Monday, August 04, 2008
Editorial: Protecting nonsmokers
Latest CDC data show that indoor smoking bans work. Virginia should pass one.
From the RoundTable blog
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Just as the right to swing your fist ends at someone else's nose, the "right" to smoke ends at someone else's lungs.
But a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that nearly half of American nonsmokers showed significant exposure to nicotine in blood tests taken between 1999 and 2004.
The good news is that the number, 46 percent, is down significantly from the 84 percent who showed exposure in tests taken in the late '80s and early '90s.
The bad news is that high numbers of those who remain exposed are children -- more than 60 percent of children had been exposed recently to secondhand smoke, according to the survey.
The study is based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants give blood samples, are given a physical exam and are asked questions about their health.
As the CDC reminds in the summary of the study's release, there is no safe exposure to secondhand smoke. Exposure can cause heart and lung disease, and increases the chance of sudden infant death syndrome.
The CDC mainly credits indoor smoking bans for the decline of toxins in nonsmokers, but notes that the primary exposure for children is in the home, which explains why their rate of exposure has not declined as much as the general population's.
This new study is yet more evidence that indoor clean air acts work --and that one is needed in Virginia.
But, though many states ban smoking in all indoor workplaces, Virginia's General Assembly has yet to pass even a ban on smoking in restaurants.
Opponents to the restaurant ban claim it's an infringement on the right of businesses to operate as they see fit.
But businesses cannot operate unsafe workplaces, and exposing workers to secondhand smoke is a definite health hazard.
Indoor smoking bans work. They reduce the exposure of nonsmokers to the toxins that smokers subject themselves to -- whether by choice or because of addiction.
The General Assembly should protect Virginia's nonsmoking citizens and pass an indoor clean air act.
