Secondhand Smoke (1985)

[Music] [Applause] Once Upon a Time there was an evil genius who dreamed of creating a diabolical new poison so powerful it would destroy anyone who breathed it he wanted to pollute the air where people lived and worked and played and he wanted a subtle poison that would be slow to kill but the formula he sought was so complex that despite his cunning he could not find it [Laughter] [Music] [Music] then one day The Evil Genius took a fateful cigarette break I must and with the unwitting help of his assistant he discovered the perfect poison with which to pollute the world his Discovery the Insidious byproduct of other people's tobacco habit secondhand smoke [Laughter] all smoke is the product of burning material and it comes from many different sources but whether you breathe it in the air or inhale it from a cigarette too much smoke can kill you [Music] some people think that being hooked on Tobacco is a personal matter and no one else's concern after all whose life is it [Music] [Music] anyway but even someone who insists on smoking cigarettes around other people probably would not willingly breathe other kinds of pollution [Applause] [Music] we've passed laws like the Clean Air Act to protect people from outdoor [Music] pollution what about indoor pollution after all most people spend 90% of their time [Music] indoors it might surprise you to learn that both persons are about to smoke that cigarette the one holding the cigarette in hand mainstream smoke the nonsmoker inhales what is put in the air by the burning cigarette this is called s stream or secondhand [Music] smoke some people believe that only the smoker is harmed by smoking not true one person's poison is another's pollution in fact secondhand tobacco smoke is our number one one contributed indoor air [Music] pollution a smoke filled room can be worse than a smoggy city hazardous for everyone who [Music] breathes if only there were a magic way to clear the air but who are you going to call after all smoke pollution from cigarettes pipes and cigars often occurs at far higher levels indoors than pollution from Factory smoke or car exhaust Outdoors but although tobacco smoke is as toxic as industrial air pollution it is only now beginning to be monitored and controlled [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what makes the pollution from tobacco smoke so dangerous to begin with there are over 4,000 toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke including carbon monoxide Benzene ammonia arenic cyanide for Malahide Vinyl chloride and nicotine the addictive drug and tobacco Plus millions of tiny particles known as tar many of which are cancer causing agents secondhand smoke from the lit end of the cigarette contains twice the tar and nicotine and many times the carbon monoxide as mainstream smoke the reason when a smoker inhales he draws smoke through the cigarette and filter trapping some particles also the higher temp tempure causes more complete and hence less dirty [Music] combustion secondhand smoke however escapes from the burning end of the cigarette when it is not being inhaled it is not filtered by anything and because a smoldering cigarette Burns at a lower temperature than the one being inhaled it generates more particulate matter and more gases especially carbon monoxide for these reasons secondhand smoke is the major cause of indoor air pollution but that's not all a cigarette smoker takes eight or nine Puffs per cigarette only smoking for about 24 seconds meanwhile the cigarette pollutes the air with second hand smoke continuously for 12 minutes and the pollution lingers long after the cigarette is gone there is no question that being a smoker is more dangerous than breathing secondhand smoke nevertheless nonsmokers who work in Smoky offices are forced to inhale the equivalent of several cigarettes a day in secondhand smoke as a result nonsmokers can sustain significant lung damage like other forms of air pollution secondhand tobacco smoke has many well documented ill effects on health it aggravates empyema acute respiratory disease asthma and hay fever it can also cause burning eyes and nasal passages nausea headaches and make allergy to other substances unbearable everything that is true for adults is especially true for children babies breathe more rapidly than adults and therefore inhale more air and more pollution in comparison to their total body [Music] weight the babies of parents who smoke at home are more likely to get lung disease especially bronchitis and pneumonia in general children who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home are sick more often than other [Music] children some evidence even suggests that the children of parents who smoke are more likely to develop cancer when they grow up [Laughter] in fact the study done at the Environmental Protection Agency suggests that breathing secondhand smoke could cause up to 5,000 lung cancer deaths a year in nonsmokers there is one final victim the ultimate victim of involuntary smoking The Unborn Child [Music] but smoking has one very powerful and important friend the tobacco industry and it's running scared if changing attitudes about secondhand smoke caused every smoker to give up just one cigarette a day that would amount to more than 1 billion fewer packs sold per year in the United States alone with Stakes like these it's no wonder the industry spends nearly three bli million dollars a year convincing smokers that it's sexy and smart to smoke and that they can pollute the air without considering non-smokers [Music] [Music] sometimes it's hard to believe that smoking was ever considered socially acceptable behavior [Music] if someone asks permission to smoke say no if not asked nonsmokers should let the smoker know how they [Music] feel it's just as important to say no at home non-smoking wives married to smokers have two to three times the risk of developing lung cancer as women whose husbands do not smoke the National Academy of Sciences the Surgeon General and the World Health Organization have all concluded that involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke is dangerous to health and should be avoided now is the time to speak out and put cigarette smoking where it belongs [Music] [Music] malfunction malfunction function exposure to tobacco smoke is similar to radiation in the sense that there is no safe level of exposure the best protection is to avoid it all together malfunction malfunction [Music] malfunction unfortunately there is no magic solution to the Insidious problem of secondhand smoke the real solution rests with the individual if smokers are allowed to pollute the air without restriction others will continue to suffer the ill effects the challenge today is to translate the right to breathe clean air into action by taking action nonsmokers send a strong message to the True Villain the tobacco industry the industry has taken an aggressive stance against non-smokers rights after all it has the most to lose and won't give up without a fight but times are changing despite opposition from the tobacco industry people are demanding and getting laws to clear the air of secondhand smoke indoors as non-smokers stand up for their right to breathe clean air smoking will disappear all [Music] together until smoking dies completely away don't allow your air to become polluted by the Unseen poisons of secondhand [Music] smoke if you choose not to smoke don't be a passive smoker don't smoke secondhand [Music] [Laughter] oh [Laughter] f