This full-page advertisement in the May 2 Wall Street Journal that caught my eye:
A Federal Court has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Philip Morris USA, Altria and Lorillard to make this statement about the health effects of secondhand smoke:
- Secondhand smoke kills over 38,000 Americans each year.
- Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults who do not
- Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, severe asthma and reduced lung function.
- There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
With yet another godawful wildfire season approaching in the West, this is the full-page advertisement I want to see every Friday this summer in every daily and weekly newspaper in the West:
Federal Court has ordered the United States Congress, the U.S. Forest Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fishers Service to make this statement about the health effects of secondhand wildfire smoke:
- Secondhand wildfire smoke kills thousands of Americans every year.
- We don’t know how many thousands are killed annually because we were only recently forced to admit that wildfire smoke is carcinogenic.
- Secondhand wildfire smoke causes lung cancer, other respiratory diseases and coronary heart disease in adults who are exposed to it for months at a time.
- Children exposed to secondhand wildfire smoke are at an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, asthma and reduced lung function.
- There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand wildfire smoke.
Anyone out there want to challenge my belief that wildfire smoke is carcinogenic – and just as dangerous to your health as cigarette smoke?

