Tobacco Documents Online

START IN YOUR OWN HOME. You and your children spend more time in your home than anywhere else. Tell your guests that you simply cannot allow smoking in your house. If family members smoke, encourage them to stop. If they must smoke. ask them to do it outside. Remember, blowing smoke away from children. going into another room to smoke, or opening a window will not protect children from the dangers of secondhand smoke. GIVE THIS GUIDE TO YOUR EMPLDYER, Secondhand smoke at work is also very dangerous. This guide gives you the facts you need to comfortably approach your employer about starting a non-smoking policy where you work. Tell the person in charge that secondhand smoke in the workplace has the same poisons as air around toxic waste dumps. And that non-smokers who breathe it at work are 34% more likely to get lung cancer than those in smoke- free offices. LOBBY YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS. Smoke filled rooms, such as restaurant dining rooms can have six times the air pollution of a busy highway. Having separate smoking and non-smoking sections does not eliminate the exposure to secondhand smoke. Write a letter or speak directly to the owners or managers of your favorite restaurants. Inform them of the facts about secondhand smoke. Explain to them that when the air in their restaurant is clean, their food will taste better and their customers, including you, will be happier. USE THE LOCAL MEDIA. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Call in to radio talk shows. The more that people are aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke, the better the chances of successfully doing something about it. IT'S TIME. Act now to protect yourself and your family from secondhand smoke. For additional copies of this guide please call 1-800-CDC-1311.

3,000 AMERICANS WILL DIE OF LUNG CANCER THIS YEAR DUE TO SECONDHAND SMOKE. Until recently. you probablv thought of secondhand smoke as something that made vour clothes and hair stink or irritated vour eves. The Environmental Protection Agencc now has evidence that proves secondhand smoke is more than just an annoyanee-it's deadiv Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke given off bv the burnin, ends of citar,_ cigarettes and pipes and the smoke exhaled h.someone who is smoking. If vou're in the presence of someone who is smoking vou become a passive smoker. This Freatlv inrreases Nour chance of developing lunu,, canrer. and threaten. %our chance at a lon,. healthv life. THE BIGGEST DANGER IS TO CHILDREN. Nine million American children under the age of five live in homes with at least one smoker and are exposed to secondhand smoke almost the entire dav. The effect this secondhand smoke has on children is perhaps the most startling information available to (late: Each cear secondhand smoke causes up to 300.000 lower respiratory tract infections t such as pneumonia and bronchitis) in children less than one and a half vears old. and hospitalizes up to 15.000 of them. Mothers who smoke 10 or more cigarettes a da% ran actually cause as many as 26.000 new cases of asthma among their children each vear. A recent study found that infants are three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) if their mothers smoke during and after pregnancv. and are twice as likek to die if their mothers stop smoking during pregnanec_ hut then resume following birth. Sadlv. these are only a few of the dangers of exposing children to secondhand smoke. Onl_v time will tell what else it may be doing to them.

THE UNREGULATED POLLUTANT. Secondhand ~m°ke belongs to the group of compounds classified hv the Environmental Protection agencv. as "Group A° carcinogens. lfs known to cause cancer in humans and is just as danl,erous as other poisons such as asbestos and radon. In fact. secondhand tobacco smoke causes 30 times as marrv lung cancer deaths as all other rancer-causing air pollutants regulated by the EPA. Uespite the overwhelming evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke. you can he exposed to it practically anvwhere. Not surprisin0 h. the EP.-k states that cigarette smoke is the largest YOU'RE UP AGAINST source of indoor air pollution there is. AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL LOBBY. Every ela> about 1.200 people elie from snioking while another :3.5011 surcevfullc quit. Because of this the tobacco industrv spends enormous amounts of monec recruiting new smokers. :Vmost S4 billion was spent on cigarette advertising and promotion in the United States last vear-the equivalent of:Cl1 million a elaN. or nearly ~ Sal/l1.U00 an hour. 26.5 billion packs of cigarettes are sold in the l.nited States everv year. That s 840 pack= per serond. Companies that manufacture cigarettes reported after-tax profits of $".^_ billion in 1989. Policies to protect you from secondhand smoke threaten these profits. That's whe. in cities and towns across A-merica. the tobacco industry fiercely fights against laws and regulations for clean indoor air. THE FACTS ARE ON YOUR SIDE. The right to breathe is more important than the right to smoke. The proven dangers of secondhand smoke give vou all the reason you need to speak out. Explain to smokers that it's okay if they need to smoke- just not around you or vour kids.

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