In Germany an old man is dislodged of his apartment, because he smokes.

This week in Dusseldorf, Germany, Friedhelm Adolfs an old man of 68 years was dislodged from the apartment where he lived rented for 40 years, the cause: his neighbors complained that the old man smoked so much that cigarette smoke polluted the small apartment building where he lived.

This case has come to attract the public. Germany is one of the European countries with the highest rate of smoking, about 65% of the population smoke. Even so have recently been implemented restrictions to reduce and finally eradicate the tobacco smoke in public places, government and private shared spaces such as offices, restaurants, clubs and others. But that these same restrictions and penalties can be applied for smoking in the privacy of home is not covered by any law, and this case sets a precedent.

Was not easy getting the order to evict Adolfs from the department, but the owner and the neighbors involved reported that the man had presumably sealed the air vents and external windows of it, which caused the cigarette smoke go out the door and flooded the halls of property getting to strongly affect the health of his neighbors. Adolfs could prove in court that he did no such thing, the department simply did not have good ventilation.

In terms of the rights of individuals this situation is quite interesting: on the one hand we have a man, claiming that he was not committing any crime because he smoked at home, not in public or shared spaces. Not smoked in public areas of the property or in the hallways, and in his lease any rule prohibiting smoking in the property was not established. On the other side are their neighbors, who claim, rightly, having to live in an environment contaminated with tobacco smoke. So what would be fair to do in a case like this?

The truth is that Adolfs will now, in his advanced age, to find a new apartment, a nothing easy task for a man of his age. Maybe Adolfs need someone to talk him about disposable smokeless cigarettes. Probably would have avoided this hard time, plus have saved so many annoying and possible health problems to  his neighbors. In these times that the cities to us keep getting smaller and we are obliged to share our spaces and our smoke with others, it becomes necessary to assign, but should be considered as much as being with others, safety health and welfare, as in ours, and our comfort.

Finally, thanks to technology both, smokers and those around him, have a choice to continue to live together without bothering with each other: the e cigs. Our white clouds e cigs possibly can help not only leave the tobacco definitely, maybe them make us more sociable, surely Adolfs will look like as a good neighbor without the tobacco smoke coming out of his department.