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9/ accessHealthnews.net Winer 2014 All Choked Up The Realities of Secondhand Smoke area a healthier place to live, work, and play. The rate of adult smoking in Lafayette County is 19%, which is lower than the state rate of 23%, but higher than the national average of 18%. Lafayette County is en- gaging youth in the fight against tobacco. In the past three years, all six public schools have participated in a S.W.A.G. (Stu- dents With a Goal) training pro- gram to learn about the health effects of tobacco, and Big To- bacco marketing techniques. These students have then had activities in their own communi- ties to promote tobacco preven- tion and awareness. Barriers: Lack of awareness that secondhand smoke is a health issue for our community. Q: What danger does secondhand smoke pose? A: I recently attended a meeting in which the speaker had a very close friend who died from throat cancer. This person never smoked a cigarette in her life, but was exposed to secondhand smoke at her place of work. The person was a dealer at a casino in Las Vegas. After her throat cancer diagnosis, this woman went through treatment and was in remission. She decided to get her real estate license so she could change jobs and avoid ex- posure to secondhand smoke. After working as a real estate agent for a few years, the hous- ing market went south and this woman had to go back to work at the casino to make a living for herself and her teenage son. This woman eventually died from throat cancer. She left behind a teenage boy. Should people be forced to choose be- tween their health and making a living? I've heard people say that they can get a job else- where, but can they? And more importantly, should they have to? Secondhand smoke is a Class A carcinogen (cancer causing agent), just like asbes- tos. As a society, we do not expect people to work in a room filled with asbestos, but we ex- pect someone to work in a room filled with secondhand smoke. Q: What about people who don't consider the dangers of secondhand smoke? A: The Surgeon General's report states that there is NO risk-free level of secondhand smoke. If you are a non-smoker, but are exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis, your body will still absorb nicotine and other harmful substances. These dan- gerous substances linger in the air for approximately four hours, and breathing in these particles for only minutes can harm you. According to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, five minutes of ex- posure stiffens the aorta as much as smoking a cigarette; 20 to 30 minutes causes excessive blood clotting, as well as increases fat deposit build-up in blood vessels – which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke; and two hours increases the chance of irregular heart beat (arrhythmia) and can trigger a fatal cardiac event or heart attack. In the United States, approxi- mately 3,000 adults die each year due to lung cancer from secondhand smoke exposure. Heart disease caused by second- hand smoke kills approximately 46,000 non-smokers every year. People who already have heart disease are at an especially high risk of suffering negative effects, and should avoid even brief ex- posure. (Health and Human Ser- vices) The Cleveland Clinic also reports that young children are especially vulnerable to secondhand smoke. Infants and children who are regularly exposed to second- hand smoke have an increased chance of developing the follow- ing conditions: Frequent colds and respiratory infections (in- cluding bronchitis and pneumo- nia); slow or incomplete lung growth and development; chronic and/or recurrent ear infections; and Sudden Infant Death Syn- drome (SIDS). Q: What negative trends are you seeing among youth? A: Tobacco companies are very smart. As more clean indoor air ordinances are passed, the to- bacco companies have developed more smokeless products and E-cigarettes. Many of these products are marketed to youth, with many flavors and some that look like candy. These products promote, 'take back your free- dom,' when in fact after you are addicted to nicotine, you have no freedom. Your life is dictated by your addiction to the nicotine. Chewing tobacco is popular among our youth in rural commu- nities. Many think that chewing tobacco is a safer alternative to cigarettes, but that's not true. Chewing tobacco leads to tooth decay, esophageal, mouth, pan- creatic, lip, pharynx and tongue cancer. Q: How will smoke-free ordi- nances benefit the county? A: Clean air ordinances protect workers and patrons. There is no risk-free level of exposure to sec- ondhand smoke. If it's in the air, it's in your lungs and in your heart. The only protection for non-smokers is to completely avoid secondhand smoke. Some communities that have passed a clean air ordinance have shown a drop in heart attack rates in their emergency rooms. Smoke-free ordinances encour- age youth not to start this habit. If we could keep youth from ever using tobacco products, we could defeat Big Tobacco! Studies show that smoke-free ordinances do NOT hurt businesses. Reviews of tax revenues have shown no neg- ative impacts on eating and drinking establishment sales. Tobacco use is the #1 PREVENT- ABLE cause of disease and death in the United States. Passing tobacco-free ordinances is a proven way to reduce tobacco use. LCPC hopes that smoke free someday becomes the new nor- mal. Everyone deserves the right to breathe clean air in public plac- es and at work! About LCPC LCPC meets the third Monday of every month at 4:30 p.m. Call for a location. Tobacco prevention is the group's initial focus. LCPC's goals and objectives are to: raise aware- ness about tobacco-related health issues; establish smoke-free en- vironments through policy change; decrease tobacco con- sumption and the number of new users; and decrease tobacco-re- lated disease and mortality. Contact Glenda Bertz at 660 259-4371, ext 229 or email bertzg@lpha.mopublic.org. The Lafayette County Prevention Coalition (LCPC) aims to raise awareness in the community about the dangers of second hand smoke, and the benefits of tobacco-free communities. Glenda Bertz, assistant adminis- trator at the Lafayette County Health Department (LCHD), said that people are often aware of the health hazards of tobacco for the person using the tobacco product, but don't consider the health effects of secondhand smoke. The following Q&A sheds some sobering realities about the issue. Q. How do you rate the county on smoke-free polices? A: I would rate Lafayette County at around a 3, on a scale of 1-10. Thirty four communities in Mis- souri have passed smoke-free ordinances to protect people in public places and at work. Lafay- ette County currently has no smoke-free ordinances. Some restaurants and businesses have chosen to be smoke-free volun- tarily. A list of these businesses can be found at LafayetteCountyHealth.org Missouri has the LOWEST ciga- rette tax in the nation at 17 cents per pack. First Call Alcohol/Drug Prevention and Recovery con- ducted a community readiness survey in 2011 that suggests Lafayette County is at the "vague awareness" level of readiness. There is some local concern, but no immediate motivation to do anything about it. I don't think that residents in Lafayette Coun- ty view secondhand smoke as an issue that needs to be addressed. I think many people see it as a personal decision for those who choose to use tobacco, and fail to see how it affects our community. Q: Specifically, what are the county's strengths and weak- ness as it relates to tobacco- free policies? A: Strengths - Lafayette County has several businesses that have voluntarily chosen to be smoke free. These businesses are listed on the LCHD website. All of the school districts have tobacco-free policies for the buildings, man- dated by law, but not all schools have tobacco-free campuses. Employees and visitors are al- lowed to smoke on campus premises at some school dis- tricts. Now, Lafayette County has a coalition that is working on eventually passing smoke-free ordinances that would make the By Tonia Wright

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