Smokefree Bessemer, Bessemer, AL, USA

Working to make sure all Bessemer residents have the right to breathe clean air where they live, work, eat and play.

An initiative of the Health Action Partnership, SmokeFree Bessemer is working to make sure all Bessemer residents have the right to breathe clean air where they live, work, eat and play.

Want to quit? For free help, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Unfortunately, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. The only way to protect yourself is to avoid it as much as possible. When out in public, choose to spend time at smoke-free venues and try to stay away from those who are smoking. If you smoke, do so outdoors and in open areas away from others, especially children and other high risk people. Also, try quitting!

- Everyone has the right to breathe smoke-free air.

- Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined.

- There are 7,000 chemicals in secondhand smoke; 69 known are known to cause cancer.

- Poisons in tobacco include arsenic, cyanide, formaldehyde (which is used to preserve dead bodies) and ammonia bromide (the main agent used in toilet cleaner).

- Each year in Alabama, approximately 7,500 adults die from their own smoking; another 800-plus nonsmokers die each year from secondhand smoke.

- Over time, being around secondhand smoke can cause chronic lung problems, lung cancer and heart disease in nonsmoking adults and lung and ear infections, asthma and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in children.

- People who use smokeless tobacco are 50 times more likely to get cancer of the cheek and gums.

- In the United States, secondhand smoke causes 46,000 premature deaths every year.

- 78% of Alabamians DON’T smoke

- Smoke-free policies encourage smokers to quit and discourage youth from starting.