Smoke-free campus will save lives

Smokers enjoy smoking as much as a cat loves devouring a bird. The cat shares his treat with the people he loves by leaving the brains on the front porch.

Smokers are not selfish either. They share their treat with those around them by blowing the poisonous residue from the smoke into the air. This recycled pollution floats into the nostrils of passers-by, who involuntarily suck this sticky mess into clean lungs where it clogs up the tiny holes used to breathe.

Sure, people have the choice of sitting in the designated nonsmoking area of some restaurants and public places, but the smoke can't read the "no smoking" signs. It doesn't stop dead at the sign, it floats on until it finds a place to land.

Sitting in the outdoor eating areas on campus is no safer for nonsmokers than sitting in an airplane cabin separated by a curtain. Ask any flight attendant who flew before smoking was banned on flights how many of their crewmembers are ill because of the smoke.

A campus-based health care group is striving to make the Cal State Long Beach campus smoke-free, but are not getting much support. The smokers claim they also have the right to smoke wherever and whenever they choose.

Yes, they have the right to light up, but they don't have the right to kill other people.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that approximately 3,000 nonsmokers die every year from lung cancer caused by the effects of second-hand smoke, and hundreds of thousands of children are affected with respiratory diseases. In women, smoking doubles the risk of breast cancer.

In addition to eliminating a health hazard, a smoke-free campus would decrease the amount of trash littering walkways and eating areas of the campus. Sitting down at one of the tables outside the International Food Court is unpleasant when you have to kick away discarded cigarette butts. The soggy butts floating in unfinished sodas is disgusting enough to make your appetite disappear.

Smokers will benefit from a smoke-free campus as much as nonsmokers. They will be able to smell the fresh air and food will no longer taste like dirty paper.

Smokers have the right to smoke if they choose to, but I also have the right to live a smoke-free life,without the hazards of second-hand smoke.