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Secondhand tobacco smoke is by far the most dangerous air pollutant most Americans ever encounter.
- A burning cigarette is a little toxic waste dump on fire, emitting benzene, formaldehyde, ammonia, cyanide, arsenic, and many of the same chemicals in diesel exhaust.
- Secondhand smoke has the same effect on non-smokers as on smokers: heart attacks, asthma attacks and other breathing problems (particularly in children), lung and other cancers.
- There is no safe level of secondhand smoke. Restaurant, bar, and casino workers involuntarily inhale enough secondhand smoke every day to suffer some of the identical health effects observed in pack-a-day smokers.
Every authoritative, peer-reviewed assessment of the scientific evidence over the years has concluded that secondhand smoke causes a lengthening list of diseases.
The only dissent has come from Big Tobacco and the scientists and organizations affiliated with it. Researchers supported by Big Tobacco are 88 times more likely than independent researchers to conclude there is no evidence that secondhand smoke is dangerous. The determinant? Who paid for the study.
Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke is dangerous.
- 20 minutes exposure = smoker's blood platelets
- 30 minutes exposure = smoker's arteries and lingering cholesterol effects
- 120 minutes = greater risk of irregular heartbeat
Health risk to patrons is obvious, but what about hospitality staff?
- Restaurant and bar workers have much longer exposure than patrons.
- Restaurant, bar, and casino workers are exposed to the highest levels of secondhand smoke of any occupational or demographic group — levels 300-600% higher than other workers exposed to secondhand smoke on the job.
- Hospitality workers have less protection than any other groups of workers.
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