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Sign our online resolution in support of eliminating secondhand smoke in North Carolina's worksites and public places.

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2007 Legislative Session Bills

HB 24 -- Smoke-Free State Government Buildings

How You Can Help Make Your Local Government Buildings Smoke-Free

• HB 24 Talking Points

HB 259 -- Smoke-Free NC Worksites and Public Places

• HB 259 Talking Points
• HB 259- Protecting Workers

• HB 259 - Economic Impact

Secondhand Smoke

More Facts & Research Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet What is Preemption and What Does It Mean for North Carolinians?

The NC Alliance for Health actively advocates for policies that protect North Carolinians from exposure to secondhand smoke. Our long-term goal is to make NC workplaces and public places 100% smoke-free.

Every year secondhand smoke causes the deaths of 35,000 Americans. In North Carolina, 1,220 to 2,180 adults, children and babies die each year from others' smoking. On this page you will find information about the health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke and why ventilation systems are an ineffective alternative.

• Secondhand Smoke is Harmful to Health
• Secondhand Smoke Dramatically Affects Youth
• Smoke-Free Policies Are Good for Business
• Ventilation Systems Do Not Protect People from Exposure to Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand Smoke is Harmful to Health

• Every year secondhand smoke causes the deaths of 35,000 Americans¹. In North Carolina, 1,220 to 2,180 adults, children and babies die each year from others' smoking².
• Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke have been shown to have many of the same tobacco-related diseases as active smokers. Secondhand smoke has been shown to increase nonsmokers’ risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer¹.

Cardiovascular Disease/ Stroke

• As little as thirty minutes of exposure can trigger a heart attack in someone with heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that "…all patients at risk of coronary heart disease or with known coronary artery disease should be advised to avoid all indoor environments that permit smoking"³.
• Community restrictions on smoking in public places have reduced the incidence of heart attacks among bartenders by 40%⁴.

Cancer

• Secondhand smoke exposure has been shown to cause lung and nasal cancer in nonsmoking adults¹. An estimated 3,000 new cases of lung cancer per year are as a result of secondhand smoke exposure⁵.
• Non-smokers routinely exposed to secondhand smoke at work see their risk of lung cancer increase by at least 50%^{6 7 8}.

Secondhand Smoke Dramatically Affects Youth

• According to the National Cancer Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), young people exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk for lower respiratory infections, chronic ear infections, asthma, abdominal obesity, and hyperglycemia⁹ and can have impaired ability to learn, including reading deficits and deficits in math and reasoning¹⁰.
• Studies show that children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to start smoking as adolescents¹¹.
• Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are at increased risk to have low birth-weight babies¹².

Smoke-Free Policies Are Good for Business

• No rigorous, scientifically conducted study has found negative economic impact from smoke-free policies; some, in fact, have found an increase in restaurant and bar sales following local or statewide restrictions on smoking in public places¹³.
• The Journal Contemporary Economic Policy recently published an article showing that restaurant sales were higher in cities with smoke-free polices.
• According to the Society of Actuaries, the cost of secondhand smoke to the US economy is nearly $10 billion a year, ranging from medical bills to lost hours on the job¹⁴.
• The EPA estimates that smoke-free restaurants can expect to save about $190 per 1,000 square feet each year in lower cleaning and maintenance costs¹⁵.

Ventilation Systems Do Not Protect People from Exposure to Secondhand Smoke

• According to the CDC, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke⁵.
• The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is the international standard-setting body for a number of engineering practices, including ventilation. According to ASHRAE, ventilation and other air filtration technologies cannot eliminate all the health risks caused by secondhand smoke exposure, and because there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, tobacco smoke does not belong in indoor areas¹⁶.
• Ventilation Talking Points (NC Alliance for Health)
• Ventilation Technology Does Not Protest People from Secondhand Tobacco Smoke (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids)
• Smoke-Free Laws are Good for Business (American Cancer Society)
• Ventilation and Air Filtration (Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights)
• Position Statement: Engineers Should Follow Local Codes in Regard to Smoking (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)
• Airport Smoking Rooms Don't Work (British Medical Journal)

For more information, contact NC Alliance for Health at ncalliance@heart.org or 919-463-8328.

Citations

1. National Cancer Institute. Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke. Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 10. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute; 1999.
2. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids "The Toll of Tobacco in North Carolina" Fact Sheet, downloaded March 1, 2006 here.
3. Pechacek, TF and Babb, S How acute and reversible are the cardiovascular risks of secondhand smoke? BMJ. 2004 Apr 24;328(7446):980-3.
4. Sargent, RO, Shepard, RM and Glantz, SA Reduced incidence of admissions for myocardial infarction associated with public smoking ban: before and after study. BMJ 2004 328: 977-980.
   CDC – MMWR – Dec 24, 2004
5. Shopland, D.R.; Anderson, C.M.; Burns, D.M.; Gerlach, K.K., "Disparities in smoke-free workplace policies among food service workers," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(4): 347-356, April 2004.
6. Siegel, M. "Involuntary Smoking in Restaurant Workplace: A Review of Employee Exposure and Health Effects." JAMA, 270:490-493, 1993.
7. Johnson KC, Hu J, Mao Y. Lifetime residential and workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer in never-smoking women, Canada 1994-97. Int J Cancer. 2001 Sep;93(6):902-6.
8. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. Washington, DC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;1992. Pub. No. EPA/600/6-90/006F.
9. Yolton, K. et al., "Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Cognitive abilities of U.S. Children and Adolescents," Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(1): 98-103. Available here.
10. Becklake, M.R.,; Ghezzo, H.; Ernst, P., "Childhood predictors of smoking in adolescence: a follow-up study of Montreal schoolchildren," CMAJ 173(4): 377-379, August 16, 2005.
11. US Department of Health and Human Services. Women and smoking: a report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 2001.
12. Scollo, M., Lal, A., Hyland, A., Glantz, SA. Review of the quality of studies on the economic effects of smoke-free policies on the hospitality industry. Tobacco Control, 12: 13-20, 2003.
13. Behan, D.F.; Eriksen, M.P.; Lin, Y., "Economic Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke," Society of Actuaries, March 31, 2005. Download here. Accessed on August 17, 2005.
14. "The dollars (and sense) benefits of having a smoke-free workplace," Michigan Department of Community Health, [2000].
15. Samet, J.; Bohanon, Jr., H.R.; Coultas, D.B.; Houston, T.P.; Persily, A.K.; Schoen, L.J.; Spengler, J.; Callaway, C.A., "ASHRAE position document on environmental tobacco smoke," American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE),2005.