Working in Secondhand Smoke
The "Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act" (Act No. 815), now prohibits smoking in most workplaces. However, there are still many casinos and bars that allow smoking in their public dining and drinking areas. This poses a serious health risk to the waiters and waitresses, hosts, kitchen workers and bar workers who depend upon these establishments for their livelihoods. Consider the following:

One study revealed that almost 88 percent of non-smokers had detectable levels of nicotine in their systems simply because they worked or lived in a smoking environment.
A person standing 20 inches from a burning cigarette may inhale 10 times more cancer-causing chemicals than the smoker. Exposure to this smoke for just eight to 20 minutes has measurable effects linked with heart disease and stroke.

To help make your workplace smoke free, click here to Get The Kit and Quit

What Is Secondhand Smoke?
Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke in the air from a burning cigarette and the smoke exhaled by a person who is smoking. Secondhand smoke is the number one source of indoor air pollution and contains nearly 5,000 chemical compounds, including arsenic, a dangerous poison; formaldehyde, which is also used in embalming fluid; and hydrogen cyanide, another toxic poison. Like asbestos, secondhand smoke has been classified as a "Class A" carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Only 13 other substances are considered as dangerous to human health.

Secondhand smoke kills 53,000 nonsmokers nationally each year, and is known to cause the following illnesses:
Lung cancer
Heart disease
Nasal sinus cancer
Respiratory disease
Bronchitis
Middle ear infections
Asthma
Pneumonia

Help to Quit