Advocacy Project: Issue Overview

Introduction:

• The issue is that many American's are being affected by smoking and secondhand smoke, increasing their risk of disabilities, illnesses and death.
  
• One piece of legislation that might help a subgroup of individuals is H.R. 4105 Healthy Air for Federal Workers Act.

Who is affected by this issue?

• Anyone who is around smokers or who smokes themselves are affected by this issue.
  
• Ultimately, the tobacco industry is the only one who losses or any company that makes revenue off of the sale of tobacco. They will be losing the profits that they would gain from federal workers smoking on the job.
  
• By passing this legislation government employees will gain basically fresh air, as well as the families that are surrounded by these employees. This newly found fresh air will be free of cigarette smoke that has been known to cause negative health effects.

What are the consequences of this issue?

• Those who are most effected have been seeing rising levels of death and diseases due to this smoke inhalation and secondhand smoke. The consequesnces are simply disease and illness. Passage of this legislation however will mean healthier people with lower rates of illness.
  
• Families are also effected by the smoke that workers bring home on their clothing. This secondhand smoke effects their health as well, also increasing their risk of death and disease from the smoke. The proposed legislation would help these individuals as well.
  
• Society is being affected by smokers. Like the saying goes, if one person smokes, we all smoke. If someone is around an individual who smokes, they are being exposed to secondhand smoke or even third hand smoke! As stated before, this increases risk for many diseases and death. By passing this bill, there would be a decrease in exposure to such smoke inhalation, positively effecting society as a whole.

What is the economic impact of this issue.

• Everyone bears the cost of this issue. There are many costs to this issue, the most saddening is life. According to abovetheinfluence.com, between 1964 and 2004 smoking caused approximately 12 million deaths. Most of these deaths were either from Cardiovascular disease or cancer. In conjucntion to such illnesses, there are also huge financial costs as well. It is estimated that smoking costs society about $100 billion annually.
• There are a few groups of people that benefit from this issue: the tobacco industry and possibly insurance companies with clients that are finding themselves fighting the effects of smoking. Compared to the economic costs of smoking, society does get some money back by the taxation of tobacco products.
  

What are the social impact of this issue?

• Social cost of this issue directly effect the family and friends of smokers and those experiencing secondhand smoke. Often time the cost is life of the loved one. If the individual is lucky, they may only walk away with a illness accosiated to smoking. Often the family is left to care for them, laying a heavy impact on everyone.
  
• It's hard to find something good out of a bad situation. I would say that something positive would be that families may spend more time with the individual effected if they develop disease due to smoking or exposure to smoke. If this legislation does pass however, there will be many social gains. Individuals will lead more productive lives and have more active lifestyles, contributing positively to society.

What are the barriers?

• The barriers for this issue is getting legislation passed. Many individuals feel that it's their "right" to smoke where ever they want. That might be the case if they are not effecting anyone, but the fact that the matter is that their actions have been known to cause cancer! I think that that's when it's more than acceptable to involve the law, however the problem may be that we need to convince more that this is the case.
  
• Perhaps it's my optimism, but I feel that education is the key. We need to educate individuals that 1)smoking kills and 2) smoking negatively effects EVERYONE. No one wants to see their loved ones die, and although many Americans are very intelligent, I think that fear and lack of knowledge cause them to make less than impressive decisions. By educating the public about smoking issues I feel like they would be more inclined to make better decisions about smoking and voting to decrease smoking effects.

What are the resources?

• The best resource we can have for this issue is more legislation to protect those individuals who don't smoke and don't want the harmful effects. Breath-free UMD set a good example being a resource of regulation here at UMD. Another resource is educating individuals not to smoke in the first place. Without smokers, there would be no need for laws on smoking.

• These resources can be tapped by teachers. These are the individuals that have the opportunity to educate students. I also feel that more money is needed for quit smoking commercials to gain awareness. Along with this work site promotion can be tapped, giving employees a places to turn to for support with quitting as well as a place to educate employees.
  

What is the history of the issue?

• History of the and addressing the issue.
• 1492: Columbus discovered tobacco.
• 1683: Massachusetts passes America's first smoking ban. Passed to prevent individuals from smoking outside however. Money made from tickets were then used to buy equipment for fire-fighting.
  
• 1900: Washington, Iowa, Tennesse and North Dakota outlaw cigarette sales.
• 1971: Tobacco commercials are banned from airing on television.
  
• September 30, 2007: Minnesota passes it's smoking ban, outlawing smoking in any public area or place with more than 1 person in it.

• Basically, the results are slow progress. Since tobacco was introduced society has gone from thinking it has no effects, to realizing the effects, to know doing something about it. I think that it will take time, but change is happening.

Allies and opponents:

• Not very many people in America would support the issue of smoke and secondhand smoke causing health issues in American's. I think that the tobacco company is the only one that's going to be disapointed if bill's such as the one I propose or one's similar get passed. An estimated 77% of Minnesotan's favored Minnesota's Smoke-free law in 2008. I think that many American's are on board to a smoke-free future.
  
• According to the statistic above, I feel that a huge majority of the country would be on board with this bill if they knew about it. I think that a majority of the public are opposed to the issue of secondhand smoke and smoke inhalation effecting us. No one wants to breath that kind of air, unless you love dingy festering air.
• I think that just by getting the word out of this bills and one's similar can help this bill gain a lot of momentum. I don't think that there is much to be done with a compromise. I just don't think that as a health education student I would feel good about compromising with a tobacco company. The issue is illness, and there should be no compromise, just doing what is right.

My recommendations:

• I feel that policy makers should vote YES on H.R. 4105 Healthy Air for Federal Workers Act! Prohibit the smoking of tobacco in government locations!
  

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