The issue of smoking in free standing homes is somewhat different from
the issue of smoking in multi-housing. Air in apartment buildings moves
within the walls, through cracks under doors, around cut outs for pipes,
bath tubs, etc. Air movement is influenced by turning exhaust fans on
and off, opening and closing windows and even wind hitting the building
from the outside. Tobacco smoke travels from one unit to another. On
lower floors, most of the air coming into the unit is fresh air. In
upper level units much of the air flowing into the unit originated in
another apartment. Odor is not the harmful part of tobacco smoke, it is
just a marker. If you can smell it, it is there. Controlling odor is
hard enough, controlling the vapors, particulates and gasses released by
burning cigarettes is complicated business indeed. The particulates (in
particular) tend to be sticky and clog fans, and stick resolutely to
walls and other surfaces. They then "off-gas", continuing to pollute
the air.
As there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke (a group
A{known human} carcinogen) it really does make sense to increase the
availability of smokefree housing so that people who would like to avoid
this unnecessary risk can do so if they choose. Only 2% of Minnesota's
rental housing is smoke-free.
If you happen to find this topic fascinating, please check out the ANSR
website for even more titillating information. ANSRMN.org
M Charles Swope wrote:
>
>
>
> --- Thomas Swift <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> "They [are] hard at work getting smoking outlawed
> within the walls of private residences."
>
> If children are present in a private home, it ought to
> be illegal to smoke there. Not only are children
> exposed to second hand smoke being put at a risk from
> a health standpoint, they are also likely to become
> smokers themselves.
>
> It actually makes more sense to ban smoking in private
> homes where children are present than it does to ban
> it in bars and restaurants. Adults have a choice to
> enter or work in the latter while children have no
> choice about where to live (this is not to say there
> aren't good reasons to ban smoking in bars and
> retaurants).
>
> Exposing children to cigarette smoke is a form of
> abuse and ought to be treated as such.
>
> Charlie Swope
> Ward 1
>
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Jeanne Weigum
651-646-3005
fax 651-646-0142
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