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3.5 Million Apartment, Condo Residents Exposed to Secondhand Smoke
December 20, 2012
Statement from Donald Distasio, Executive Vice President, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network of NY & NJ re: study on secondhand smoke exposure in multi-unit housing.
“Home is supposed to be a safe place, but for 3.5 million New Yorkers, home is where they are being exposed to toxic secondhand smoke from their neighbors. A new study shows that for approximately one third of apartment and condo residents, secondhand smoke is seeping through the walls and traveling through ventilation systems. Approximately 10 million New Yorkers live in multi-unit housing.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in New York State. Secondhand smoke exposure causes lung cancer and is a deadly cocktail of more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network commends NYC Mayor Bloomberg for his proposal to inform potential multi-unit housing residents of the smoking policy of a particular building before a lease is signed. We urge Gov. Cuomo and the NYS Legislature to enact a similar bill. As a result, consumers will be able to make a fully informed decision about the unit they are purchasing or renting.”
The study appears in the current edition of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
Due to consumer demand for smoke-free residences, the American Cancer Society is working closely with developers, contractors and property owners to create smoke-free policies. Recently, the Society launched the Healthy High Rises program to recognize multi-unit residential buildings that have a smoke-free policy.
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About the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
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