Secondhand Smoke

It is estimated that 53,000 Americans actually DIE from secondhand smoke every year. This includes babies who die from crib death, husbands or wives of smokers, who die from heart attacks or lung cancer from their spouse’s smoke, and children who died from untreatable pneumonia, which could have been prevented if the parents were not smoking in the home. Thousands of workers die from being exposed to smoke in the workplace.

Find out how OSHA has let over 200,000 American workers die from the toxins in secondhand smoke: make OSHA do its job!

In addition to deaths, there are millions of Americans made sick or otherwise affected by second hand smoke. Cigarette smoke contains carcinogens (chemicals that cause cancer), irritants (chemicals that cause soreness and rawness of the nose and bronchial tubes), and carbon monoxide (a potent poisonous gas that prevents hemoglobin in the blood from carrying oxygen).

Smoker? Want to quit? You can do it! Here are some great resources to help: BecomeAnEx.org or Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or www.smokefree.gov or See your doctor about getting Chantix ®

Children exposed to secondhand smoke have 4 times the chance of crib death in the first six months, 4 times the chance of pneumonia, and much more respiratory infection, such as colds, sore throats, and ear infections.

Please help us get a smoke-free ordinance for Bowling Green! Vote for the city commissioners who care about your health and supported a smoke-free ordinance. Mayor Elaine Walker VOTED FOR YOUR HEALTH Brian “Slim” Nash VOTED FOR YOUR HEALTH     Brian K. Strow VOTED AGAINST Bruce Wilkerson VOTED AGAINST  Joe W. Denning VOTED AGAINST

Smoking during pregnancy is a different form of secondhand smoke, which gives the fetus a concentrated dose of nicotine and carbon monoxide. These poisons cut down the oxygen going to the baby’s brain, and will cause babies born to smokers to average 5-10 IQ points lower on the "brain power" they are born with. These poisons also affect the baby’s growth and health, increasing the chance of low birth weight (dangerously low) and death (abortion).

I advise my patients to think of cigarette smoke as a dangerous poison, which it is. When exposed to this poison, you should immediately try to get away! If there is a smoking section in a restaurant , the poisons from the smoke will travel through the air of the entire restaurant and you will breathe the poisons even if you are sitting in the non-smoking section!  We need to encourage our city council members to pass smoke-free ordinances to protect both the patrons and the workers in restaurants and other businesses from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. And you certainly have the right to forbid people from smoking in your house!

If smoking is allowed in other parts of the restaurant, you are still breathing second hand smoke in the non-smoking section! It would be similar to going to a small swimming pool, and deciding to swim in the non-peeing section. Do you think you might still get some urine on you?

Another important consideration is the danger of burns from lit cigarettes. Many house fires are caused by burning unattended cigarettes, or by young children playing with lighters. Small children often run into an adult holding a lit cigarette, and burn their eye, or cause serious scarring on their face. Often adults will smoke while holding a child, but this greatly increases the risk of a burn to that child.

In many states (19 states so far!), people have passed laws protecting the public from secondhand smoke. It could happen in Kentucky too! Write to your representatives in state government. Support businesses that have voluntarily gone smoke-free.

Action Needed Now in Bowling Green!!      If you live in Bowling Green, please contact your City Commissioners right away to urge them to pass a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance. The word "comprehensive" is very important, to make sure we don't pass a useless ordinance with too many loopholes to do any good. Here's Why We Need an Ordinance Now:      This is a landmark year for medical science: Surgeon General’s Report defines SHS as a major public health danger.     This report calls for immediate action by the American people to eliminate SHS in the workplace.     The report lists thousands of pages of evidence that SHS really does cause thousands of deaths every year, as well as disease and disability.  For example, 35,000 non-smoking Americans die every year from heart disease caused by SHS. Another 3,000 non-smoking Americans die every year from lung cancer caused by SHS. Millions of children suffer from asthma, pneumonia, ear infections and other respiratory infections that were preventable by eliminating SHS.     The report specifically addresses business concerns about smoke-free laws affecting the hospitality industry, mainly restaurants and bars: studies show clearly that businesses are NOT financially affected by a smoking ban.     The report states that SHS exposure can be eliminated among workers where indoor smoking bans are in place for hospitals, restaurants, bars and offices.     The report also specifically states that ventilation systems in buildings have no effect in reducing the exposure of workers to SHS. Is this an Issue of Government Control, or Public Health Protection?     The Surgeon General’s Report clearly defines SHS as a public health issue.     The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that it is the duty of local governments to protect the public health.     It is not an arbitrary decision or passing fad that has brought 11 cities in Kentucky to pass smoke-free ordinances. It is their duty to protect the public health.     Bowling Green is the largest city in Kentucky without a smoke-free ordinance, one of the very few areas where Bowling Green has a position of shame rather than pride.     In the nation 2200 cities have smoke-free ordinances, and 19 states have state-wide smoke-free laws. Duty of our City Government     Some of our Commissioners have stated that they will support the majority opinion on this issue.  Several local polls (by WBKO, the Daily News, the College Hts Herald, and by the American Cancer Society)  have all showed that a large majority (60-80%) of Bowling Green citizens support a smoking ban.     Some Commissioners have stated that they feel a smoking ban is not the right of local government, and that citizens should choose where they work or eat based on their own preferences. Since this is a public health issue, the Kentucky Supreme Court disagrees with this view. This also seems to me to be an arrogant attitude towards our citizens who are trying to find work in a safe environment. (Marie Antoinette: “No bread? Let them eat cake!”  City Commissioners: “No safe job opportunities? Let them eat smoke!”)     Let’s put this in perspective: suppose that salmonella is found in the food in some restaurants. Should it be left up to citizens to discover which restaurants make them sick? Thousands more people die from SHS than die from salmonella! Most people don’t know what salmonella is, and most people don’t know that they can die from SHS.  It is the duty of local government to protect our citizens from these and other public health dangers.

Check these informative sites about tobacco: Tobaccofree.org,  and thetruth.com. They are fun for teens and adults. The new Surgeon General's report on secondhand smoke (June 2006) gives a very strong recommendation for all governmental bodies to pass smoke-free laws. You can see the whole report at cdc.gov. Here is a Letter to the Editor that I wrote about the Surgeon General's report:

Editor, Daily News, This week’s release of the landmark Surgeon General’s report on secondhand smoke marks a turning point in how American leadership views the problem of environmental tobacco smoke. It is no longer considered a conflict between the comfort of smokers vs non-smokers, but has now been defined as a public health issue. This comprehensive 709-page report outlines the immense health damage caused by secondhand smoke, and what America needs to do to eliminate it. (The whole report, and a summary of the important points can be found at www.cdc.gov.) The Surgeon General’s number one recommendation is to legislate restrictions on smoking in the workplace. This is the only way to effectively protect the public. Ventilation systems do not work. Separate smoking areas do not work. Because this is a public health issue, regulation by the government is essential. It is no different from laws which require restaurants to serve food that is free from harmful bacteria. Sixteen states have already passed smoke-free workplace laws, but in Kentucky we must depend on the local governments to carry this responsibility. I hope that our elected city officials in Bowling Green will recognize their duty to pass a smoke-free workplace ordinance in the very near future.                                                             Sincerely,                                                             Rick Voakes MD

 

 

Smoke holds danger By GINA KINSLOW Glasgow Daily Times — Dana Marr is a server at a Cave City restaurant and has always been a health conscious person. Because the restaurant where she works has a smoking section, Marr is exposed to second-hand smoke on a routine basis. She began researching the hazards of second-hand smoke last spring. “I found out second-hand smoke is a lot more dangerous than I thought, especially for people who are exposed to it in the workplace,” she said. Second-hand smoke is the combination of smoke emitted from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe and smoke exhaled from the smoker. It contains at least 60 carcinogens, according to the National Cancer Institute. Even though the restaurant where she works has a nonsmoking section, Marr and other non smokers are still exposed to second-hand smoke. “The National Cancer Institute says you can’t really separate the two — smoking and non-smoking — in the same air space,” she said. “It limits the exposure, but it doesn’t really protect people from second-hand smoke.” Marr spoke out last spring in favor of an ordinance banning smoking in all Cave City restaurants. The council gave first reading to the ordinance, but when it came time to give final approval it was deadlocked 3-3. Mayor Bob Hunt cast the tiebreaking vote, causing the measure to fail. In the audience that night was Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley, a Glasgow cardiologist. “The Cave City Council meeting was one of the most disturbing events I’ve ever attended,” she said. “It is completely laughable to question whether second-hand smoke is harmful.” Research has shown exposure to second-hand smoke can cause a string of illnesses, including chronic bronchitis, heart disease and cancer. Exposure to second-hand smoke can also make certain illnesses, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, worse. In her practice, Walton-Shirley is seeing more patients who have never smoked with illnesses related to smoking such as coronary artery disease. She supports a smoking ban in all public buildings. “There is no question that every public building should be smoke-free,” she said. Walton-Shirley often visits New York and California and says it is nice to dine at restaurants in those states because they are smoke-free. States with smoking bans are Louisiana, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Montana, Vermont, New Jersey, Utah, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Hawaii, Arkansas and North Dakota. U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico and Guam, also have smoking bans. “I so hope Kentucky can become one of them,” Walton-Shirley said. “It would be great to go into a restaurant and never have to ask for smoking or nonsmoking. It’s a shame that as progressive as Glasgow, Kentucky, is with regard to health issues that we are still having to ask for a non-smoking area.” Dr. David Johnson, deputy director of the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, recently referred to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report, which was released two weeks ago and said second-hand smoke is a “definite cause of disease to its recipients.” Still, people are constantly debating whether or not second-hand smoke is harmful. “The total number of individuals who may develop cancer of the lung related to second-hand smoke is in the few thousands,” Johnson said. “It has been argued the exposure to radon causes more cancer than second-hand tobacco smoke.” The chances of an active smoker developing lung cancer is one in 10. The reason the odds aren’t higher, he said, is because people often die from other diseases related to smoking. “The percentage of passive smokers who develop lung cancer is obviously less than that, but we don’t really know what the answer is,” Johnson said. “Of roughly the 75,000 people in the U.S. who develop lung cancer, about 85 percent are active or former smokers. So, 15 percent of people who develop lung cancer are never smokers; meaning they have smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their entire lifetime.” Both Johnson and Walton-Shirley pointed out there are certain sub-population groups that tend to develop cancer more from second-hand smoke than others, such as flight attendants. “Flight attendants have a higher incidence of lung cancer even though they never smoked, because of the high concentration of second-hand smoke in their work environment,” Johnson said. Others who fit into the same category would be people like Marr, who work in restaurants or other environments that are not smoke-free. Johnson also supports smoking bans. “I do think restaurants are wise to not permit smoking, because 75 percent of Americans are not smokers,” he said. “If you are going to cater to a population, it would be wise to cater to the never-smoking.” Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.