Tobacco Documents Online

READER'S DIGEST eral statutes that regulate consumer "And there's a bonus," says Carl- products, toxins or drugs. We have son. "Nonsmokers who see how laws against spreading poisons in easy it is are encouraged to speak up the environment. In most commu- next time on their own." The en- nities, it is illegal to burn leaves or couragement is certainly needed: a garbage. Yet it is still legal in those government study shows that not same communities for smokers to even one of 25 nonsmokers ever ask light up noxious cigarettes whenev- smokers to refrain. er they wish. For pr.blems with smokers at "There is no such thing as a work, Carlson suggests getting to- 'right' to smoke," says Dr. Ronald gether with other nonsmoking em- Davis, director of the Office on ees and speaking to the boss. Smoking and Health of the De- that y.ur productivity is be- partment of Health and Human ~ng lowered by the smoke you have Services. "Any presumed 'right' to to breathe. If that doesnt work, get a smoke ends where a nonsmoker's letter from your doctora expLaimng nose begins." that y.ur health is threa sZed by E'I'S Speak Up. What can you do to on tbe job. Or play the'bottom-line protect yourself and your familyt' card: point out that a smoke-free Regina Carlson, executive director workplace will eventually result in of New Jersey GASP (Group Against lower medical and insurance costs, Smoking Pbilution), a 3ooo-member and greater productivity. citizens' action group, begins her If your spouse smokes, show him campaign againat ETS at her front or her this article; explain that be- ~ door, where a s~ga reads: "Welcome cause of your love, you want to enjoy to Another Smoke-Free Home!" As a long and healthy life together. Do she explains it, "Many people who you need more motivation? Consid- visit object to cigarette smoke, and I er what Margaret Gray, now fight- would no more expose them to ET S ing a recurrence of her cancer, says to than I would serve~ spoiled food." husbands or wives who smoke: g,sounat- When Carlson finds herself seat- "Smoking is so unappealin ed next to a smoker, she politely tractive. Please quit smoking now. says, "Excuse me, cigarette amQke Not only are you killing yourself- makes me sick." The smoker usu- the smoke from your cigarettes is ally puts out his cigarette. killing the very people you love." lteprinb of dds ar" am avallabJe. See pege 1t03. paaansrrr Butx in his State of the Union Address: "We all have something to give. So if you_ know how to read, find someone who can"t. If you've got a hammer, 6nd a nsil. If you're not hungry, not lonely, not in troubk-seek out someone who is." /aa x Dacascaaa ig8~, Margaret Gray, a 6o-year-old decorator, called her family doctor to complain about a nagg~ng cough. Cough medicine didnt help, and a few weeks later he suggested a chest X ray. The report was a •hock; lung cancer. "I've never smoked a cigarette in my' ~» says Margare<. But her h~ Edwar had smoked at ka:ta pack and ahalfaday forthe 40 years d~ey were married. The truth was, for most of her life Margaret had been inhaling a lot of smoke. Shortly after her diagnosis, Mar- garet had most of her left lung removed. "No one can say with absolute cxrtaintz what caused Margaret's cancer, sa~n Dr. David Carr, her oncologist. "But knowing what science has discovered lately about secondhand smoke, I'd sa~ it'i by far the most likely culprit. In recent months new evidence has indicated that "passive" smok- ing is much more harmfid than anyone imagined. In :99o, after an at~sis of 24 research projects in ei diff'arent countries, scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency declared secondhand cigu- rette smoke a "Group A carcino- gen"-a sub4tanse that definitely causes cancer in humaau. The EPA draft report stated that as a rdult of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), thousands of nonsmokers die of lung cancer each year and thousands more-many of them children-suffer from a host of ailments most of us would never associate with smoking. Recent research has linkad 8TS with heart MN7~ OK IIM110~1I101~ FvA VTSi' MOV