Smoke Free Coalition Meets in Mesquite

The Smoke-Free Coalition met March 19, at the 1880 Grill i n Mesquite, NV. Here are their highlights. 

Need clean, healthy indoor air!

 Secondhand smoke is a major health risk that costs Mesquite lives and money.

Mesquite Citizen for Clean Indoor Air is working to promote policies that protect the workers and the public from dangerous secondhand smoke exposure. Information: www.smokefreemesquite.org

What is secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke is smoke from burning tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It is also smoke that has been exhaled, or breathed out, by the person smoking.

There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure; even brief exposure can be harmful to health.

The only way to fully protect nonsmoker is to eliminate smoking in all homes, work sites, and public places.

How are people exposed?

Most exposure to secondhand smoke occurs in homes and workplaces.

People also are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places—such as in restaurants, bars, and casinos—as well as in cars and other vehicles.

Separating smokers from nonsmoker, opening windows, or using air filters does not prevent people from breathing secondhand smoke.

Health risks for non-smokers include:

• Heart disease.
  • For nonsmokers, breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the heart and blood vessels.
  • It is estimated that secondhand smoke caused nearly 34,000 heart disease deaths each year during 2005–2009 among adult nonsmokers in the United States.
• Lung cancer.
  • Secondhand smoke exposure caused more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths each year during 2005–2009 among adult nonsmokers in the United States.

Health effects of secondhand smoke:

Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer.

Since the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report, 2.5 million adults who were nonsmokers died because they breathed secondhand smoke.

Facts:

• Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30%.
• Secondhand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20−30%.
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes more than 8,000 deaths from stroke annually.
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20–30%.
• Secondhand smoke causes more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year.
• Even brief secondhand smoke exposure can damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.
• As with active smoking, the longer the duration and the higher the level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer.[amazon_link asins=’B01EVMK0H0′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’nevadatoday-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’351a350b-2588-11e8-96a4-b9424e2a9f60′]

Source: U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/index.htm