Every year more than 1,600 North Carolinians die, not because they smoked, but because they were exposed to other people's smoke. Hospitals, clinics and health departments see thousands of cases of bronchitis, asthma attacks, ear infections, and cardiovascular illness caused by exposure to the many poisons in tobacco smoke. These cases are not just the people who live with smokers. They include kids who hang out in smoky bowling alleys, people who dine in smoky restaurants, and people who work at smoky job sites.

Exposure to secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard. It is classified as a Class A carcinogen (in the same category as asbestos, benzene, and lead); it contains 4,000 chemicals (many are poisons and more than 40 are carcinogenic). A considerable amount of research shows that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, nasal cancer and cardiovascular disease; short-term exposure causes increased cholesterol, decreased coronary blood flow, headaches, asthma, bronchitis, ear infections and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).