Second Hand Smoke Resources
Second Hand Smoke Fact Sheet
Second Hand Smoke Fact Sheet (PDF)
The expanded Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect July 24, 2003. This act expanded the 1989 Clean Indoor Air Act and further protects all New York state residents at work and in public from deadly secondhand smoke.
- The Clean Indoor Air Act (Public Health Law, Article 13-E) prohibits smoking in nearly all public and work places to protect the public and employees from secondhand smoke.
- Secondhand smoke is a serious health concern for everyone. Secondhand smoke is a dangerous combination of the smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled by a smoker. This mixture contains more than 4,000 substances, including 200 known poisons and 43 cancer-causing substances. Secondhand smoke has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen). Secondhand smoke is some times referred to as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS.
- Each year, secondhand smoke kills an estimated 62,000 nonsmokers, including approximately 3,000 deaths due to lung cancer and 35,000 deaths due to heart disease among nonsmokers each year in the United States.
- Secondhand smoke is especially dangerous to children, particularly for young children with developing respiratory systems. Secondhand smoke can cause pneumonia; ear infections; lower respiratory tract infections; irritate a child’s asthma and allergies causing longer and more severe attacks; and is linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- If you are pregnant and are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, you have a greater chance of having a more difficult delivery; having a smaller than average baby; and having a sick baby.
- To learn more about the Expanded Clean Indoor Air Act, call 1-800-458-1158, Ext. 2-7600 or contact your local health department or district health office or visit www.health.state.ny.us.
- For free information on how to become a smokefree New Yorker, call the New York State Smokers’ Quit Line at 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487) or visit www.nysmokefree.com.