LETTERS / Breathe Free: Let's Rid the Air of Tobacco Pollution NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

Treating tobacco smoke as an environmental toxin would benefit public health. It would subject tobacco to new regulations and restrictions. Most efforts to control exposure to tobacco smoke have been for nonsmokers (smoking in public places, sales to minors). Classifying it as an environmental hazar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNewsday
Main Author Andrew Herzman, David M. Ackman, Claire Millman
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 28.06.2001
EditionCombined editions
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Summary:Treating tobacco smoke as an environmental toxin would benefit public health. It would subject tobacco to new regulations and restrictions. Most efforts to control exposure to tobacco smoke have been for nonsmokers (smoking in public places, sales to minors). Classifying it as an environmental hazard on the federal level would expand these protections while opening new opportunities to protect those persons who suffer most from tobacco smoke: smokers. There is no safe level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. It is our single most harmful indoor air contaminant, a Class A carcinogen, our No. 3 cause of preventable death, responsible in this country for 3,000 to 4,000 lung cancer deaths, more than 47,000 fatal heart attacks, 150,000 non-fatal heart attacks and hundreds of thousands of new cases of asthma and other respiratory illnesses among nonsmokers every year. It does not quickly clear from a room. It can take two weeks for the toxin, nicotine, to clear from the air where smoking has occurred.