Schools learn to be tobacco-free

In just a few days, Montana children will head back to school. On Oct. 1, Montana's new Clean Indoor Air Act goes into effect, providing students and teachers with a healthier environment in which to learn and work.

Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke takes an enormous toll on the health of Montanans, especially the children, our most innocent and vulnerable citizens. Nearly 90 percent of smokers take up this deadly habit at or before the age of 18.

With more than 22.9 percent of Montana high school students regularly smoking cigarettes, and with more than 52,000 being regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, why further jeopardize their health by waiting until Oct. 1 to take action?

Second-hand smoke contains more than 60 known or probable carcinogens and more than 4,000 chemicals, including formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide and carbon monoxide. While most people focus on the increased risk of heart disease, lung cancer and other cancers from smoking, we also believe that the harm to children from their own smoking or other tobacco use has health consequences that can impact them quite rapidly.

Those consequences include illnesses such as periodontal disease, chronic coughing, emphysema, bronchitis, mild airway obstruction and reduced lung function. Tough and enforceable tobacco-free policies, such as the Clean Indoor Air Act, can reduce these tobacco related illnesses and the staggering costs of treating them.

Montana's new Clean Indoor Air Act provides a tobacco-free environment in all school buildings, at all school functions and, in fact, anywhere on school property, including in the grandstands. In our elementary and high schools, the act will prohibit all forms of tobacco, including spit tobacco. That means playgrounds, parking lots, athletic fields, all rooms, and school buses will be tobacco-free starting this October.

The law even extends to colleges and universities, where smoking or chewing indoors will no longer be allowed. Cigarettes, cigars and spit tobacco will no longer have a place in or around any Montana school. Tobacco-free policies often provide extra encouragement to current tobacco users to help them in their quest to quit their deadly habit.

We encourage all Montana tobacco users to try to quit — for their sake and the sake of their loved ones. For assistance in kicking the habit, we encourage them to call 1-866-485-QUIT. As Montana takes these first steps to join many other states — and entire countries — in becoming smoke-free, we encourage every resident and each legislator to work with our schools to kick off the new year tobacco-free, and not wait until Oct. 1 to start protecting our children.

School bells are ready to ring for another new year, and right now is the perfect time to encourage everyone to do their part in keeping tobacco away from our children and out of our schools. Take the lead; do it today.

A copy of the law (House Bill 643) can be found at the Montana Legislature Web site http://leg.state.mt.us.

Cliff Christian, American Heart Association, Dick Paulsen, American Lung Association of the Northern Rockies, and Kristin Page Nei, American Cancer Society