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Published: Thursday, November 16, 2006 Escanaba Daily Press |
World No Tobacco Day / Smokefree Apartments Campaign |
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Editorial: Going smoke-free moving forward Escanaba Daily Press |
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DATE: May 30, 2006 TO: Daily Press; Eagle Herald FROM: Lynn Hill, Community Tobacco Reduction Coordinator, 789-8105 SUBJECT: World No Tobacco Day / Smokefree Apartments Campaign World No Tobacco Day is sponsored annually on May 31st by the World Health Organization (WHO) to call attention to the serious health impact of tobacco and secondhand smoke on health. Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties, in conjunction with the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project, has launched an Upper Peninsula wide advertising campaign to continue the effort to increase the number of smokefree apartments in the Upper Peninsula and Delta & Menominee counties in recognition of World No Tobacco Day. According to Lynn Hill, Tobacco Prevention Coalition Coordinator of Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties, many landlords are now designating a significant number of their apartments smokefree. We would like to increase that number even further so that tenants will be protected from the dangers of secondhand smoke and fires caused by cigarettes. It's a definite win-win situation for tenants, their families and landlords. We will air two humorous and informative radio ads in the Upper Peninsula beginning May 31st, encouraging tenants to ask for smokefree apartments and encouraging landlords to adopt smokefree policies in their buildings. Ms. Hill said, "We’ve known for years that secondhand tobacco smoke is a scientifically proven cause of cancer and heart disease and that it is a serious threat to the health of all people, but especially to children, older persons and those with asthma, emphysema and other respiratory diseases. Because people spend a substantial amount of time in their homes, we have long promoted smoke-free homes as a healthy lifestyle choice. But, for many apartment residents who don't smoke, their apartment may still be filled with secondhand smoke because a neighbor's cigarette, cigar or pipe smoke seeps into their apartment." Jim Bergman, the director from the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project (SFELP) of The Center for Social Gerontology, Inc. (TCSG), in Ann Arbor states, Landlords are now aware that it is legal to require tenants and their guests to not smoke anywhere in their apartment buildings. They are delighted to be able to designate their buildings smokefree because they have happy tenants, their maintenance costs drop significantly because they don't have cigarette burns on carpets or furniture or yellow nicotine stains on the walls and ceilings, and 80% of the population doesn't smoke, so their market niche is substantial." To learn more about smokefree apartments or to obtain a listing of local smokefree apartments, call Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties or visit www.smokefreeup.org. For additional information on smokefree apartments visit http://www.mismokefreeapartment.org or go to the Apartments and Condominiums sections of the SFELP website at http://www.tcsg.org/sfelp/apartment.htm and http://www.tcsg.org/sfelp/condos.htm. For more information on World No Tobacco Day, visit http://www.who.int/tobacco/communications/events/wntd/2006/en/. |