2011年11月30日星期三

Roseville group aims for smoke-free apartments

Some smokers may feel like the home is the last sanctuary where they can smoke in peace.

But what happens when that home shares walls or a ventilation system with the home of someone else?

A local group called Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke, or KIISS, is on a mission to encourage apartment owners in Roseville to offer smoke-free buildings.

They’re not asking for a complete ban on cigarette smoking in apartments — at least, not yet. For now, they want landlords to set aside buildings specifically for non-smokers.

“(Currently), the onus is really on the person offended,” said President Paul McIntyre. “If someone blasts music too loud it shouldn’t be, ‘Well, I’ll move.’ It should be, ‘Turn down the music.’”

The same policy should refer to smokers, he said, because inhaling secondhand smoke has proven health consequences.

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke.

The California Air Resources Board has identified secondhand smoke as an airborne toxic substance that may cause or contribute to serious illness or death.

McIntyre has solicited the help of Devon Kelley, 31, in his campaign. The mother of three lives in an apartment complex in Roseville. In 2008, a chain smoker moved into the unit below her apartment.

“My whole life I’ve never been around cigarette smoke,” Kelley said. “It’s always been disgusting to me.”

She complained to management but she says they brushed her off and explained there’s nothing they can do.

In 1985, McIntyre was working as a public relations adviser for the California Restaurant Association, which was fighting the smoking ban in restaurants. His association felt that decision should be left up to each dining establishment.

Then,Unlike traditional high risk merchant account , in 1993, the U.S.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors, Environmental Protection Agency designated tobacco smoke as a human (class A) carcinogen, which means the substance causes cancer in people. So, the restaurant association switched gears and became the first in the United States to support a smoking ban.

California now prohibits smoking in all workplaces and bars, and has the second-lowest smoking rate in the nation, behind Utah.

“When we were done, it was so controversial, I never wanted to touch tobacco again,” McIntyre said.

But he subsequently heard overwhelming support for the ban.

McIntyre formed Roseville-based KIISS in 2000 and started the voluntary smoke-free homes and cars campaign to limit children’s exposure to secondhand smoke. He recently directed his focus to smoke-free apartments, following the lead of other cities such as Richmond and Larkspur.

“We don’t want to come across as smoker haters,Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber.” McIntyre said. “We just want non-smokers to be able to raise their kids in a smoke-free environment.If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards,”

As for Kelley,ceramic magic cube for the medical, she spoke to her neighbor about the smoke, but that led to arguments between the two.

“She said, ‘It’s a free country, I have a right to smoke.’ Well, I have the right to breathe clean air and you’re making that impossible,” Kelley said.

Meanwhile, her kids had constant ear infections, said Kelley, who is in school to become a registered nurse. Kids exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, acute respiratory infections, and more frequent and severe asthma attacks, according to the National Health Institute.

Kelley felt stuck: She couldn’t afford to break her contract and move, but she also couldn’t continue putting up with the smoke.

“We can avoid casinos,” she said. “I can’t avoid our apartment.”

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