Make a Pledge for a Smoke-Free Zone Submit a Pledge Form and Enter to Win a CY Prize Breathe in, breathe out. Simple, right? But if the air around you has secondhand smoke, every breath you take could lead to lung infections, asthma, allergies – even cancer and heart disease.   You can make the air around your friends, family, and your pets safe to breathe by creating a “smoke-free zone” around them.  Did you know Second Hand Smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals?

Breathe in, breathe out. Simple, right? But if the air around you has secondhand smoke, every breath you take could lead to lung infections, asthma, allergies – even cancer and heart disease.   You can make the air around your friends, family, and your pets safe to breathe by creating a “smoke-free zone” around them. 

Tobacco smoke in the air is called secondhand smoke. It comes from the end of a burning cigarette, cigar or pipe, or the smoke exhaled by a smoker. It contains more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals.   The US Surgeon General says there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, if you’re around secondhand smoke, it’s like you’re smoking, too. Even short exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects and increases the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.
Children and Second Hand Smoke

• Children and babies have small lungs that are still growing, so they have an even bigger risk from these poisons.
• When children breathe in smoke, it can cause health problems that stay with them their entire lives – like asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, more-frequent ear infections and allergies.  (Secondhand smoke makes the symptoms even worse for adults already suffering from of these same conditions.)
• Babies whose parents or caregivers smoke are twice as likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). 
• Don’t forget about your furry and feathered friends!  Did you know that pets that breathe secondhand smoke have more allergies, cancer and lung problems than pets living in smoke-free homes?

If you smoke, the Vermont Department of Health offers many resources to help you quit,  If you’re not ready to quit yet, there are a lot of things you can do NOW to protect your children and those you care about. 

• Cut down on your smoking.
• Ask family and friends to leave their smoke outside.
• Stop smoking in your car.
• Don’t smoke when your children are present.
• Make sure there is no smoking at your child’s day care.
• Think of your children as “smoke free zones” even when they are outside.

Want to go a step further? Visit our website and PLEDGE to protect youth by keeping a smoke-free zone around them at all times, whether inside or outside, in the home or in the car.  Sign and return a pledge to be entered into a drawing for cool CY prizes!  Interested in more information on how to quit smoking or to make your world a smoke free zone?  Visit the Vermont Department of Health’s Quit Network at: http://www.vtquitnetwork.org/make-your-world-smoke-free-zone or call 1.800.QUIT.NOW (800.784.8669). 

CY - Connecting Youth is a community based organization whose mission is to promote a culture that develops in our youth the power and conviction to make healthy choices. Our primary purpose is to encourage a "no-use" community norm around alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use by young people. Operating out of the Chittenden South Supervisory Union, CY serves the communities of Charlotte, Hinesburg, St. George, Shelburne, and Williston and is located online at www.seewhy.info and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/connectingyouth.