| Making
Your Community's Playing Fields Tobacco-Free
PTM's
efforts extend to playing fields for
two important reasons: |
 |
| • |
Secondhand smoke has been proven
to be a serious danger outdoors
as well as indoors. |
| • |
When adults light up at games,
it sends the wrong messages to
young athletes. Anyone can take
steps to pass a local ordinance.
PTM offers a manual with helpful
guidelines and information. |
|
|
| This initiative addresses
several concerns about the dangers of secondhand
smoke: |
| • |
Exposure to secondhand
smoke is the third leading cause of preventable
death in America. |
| • |
In Maine seven people die
from tobacco use every day, one being a
nonsmoker exposed to secondhand smoke. |
| • |
The Environmental Protection
Agency has classified secondhand smoke as
a Group A carcinogen — the most dangerous
category of cancer-causing agents. |
| • |
Children exposed to secondhand
smoke have an increased risk of contracting
serious respiratory-tract infections and
asthma. |
