Comparable Issue

A comparable issue to the effect DDT had on the environment would be the effect that second hand smoke is having on the community. There are quite a few debates on the issue right now especially with the city of Fort Wayne working towards becoming a smoke-free city. I know that in May of this year Lutheran Hospital will become a non-smoking campus. When Lutheran Hospital decided to do this, they knew there would be a fight. The smoking community of the hospital are very upset most of which are saying “they won’t make me quit,” and “it’s not fair.” However, the hospital is making every attempt to help these smoker’s quit. They are offering smoking cessation classes and after completing a sequence of five classes, the hospital will pay for a medication to help you stop smoking. I think that it is pretty amazing that the hospital is taking steps for a healthier community, meanwhile trying to help those who want to quit. According to the American Lung Association, http://www.lungusa.org, second hand smoke lingers in the air for hours after a cigarette has been put out. Second hand smoke can cause many bad health effects. Some examples being cancer, asthma, and other respiratory infection, not to mention making someone with a poor immune system very susceptible to the effects of second hand smoke. On that website you can view many different statistics, but being that I work in the healthcare field I am particularly interested to see that secondhand smoke causes about 3400 lung cancer deaths in adult non-smokers. I also found it interesting that non-smokers who were exposed to secondhand smoke were 25% more likely to have coronary heart disease than non-smokers who were not exposed.