We want clean air for ourselves
and our loved ones to breathe.

No one should have to breathe secondhand smoke at work, at home or in public places. Everyone should feel comfortable speaking up to protect themselves and their children from other people’s smoke.

Pre-owned cars are one thing.
Vintage clothes can be pretty cool.
Leftover food often tastes better than the first time it was served…

But secondhand smoke – yuk!

We didn’t want it first hand; why should we have to breathe someone else’s someone else’s leftover smoke – the junk that they had inside their lungs?

Or that “side stream smoke” that trails off the burning end of cigarettes?

What’s in a name? It’s been called:

• Environmental Tobacco Smoke or ETS, which sounds like it might be a natural part of the environment (which is isn’t – that label must have been created by a tobacco company).
• Involuntary Smoking – a good name because people don’t volunteer to breathe it.
• Tobacco Smoke Pollution or TSP – a better name!

Whatever! Tobacco smoke by any name is a proven health threat.

The evidence has been mounting for decades. In 1992 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded that secondhand smoke is a class A carcinogen, equal to asbestos and radon. It is now known that:

• Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
• There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke. Breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be dangerous. It contains the same chemicals and particles that smokers inhale.
• Breathing secondhand smoke is a known cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children are also more likely to have lung problems, ear infections, and severe asthma from being around smoke.
• Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer.
• Separate “no smoking” sections DO NOT protect people from secondhand smoke. Neither does filtering the air or opening a window.
• Even though many states and communities have passed laws making workplaces, public places, restaurants, and bars smoke-free, millions of children and adults still breathe secondhand smoke in their homes, cars, workplaces, and in public places.

A very useful booklet about secondhand smoke is available from the U.S. Surgeon General: Secondhand Smoke – what it means to you.

For more in depth information, read: The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General.

Hooray for clean air in New York State!!

In New York, and now several other states too, the “smoking area” is OUTSIDE. We applaud the wisdom and vision of our state lawmakers for passing New York’s Clean Indoor Air Act! It’s a great law – It protects people from the deadly effects of tobacco smoke and, contrary to the gloom and doom predictions of the tobacco industry, it hasn’t hurt New York State businesses. On the third anniversary of the implementation of the Clean Indoor Air Act, an independent evaluation conducted by Research Triangle Institute was released. The evaluation found:

• Exposure to second-hand smoke among nonsmokers statewide declined by 50% in the year following the implementation of the Clean Indoor Air Act.
• Exposure to second-hand smoke declined markedly among hospitality workers, as did self-reported cases of sensory irritation (eye, nose, and throat).
• Surveys of New Yorkers and direct observations indicate overall declines by 78% in smoking in bars, restaurants and bowling facilities statewide.
• Public support for the law is strong and has increased steadily over time.
• The Clean Indoor Air Act has not had an adverse financial impact on bars and restaurants.

Even people who haven’t quit yet can benefit from taking their smoking outside, to avoid breathing their own secondhand smoke between cigarettes and, of course, to protect others.

Planning a trip? Many New Yorkers don’t realize how much they are enjoying freedom from secondhand smoke until they travel out of state and find themselves stuck in smoky places. You can be sure to have clean air to breathe on vacation by consulting the lists of states and communities with clean air laws provided by the Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights.

The world would be much further along in protecting people from secondhand smoke, but the big tobacco companies have plotted to hold back progress that would save lives. Internal tobacco company documents have become public, thanks to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, that provide proof of Big Tobacco’s insidious tactics. The World Health Organization, the United Nations’ specialized agency for health, compiled some highlights of the secret plans in a 2001 fact sheet: “Secondhand Smoke and the Tobacco Industry."

What you can do:

Make your home and car smoke-free.

Ask people not to smoke around you and your children.

When hanging out with people who smoke, go to places where smoking is prohibited.

Speak up in favor of smoke-free policies.

To report a violation of the Clean Indoor Air Act in New York State, contact your county’s department of health or click here: http://www.smokefreeny.org/violation.php.