Many property owners and managers are not yet aware of the number of residents who have illnesses that are seriously made worse by secondhand tobacco smoke. Illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, heart disease, lupes, AIDS, cancer, as well as an enormous list of other ailments can result in extreme suffering when residents live in an adjoining unit to that of a smoker. Tobacco smoke is a gaseous substance containing toxins in the fine particles that filter from apartment to apartment. These toxins can even cause illnesses in non-smoking residents that otherwise would have been avoided.
 

When smoking is permitted in any building the smoke does not stay in the home or area where the smoking occurs. When one person smokes in an apartment there are over 4000 dangerous burning chemicals that will filter their way through walls, electrical and plumbing fixtures, doors and windows into every adjoining unit. According to a former physicist with the EPA, 60% of the air in an apartment building is shared by all residents, even with separate heating and air conditioning units.
 

It has been proven that even the most efficient construction, patching, caulking, or use of air filtration systems cannot stop the smoke with its chemicals from drifting throughout a building. The only solution is to require that buildings where non-smokers live be completely non-smoking.
 

Surveys across the country have shown that over forty percent of residents in multi-unit housing have experienced the problem of tobacco smoke drifting into their home from that of a neighbor. Thirty percent of those residents noted they, or someone they live with, had a medical condition that is aggravated by tobacco smoke.

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