[C-U Smokefree] Join the smokefree parade

[Theotskl at aol.com]

Hi there--

This is one parade we all need to join for the health and safety of adults, 
children and workers, and in the name of peace, justice, and human dignity.

Keep up the good work, CU-Smokefree Alliance!

Theo

Theo Tsoukalas, Ph.D.
theotskl at aol.com



Editorial: It's time to join the smokefree parade



Parts excerpted from the Columbus Dispatch,  April 17, 2004




There's an old aphorism that says "Your right to swing your fist ends where 
my nose begins."  The same applies to smoking. 



Tobacco smoke travels indiscriminately to all noses (and lungs) in the 
vicinity, regardless of the smoker's intentions. This secondhand smoke can be a 
killer. 


Smokers have a right to abuse their own bodies. But when their smoke meets 
someone else's nose, the health of that someone also becomes at risk. This 
happens continually in workplaces, restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and other 
public establishments. Areas reserved for smokers usually are not adequate for 
protection of nonsmoking patrons, who often get the drift, if you get our drift.  
And people who have to work in these areas have no protection at all. 


More than 1,700 cities and six states have enacted some sort of smoking ban 
in public buildings.  Entire countries -- Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Bhutan, 
Uganda, Ireland and Scotland -- have smokefree regulations on the books or in 
the works. 


The leaders of these cities, states and nations realize that the people who 
frequent public buildings deserve protection from potentially deadly secondhand 
smoke. 


It's time for Columbus to wake up and smell the smoke-free air. 


There are huge health benefits to having smoke-free buildings. Secondhand 
smoke is linked to lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma and other 
breathing problems, sudden infant death syndrome, breast cancer and many other 
diseases. 


Being smokefree also has economic benefits.  California and New York have 
demonstrated that business in restaurants and bars increases after smoking is 
prohibited, maintenance costs are lowered and smoking in general decreases, which 
leads to fewer medical problems, saving money for taxpayers. And smokefree 
workplace legislation costs little to implement. 


It's time to join the smokefree parade.