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Ottawa: April 11, 2008 Smoke-free housing needed, say health groups by Wanda O'BrienCarol Lebel, who suffers from multiple chemical sensitivities, has been on the Ottawa Allergy and Environmental Health Association's safe house waiting list for more than two years. As the province is less tolerant of second-hand smoke, advocates in Ottawa are working to expel it from one of the last places it can hover – the home. The Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health is calling on seven eco-friendly developers to designate at least one new building construction in the Ottawa area 100-per-cent smoke free. “We know the demand is out there, it just hasn’t been met,” said Ellen Holmes, past-president of the council. Carol Lebel, a 48-year-old apartment dweller, was diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivities four years ago. She has been on Ottawa’s branch of the Allergy and Environmental Health Association’s safe house waiting list for over two years. “We’re encouraged to have a safe zone and I don’t have that in apartment living,” said Lebel. A safe house would provide Lebel with a living situation that would allow her to refuel, rather than deplete her energies. The association has a safe housing project that has been in the works for five years. A suitable location was found two years ago, said Mary de Bassecourt, the association’s executive director, but the project still needs funding. Over 82 people are on the waiting list for the projected 40 units. “If we’re successful in completing this it will be an optimum place within Ottawa,” said de Bassecourt. The multi-unit dwelling would be made of safe building materials and separate ventilation systems in an area with the least amount of car-exhaust. The association hopes to complete the safe housing project within two years. Cigarette smoke is one of many substances that trigger what Lebel calls her “Jekyll and Hyde” experience. She said exposure to chemicals, such as those in cigarette smoke, laundry detergent, perfumes and ordinary cleaning products, causes her headaches, mood swings, fatigue and muscle strain. Lebel said she has carbon filters over the vents in her apartment because of cigarette smoke and a large air purifier in her living room that she rolls from room to room. But she said she still needs to wear a carbon-filtered mask in her home at times. “I’m sick,” Lebel said. “Other people’s lives are impacted by me if I ask them to change and living in a multiple development unit you just can’t be asking everyone to change so that you can live a better life.” Karen Rowan is a property manager with 270 rental units in the Centretown area. She said she can choose whether to rent to a smoker, but once the apartment has been rented she cannot evict someone because they smoke. Rowan said she believes the demand for smoke-free living is there, but the government needs to provide more legislative support. “It’s a bit of a big loophole,” she said. “Even though we’re all health conscious and smoke conscious, our hands are tied. There aren’t really rules to back us up.” If smoke is causing damage or interfering with another tenant’s quality of life a landlord can make a case on the tenant’s behalf before the Landlord and Tenant Board, said Mira Gamsa, a Toronto-based manager of the board. Pippa Beck, president of the Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health and policy analyst for the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association, said landlords are interested and want to offer smoke-free units, but it’s difficult to enforce. Part of the problem is that when people are exposed to second-hand smoke at home they see it as a health issue, rather than a tenant’s rights issue, Beck said. “This is the number one issue why the general public finds our organization and contacts us,” Beck said. The Ottawa council’s campaign for smoke-free living began last December because of complaints from a variety of people, with and without chemical sensitivities. “People are beginning to realize they don’t have to put up and shut up,” said Beck. “I should have the choice to live in a smoke-free environment if that’s what I want.” Ottawa Sun
No kidding around butt ban by Susan Sherring Hey stupid, butt out! That's how Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder envisions her role in getting the message out that smoking in cars with kids is just plain wrong. Yesterday, city councillors agreed to lend their moral support to provincial efforts looking at a law that would ban smoking in cars with kids. While everyone on council agrees that the practice is wrong, there was some concern about how such a law -- provincial or otherwise -- would be enforced. Harder suggested if she were ever stuck in traffic and saw someone smoking in a car containing kids, she'd just roll down her window and yell: "Hey stupid, butt out." Only Orleans Coun. Bob Monette voted against the symbolic motion, saying he will always prefer education to legislation. "Should (the police) spend their time driving around to see if people are smoking? Do they first check to see if there are any passengers in the vehicle smoking, driving around even more, and say, yes, they're smoking, yes, there are passengers, and then try to figure out how old these passengers are," Monette said, tongue-in-cheek.He said he'd far prefer to see an educational campaign, which has proved effective over the years. "Let's not try to force people to do things we cannot enforce. I don't believe this is a proper thing to get involved with, let alone the province. I will be voting against it." But Monette angered some of his fellow councillors when he suggested this council was known as a municipal body that has a "history of taking rights away from the people." Ouch. That didn't sit well with most councillors, including Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans. "I am appalled at that statement. What we have a history of is working towards protecting our citizens and we're a model for many. Let's show some leadership by endorsing this. I would ask all of you to endorse this and in doing so, removing this risk to our children," she said.What is really quite remarkable is how quickly the public mood has changed on cigarettes. Remember the furor surrounding smoking in public places? Now, barely a ripple of dissent. It was only back in December that even Dr. David Salisbury was skeptical that banning smoking in cars was an idea whose time had come. Now, only three months later, Ontario is heading toward the idea, Nova Scotia has passed the legislation and the British Columbia government promised a ban in its recent throne speech. On Tuesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he's taking a "second look" at adopting legislation he once called a slippery slope, adding he's being lobbied heavily by his minister of health promotion and a Liberal backbencher who last year introduced a private member's bill that would ban the practice. Although McGuinty had said in the past that such a ban would infringe too much on people's rights, he appears to have changed his mind to such a degree that he's willing to consider passing David Orazietti's bill when the Legislature resumes sitting in a couple of weeks. Even Mayor Larry O'Brien supported the provincial ban, saying many believe smoking in cars with kids was not only disgusting but criminal. "Smoking with a young child in a car is the moral equivalent of teaching your child to swim in a toilet bowl and it's just wrong," he said. Say what? Perhaps it's quotes like this that have the mayor's political staff researching a blog for the mayor, so yes, he can think before writing. QUOTE OF THE DAY: Tempers were flaring yesterday at city council as the future of two buildings in Rockcliffe Park went up for debate. Procedural wrangling appeared to drag on forever with little getting accomplished. Councillors began getting frustrated, barking at each other and often ignoring what the other was saying. "Nobody's listening to nobody," said Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Gord Hunter. "Well, I don't give a rat's butt, I'm going to take my five minutes." The Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health asks Housing Developers and Landlords to Go 100% Smoke-Free1/8/2008
Second-hand Smoke from Neighbouring Units a Real ProblemThe Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health asks Housing Developers and Landlords to Go 100% Smoke-Free
With National Non-Smoking Week just around the corner, the Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health is raising awareness about the infiltration of second-hand smoke (SHS) in multi-unit dwellings. "Our organization receives calls and emails weekly from people living in apartments and condominiums who are being involuntarily exposed to SHS from neighbouring units," says Pippa Beck, President of the Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health. "It is ironic that individuals are protected from SHS in workplaces and public places, yet many people come home to smoky apartments and condominiums. We believe that everyone has a right to the same protection from SHS at home-whether they live in a single family home or in a multi-unit dwelling." Laurie O'Nanskie lives in an apartment in Ottawa and literally has to seal herself up in her unit each night to prevent the smoke from entering her home. "I tape the crack under my front door and block off the vents, but still the smoke finds its way in. It's awful. I've talked to the landlord on numerous occasions but nothing has been done about it," says O'Nanskie. Larry Graham, an Ottawa resident living with both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), looks forward to the day when he has the choice to rent a 100% smoke-free apartment. "So many great changes have happened in the last few years with smoke-free bylaws that protect people's health, so it's hard to believe that I'm still exposed to second-hand smoke in my apartment," says Mr. Graham. "Some smokers in our building leave the doors of their apartments open so that they can vent the smoke, but that smoke drifts into the hallways and into other people's apartments and it makes them sick." Second-hand smoke (SHS) is a toxic mix of over 4,000 chemicals. The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's report confirms that scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure. In 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified SHS as a "Class A carcinogen," a category reserved for dangerous chemicals known to cause cancer in humans. In 2005, the California Environmental Protection Agency classified SHS as a "toxic air contaminant". Smoke-free homes are already the norm in Canada-three-quarters of households have policies prohibiting smoking indoors. A recent poll commissioned by the Ontario Tobacco-Free Network found that if given the choice, two-thirds of Ontario residents would prefer to live in a smoke-free building. "People in my building are fighting for the right to breathe clean air," says Mr. Graham. "Smoke-free apartment buildings and condominiums would protect people's health. I for one would certainly breathe much easier." The Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health is asking developers and landlords to think about declaring some of their properties smoke-free. "Smoke-free does not mean smoker-free," says Ms. Beck. "Just as people now step outside workplaces and public places for a cigarette, we are asking that there be multi-unit dwellings where people step outside to smoke to avoid SHS being circulated inside the building." Research shows that, depending on the age and design of a building, up to 65% of the air in a unit can come from other units in the building. Second-hand smoke can seep into a unit in a number of ways:
Making a building 100% smoke-free is not only healthier, but it also makes good business sense, since it:
For more information, contact: Pippa Beck, President Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health Tel: 613-230-4211 (w); 613-722-6187 (h) Laurie O'Nanskie Tel: 613-321-0131 Larry Graham Tel: 613-234-9172 Carmela Graziani, Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health Tel: 613-829-2224 Dear Editors Letter, Ottawa Citizen
Re: "Global warming, Al Gore and freaky storms prove the time is now to build sustainable, energy-wise communities", The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, March 3, 2007Minto vice-president Robert Greenberg says that as a builder and developer he has a responsibility to build greener homes that will help protect the environment. The Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health couldn't agree more and we urge Mr. Greenberg and all local developers to make their new environmentally friendly, energy-wise, greener homes 100% smoke-free. Involuntary exposure to drifting second-hand smoke in condominiums, apartment buildings, town houses, and other housing units is a serious health concern. The Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health receives complaints from individuals living in multiple-dwelling units whose health is adversely affected by drifting second-hand smoke. Many tenants and condominium owners resort to duct taping front doors, electrical plugs and heat vents in a futile attempt to block out the second-hand smoke that drifts in from other apartment units. These individuals are frustrated and they don't understand why they are protected from second-hand smoke in public places and work places, yet they cannot get the same level of protection from their landlords and property managers. According to the City of Ottawa Health Status, released by Ottawa Public Health last year, only 10.8% of adults reported being daily smokers. Since the vast majority of Ottawa residents are smoke-free, and given that the evidence regarding the harmful effects of second-hand smoke is irrefutable, the Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health strongly advocates for a smoke-free clause in tenancy agreements. We hope that Mr. Greenberg and other local developers will take heed of the growing demand for smoke-free multiple-dwelling units and build smoke-free homes that are truly "greener" and environmentally-friendly. Ellen Holmes President Ottawa Council on Smoking and Health |
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