Dangers of Secondhand Smoke & Vapor

I don’t think that, as diehard a smoker as I am, I have the right to impose that on everybody else at the bar just because it’s something I like to do. I have a spouse. I do not smoke in my own house. I haven’t for 17 years. Why should I smoke in the bar?

RON SVASEK, co-owner of Carl’s — The Saloon, a non-smoking Reno bar. MORE STORIES

THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF SECONDHAND SMOKE

41,000

AVOIDABLE DEATHS

Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 34,000 heart disease deaths and more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths each year in the U.S.1

Secondhand smoke can increase stroke risk

30%1

7,000+

CHEMICALS & COMPOUNDS

Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals and compounds — hundreds are toxic and more than 70 cause cancer. Tobacco smoke itself is a known human carcinogen.2

E-cigarette aerosol exhaled by users can contain harmful substances, including: nicotine, ultrafine particles, diacetyl (a chemical linked to a serious lung disease), volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals, nickel, tin, and lead. 3

Damage from secondhand tobacco smoke is immediate.2

Chemicals in secondhand tobacco smoke can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and increase risk of miscarriage and low birth weight.2

In 2006, voters in Nevada decided that the health of employees was important and eliminated smoking from most indoor workplaces. And yet, approximately 40,000 Truckee Meadows casino, bar and strip club employees are regularly exposed to deadly secondhand smoke at work. They deserve better.