Join in the fight as global anti-smoking day observed here

By Jeremy Higgins
Assistant Editor

May 29, 2008 10:59 am

— World No Tobacco Day will be observed in McAlester Friday. In conjunction with this year’s theme to promote a smoke-free workplace, many McAlester businesses are participating by displaying balloons with the number 1,200 written on them.
“The 1,200 stands for the 1,200 Americans who die each day from tobacco related illnesses,” Karlita Lott from the Pittsburg County Health Department said.
The World Health Organization has new policy recomendations and says it is urgent for all indoor public and workplaces to become 100 percent smoke-free.
“The evidence is clear. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke,” World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said in a recent press release. “Many countries have already taken action.
“I urge all countries that have not yet done so to take this immediate and important step to protect the health of all by passing laws requiring all indoor workplaces and public places to be 100 percent smoke-free.”
There are about 4,000 known chemicals in tobacco smoke and more than 50 of them are known to cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization.
In addition to the balloon displays, area chapters of S.W.A.T. (Students Working Against Tobacco) will be making chalk outlines in downtown McAlester to represent deaths caused by tobacco. S.W.A.T. members have also been helping put up the balloons at various businesses around McAlester.
To find out more about World No Tobacco Day, visit the World Health Organization’s Web site at www.who.int.
Contact Jeremy Higgins at jhiggins@mcalesternews.com