This year, we are lucky to have the opportunity to vote on an extremely important public health issue on the SGA ballot: second-hand smoke exposure on campus. As such, we must act in the best interest of the well being of our campus and work to protect the health of everyone. Since the facts are clear that second-hand smoke exposure has immediate adverse health effects, we need to take action by voting yes on the smoke.free.slu referendum on Monday. I would just like to remind everyone of a few key points before they head to Banner to vote.

– The Surgeon General reports that there is no risk-free level of second-hand smoke.

– Breathing in second-hand smoke for even a short time can set the cancer process in motion.

– 70 percent of college students do not smoke.

– Everyone deserves the right to breathe clean air.

– College students are the only group with an increasing rate of smoking.

– 105 colleges have become entirely or almost entirely smoke free (with the exception of parking lots, as the referendum proposes).

– We have the responsibility of protecting the public health of the Saint Louis University community.

Please seriously consider what a smoke-free campus would mean for us. Although the referendum does not mean that a policy would be implemented, it would send a strong message to administration that students recognize the severity of breathing in secondhand smoke and want to put a stop to it.
For more information, you may join our smoke.free.slu Facebook group or e-mail [email protected].

Carly Caminiti
Vice President
smoke.free.slu
Senior, College of Arts and Sciences