Smokefree Housing

Secondhand Smoke & Asthma

Secondhand tobacco smoke is a leading trigger of asthma episodes in children. To prevent these episodes many families take steps to protect children with asthma such as asking family members and guests who smoke to do so outdoors. However, secondhand smoke drifting from other units in a multi-unit apartment or condo complex is a much more difficult issue. 

Should California’s almost one million kids with asthma be forced to wear gas masks at home? Or should we work to get secondhand smoke out of apartment buildings?

We hope you will join our efforts to protect children and adults with asthma living in apartments from drifting secondhand smoke.

The Center has developed a new resource to raise the awareness of the seriousness of secondhand smoke as an asthma trigger in multi-unit housing. The ad can be used in many different ways: 

        * Hang the poster in your office break room or school bulletin board 
   * Place the ad in your coalition newsletters 
   * Share the ad with asthma partners & coalitions
   * Use the electronic version of the ad for websites or distribute online
      via social media pages 
   * Hand the flyer out at coalition events, health fairs and conferences 
   * Put the flyer in packets for elected officials

The asthma awareness ad is available for download here. It is also available in a larger size for print. Please contact vmarvin@alac.org. 

Join our efforts to help people with asthma living in apartments!

We are planning to develop an additional version of the ad later in the summer for more widespread distribution. In that ad we will highlight organizations which support this educational effort. If you would like your organization's logo on the ad sign up to let us know you're interested.

Let us know if you would like additional copies of the ad or have suggestions for us on distributing this.  

More information on asthma and secondhand smoke can be
found at:

http://epa.gov/asthma/shs.html

http://www.californialung.org/advocacy/asthma-policy

http://www.asthmapartners.org 

http://www.californiabreathing.org

http://www.betterasthmacare.org