It is a well-known fact that voluntary smoking is a cause of cancers of all types as well as the cause of many cardiovascular diseases. Smoking has also been known to be the cause of aborted pregnancies and increased infant mortality. But what about the dangers of involuntary smoking, also known as: environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), second-hand smoke and passive smoke. Second-hand smoke causes the same illnesses as voluntary smoking. Recent studies provide sufficient evidence that second-hand smoke is hazardous to health; therefore, eliminating second-hand smoke from the workplace and enclosed public places can no longer be ignored.

During an Evidentiary Session of the Smoking in Public Places Investigative Committee, ¡§Dr. Stanton Glantz, PhD (Professor of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco; Fellow, American College of Cardiology; Consulting Editor, Journal of the American College of Cardiology)¡¨ (Minutes 1), addressed the committee. According to Dr. Glantz, in order to understand the reasons for eliminating second-hand smoke, it must be defined. ¡§Dr. Glantz stated that passive smoking was the term used for exposure to tobacco smoke,

„h ¡§¡K..there are about 15 times more deaths from heart disease caused by passive smoking ¡V 35,000-62,000 deaths annually in the US ¡V as lung cancer¡¨ (Tobacco Free).

It isn¡¦t going to be an easy task banning smoking in all public places, but I think with a lot of planning and public education it can be accomplished. Eliminating second-hand smoke from the workplace and enclosed public places can no longer be considered a debatable issue, but must become a reality.

In stating all this, I am not saying smokers are a persecuted group. Yes, they are addicted to a substance that would cost them considerable physical discomfort from their systems. But by indulging in their habit, they are also poisoning the air we breathe. The problem is particularly serious for children who live with smokers and waitresses and waiters who work in densely smoky restaurants and bars for long periods of time.

In order to grasp the full effect of the damage second-hand smoke causes to the innocent by-standers, there must be an understanding of the effects it causes. The succeeding outlines some of the effects associated with second-hand smoke: low birth weight or small for gestational age, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), acute lower respiratory tract infections in children, Asthma induction and exacerbation in children chronic respiratory symptoms in children, eye and nasal irritation in adults, Middle Ear infections in children, Lung Cancer, Nasal Sinus Cancer, heart disease mortality, acute and chronic coronary heart disease morbidity,

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