6 Good Reasons to Protect Kids from Secondhand Smoke

1. The Environmental Protection Agency classifies secondhand smoke as a Class A carcinogen, the most toxic class of cancer causers, with no safe level for human exposure. (Healthy Maine 2010)

2. Half of local 6th -12th grade students reported being exposed to secondhand smoke in the week prior. (2004 Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use Survey)

3. Children who see adults using tobacco are more likely to perceive tobacco as a normal part of adult life.

4. Tobacco is inconsistent with goals of public recreation – to promote healthy, active, family opportunities.

5. More than 25 communities throughout Maine who have enacted outdoor smoking restrictions have shown that these policies are self-enforcing where clear signage is visible.

6. The majority of MDI area residents surveyed support encouraging towns to create and enforce ordinances to protect children from secondhand smoke in public places, (64% support, 25% neutral, and 11% against).
(MDI Tomorrow Survey, 2004)

Healthy Acadia

2005