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Even 30 minutes of
secondhand smoke exposure
daily can cause heart damage similar to that
of a habitual smoker.
SECONDHAND SMOKE KILLS


People who are exposed to daily secondhand smoke have a 30% higher death and disease rate than that of non-smokers.


Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country, behind smoking and alcohol/drug abuse.


It is estimated that secondhand smoke causes 3,000 lung cancer deaths and more than 50,000 coronary heart disease deaths every year.


Secondhand smoke is also associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and unhealthy (lower birth weight) infants. Smoking by mothers is linked to a higher risk of their babies developing asthma in childhood.


Babies and children raised in a household where there is smoking have more ear infections, colds, bronchitis, and other respiratory problems than children from non-smoking families

 

 
 

FROM: The Wheeling (WV) News Intellegencer

DATE:Saturday, August 20, 2005

Authority to Ban Smoking Clear

http://www.news-register.net/letters/story/0820202005_let02.asp

Editor, News-Register:

Now that the court has ruled that the Ohio County Clean Indoor Air Regulation is legal, the strategy of those who oppose it is to propose that the smoking ban be put to a public vote. There are many public safety issues in our society which are mandated either by legislation or by rules and regulations and are not put before the public for a vote. Certain members of society may feel that they have the right to drive their vehicle at any speed which they feel is safe, or even that they can drive safely after they have been drinking, but these activities are a health risk not only to the person driving, but to members of the general public who are exposed to the driver. Motor vehicle speed limits and driving under the influence of alcohol were not left to voters to decide.

Asbestos has been proven to cause serious health problems to people who are exposed to it. It is banned from use in building and other materials, despite an individual's desire to use it in his own home or business. The use of asbestos was not left to voters to decide.

Tobacco products have been proven to cause serious health hazards to those who use them and to those who are exposed to second-hand smoke. If an attempt were to be made to introduce tobacco as a new product for public use today, it would be denied for public health reasons. The only reason that tobacco is still available to the public is because of the influence of the powerful tobacco lobby on politicians. As a compromise, tobacco sales were banned to people under 18 years of age. Even the federal government bans smoking in federal buildings, as do several states and multiple cities throughout the country. These indoor smoking bans were not left to voters to decide. Neither should the provisions of the Ohio County Clean Indoor Air Regulation.

Congratulations to Abbey's Restaurant & Lounge on Wheeling Island for displaying a banner announcing that they are smoke-free, as well as to all of the restaurants and bars who are complying with the Clean Indoor Air Regulation, and shame on those who are not. Fines and legal actions have been used against industries to clean up outdoor air pollution. Apparently the same will be needed to clean up indoor air pollution in Ohio County. So be it. And by the way (you guessed it), outdoor air pollution regulations were not left to voters to decide.

Barton Hershfield, M.D., Wheeling

Dr. Mercer Applauded

http://www.news-register.net/letters/story/0813202005_let01.asp

Editor, News Register:

I feel the need to address the letter that attacked Dr. Mercer. I cannot believe that the people who are making this a personal affront, as if Dr. Mercer has a personal vendetta against them. He is doing his job, which is protecting the citizens' health of Ohio County.

How can you attack someone who is protecting your children, your parents, your loved ones? If you are smoker and know the harm you are doing to yourself and you are OK with it, fine, but don't subject non-smokers to this known toxicity. How can you think it is OK to be the cause of future lung problems and potentially cancer because YOU want to smoke and disregard anyone else's wishes?

The letter states that non-smokers can just go somewhere else. Where are we supposed to go to avoid smoke if it is not a mandate? This should not be put up to vote as this is for the public's good. This isn't just a nuisance issue; there are real, scientifically documented health issues that are at stake here.

Dr. Mercer should be praised for the stand he is taking, not persecuted. The elected official(s) who were not following the law and made it public that they disagree with the best interests of the citizens do have their own personal reasons, such as perceived financial gain. Bigger cities such as Columbus, Ohio, which has also gone non-smoking in public places, haven't had this much resistance.

Smokers, step back and look at the whole situation - not just that you can't smoke whenever and wherever you want to. You should want to protect your children and others from harm. Can you honestly in good conscience think it is OK to smoke around others and not care how it affects them physically? For the persons with breathing problems such as a person who has to carry oxygen with them (highly flammable), cancer, asthma, and other health related issues, we thank you, Dr. Mercer for making it possible to once again be able to go to a restaurant and not worry that you cannot breathe because of the smoke haze.

Dr. Mercer should be applauded for looking out for the citizens' health in Ohio County.

T. Stanley

Wheeling

_______________________________

Smoking ban is a blessing

http://www.news-register.net/letters/story/0813202005_leteberhard.asp

Before the smoking ban was implemented, non-smokers rarely complained that our rights were being violated. Before the health risks of second-hand smoke were known, we thought the only discomfort we were forced to endure in the workplace and other public places was the unpleasant smell of someone else's cigarette smoke.

Now, however, despite the fact that second-hand smoke is known to be a very real risk, the only "right" we hear is the "loss" of some imagined right of smokers to befoul the air around them. It is suggested that if non-smokers don't like to breathe the smoke, we should stay home. Why not the other way around? If you can't go without smoking long enough to eat a meal, stay home! If you can't enjoy a beer with friends without smoking, invite them to your house! If you don't want to go outside to smoke at work, get another job! Doesn't sound so good, does it? The obvious solution is for you to smoke in the open air and let others breathe freely. Your rights have not been taken away. You can still smoke.

As you insist upon pointing out, smoking is legal. So are lots of other things that are restricted. You can drink alcohol legally but you can't drink alcohol and drive. It is certainly legal (and essential) to urinate, but you can't do it in public-even though no one is put at risk if you do. Every time a smoker lights up in a public place the right of others to breathe air free of carcinogenic substances is taken away. I'm tired of hearing the whining of smokers that it is their right to light up anytime and anyplace just because smoking is legal. You don't have a right to infringe upon my rights, especially when you put me at risk for heart trouble and cancer that I have chosen not to take.

The other complaint I hear is that the smoking regulation was imposed by non-elected officials, as if we are so nobly served by our elected officials that we can trust them in everything, without question. First of all, our rights are restricted every day by non-elected officials. Perhaps you have heard of the United States Supreme Court. Non-elected, appointed for life, and accountable to no one! Yet their decisions often have the effect of changing our lives and restricting our rights.

Non-elected federal and state agencies and administrations have regulatory powers that are equivalent to law. The Food and Drug Administration absolutely restricts when, where, how and why you are permitted to buy and sell legal, prescribed, but controlled, drugs. The Federal Aviation Administration restricts where and when you can fly your plane, assuming you have a pilot's license. I am required to have a nursing license, issued by the non-elected West Virginia Board of Nursing, in order to work. They have the power to make regulations about nursing practice in West Virginia, and to take my license away if I don't follow their rules, on and off the job. The Board of Medicine has the same power over the practice of physicians in the state. No one complains about these restrictions or suggests that they should be put to a vote. There is absolutely nothing unusual about non-elected officials regulating aspects of our every day lives.

The Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health was given the authority to regulate smoking in public places by the West Virginia Supreme Court-an elected body.

The issue is health, not rights. The Board of Health, unlike elected officials, are not beholden to special interests and contributors. Their decisions are based on their mission, which is to protect the public health, not whether they will lose votes in the next election.

The smoking ban is a blessing for all of us, smokers and non-smokers alike. Because smokers are breathing in second-hand smoke as well as the smoke they inhale, they are put at a second risk on top of the one they chose to take. We should be thanking the Board of Health, not criticizing them with cliches that miss the point entirely, or soliciting signatures on petitions to put the ban to a vote.

Sally Eberhard

Wheeling

_______________________________

Wakim Wrong on Ban

http://www.news-register.net/letters/story/0813202005_let02.asp

Editor, News-Register:

Christopher Wakim's contention that the Wheeling-Ohio Clean Indoor Air Regulation should be put to a vote is tangible proof that he hasn't even a rudimentary grasp of the functions of government. Agencies that issue regulations have been in place for many, many years and any legislator should know that. The boards and commissions that write regulations are usually made up of members of the public who have been appointed because of their special expertise, professional qualifications, and a willingness to serve, usually for no compensation.

What else does Mr. Wakim want the voters to approve? Food service regulations? Environmental and coal mine regulations? Electrical contractor regulations?

What this boils down to is that Mr .Wakim sounds like a tobacco company lobbyist, just like Mayor Fred Peddicord of Kingwood, a Philip Morris lobbyist who similarly tried to foil the regulation in Preston County a few years ago.

The good people who have served on county health boards in West Virginia have sometimes had to take on the tobacco industry, suffer ridiculous and expensive lawsuits, and otherwise bear the brunt of an assault by a bunch of phony tobacco lobbyists. It's to the boards' credit that very few have backed down, and they have done an outstanding job of protecting the public from threats to their health.

Mike Harmen

St.Albans, W.Va

__________________________________

Doctors Should Back Ban

http://www.news-register.net/letters/story/0813202005_let04.asp

Editor, News-Register:

Is there a doctor in the house? Why do local doctors stay out of the fray that Dr. Mercer has started? To my knowledge not one doctor has been outspoken in support of Dr. Mercer's courageous stand on the smoking issue. Why not a full-page ad with all the doctors signing on in support of the health commission's effort to curtail, arguably, the largest health risk in our society. Surely the doctors, trained in research and reading research, know that smoking and its inevitable companion, passive smoke, are not just a fiction of someone's imagination. The voluminous amount of research in medical science leaves no doubt about the effects of tobacco smoke causing lung cancer, emphysema, and coronary disease, just to mention a few of smoke's effects.

The doctors had no problem banding together, raising money and putting their names in the public sector when they were opposing the unreasonable high insurance rates.

I can't believe that there is one doctor who rejects the research on smoking. If the doctors would learn their important names to the cause, the importance of them to their patients, and the respect they get and deserve from the public will, in my estimation, put a tremendous force behind the ban - an important move to deal with one of the most significant health problems of our lives.

Al Blatnik

Wheeling

 

 
 

 

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