Spring cleaning isn’t just a time to organize closets. The SmokingWords team considers spring a time to clean the environment of cigarettes and all their negative effects.
The SmokingWords team hosted a guest speaker Tuesday evening in the Journalism Building who discussed the consequences smoking has on health and the environment.
Daniel Harrington, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the LSU Health and Science Center in New Orleans, conducted air-quality studies in Alexandria after the city implemented a smoking ban in the bar and gaming area and found a sweeping improvement in the air quality.
“Tobacco is one of the most well-documented health hazards,” Harrington said. “If you don’t have exposure, the risk isn’t there.”
Harrington’s research found that the air quality in Alexandria after the smoking ban was 36 times cleaner.
Harrington said if an establishment has a smoke-free policy, the majority of the people won’t smoke.
“What’s the negative?” he asked the audience.
The Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act, established in 2006, prohibits smoking in most public places and workplaces, according to the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living.
North Gate Tavern, a popular student hangout located on West Chimes Street, remains a smoke-free establishment despite the bar’s exemption from the Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act because of its status as a standalone bar.
 
North Gate Tavern’s owner Dusty Cooper said she decided implementing a smoke-free policy was important when she noticed most customers appreciated the cleaner atmosphere.
 
“We are really proud to say that we are one of the only bars here in Baton Rouge that is smoke free,” Cooper said.
The SmokingWords team also attempted to gain more student support for a tobacco-free campus Tuesday by cleaning up the cigarette butts in the Quad.
The team collected two gallon-sized Ziploc bags and another half-gallon bag’s worth of cigarette butts in one hour near Middleton Library.
SmokingWords members had a banner available for students to sign in support of a tobacco-free campus. These signatures will add to the 160 signatures collected at the Wellness Fair in March.
Erin Bernard, mass communication senior, said she hopes their effort will raise awareness that smoking is not just an air-quality problem, but also a littering problem.
 
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Contact Jacy Baggett at [email protected]