Smoking ban would protect Utahns

Thousands of remarkable, productive people in our community have suffered long, painful deaths due to smoking. My parents, longtime cigarette smokers, both died after several years of debilitating emphysema. Four years ago, Suzanne Weiss, an amazing woman who devoted her life to providing extraordinary educational opportunities for thousands of economically disadvantaged children at Guadalupe School, died from tobacco-related illness. Like so many others, these extraordinary people, who had so much to give to our community, died tragically — and died too soon.

I was a smoker for many years until I watched both my parents die slowly and painfully from emphysema. For me, this experience was a wake-up call. Although my addiction was powerful, I stopped smoking cold-turkey 14 years ago and haven't had a cigarette since.

Smoking tobacco creates a profound addiction. Those of us who have been smokers can attest to this. Quitting is immensely difficult. In my case I attempted to quit several times over the course of many years before I was successful. But, now that we have compelling scientific evidence regarding the destruction of lives and families wrought by smoking, as well as the dangers of secondhand smoke, we have plenty of persuasive reasons to do everything we can to discourage smoking and to spare people from exposure to secondhand smoke.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year in nonsmokers. The EPA has also found that secondhand smoke contributes to an estimated 35,000 deaths from heart disease.