1. A California Environmental Protection Agency’s review in 1997 reports the chemicals found in secondhand smoke exposure is causally linked to lung and nasal sinus cancer, heart disease and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS.) Serious impacts on children include asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, middle ear infections, meningitis, chronic respiratory symptoms, and low birth weight. (Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Final Report, Sacramento: California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, September 1997)
2. The chemicals found in secondhand smoke include irritants and systemic toxicants, mutagens and carcinogens, and reproductive and developmental toxicants. To date, over 50 compounds in tobacco smoke have been identified as cancer causing agents. (Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Final Report, Sacramento: California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, September 1997)
3. Workers exposed to secondhand smoke on the job are 34% more likely to get lung cancer. (Fontham, et al. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 1991; 135:35-43)
4. The scientific evidence regarding the health effects of secondhand smoke did not begin with the release of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in 1992. As early as 1975, there was evidence in the scientific literature that secondhand smoke was a cause of cardiac and respiratory disease.
5. The health risks associated with smoking for both men and women are well known, and include a two-fold increase in risks of heart disease and of cancers of the bladder, stomach and pancreas and a ten-fold increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking also significantly increases risks of stroke and pneumonia. (InteliHealth, www.intelihealth.com, May 1, 2001)
6. Most health risks associated with smoking are reduced or eventually eliminated when smoking abstinence is maintained.
7. Every time a smoker lights up around a nonsmoker, the smoker negatively impacts the health of those who chose not to smoke.
8. Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in lifetime nonsmokers.


9. Research indicates: (CNS Drugs, May 2001)

ü   Nicotine replacement therapy may not be as effective for women.

ü   Women smokers are more fearful than men of gaining a lot of weight if they quit.

ü   Medications to aid smoking cessation are not currently recommended for pregnant women.

ü   A woman’s menstrual cycle affects tobacco withdrawal symptoms and responses to anti-smoking drugs may vary by cycle phase.

ü   Husbands may provide less effective support to women who are trying to quit smoking than wives give to husbands.

ü   Women may be more susceptible than men to environmental cues to smoking, such as smoking with specific friends or smoking associated with specific moods.

ü   Many women may enjoy the feeling of control associated with smoking a cigarette.

10. Women account for 39% of all smoking-related deaths each year in the United States. The report concludes that the increased likelihood of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and reproductive health problems among female smokers makes tobacco use a serious women’s health issue. (Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General.” CDC Office of Smoking and Health, March 27, 2001)
11. Tobacco use is responsible for more deaths than alcohol, auto accidents, AIDS, suicides, murders, and illegal drugs combined.
12. On average, adult men and women smokers lose 13.2 and 14.5 years of life, respectively, because they smoke [they lose approximately 14 years of life, not to mention years of pain before death.] (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention,  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, “Annual Smoking Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost and Economic Costs-United States 1995-1999” April 12, 2002 51:14)
13. Every time a smoker lights up around a nonsmoker, they negatively affect the health of those who chose not to smoke.
14. Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in lifetime nonsmokers.