Things to Worry About But Not Quite Yet file. Anyway, Haig said, "I always have to be ready to move a gear if I have to." Uecker plays a sports columnist-father in the ABC sitcom, which is getting a spring tryout run. It's doing OK in the weekly ratings, usually ranking about 30th out of 65 or so programs. Haig said Uecker missed two exhibition season broadcasts, but the trial tapings of "Mr.

Belevedere" are over and he's back announcing. Uecker is again teamed with Pat Hughes for the radiocasts, which will be heard here on WNFL Radio when the season opens Tuesday. WNFL will broadcast all 162 games. On the TV side, Steve Shannon and Mike Hegan are back. Channel 26 will televise 46 road games.

They begin Saturday, April 13, at the Texas Rangers. The station is carrying all the games available. The original plan was for telecasts of only 30, but the Sportsvue cable network folded and the Brewers offered 16 more. However, don't count cablecasts of Brewers games entirely out of the picture for the future. Haig said he's still "taking a serious look at it." He said he has in mind some sort of statewide cable coverage, though things are only in the formative stages.

A local cable TV program is up for an Ace Award, cable's answer to the Emmy. An "Around Brown County" program, "Heritage Festival in Review," is among five finalists in the "excellence in a program series community events coverage" category. The National Academy of Cable Programming is giving out the awards June 3, and usually superstation WTBS televises the ceremony. The show is fascinating because you see a big array shows (in short clips) from among the hundreds of cable systems around the country. This year, there were 748 entries in all the categories.

The telecast shows the cream of the crop. "Heritage Festival in Review" featured Dennis O'Donnell narrating as the historic explorer Jean Nicolet. The program, part of a weekly Brown County Library series, was put together by Ed Cushman. He produces the entire series. 1 While "Around Brown County" airs on both local cable systems, it was N.E.W.

Media Cablevision -which nominated the program. Gerds Warren Gerds is critic-at-large of the Press-Gazette Good telephone habits are worth getting hung up on By Sean Schultz Of the Press-Gazette The next time you pick up the phone where you work, remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." That's the advice of Sandy Bethke, who operates a consultation service called Business Communications Advisory. Bethke suggests these tips for successful telephone work: Return all calls. It wastes your company's time if you don't, because the caller will keep calling. Identify yourself to the caller before asking him to identify himself.

When you ask "who is calling?" it gives the impression that if he isn't the right person, his call won't be forwarded. Giving your name provides an exchange of information. Not all calls require screening, but when you must, include the name of the person being called when asking for the caller's name. For instance, "Mrs. Smith asked me to inquire who is calling." That way, the caller doesn't assume you are just being nosy.

Neverjusthanguponanasty caller. Then they have controlled your actions. If you get an abusive caller, tell him you will hang up if the abuse continues, then do so if need be. You don't always have to answer on the first ring. Answer when you are ready to talk, whether you must first put down papers you're working on, turn off a typewriter or finish eating a bite of food.

Really listen to what the caller says so you don't have to ask him to repeat or appear to be indifferent. Put a smile in your voice on the phone and on your face at the front desk for an impression of warmth. Be professional, businesslike and friendly. Thirty seconds is the longest anyone should be kept on hold, unless you tell the person otherwise. For instance, if you tell the caller it may take a few minutes to find the information they want, give them the option to hold on or have you call them back.

Always offer to take a message so that contact with the caller isn't lost. Bethke offers several seminars to area businesses and will speak Fri day and April 16 to the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and April 24 to the De Pere Chamber of Commerce. Her most popular seminar is one of "Telephone Personality and Customer Service. "Every business has contact with customers through the telephone," said Bethke. "But most people have never had any telephone training." Bethke said as she views training sessions offered by area businesses to their employees, she sees a concentration on management training "but many of the simple, basic skills you expect people to have they don't necessarily have." The most important person in any business is the person who comes in contact with the customer, Bethke maintains.

That person, whether greeting the public on the telephone or at the reception desk "has the opportunity to sell something, to get a referral from someone who was pleased or to make it a better day for someone." She emphasizes customer service in her talks. "When we come right down to it, most businesses have competition and sell things very similar in value. Many times the Sophia favors the simpler fashions Gannett News Service Sophia Loren in blue jeans and a sweater? It's hard to imagine the Sophia Loren mystique wrapped in anything so mundane. Still, like millions of other women, that's what this celebrated beauty says she wears when she's not in the spotlight which can be anywhere from her home in Geneva, Switzerland, to her ranch outside of Los Angeles. At the moment, though, she is the image of elegance.

Sitting in a hotel suite in Philadelphia during a tour to promote the Coty fragrance bearing her name, she wears a tomato-red silk blouse ia'a miniprint, with a neckline bow, and a solid red slim skirt. "I think the blouse is Valentino and the skirt Christian Dior," she said in a voice that barely hints of an Italian accent. "I don't have one favorite designer; I just pick up here and there. I don't like to follow the crazy ideas of the (designer) collections." Usually, she likes to wear blouses, skirts and trousers because "when you change one (of the pieces) it looks like a different outfit. "I like very simple clothes.

I like to feel comfortable in a dress. I don't follow fashion blindly. If it fits me and I feel good in it, I will buy it, then I make my own changes." Her understated clothing choice is accented by fabulous looking jewelry: A generous bangle-type bracelet paved with diamonds and sapphires, a gold choker studded with diamonds at front, and dangling gold earrings plus a very simple gold band on one finger. "You know jewelry is so expensive today sometimes I buy a fake; they look so beautiful sometimes." Fragrance is very important for a woman because "it is like a signature. If you always wear the same scent, it will bring back memories and associations, "That's why it was very difficult for me to choose from so many scents (when she first selected the fragrance to be called Sophia about five years ago).

I felt it should be liked not only by me but by other Some glamorous stars always have a hair stylist at their beck and call, particularly before making public appearances. Not Sophia Loren. She snips and styles her own hair. Her hair is straight and can't stand a perm, so she curls it on rollers each day she demonstrates by raising her hands to her hair and making rolling motions. "Sometimes when I have nothing to do I go to a professional (hair stylist) like the other ladies and gossip," she said.

Her stylist is the famous Alexandre in Paris. "We gossip and talk a lot, and then I don't see him for two or three years he always tells me not to cut my own hair because I ruin it. "I also do my own hands," she adds, holding up a hand with short uncolored fingernails. "Sometimes when I feel I want to be fancy, I put on pink nail polish." Sophia Loren isn't coy about age. "Everybody knows how old I am 50." Her complexion looks more like 30.

What does she do for skin care? "Very little," she says. Sandy Bethke Says attitude is important difference is in customer service." Her Golden Rule theory is to treat customers the way you want to be treated. Attitude plays an important role. "If people like themselves, others will know and feel good about doing business with the company. If you don't feel good about yourself, others will spot it in your voice or on your face." Attitude involves a pleasant, modulated voice.

Bethke said the idea that anyone can answer the phone is incorrect. Not every voice is suited to telephone work. Some are raspy, others too high, some breathy. oily It's a Cabbage Patch clinic Gannett Newt Service QUEENSBURY, N.Y. Is your Cabbage Patch Kid healthy? Just to be sure he or she hasn't caught the flu or, heaven forbid, something more contagious or debilitating, you might consider a checkup at a medical office that specializes in Cabbage Patch dolls.

The Dr. Cabbage Clinic, a traveling medical center based in a Hudson Falls ware house, made its debut here recently at Aviation Mall in Queensbury. For $5, dolly will get a complete physical; that physical will include x-rays of heart and lungs, a temperature reading and a certificate of good health. Physical examinations will be given by "nurses" who've been hired by Ed Onion Enterprises of Hudson Falls. What if dolly's sick? Neil Stark, spokesman for the clinic, had no answer.

As for dolly's owner, who presumably will be healthy without a checkup, she can have her picture taken with a 7-foot-2 soft sculpture doll created by Stark, for an additional few bucks. During the coming months, the Dr. Cabbage Cliriic will be moving its office from mall to mall between Albany and Plattsburgh..