Non-smoker Rights eBook

The real objective was to stop owners from smoking inside their units, but without directly attacking smokers. I opened the bulletin with “cooking” and closed it with “food.” Perhaps you could use a similar document in your condo. Feel free to share it with your board and manager.

For years, my arguments regarding the dangers of secondhand smoke fell on deaf ears. I was victimized by the smoker next door and frequently attacked when I raised the issue at Board meetings. Researching the laws and hoping to help others fight back, I wrote the book, Secondhand Smoke Crimes. Gift the paperback to your neighbors or download the eBook version.

Today, to their great credit, our Board and property manager are pressing forward with environmental initiatives. I didn’t give up, and neither should you.

Healthy Environment – Clean Air

Dear owners and tenants:

Our condo association earned a prestigious environmental award in 2011. The Board and Management are taking active steps to create a healthy environment and clean air for all residents. As you know, we share a common air conditioning and heating system.

Here’s how you can help.

1) Do not leave your unit door open when cooking. Cooking fumes settle into the hallway carpets and walls. Do not leave your unit door open in an attempt to cool your apartment. We want to reduce, not increase, our common electricity costs.

2) Do not smoke inside your unit. When a smoker opens his/her unit door, cigarette fumes and toxins travel into the corridors and remain there for the long-term. You have a right to smoke on your balcony with the door closed. Please do not inflict your habit on your neighbors.

3) Do not smoke in the pool area. The pool is a common area. Smoking is prohibited in common areas – even outdoors within the private property!

4) Do not leave food or sodas on your balcony, at the pool or in other common areas – including the trash room. Food attracts ants and other undesirable creatures. The Association spends a considerable amount of money each month to prevent infestation. Please do your part to ensure a healthy environment.

From fellow unit owners and tenants,

Thank you for your support!

Related Post:

Cigarette Addicts: How they Rob Your DNA & Threaten Your Life

Condo Health – Clean Indoor Air – No Smoking Inside Your Unit originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on August 18, 2011.

Unfortunately, this rule doesn’t yet affect current owners and renters, We’re hoping to change the documents in 2011.

Neighbors are beginning to realize that their lives are also on the line. An ardent foe (living on a line soaked in smoke) died of a sudden heart attack. The former Board treasurer – an addicted smoker – who used every device possible to block our efforts – is dying from her addiction, now just a shadow of the person she used to be.

How can I convey the daily revulsion when entering and leaving my home through a fog of fumes and toxins – a gift from the smoker addict next door. Your nervous system goes into overdrive just to cope. Words are inadequate to express the powerlessness, shock, horror – knowing that a vile neighbor is joyfully reducing the years and quality of one’s life. Your throat aches, your heart muscles tighten as the body goes into flight/fight mode.  And there’s nothing you can do – but continue to educate, move or sue.

The smoker is also killing himself (according to his doctor), his son (who lives with him) and their guests. He doesn’t care.

Recipient 2010 Best Books Award

Florida International University recently announced that cigarettes would no longer be tolerated on campus. Not even in cars. Bravo! Many campuses are doing the same. Aren’t they afraid of lawsuits? Surely so, but wise educators realize that the nature of this crime is worth the risk. Caught smoking in a car or anywhere on the grounds, a fine will follow.

While Florida’s state representatives – Democrats & Republicans – are still in the cowardly grip of the tobacco lobby, smokers are being treated as petty criminals by braver states across the union.

Given what we ALL know today about the effects of secondhand smoke, those who light up in front of others – particularly children – are selfish, abusive and heartless individuals. Those who enable smokers are only one step away.

But when enablers are also in the healing profession, it boggles the mind. Here’s an example.

I was walking towards the elevator when the smoker’s son and the son’s apparent girlfriend appeared. It was a terrible week. The fumes were unbearable. I was coughing and choking daily. Visitors to my unit commented on the hideous smell in the corridor. My neighbors were suffering as well.

I hadn’t spoken  a word to the 30-something son in over a year. However, out of despair, I asked that he convince his father to smoke on the balcony. The girlfriend – a big woman, standing about 6 feet in heels, put her hand in my face and says, “Enough. We’ve heard enough from you.” I never spoke to the woman before. I had no idea who she was at the time. When I tried to say more, she was literally “in my face” – both physically and verbally aggressive.

I later learned that she’s studying to be a NURSE! I can only hope that her immune system protects her body as fiercely as she’s protecting daddy smoker.

I’ve known many smokers over the years and thought of most as nice people. Some of my closest friends were smokers. That was then; this is now. I now see smokers in a new light – as DNA robbers.

Recent studies on secondhand smoke are staggering.

The Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, issued a report on Dec. 9 stating that inhaling just one cigarette a day could be enough to cause a heart attack and even death.

“The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale, causing damage immediately,” Benjamin said in a statement. “Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer.”

And the more you’re exposed, the harder it is for your body to repair the damage.

Smoking also weakens the immune system and makes it harder for the body to respond to treatment if a smoking-linked cancer does arise.

The report said that tobacco companies deliberately designed cigarettes to be addictive and that they released new products portrayed as safer that were in fact just as dangerous and addictive. A third of people who ever try cigarettes become daily smokers, according to Dr. Benjamin.

The report also noted that cigarettes kill 443,000 people every year in the United States — one in every five people who die from cancer, heart disease and other causes – resulting in more than $193 billion annually in health care costs and loss of productivity.

Whether President of the United States or Speaker of the House, if you smoke in front of others, they will inevitably pay for your addiction with their DNA.

Related Posts:

Secondhand Smoke Abuse Against Women, Children, Pets: Second Hand Smoke as a Weapon

Winner of 2010 USA Book News Award: Secondhand Smoke Crimes by Dr. Joyce Starr tells a dramatic story about women and children victimized by secondhand smoke and what you can do to fight back. Dr. Joyce Starr and NY literary agent Karen Gantz discuss Secondhand Smoke Crimes.

Cigarette Addicts: How they Rob Your DNA & Threaten Your Life originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on January 20, 2011.

Secondhand Smoke Abuse Against Women, Children, Pets. BUY NOW! Click the image to purchase the book.

• How children were poisoned and bleeding in their beds.
• How letters from doctors were ignored.
• How a condo board president and board smokers used their powers to retaliate against second-hand smoke victims.
• How property managers who smoke permitted and encouraged second hand smoke abuse against non-smokers.
• Stop smoking your neighbor’s unwanted smoke – how to fight back!

Nearly 300,000 children are exposed daily to secondhand smoke, including every child, newborn and fetus in the buildings described in this book. Second hand smoke causes or contributes to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Second hand smoke circulates through common areas air-conditioning and heating systems.

Tens of thousands of children, adults a contract cancer, heart disease, asthma (and related diseases) annually from secondhand smoke exposure.

Can your dog or cat contract cancer from secondhand smoke? YES!  Don’t let your pet be a victim.

Send a copy of this book to members of your board, your property manger, a partner who smokes – to  your doctor and to your vet. Click here to purchase.

Join our campaign to stop Secondhand Smoke Crimes in buildings, outdoor restaurants, parks and other public spaces where smoking is allowed – by supporting this book!

“You Need This Book,” says Radio Talk Show Host Faith Ranoli. “It’s a must read. Do not be held hostage by your neighbor’s secondhand smoke…learn what you can do to return your home to a healthy environment and to fight for your rights.”

It’s the FIRST book on second hand smoke that gives victims the tools to fight back. Help stop second hand smoke by spreading the word.

Click here to purchase.

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON TO LISTEN:

Secondhand Smoke Abuse Against Women, Children, Pets: Second Hand Smoke as a Weapon originally appeared on Rights Radio™ with Dr. Joyce Starr - An Independent Voice on January 17, 2010.