Nobody would ever purposely expose a youngster to benzene (a cancer-causing flammable liquid) or hydrogen cyanide (the poison in rat killer). Yet these are two of more than 4,000 chemicals (200 of which are poisons and 43 cause cancer) that are found in second-hand smoke. When people smoke inside the house or while riding in the car, others are exposed to these harmful chemicals. People spending one hour in a restaurant that allows smoking will inhale as many chemicals from someone else's cigarette as they would by smoking one cigarette themselves! The Surgeon General tells us that 55,000 deaths each year occur because of second-hand smoke. This toxic substance is a combination of two parts: the smoker's exhaled smoke and the smoke from the burning end of a cigarette. Both parts contain chemicals that are very harmful to everyone — especially teens. Second-hand tobacco smoke has recently been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as a known cause of cancer in humans (Class A Carcinogen) and is responsible for over 3,000 lung cancer deaths a year in nonsmokers. Bar and restaurant employees who work where smoking is allowed are three times as likely to develop lung cancer than the general work population. Since tobacco smoke contains some radioactive elements, waiters and waitresses inhale radiation equivalent to 250 chest X-rays in a year.

The discussion we do not hear much about smokers and nonsmoker's rights is really the most important one. Namely, what considerations do people have when others around them smoke? This is an important question since teens usually do not have the opportunity to walk away from a smoking environment like an adult can. Teens are especially sensitive to the effects of second-hand smoke. It is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections. Second-hand smoke is harmful to people with asthma and causes up to 26,000 new cases of asthma every year. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that between 200,000 and 1,000,000 asthmatics have their conditions worsened by exposure to second-hand smoke. Besides making people with asthma worse, second-hand smoke can make healthy people sick. Pneumonia, recurrent ear infections, throat infections, sinusitis, bronchitis, coughing, and a permanent decrease in lung function are 80% more common in teens who breathe second-hand smoke. According to the EPA, the buildup of fluid in the middle ear, which is contributed to by second-hand smoke, is the most common cause of a teen being hospitalized for an operation. What about other diseases? Teens in a house with a smoker frequently get subtle developmental abnormalities, such as learning disabilities and poor school performance. Anyone who allows their kid to be around cigarette smoke is obligated to ask themselves a simple, honest question. Namely, what kind of chance are they giving their kid when they let this happen?

How can you protect your rights to breathe clean air?

Quit smoking! You will feel better and so will others around you. Never smoke within the airspace of kids, either in the home or in the car (it can take up to two weeks for nicotine to clear from the air where smoking has occurred).

If you must light up, smoke outside where others cannot see you. When kids see others smoke, they come to believe that smoking is a healthy behavior.

When going out, eat in only nonsmoking restaurants. Sitting in the nonsmoking section of a restaurant that allows smoking does not provide protection from all the toxic chemicals that are in tobacco smoke. According to Kim Goldberg, "the American Lung Association would like to see smoking entirely eliminated from all public places, especially restaurants, or confined to completely enclosed areas that are independently ventilated. Any other options do not protect us from the toxic chemicals and poisons found in second-hand smoke." Ms. Goldberg, who is the Tobacco Control Coordinator for the Lung Association, suggests that people thank the managers and owners of restaurants that have become smoke free, and encourage those eating establishments that allow smoking to consider the health of their guests (and workers) by eliminating smoking. "Parents should speak up for their children's rights," added Ms. Goldberg. "We can no longer allow eating, which is life-sustaining, coexist in the same room with smoking, which is life-destroying."

As a physician dedicated to caring for kids, I feel that parents have a responsibility to guarantee a healthy environment for their teen. Smokers may have a right to smoke, but nonsmokers, especially teens, have a greater right to breathe clean air. Protecting yourself from exposure to tobacco smoke is good preventive medicine. Your health depends on it!