Second-hand smoke a proven danger

We would like to comment on the Aug. 28 letter, "3-year-old state law is too restrictive."

The question of the Washington Clean Indoor Air Act being an issue of personal rights is off base. People do indeed have a right to smoke, but not to expose others to toxins. The law was enacted primarily to protect employees, and secondarily the public. Workers should not be exposed to toxic air while on the job, period.

There is a great deal of widely accepted science behind the very serious health risks of exposure to second-hand smoke. These are not "stories," as the letter writer suggests, but carefully controlled studies by researchers and scientists. Whether she chooses to believe it or not, the fact is that constant exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, even to people who themselves smoke, causes and/or contributes to a long list of physical health problems.

You can find more information about this on the Web sites of our Washington State Department of Health, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, or at Snohomish County's local public health agency, the Snohomish Health District (www.snohd.org).

Dr. Gary Goldbaum
Health Officer & Director
Pam Wessel-Estes
Manager, Tobacco Prevention & Control
Snohomish Health District