Many people know secondhand smoke is a danger to health. However, most people, including many health professionals, don't realize just how dangerous it is, especially inside multifamily housing like apartment buildings.
Why is Secondhand Smoke a Big Threat to Health?
According to the American Lung Association: Secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year.
Between 1964 and 2014, 2.5 million people died from exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the 2014 report from the U.S. Surgeon General. The report also concluded that secondhand smoke is a definitive cause of stroke.
There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or ...
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the only catastrophe harming the health of Latinos and other communities of color. Natural disasters—such as the massive snowstorm that rocked the Texas’ energy grid in February 2021 or Hurricane Harvey that decimated South Texas in 2017—can have long-lasting impacts. These devastating weather events are directly linked to Climate Change, experts say. Many of the world’s most successful corporations are among the worst contributors to global warming. Worse, those corporations aren’t doing enough to help solve the issue, according to recent numbers from the international climate management group, whose report outlines the slow progress. “The Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark shows there is an urgent need for greater ...
Secondhand smoke damages people’s health every day, including those who live in or occupy places that allow smoking. In Horizon City—a suburb outside of El Paso, one of the cities with the state’s highest Latino population (% Latino)—local leaders just banned smoking in public spaces and businesses. The ban aims to ensure that all who live in the Texas suburb can live without having to breathe in smoke, according to Eva Olivas, the community impact director for the American Heart Association of El Paso and a Horizon City resident. “When people live and work in a smoke-free environment, they can literally breathe easier because they aren’t being exposed to the diseases and risks that come from secondhand smoke,” she told the El Paso Herald-Post. “Far too many ...
As the impacts of climate change continue to wreak havoc on communities across the globe, US Latinos are calling on leaders in Washington to do something. The new Biden presidential administration—one that has voiced its support for science and wants to do something about this issue—is working to make headway, despite four years of environmental rollbacks and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Still, communities of color, who will face the most significant harm, need wide-sweeping and immediate change, according to Ben Monterroso, a board chair of the national non-profit, Corazón Latino. “The strong support for the environment and climate action among Latinos continues a trend that has been building for years,” Monterroso writes in a recent USA Today op-ed. “Our elected ...
Despite the swearing-in of President Joe Biden, a proposed rule from former president Donald Trump is still in the works to further deregulate harmful chemicals in products. This kind of action could lead to health consequences among the workers who use pesticides with the chemical Chlorpyrifos, as well as the communities where those products are used. California already bans the chemical. The only way to ensure protection is to stop this rule before it is approved, according to George Kimbrell, the legal director for The Center for Food Safety. “True to form, the Trump Administration has placed corporate dollars over public health,” he said in a recent statement. “If allowed to stand, its proposal to continue registering this neurotoxic insecticide would cause irreparable ...
By choosing to not smoke indoors, a smoker deserves a thank-you for protecting their family, friends, and neighbors from secondhand smoke. That’s why the new “Mil Gracias (A Thousands Thanks) for Not Smoking Indoors!” campaign from UT Health San Antonio is inviting people share gratitude for smokers who respect others’ air during the COVID-19 respiratory pandemic: Email a “thank you” to smokers who protect others by not smoking indoors.
Sign a letter acknowledging secondhand smoke's danger to health.
Download an Action Pack to promote smoke-free multifamily housing in your city. The Mil Gracias campaign features English and Spanish flyers with key messages to help people reduce their risk for smoking-related diseases and COVID-19. “Smokers have the power ...
More and more Californians are working toward a tobaccoless future. In the city of Crescent City, Calif., residents will no longer be able to smoke in multi-unit housing. A new ordinance, recently passed by the City Council, aims to reduce the harmful toxins non-smokers face when facing secondhand smoke inside their apartments or condos. The city joins a list of over 60 other California cities with similar policies. Secondhand smoke is linked to cancer and heart disease. There is even data to suggest that some forms of exposure are more harmful than other, such as sidestream exposure — a mix of mainstream smoke, the smoke exhaled out by a smoker, and sidestream smoke from the burning tobacco product. “[Sidestream] smoke has higher concentrations of cancer-causing agents ...
“Ever wondered why your neighborhood looks how it does?” Jennifer Rangel once asked herself this question. To find an answer, Rangel got a master’s degree in urban planning. Along the way, this Latina planner learned that discriminatory urban planning practices, like the zoning of land, had been used for white advantage for over a century, segregating communities and forging inequities in health and wealth among Latinos and other people of color. Rangel wanted to share what she learned. So she helped create workshops─then bilingual animated videos─to train neighborhood leaders, social workers, and others about zoning and how to get involved in zoning changes. “Understanding zoning is a critical step for residents as they try to undo previous harms and to ...
Exposure to the fumes from harmful tobacco products, such as cigarettes and cigars, can severely affect people, especially in children. Recent research shows that children who live with a smoker are more likely to become hospitalized than their peers living in smoke-free households. According to Dr. Ashley Merianos, an associate professor in the School of Human Services at the University of Cincinnati, this data does not come as a complete surprise. "In past studies, we found up to nearly one-in-two children who come to the pediatric emergency department are exposed to tobacco smoke," Merianos told The Denver Channel. "We also found that the children who had been exposed had increased respiratory-related procedures, increased diagnostic testing. So, for example, being tested for ...
