Recently, we took our two visiting grandsons out for dinner.  As we walked through a local casino our 13 year old put his shirt up over his nose and mouth and said “this is awful”!

According to a Federal study posted at (www.RGJ.com), Nevada leads the nation with over two-thirds of adult Nevadans exposed to second hand smoke.  As adults we have a choice, however, Mesquite draws families and teams from out of town for soccer, baseball, etc.  These kids stay at our casino hotels and eat at casino restaurants.  They cannot escape the second hand smoke.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov), states on their web site “there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure; even brief exposure can be harmful to your health.”  Since 1964 approximately 2.5 million nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by exposure to second hand smoke.  Adverse health effects include:

  1. For children: respiratory infections, asthma attacks and a greater risk for sudden death syndrome (SIDS).
  2. For adults: heart disease, lung cancer and stroke.  Pregnant women have an increased risk (up to 67%) of adverse outcomes including miscarriage, stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy.

We will not hear from our local and state representatives on this issue or from our local business leaders.  www.smokefreemesquite.org has some ways you can help kids from being part of the 2.5 million death statistic.

Lloyd F. Love

Sun City, Mesquite