When the topic of a smoke-free campus is first heard by students, the negative response is usually, “But I have the right to smoke,” or “I don’t want to tell another student what to do.” Yet once more information is provided, it becomes clear that this is not just a personal rights issue.
One argument against a smoke-free policy is that outdoor tobacco smoke is insignificant because the smoke dissipates into the air. However, a report from Stanford University in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association found that smoke levels “within 0.5 m from a single cigarette source were quite high and comparable to indoor levels,” and are only at negligible levels past two meters.
In addition, the 2006 Surgeon General Report concluded that there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke and breathing even a little secondhand smoke poses a risk to one’s health. Although many people know that secondhand smoke consists of known carcinogens, they may not know that it has over 43 chemicals that are known carcinogens, and that breathing secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can quickly irritate/damage the lining of airways.
Some would say that a solution to this problem is to have students who do not wish to be exposed just walk around smokers and avoid the harmful smoke. However, I would ask: Why should these people change their behavior just because of the choice of another person?
I am not the only one who agrees with my last statement, either. In a spring of 2007 survey at the University of Oregon, 86 percent of respondents agreed that the right to breathe clean air should take precedence over the right to smoke. The survey also said that 69 percent of students reported they were bothered by secondhand smoke. So, while those who smoke are worried about their rights being taken away, we must also ask ourselves who is protecting the rights of the ones who do not smoke.
One could argue about whose rights are more important all day, but the fact of the matter is that more issues come into play than just personal liberties. For instance, cigarette butts are the number one littered item on this campus. In the last year alone, the students of the Clean Air Project collected more than 18,000 cigarette butts around campus. This added trash causes the University to spend an extra $8,000 to $10,000 a year, just to pick up someone else’s garbage. I definitely encourage anyone to count the number of cigarette butts on the ground while walking to class and it will become obvious that cigarette butts are a real problem.
With all of this information in mind, it is apparent that this issue is more than just about smokers’ rights – it’s about the harmful effects of tobacco smoke on both the health of students as well as the surrounding environment. Many other universities agree with me, which is why, as of January 2009, 260 campuses have gone smoke-free in the United States. This article is not meant to chastise the habits of a few, but merely to show that tobacco smoke is a very real health and environmental concern that must be dealt with to ensure a better environment for the University of Oregon.
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