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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0013.018 2002-2004 Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Fact Sheet RECENEp ~ ____.~.y-~. ey__.------•-- HEALTH EFFECTS .County Council/F-r-`: - - • 1964 First US Surgeon General's Report on Smoking. Linked cigarette smoking to lung disease. • 1986 US Surgeon General's Report on Secondhand smoke. Linked eaposure to secondhand smoke and lung disease among nonsmokers. • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified ETS as a Class A carcinogen, the same cancer-causing agents as asbestos, benzene, arsenic, and vinyl chloride. • Secondhand smoke is responsible for 53,000 deaths annually, 3,000 of those are from lung cancer, and the other are from cardiovascular disease, other respiratory diseases, sudden infant death syndrome (SH)S), and fires. • CDC reports that there are over 60 known or suspected human carcinogens contained in cigarette smoke. • Nonsmoking workers exposed to secondhand smoke are 34% more likely to get lung cancer. Waiters and waitresses have a 50% greater risk of lung cancer than other workers mostly because of ETS eaposure. • Passive smoking causes annually 150,000 to 300,000 cases per year of lower respiratory infections iu babies under the age of 18 months, resulting in 15,000 hospital admissions, and worsening of asthma in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children, each year in the United States. • The Center's for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Second National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals shows that America's kids (ages 3-11) are being exposed to secondhand smoke levels more than twice those of adults. This report shows how important it is to enact measures that will reduce smoking among adults such as medical coverage for smoking cessation therapies, higher cigarette taxes, smokefree workplace policies that help adult smokers to quit, and fully funded programs aimed both at preventing youth smoking and encouraging adults to quit. (SUBMITTED BY JULIAN LIPSHER, P-`PH, CHES, Hawaii State Comm. No • Dept. of Health) File N~o~~ C Ref~To:~' °Ns F~ c. Ref. Date FFR (I d 7(103 ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SMOKEFREE ORDINANCES ON BUSINESSES & RESTAURANTS • Numerous scientific studies based on restaurant sales taa receipts prove that smokefree restaurant ordinances have no negative effect on restaurant sales. • We have learned that tobacco industry claims that laws requiring smokefree restaurants will adversely affect tourism have been shown to be unfounded and that such laws may actually increase tourist business. • Over 400 municipalities across the country, now including Honolulu, Maui and Kauai, as well as California, Vermont, Utah, Maine, and Delaware, have successfully enacted clean indoor air ordinances to eliminate smoking in restaurants. EFFECTIVENESS OF VENTILATION • Ventilation systems are not the solution; there is no way to completely remove secondhand smoke from an enclosed environment. • Science has not demonstrated any safe level of exposure to ETS. Also, national ventilation standards (ASHRAE 62-1999) do not allow for smoking in the vast majority of public venues. At best, ventilation technology only removes the smoke odor and irritation. "SMOKERS' RIGHTS" • People have the right to breathe smokefree air. • Smoking is a documented chemical addiction. Most smokers want to quit. GOVERNMENT REGULATION • Smokefree ordinances are public health laws similar to drunk driving or traffic laws. • Common sense tells us that people should not be exposed to proven carcinogens. • Most adults, including most smokers, support smokefree ordinances.