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April 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda SUNDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) — A new survey of American
apartment dwellers reveals that upwards of a third of nonsmoking residents
sniff the stench of secondhand smoke in their building’s public spaces,
while almost half smell it within their own homes.
“As a pediatrician, I have had a lot of feedback from parents who have
been telling me that this is really a significant issue for them,” said
study author Dr. Karen Wilson. “But I do think for many people this is a
relatively new concept to think about, in terms of looking at the
situation and the potential impact, and then being able to do something
about it.”
Wilson is the section head of pediatric hospital medicine at Children’s
Hospital Colorado, and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the
University of Colorado School of Medicine. The findings are set for Sunday
presentation at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, in
Boston.
The survey focused on the experiences of 323 nationally representative
respondents, and was conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics
Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, an advocacy group aimed at
safeguarding children from cigarettes and secondhand smoke.
The researchers surveyed apartment residents whose own homes had been
smoke-free for a minimum of three months. All the participants were drawn
from a larger 2011 Social Climate Survey.
They were asked about their building’s smoking restrictions; family
composition; where they smelled secondhand smoke and how often.
Among those who reported smelling secondhand smoke, 38 percent said it
happened weekly and 12 percent said they noticed the smell daily.
Nonsmoking residents were more likely to indicate that the smell of
secondhand smoke was an issue in common areas if they had children: 41
percent of respondents with children reported some degree of public area
smoke incursion, compared with 26 percent of childless residents.
Households with children were less likely to report such smoke
incursions within their own unit: 34 percent vs. 60 percent among
childless residents.
The survey found that those whose housing costs were underwritten to
some degree by government subsidies were also more likely to report smoke
incursion.
Building regulations only seemed to have an appreciable impact on
secondhand smoke if they involved total bans, the survey found. Smoke-free
buildings had lower rates of common-area smoking incursion than those with
no restrictions. By contrast, secondhand smoke smells in public spaces was
as much of a problem in buildings featuring common-area-only bans as they
were in buildings featuring no restrictions whatsoever.
“We clearly saw that a total ban is much more effective than a partial
ban,” Wilson noted. “And with that I would say that while I absolutely
support moves to ban smoking in the workplace, at the very least adults
have some choice in the matter in terms of their being able to leave a job
or go somewhere else if they come into a work environment where smoking is
still allowed. Children in the home, however, do not have that
choice.”
“Parents need to advocate and speak up, and say ‘I don’t want my
children to be exposed while they’re sleeping, doing their homework or
playing at home,'” she added. “And they should ask their landlord about
smoking regulations in any apartment building they’re considering before
they move in.”
For her part, one advocate said that the issue of smoking incursion in
apartment dwellings complements her organization’s prime focus “to get
smoke-free indoor air everywhere we can.”
“We certainly think that residents have an absolutely legitimate right
to at least know whether they are going to be exposed to this kind of
health risk when they are considering moving into an apartment,” said
Marie Cocco, a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“Because we know that secondhand smoke is a deadly substance that contains
more than 7,000 chemicals, 69 of which, at least, cause cancer.”
Cocco said her organization has publicly endorsed measures, such as the
one recently unveiled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which would
require multi-dwelling apartment buildings to fully disclose their smoking
policy to all prospective renters and buyers.
“The Surgeon General has clearly [described secondhand smoke risks such
as] lung cancer and heart disease among adults, and respiratory and ear
infections and asthma among babies and children,” she added.
Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and
conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a
peer-reviewed journal.
More information
For more on secondhand smoke, visit the American Cancer Society.
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