Getting the Smoke Out. (Unit 3: Tobacco).

Going out to listen to music in clubs and bars used to mean putting up with smoke-filled rooms--and the watery eyes, sore throat, and smelly clothing that cigarette smoke causes. But that is changing. Some musicians and singers request smoke-free facilities when they perform. They're doing that because their livelihoods depend on it. Constant exposure to cigarette smoke can destroy a singer's voice.

Those musicians have called attention to an important fact about smoking: Tobacco smoke from cigarettes, cigars, and pipes affects everyone who breathes it, not just the smoker.

In 1986, a report from the U.S. Surgeon General confirmed what some nonsmokers had suspected: Secondhand smoke kills. The Surgeon General also reported that children of parents who smoke have more respiratory infections (such as colds, pneumonia, and bronchitis), more ear infections, and slower lung development than children of nonsmokers. In fact, every year 1,100 children under the age of 18 die from respiratory infections in which secondhand smoke was a factor.

What makes secondhand smoke so deadly? Tobacco smoke itself contains more than 4,000 chemicals. Some of them are merely irritating, but 43 of them are known to cause cancer in humans. In 1992 the Environmental Protection Agency classified secondhand smoke as a Class A carcinogen, a category reserved for the most dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.

Unfortunately, the Surgeon General's report and other studies have found that simply separating nonsmokers from smokers isn't enough to prevent harm to nonsmokers. A separate air supply is needed, and that's hard to accomplish in most buildings.

More restaurants, malls, and public places have become smoke-free. But there's still room for improvement.

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself from secondhand smoke: