Secondhand Smoking Harms School Performance

I grew up in a house filled with smoke. Both of my parents smoked. They smoked everywhere - in the house, in the car, in restaurants - you name it. If my parents had that persistent, nagging itch for for some nicotine satisfaction, they lit up, regardless of where they were or who was around. I always wondered whether those plumes of smoke might impact my health. I later learned that second-hand smoke was linked in children to increased risk of asthma, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. My biological mother never smoked with me in the womb but my step-mom smoked while pregnant. Smoking while pregnant results in higher risk of the child having childhood behavior problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I knew all of that. What I was amazed to learn today is that childhood second hand smoking exposure results in impaired performance in school. Check out the article in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The study was done in Hong Kong among 23,000 11- to 20-year-old non-smoking students. The study was split between youngsters who lived with at least one smoker and those who did not. The students rated their school performance. The level of rating one's school performance as "poor" compared to classmates varied with exposure to second-hand smoke. 23% of students who were exposed to smoking at home at least five days a week rated their performance as poor. That rate was 20% for students who had less exposure. The rate was only 17% for students who lived in non-smoking households. The researchers accounted for certain factors like parents’ education levels and the type of housing the students lived in.

The study was not perfect. The researchers depended on the student's self-assessment of academic performance and exposure to smoke in the home. Future studies can do a better job of measuring school performance by, for example, looking at official school records. They can also make objective measurements of exposure to smoke by, for example, testing urine. The study was a positive step forward in learning about the effects of second hand smoke on youngsters. A lot more work needs to be done.

I did not have trouble in school growing up but my siblings did. A number of things conspired to harm their ability to excel in school. It is troubling to learn that my parents' smoking might have been one additional factor. Parents really should read this study. It ought to be a criminal act for a parent or anyone else for that matter to smoke around a child. Let's see what the future brings.

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Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation

Smoking and A Frustrated Four Faced Liar

Childhood sweethearts Greg and Molly are new to New York. They left their quiet corner of America for the Big Apple to start a new life. They hope that life becomes more exciting and interesting. One night they decide to go to a hip Greenwich Village bar called the Four Faced Liar. They don't smoke in the bar - smoking is banned in bars in New York. They sip their drinks. They meet a couple, Bridget and her best friend Trip. Sparks fly immediately between Molly and Bridget. The two couples start hanging out after meeting in the bar. Molly and Bridget develop a steamy relationship challenging Molly's relationship with Greg. And so goes the drama of the Frameline movie The Four-Faced Liar.

Imagine if Greg and Molly could smoke in the bar. Molly lights up and sucks on the noxious death sticks while simultaneously nursing her beer. How gross! I can only imagine what smoke tastes like with the sudsy beverage. I don't know about you but I don't like to mix the taste of ashtrays with my beverages. I can never understand why smokers like to smoke while drinking and eating. Doesn't it kill the flavor of the food?

Anyway, picture Molly cocking her head back and blowing smoke rings into the air. Greg doesn't find it cool - he can't wait for Molly to quit smoking. He can already picture the walls of their new apartment turning yellow. Echh!

Molly thinks she is sexy smoking. That is the furthest from the truth to Bridget. She and Trip are sitting at a nearby table drinking jack and cokes. The smoke wafts their way. That's one way to kill a buzz. Bridget feels her personal space, not to mention her health, being violated. Bridget thinks Molly is kind of cute but she would never approach her. Bridget has a strict no smoker policy for dating.

Bridget tells Trip to move to another table.

Bridget spies another cute woman - a non-smoker - exchanging witty banter with her friend. Bridget decides to approach the girl. She takes a deep swig from her drink for added courage and motions Trip to walk to the two women. Bridget and the woman immediately hit it off. They exchange numbers and agree to go on a date. One date becomes two dates becomes moving in on the third date becomes marriage in Massachusetts two months later. Bridget has found her life mate.

Molly and Greg meanwhile start a life in New York. They eventually marry too. Life moves on day to day. In the back of her mind Molly has this nagging feeling that life is missing something, that Greg might not be everything for her. She can't pin down what she is missing. Is this all there is?

Greg still wants Molly to quit smoking. Her worries about both of their healths. Can't she just quit!

What a different movie The Four-Faced Liar becomes when smoking is allowed in the bar! Smoking turns people off and harms their health. Unlike the claims of some people, smoking bans in bars adds to the atmosphere in the establishment and promotes business. Nonsmokers can enjoy their time in the establishments without the interference and hazard of smoke. Smoking bans can even promote love!

Have fun at Frameline and look out for Butt Out's PSAs. We hope you find someone special at any of the film festival's smoke free events. Enjoy!

Stay in Touch!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Schwarzenegger Lacks Leadership on Smoking Ban

We can all feel good about the second-hand smoking ban in San Francisco. The ban will help everyone enjoy smokefree movie lines and restaurant patios, among other things. LGBT people benefit and LGBT smokers might even be motivated to give up the habit. We cannot become complacent in our victory, however. Statewide, our grand old governor, the Arnold, has vetoed a bill that would ban smoking in our state parks and beaches. Our collective wilds are still at the mercy of smokers. Shame, shame, governor!

Has this ever happened to you? It is a sunny day. You are at the beach. The breeze is coursing through your hair as you walk hand in hand with your loved one. You admire the ocean waves and contemplate your small but glorious place in the world. You imagine yourself as one grain of sand in the universe and look down to admire the tan waves of surf. Then you see it. A collection of cigarette butts with a beer bottle on the ground. These little nasties are ground into the sand, with their white filters poking out of the top. Your mood is immediately shot.

How can we enjoy our parks and oceans when people litter these areas with cigarrette butts? This garbage tarnishes the serenity of the scenes. They are pollution too and harm the fragile ecosystems that our fabulous state supports. Equally vexatious is the second-hand smoking that people are exposed to when they congregate together on camp grounds and other shared spots on the wilds. Smoking is a menace to our state parks and beaches.

Our cigar smoking governor failed us all. He also went against the recommendations of experts on the issue, the California Ocean Protection Council. Schwarzenegger said that the smoking ban was too intrusive and that state parks and beaches individually could ban smoking. He also said that smoking could be discouraged with added penalties and fines.

These arguments are unavailing. If he thinks that smoking bans are permissible on an individual basis, he has no good reason to promote smoking on a statewide basis. Additionally, penalties and fines can be used with a smoking ban to discourage the noxious practice. Not only does Schwarzenegger's arguments fall flat, they fail against the practice of countless governments. Hundreds of communities nationwide have enacted smoking bans at municipal parks and beaches. Maine is the only state to ban smoking at its state beaches.

I plan to visit Muir Woods with my sweetie this weekend. I want to enjoy the elements without seeing cigarrette butts dotting the grounds. This is less likely with Schwarzenegger's veto. Take one of your cigars and put it up in your wild areas, Arnold!

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Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Brian Davis Goes 'Out in the Bay'

Last Thursday Butt Out's Brian Davis had an exciting interview on "Out in the Bay," an LGBT themed show on KALW 91.7 FM. You can listen to the show on www.kalw.org. He talked about the problem of LGBT smoking, how the tobacco companies target the LGBT community, the special impact of smoking on LGBT youth and the work that Butt Out is doing to fight the tobacco companies in the community.

Brian entered the interview with a lot of passion. Brian is personally motivated to do anti-tobacco advocacy. He has asthma and chafed as a child at having to inhale the smoke from his father's cigarettes. He was also pained to see his father try over and over again to quit his two pack a day habit. Brian had a lot to offer on the interview that came from a personal place.

Brian highlighted a number of powerful considerations in the fight against big tobacco.

Smoking is a Highly Prevalent Killer in the LGBT Community

LGBT people smoke more than straight people - two times more. Gay men smoke 50% more than straight men in California. Lesbians smoke three times more than straight women. LGBT people also start smoking younger than straight people, at ages 14 or 15. Some research indicates that it is significantly harder to quit smoking if a person starts smoking before age 18. The smoking rates are hard to hear considering that tobacco kills more people than murder, suicide, traffic accidents, drugs and alcohol combined! LGBT people are disproportionately counted in the 400,000 tobacco deaths every year in the United States.

Smoking Hits LGBT Youth Hard

Brian discussed the troubling problem of LGBT youth smoking. Fully 43.7% of LGBT youth smoke in California - nearly half of the LGBT youth population! A 2006 University of Minnesota study highlighted some of the reasons why. Many youth suffered trauma, abuse and ostracism from their homes and communities for being gay. Smoking is a way to escape the pain and make friends. "Do you have a light" is a conversation starter for the young LGBT person searching for community. Brian emphasized that the the community needs to take steps to change its face with respect to smoking so that LGBT youth have different models to emulate in their behavior. Brian pointed to Butt Out's Grim Reaper event as an example of the community coming together against tobacco. The Grim Reaper event was a bit of street theater in the Castro where the tobacco "Grim Reaper" was chased out of the neighborhood. The LGBT community needs to do more to steer LGBT youth down the right path.

The Tobacco Companies Target the LGBT Community

While still reticent to embrace a highly stigmatized community, tobacco companies have targeted the LGBT community in an effort to turn our community's fierce brand loyalty into equally fierce addiction. The tobacco companies have used advertising as a weapon in their arsenal. Genre magazine in 1992 published the first pro-gay tobacco ad. Since then the tobacco companies have put out ads purporting to support gay rights even as they push cigarettes on gay people. One recent ad in fact equated the freedom to marry with the freedom to inhale tobacco smoke. Brian expressed his shock at the demeaning of our struggle for equality as well as at the hypocrisy of an industry that supports conservative politicians as well as LGBT organizations.

Butt Out Works with LGBT Organizations to Combat Big Tobacco

Brian pointed out that tobacco companies try to garner support in the community by giving money to LGBT organizations. They try to leverage the good will of the organizations to make themselves look good. The support is inch deep - they spend more money advertising the fact that they support LGBT organizations than actually funding LGBT organizations.

Butt Out is inoculating the LGBT community against tobacco company machinations by getting organizations to spurn tobacco funding and adopt tobacco-free funding policies. The work is hard to do in these difficult funding times. Brian pointed out that companies can see the justice of Butt Out's position by considering whether they would take money from a company whose product gave AIDS to half its consumers. An organization should consider taking tobacco money as unconscionable as taking money from the hypothetical company.

Butt Out can point to some successes in its work. 20 Bay Area based LGBT organizations have tobacco-free policies, including the National Center for Lesbian Rights and San Francisco Pride. All LGBT politicians in the Bay Area such as Mark Leno have pledged not to accept campaign donations from tobacco companies. Butt Out continues to raise consciousness in community organizations and add to the community of groups rejecting tobacco funding.

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Stay tuned to this blog for more news of Butt Out community activism, interviews and events.

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).

Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.

Second-hand smoking ordinance hearing next Monday, February 22, 1pm at City Hall!

I hate going to outdoor dining areas and having my dinner interrupted by a neighbor's smoke. Marlboro Reds just don't go with filet mignon - or anything else for that matter. A night at the movies is similarly dampened when I have to breathe noxious fumes from someone upstream in the waiting line. I want to unleash some silver screen super hero whoop-ass when the odor hits my olfactory senses. Second hand smoke is a nuisance and a threat to my health. It is a public health concern that all San Franciscans are challenged with.

Educate yourself on the ordinance below and if you feel like making your voice heard, come down to the hearing and comment.

Legislation that would expand the non-smoking areas in San Francisco will be discussed by the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee on February 22. The ordinance, introduced by Supervisor Eric Mar, would represent a far reaching effort to reduce second hand smoke in public accommodations. Amendments to address business concerns, particularly bar owner concerns, are expected to be voted on. If the ordinance passes, San Francisco will become one of 18 Bay Area cities that protect citizens from second hand smoke hazards in public areas. San Francisco will also follow a nationwide trend. As of April 2009, there were 37 states with some form of smoking ban.

Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke given off by the burning end of a tobacco product and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. Research has generated evidence that secondhand smoke causes the same problems as direct smoking. Approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year among adult nonsmokers in the United States as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke. In the United States, secondhand smoke is thought to cause about 46,000 heart disease deaths each year. Extensive scientific research has shown that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Locally, secondhand smoke represents dangers to patrons. For example, secondhand smoke levels from outdoor dining areas at two unnamed cafes in North Beach are considered dangerous by the EPA (see picture).

The proposed ordinance would update Article 19F of the San Francisco Health Code, the landmark legislation adopted in 1994 that protects residents and visitors from second hand smoke. The ordinance bans smoking in a number of venues. Some of the areas where the ban would take effect are dining areas, movie lines and building entrances. San Francisco's ordinance would break new ground in the effort to reduce second hand smoke among citizens.

Some businesses argue that the smoking ban will harm their business by turning off patrons who want to enjoy some poisonous fumes with their dinner, drink, or what have you. These fears are unfounded. More patrons will flock to businesses once they know that the establishment will be safe and pleasing without cigarette smoke. A 2006 review by the U.S. Surgeon General found that smoking bans were unlikely to harm businesses in practice, and that many restaurants and bars might see increased business. According to the 2004 Zagat survey, which polled nearly 30,000 New York City restaurant patrons, respondents said by a margin of almost 6 to 1 that they eat out more often now because of the city's smoke-free policy. San Francisco's businesses as well as patrons can gain from passage of the second hand smoke ordinance.

Stay tuned for updates on the ordinance. There is a lot to learn and gain!

Keep track of the work Butt Out is doing by going to our website (www.butt-out.org/), friending us on Facebook (butt-outsanfrancisco) or by connecting with us on Twitter (twitter.com/buttoutsf).Butt Out is a project of Breathe California, funded by the San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, which works to get tobacco money out of LGBT community organizations in San Francisco. We also educate the public about the hazards of smoking and about smoking cessation.