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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion -- Taking Action Against Second Hand Smoke

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 An Online Toolkit
  On This Page
What is Secondhand Smoke?
Working to Reduce Secondhand Smoke
You Can Make a Difference
Getting the Information You Need
More to Come...
Information on Secondhand Smoke Exposure in the Home

What is Secondhand Smoke?

Secondhand smoke (SHS), sometimes referred to as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning ends of a cigarette, pipe, cigar, bidis, and kreteks (sidestream smoke) and the smoke emitted at the mouthpiece and exhaled from the lungs of smokers (mainstream smoke).1,2

The widespread practice of smoking in buildings exposes nonsmoking occupants to combustion by-products under conditions where airborne contaminant removal is slow and uncertain. Over the past two decades, medical science has shown that nonsmokers suffer many of the diseases of active smoking when they breathe secondhand smoke.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cause cancer. Unfortunately, the general public’s exposure to secondhand smoke is much higher than most people realize.

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Working to Reduce Secondhand Smoke Exposure

In January 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched Healthy People 2010, a comprehensive, nationwide health promotion and disease prevention agenda. Healthy People 2010 contains 467 objectives designed to serve as a road map for improving the health of all people in the United States during the first decade of the 21st century.

Several of these objectives relate to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. One objective is to reduce nonsmoker exposure to secondhand smoke from 65% to 45% nationwide by 2010.

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You Can Make a Difference

This toolkit is designed to provide you with the tools you need to take action to reduce secondhand smoke in your community, whether you are

  • New to local advocacy.
  • An experienced advocate tackling the issue of secondhand smoke for the first time.
  • A member of an active coalition already familiar with the issue.

To be most effective, collaborate with a coalition in your area. Contact the local branch of health organizations such as the American Heart Association,* American Cancer Society,* or American Lung Association.* They can let you know about groups you can join in your area, and they may already have begun efforts to tackle the problem of secondhand smoke in your community.

If you find that your community does not have a coalition working on this issue, you can learn how to Build a Coalition* so that your efforts will be effective.

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Getting the Information You Need

The Public Places section of this toolkit is complete with

  • Action Steps to follow to successfully implement a clean indoor air policy for public buildings in your community—with direct links to the tools you need to complete these steps.
  • Tools and materials that you can reproduce for your campaign.
  • An extensive Resources section where you can get more information on demand.
  • Best Practices information to help you make your campaign successful.
  • Key reports and other data about Secondhand Smoke.

Check out the Fact Sheet for the most recent statistics and research on secondhand smoke.

The Workplaces section is also complete. It is organized similarly to the Public Places section, except that it also contains information for employers and employees.

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More to Come...

Additional information will be added to the toolkit in the months ahead. Be sure to come back and get what you need to tackle the issue of secondhand smoke in

  • Restaurants and bars
  • Schools

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For Information on Secondhand Smoke Exposure in the Home

For information on reducing secondhand smoke exposure in the home, see the information that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides on this topic at http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ets/.

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Footnotes

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Indoor Environments Division. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Last updated May 29, 2002. Accessed July 24, 2002.
     
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Toxicology Program. 9th Report on Carcinogens, January 2001. 2001. Accessed July 24, 2002.

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Thanks

Special thanks to the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition.


*  Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.


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This page last reviewed August 16, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Office on Smoking and Health