Let your lawmakers know secondhand smoke kills

Publication Date: 2007-04-15

• Author:Todd Enneking
• Publication:Rockford (IL) Register-Star

Imagine smoking the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes a day and you’re not even a smoker.

If you work an eight-hour shift in a smoky environment, you could be breathing the equivalent of 16 cigarettes each time you go to work and be more likely to develop cancer, heart disease and respiratory problems.

Secondhand smoke is a true health hazard. In Illinois, nearly 3,000 nonsmokers will die simply from exposure to secondhand smoke this year. . . .

The American Cancer Society supports any effort to stop the disease and death caused by secondhand smoke. By passing a statewide smoke-free law, lawmakers have the power to prevent needless suffering, sickness and death caused by secondhand smoke.

On Tuesday, send a message to your state legislators that everyone deserves to breathe smoke-free air. This clean-air fight is about one issue only ­ saving lives. Secondhand smoke kills. It doesn’t have to. To learn more, visit smokefreeillinois.net.