Posted by John Walker on July 24, 2001 at 17:04:01:
In Reply to: A few things that I have been struggling with... posted by MHK on July 24, 2001 at 16:30:40:
MHK, I have been a little too busy to write but I want to take a moment to thank you, Terry, Don, Brad, George, Pina, Patrick for you efforts to increase dive safety awareness. We broke up before heading in different directions Sun so I wasn't abile to express this myself in person.
I went standby on the Catalina Express to get home earlier. Once I boarded setting was limited so I sat all the way home on the stern. I found out that this is where all the guys wearing PADI instructor hats and patched jackets were SMOKING. The jacket said, "I'm a professional". The cigerettes said " I am a complete idiot and no body should ever put their life in my hands as far as diving is concerned".
Any professional diving leader smoking says alot about the lack of physical knoweledge. Smoker have limited gas exchange, something that is vital for any diver (any human for that fact). All smokers have a variable degree of emphysema. They have more mucus in their alveoli which inhibits gas exchange, as well as weak spot that easily blow out (embolism?). Carbon Monoxide lacthes to hemoglobin at least 240x more than oxygen so you loose CO2 and O2 transportation.
I'm worried, John