Smoke Free Texas

When I was only eight years old, my father died from lung cancer. He was a chain-smoker who always had a cigarette in his mouth. My brother, who also smoked, was eighteen years old when Dad died and became my primary caregiver, because my Mom was so devastated by Dad's death. For many months, she was unable function as our mother. My brother was a senior in high school and worked in a grocery store until about 10PM each night. If it hadn't been for him, I don't know what would have become of me. He made sure I had clean clothes, school supplies, and new shoes and clothes when I needed them. He went to school conferences with my teachers. He took me to school each morning and called after school to make sure I had gotten home safely; he reminded me to stay near home and called periodically to make sure I was doing as I was told. He enrolled me in after-school activities. He called to remind me to eat dinner, get my homework, get my bath, and go to bed. When my brother was in his twenties and in the U S Navy, he stopped smoking, and I am so glad. When I was in my early twenties, my mother became very sick, and eventually, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She'd never smoked in her life, and I can only assume that her cancer was caused by all the years she spent with my Dad chain-smoking around her.

im in college at unt and i have to worry about having multiple minor asthma attacks whenever i walk around campus or ride the bus. I missed two weeks of classes because my allergies aggravated my asthma so much i was afraid to leave my house for fear of ending up in the hospital from the smokers.

My dad, my mom, and our great friend all died from lung cancer caused by smoking. My daughter's constant bronchitis/colds, etc., immediately cleared up when my mom finally quit smoking for the last few years of her life. My daughter had perfect attendance at school after mom quit smoking!! Who knows how the rest of us will have been affected by the smoke all our lives??? That still remains to be seen..........

My name is Dennis McMullan and I am an EX SMOKER after 36 years. Hallelujiah! I have been hospitalized twice during my life time for pneumonia and then recently undergoing open heart surgery requiring a 4 artery bypass. While I did not have a heart attack my team of doctors told me that had I gone much longer than 6 months to a year I would not have lived to make it to the hospital. I am so thankful I gave the habit up. Today the smell of tobacco makes me sick. Having spoken with other EX Smokers, the thought is there, and will probably always will be. But the desire is gone. If You smoke.... Please STOP!.... It is not easy. But you can. I DID!

My name is Russell Forsyth and I grew up in a household where I was exposed to second hand smoke. In addition, I find it nearly impossible to avoid exposure to smoke while living in Austin, Texas. One breath of second hand smoke has an immediate feeling of severe rejection in my body and can trigger a sinus infection.

After a recent cold, I went to an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat specialist) who discovered nasal polyps caused by airborne irritants. I was extremely fortunate that these were not cancerous, but feel like cigarette smoke is the culprit and so does my doctor. Especially since second hand smoke causes me such distress.

The results of the findings was an immediate, costly and uncomfortable surgical procedure to remove the polyps. Now I am more determined than ever to avoid cigarette smoke, which fills the hike and bike path, all outdoor music venues, the doorways to most businesses and even in my neighborhood and back yard as it drifts over the fences and from the streets as smoke exits moving vehicles.

Think one whiff of tobacco smoke is harmless? That brief exposure is all it takes to cause immediate lung and DNA damage, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said in a report on tobacco-the first of its kind in four years. While we don't need to run from the guy smoking next to us on the street, regular smokers do need to be aware that every cigarette they puff causes immediate health ramifications, the report emphasizes. Cigarette smoke attacks cells and inflames tissue in ways that can lead to serious illness and death, and it damages almost every organ in the body; in smokers with underlying heart disease, the report says, one cigarette can cause a heart attack. The report links cigarettes to 13 types of cancer, including esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, and bladder. And recent changes in design and ingredients have made the products increasingly addictive: Cigarettes now deliver nicotine more quickly and efficiently than they did in decades past. "Casual smokers think they are improving their health by cutting back, but there is no safe level," said Tim McAfee, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health, in an interview with CNN. He was one of more than 60 scientists to contribute to the 700-page report. "[Smoking] affects people's DNA immediately, and their heart and blood vessels literally seconds to minutes after being exposed."

If a person walked up and intentionally exposed you to a cancer, that would be considered assault. Then why isn’t exposure to cancer through any means, such as cigarette smoke, legal in our modern world? In my opinion cigarette smoking anywhere but in the privacy of your own home should be illegal and I hope to see that change in my lifetime.

My husband was diagnosed with head and neck cancer at age 52. He passed away at age 55. His doctors said it was a direct result of smoking when he was teenager. He quit at the age of 25 and never smoked another cigarette. Anything we can pass to stop smoking in public places can't come soon enough. The air we breathe should not be contaminated by people's choices.

As a childl, I opened windows in the winter (in Sioux Falls, SD and St. Paul, MN) to air our house out, my parents (both of whom smoked heavily) following me and closing them. I remember my clothes smelled like cigarettes and pipe tobacco.

In 1979 I had a summer job in an Internal Medicine Dept. as an office worker while I was on break during my pursuit of my MBA. The secretary whose office I was sharing smoked so much that there was a permanent haze in the room and it reeked of smoke. One day I dashed into the room and reached for the phone on my desk to report a problem to a computer manufacturer. Suddenly I couldn't breathe, ran out into the hall choking violently, and was assisted by two Internists who beat on my back attempting to stop the choking. The result: one of my lungs collapsed and the resultant tests showed that that lung was filled with dark gobs of, the doctors said, filtered smoke particles. I don't remember much about my recovery except to say that around secondhand smoke I now cough and, if not able to get far enough away from the smoke, have passed out!

Growing up in the 60s, I have the Marlboro Man to thank for my smoking habit of 18 years. I couldn't wait to look like him!

After numerous unsuccessful attempts at quitting, I have my daughter, Courtney, to thank for me finally kicking the habit. When she was a young child, I realized that as I sat in my recliner watching TV, every time I lit up, she got down off my lap and sat on the floor. This hit me right between the eyes. Without saying a word, she sent me a message that it was either her or the cigarettes. I quit on the spot. After 30-plus years, I have never smoked again. Thank you, Courtney!!

Sad part is that still, after all this time, when someone around me lights up, I want one. Addiction, you think?

Thabkfully I never got hooked on cigarettes so never went through the withdrawal of tobacco addiction. However one of my best friends of more than 50 years is slowly dying of COPD. She was always one of the most active people around, and now she is barely able to walk more than a few steps without having to take a long rest. Her coughing is painful to hear and she is hospitalized often.

Smoking is truly horrible and affects every single person, not just the smoker, but also their family and friends who love them.

I TOO HAVE A HISTORY OF SMOKERS IN MY FAMILY.THAT SMKE INTERFERED WITH MY STHMA AND MY BROTHER AND I PAID THE PRICE FOR SECOND HAND SMOLE.MY MOTHER DIED AT AN EARLY AGE DUE TO SMOKING.HER HEART WAS FILLED WITH TOO MUCH WHITE CARTER FROM SMOKING.THAT TAUGHT ME A LESSON THAT I WAS GLAD I NEVER SMOKED BECAUSE THERE WERE TOO MANY PEOPLE AROUNDME AND I CXOUD NOOT CONVINCE THEM THAT SECOND HAND SMOKE WAS AS DANGEROUS TO US AND TO OTHERS WHO HAVE CHRONIC ASTHMA
WHENI MARRIED MY HUSBAND WAS IN THE MILITARY.THERE WERE ALWAYS TOBACCO PRODUCTS BEING USED.I HAD TO LET EVERYBVODY KJNOW BY PUTTING ON A MASK TO GET THROUGH THIS SMOKE,
I HAD TO WASH THE CLOTHES TWICE TO GET ALL THE SMOKE SMELL FROM THE CLOTHES AFTER BEING EXPOSED EVERYWHERE I WENT TO SECOND HAND SMOKE.
MY TWO SONS WERE VERY ALLERGIC TO MANY THINGS AND SECOND HAND SMOKE SENT THEM TO THE HOSPITAL MANY TIMES.EVEN 40 YEARS LATER IF EXPOSED TO SECOND HAND SMOLE ALL OF US HAVE TO TAKE A BREATHING TREATMENT AND CLEAR OUR LUNGS SO WE CAN BREATHE.
PLEASE I ENCOURAGE TEXANS TO SUPPORT A BAN ON SMOKING TO GIVE US A CHANCE TO LIVE A SMOKE FREE LIFE WITHOUT HAVING TO TAKE BREATHING TREATMENTS DAILY.PLEASE HAVE SOME CARE FOR THE LIVES OF ALL THOSE YOU LOVE TO KEEP OUR LUNGS FREE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS
THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUROWN.
SINCERELY
SHARON RULFS KERR

My grandmother died at age 76 in 2008 of lung cancer and she never smoked a day in her life. She was, however, a waitress at a small truck stop in the rural city of Alice, Texas for decades. As a single mother raising three small children on her own, she did what she needed to do to survive and keep her family together.

I know she would still be alive today if it was not for her lung cancer diagnosis. She was otherwise in great physical condition. It breaks my heart she wasn't around to be there for my mom during her cancer diagnosis, or able to meet her great grandson born in 2010.

We miss her everyday and we're doing what we can to make Texas Smoke Free in her memory. The bottom line is that NOBODY should have to choose between earning a living for their family and their health.

I am an asthmatic; because of this, I am cautious to go into restuarants in Addison because they still allow smoking in many places. I have had experiences while eating in these places that my lungs become labored and I begin to gasp for a breath. We have had to leave such establishments. I no longer go into any places that allow smoking (even just at the bar). The entire country of Ireland has banned smoking but Addison cannot? Why the arrogance? why endanger peoples' health...just for another dollar?

I am a South Padre Island councilmen. I successfully sponsored a non smoking ordinance on South Padre Island. My former wife had her mother who smoked living with her for over 20 years. My former wife now has a terrible case of CPOE

I agree smoke is a problem. If I had my way smoking would be banned all across America. I have health issues and try avoid being around smoke. I have never smoked at all, not even one. I am proud to be an American, I traced my family roots to England and Spain. Then there is the Bill Of Rights. I wish it been available to my Native American Ancestors. It wasn't there for them ,but it is for my neighbors.

My mom is a chronic smoker. She began when she was 17 and has never stopped. She's now 63 and suffers from a wide array of health problems including type two diabetes due to her smoking. It has sucked up all her money and dictates every aspect of her life. She won't visit me in Austin because she can't smoke in my apartment and won't carpool with my sisters when they offer to drive because she can't smoke in their cars or around their children.

My sisters and I all suffered growing up do to the secondhand smoke that enveloped us from birth because my mom wouldn't give it up during pregnancy and allowed my grandmother to smoke in the house as well. Asthma, absolutely no endurance, and the constant shame of being accused of smoking and smelling like ashtrays followed each one of us until we moved out. My mom's grandchildren will never be able to stay at their grandma's house. My dad divorced her when I was 8 because she wouldn't stop smoking even after his company doctor told him his health was suffering so bad he would be out of a job if he didn't get away. He was told his health was deteriorating faster than many people who smoke just because he was only inhaling the secondhand smoke.

My twin sister and I have horrifically adverse physical reactions to secondhand smoke in even small amounts because of what we were exposed to growing up. Our eyes begin burning automatically, our chests start constricting and we have uncontrollable coughing fits. I'm 20 years old and having to watch my mother's health deteriorate instead of having her support during my college years. SHe buys multiple cartons of cigarettes a month and it has completely sucked up her money. She often tells me she doesn't have money for gas or for groceries but she ALWAYS has cigarettes.

It's sad and pathetic and shameful. She claims she likes smoking and has no desire to stop even though it has caused her family so much grief, especially now that she is getting older. Her coworkers won't have lunch with her because she claims she has to smoke. She's isolated herself and it makes my heart ache. No one should have to watch a loved one deteriorate because of smoke.

I have never smoked. At 21 I was diagnosed with adult onset bronchial asthma related to second hand smoke. I grew up with second hand smoke from my father; who now lives with emphysema & cancer.
For many years I struggled with frequent asthma attacks in the workplace from second hand smoke. My social activities have been very limited because of smoking. I can't be in any public places or functions where there is smoking period.
The asthma attack feels like someone is squeezing my wind pipe, cutting off my air supply, while coughing & wheezing.
Second hand smoke has the power to render me helpless, gasping for air in a matter of minutes, and fighting for my life, if my inhalers are not at hand. For me smoke free air is not a choice...it literally is life sustaining.
Thank you for your advocacy efforts to make smoke-free workplaces a reality in Texas.
Sincerely,
Margaret Grace Mireles

Hello,
Due to 40 yrs. of smoking, my beloved mother passed away, at the tender age of 64, in 1992.
She started smoking at the age of 16 and didn't quit until she got a diagnosis in 1985 of breast cancer and then lung cancer in 1990. I lost her 2 days after Pres. Clinton was elected. I still miss her terribly.
Also, where I work at a psych. hospital, the patients are allowed to smoke 4 times a day and this irritates me to no end. I work the 3PM to 11PM shift and many come back to me for their 9PM meds, stinking of cigarette smoke. It makes me cough, as I am very allergic to cigarette smoke. I don't want to seem rude, but at the same time, these sick patients don't realize what they are doing to themselves and me, their med. nurse. I do have hand outs to give to the patients on trying to quit,some appreciate it and some just throw the paper in the garbage.
Anyway, I so appreciate all you are doing, but what is to become of the stubborn people who won't quit this nasty and death defying disease?
Thank you so much,
Jan Levine

When we were children growing up in the Midwest, both my parents were 1-1 1/2 pack-a-day smokers. Each winter, when the house was closed up, my siblings and I would get what my parents and grandparents called "chestcolds". We never had fevers. They would last for a few days and it felt like we couldn't breath, and we'd feel really distressed. They would treat us with chest ointment and a hot-air humidifier.

I remember one night, in particular, in which I stayed up all night with my younger sister, because she was struggling to breathe so much, and my parents thought she would be just fine with their normal treatment. I was terrified she'd die in the night. Thankfully, she didn't.

Today, I'm convinced we were having asthma or emphysema-like symptoms due to being closed up with all their smoke. Even at the time, we kids hated the fact that they smoked and would sometimes open windows for fresh air, only to be yelled at because it was cold out.

I think my parents thought it would be fine becuase they grew up with one smoking parent each, and they probably had similar experiences, and no one really considered that the smoke was the problem.

When I moved away and came home for visits, I always made it a point to keep my suitcase in the far back 2nd floor bedroom, as far away from smoke as possible. No matter what, every item in my suitcase - including PLASTIC things, like hairdryers - would reek of smoke when I got back to my apartment. I would always air out my suitcase on the patio for a day or so.

As an adult, I have learned that my (and my siblings') single greatest risk for developing cancer - and it is a medium risk, not a small one - is to develop lung cancer from second-hand smoke, even though none of us became smokers.

My Mother was a 2 or more pack a day smoker and developed lung cancer in her late 40's, after two lung surgeries and getting cancer of the kidney and bladder and having her bladder removed, she passed away at the age of 51. I have never smoked and never will, but I also want to breath clean air so I would like to see all public places as smoke free zones. When you see what a family member goes through with cancer, it makes you wish that everyone who smokes could see what smoking can do to you and quit forever.

Debbie Haney

I deal with chemical sensitivities and cigarette smoke is what I have to avoid most of all...it triggers migraines, within minutes, which may last for days, even when treated with medications...and severe allergic reactions, that start with red, itching and watering eyes, itching in my ears and throat and then swelling of my face and bronchial tubes leading to asthma and difficulty breathing...when this occurs I must take very strong antihistamines and steroids to back off the reaction. I also carry an EpiPen Injector to use in case of emergency with inability to breathe due to secondhand smoke.
Cigarettes are POISON...to everyone...

My father died from esophageal cancer in 2006 he got from second hand smoke from my grandparents. My father never drank alcohol or smoked. Because of this I went before the city council of Conroe,TX and got them to pass our smoking ordinance recently.

I had an Aunt that smoked around all over her children. She had five. Three are dead and one is fighting for her life now from cancer she contracted through second hand smoke. I have watched upwards of fifty friends, family, neighbors all fight and lose this battle.

I lost a very dear friend to lung cancer at the young age of 37. She left behind two children ages 12 and 7. The sad part about this was she never smoked a day in her young life. However, her husband of 20 years smoked like a train engine going up a high mountain. He smoked in the car, in restaurants with the family, and in the house. Her lung cancer was the rapidly developing kind that took her life within 6 months of diagnosis. It was determined by her doctors tat she got this horrible disease as a direct result of secoond hand smoke.
Texas needs to be a smoke free state so that no other young children are deprived of a parent. I don't want to hear about other friends having lung cancer due to the second hand smoke they are exposed to.

My Dad was a chain-smoker. I don't think I have a single childhood memory or photograph that doesn't include my Dad with a cigarette in his hand. The coughing, the sickness that came with smoking...HE made those choices for HIMSELF. HE would tell you that, if HE could.

Today, 13+ years after his death, my Mom who never smoked has lung damage. She has breathing difficulties that are linked to being exposed to second-hand smoke for the majority of her life. She now relies on an inhaler twice daily to help her breath and still struggles some days. SHE didn't make the choice to smoke, to cough or to be sick. SHE didn't make that choice, yet SHE deals with it daily.

I never made the choice to smoke either. Having been raised around it was enough! It causes me horrible allergies with coughing, sneezing and eye irritation. I was shocked to find the town we recently moved to allows smoking in restaurants. I had no idea this still was going on! Having lived in the same area forever, I just assumed all eating places were no smoking. I DO NOT CHOOSE TO BREATH SECOND-HAND SMOKE! Please don't make me.

I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Texas. My mother smoked as far back as I can remember. My sisters & I would cover our noses & mouths in the car while my Mom smoked and drove us to school & then home again in the afternoons. She also smoked inside our home for years. Now she smokes either in her garage or in the front or back yard. She is 75 yrs old & has COPD and chronic bronchitis. As a child I was always sick. I had bronchitis a lot. I don't smoke but married a smoker so how ironic is that? He smokes outside but when we first married he smoked in our home. I was always at the doctors office until one day the doctor said you're going to have to tell your husband to stop smoking in your house. I did & my doctors visits are few now. In September 2010 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am a survivor & have been through several surgeries & other treatments. I'm doing well. Part of me knows that it runs in my family but also I wonder if second hand smoke has played a part in my diagnosis? My husband would smoke with me in his vehicle on trips near home & ones we took to see relatives far away too. I'm ready for a smoke free Texas.

My dear husband is extremely allergic to tabacco smoke. Anytime he is in a situation where people have been smoking he starts having a reaction, diffuculty breathing, eye irration, etc.

For the sake of the health of everyone smoking should be prohibited in all public places, restaurants, hotels, etc. The research is clear even for non-smokers. Secondhand smoke is dangerous to the health of everyone.

My father was a smoker when he was young. He gave it up due to emphysema, but it was too late. He suffered with asthma and emphysema the rest of his life.

Please make a smoke-free workplace a reality in Texas. It is not an issue of personal freedoms but an issue of health.

I was raised with two parents that were heavy smokers,and had problems when I was younger, now that I have a family of my own, I have severe reactions to smoke in eating places and public areas.. The Problem is smokers don't regulate their smoke in public places, no one tells them to not smoke where others are that don't smoke. WE stop taking our kids and familty to places that allow smoking, In one case a smoker blew smoke in our direction because she felt that she could pollute everyone elses air. I know they have rights also but please everyone else does to. My son had severe reaction to the smoke and his throat closed up, and we had to take him to the doctor and doctor stated he was having a reverse reaction to the contents in the cigarettes. Cigarettes killed my father he died of lung cancer he was active Miltary for 22 years and served his country, and he told us that troops would get free cigarettes during the war so this favor killed him and took him from my Mom..

I have lost my dad and stepdad to lung related illnesses. My dad was a smoker until he died and watching the terrible effects smoking had on his health reminded me everyday why I don't smoke. My stepdad died from lung cancer and gave up smoking 30 years prior to his death. Second hand smoke was the cause of his cancer. I am extremely sensitive around smoke and prefer never to go to any bars or restuarants where smoking is allowed. I have watched two parents die because of cigarette smoke and would love if Texas would make all bars and restuarants smoke free. It affects everyone's health whether you smoke or not.

My daddy cut hair in his barber shop, where there was always a dense cloud of cigarette smoke. After school I had to stay there until my mom got off of work. I now have ADD and asthma. My dad has had many nasal surgeries for polyp removal. I remember being trapped in the car with my sisters with the windows rolled up and having to breathe that. My sister Kathy has severe ADD. I feel really stupid for spending my young adult years in smoke filled disco's. My son goes to LSU where they are allowing smoking in the bars. I fear for the benzene exposure. Second hand smoke should be outlawed!!!

I have always had a strong sensitivity and reaction to smoke. Just walking by a smoker or through a smoking section in a restaurant would be enough to bring on a migraine and/or make me feel sick to my stomach. Since my cancer has spread to my lung it also makes it difficult to breath.

If we can't outlaw smoking in public altogether then the number one thing I wish we could get rid of is smoking right outside of entry/exit to public stores, restaurants, etc. The store may be smoke-free, but if I need to walk through a cloud of smoke to get inside I am still at risk.

My husband and I are currently taking care of my mother-in-law that is battling stage 4 breast cancer. My mother-in-law never smoked a cigarette in her life but she grew up with parents and siblings who smoked all the time. She also married a man that smoked. In talking with her Oncologist about breathing problems she is having, he asked her if she ever smoked. She replied that she has never smoked but that her parents, siblings and husband smoked. He answered by telling her "She smoked".

Not sure how much all the second hand smoke that she ingested has affected her breast cancer but we now know that it has affected her breathing causing another complication to her treatments.

Texas needs to protect the innocent non-smokers from the poison that the smokers put in the air. Yes, smokers you do have the right to smoke. But, NO smokers, you do NOT have the right to force this poison on me and my loved ones!!!! I should have the right to breathe CLEAN air!!!

We must become a smoke-free state!!! It can be a matter of life or death.

I live in the Cypress / Tomball area where smoking is still allowed in bars and restaurants ... I want to see smoking banned.

My dad quit smoking when he was 60 but by the time he was 70, he still got emphesema. It was awful watching him go from a vibrant, active man to a shriveled shell of himself. He didn't leave the house for 2 years before he finally died. His brother had died of lung cancer. His mother and dad died of emphesema. I have Sarcoidosis - a lung disease - I have no idea if I will also suffer a death like his even though I haven't smoked. Who knows?

As a respirator therapist, my health has been impacted by secondhand smoke. I am glad that Austin's smoke-free ordinanance has made the restaurants and sportbars that I go to, more pleasent to go enjoy a meal or view a sports game without the odor. Our community has benefited from Austin's smoke-free ordinance and I would like to see all workplaces in Texas to go smoke free. Please help ensure the Texas Legislature and all Texans understand why our state needs a smoke-free indoor workplace law in order to protect employees and customers from secondhand smoke exposure.

When I was a child, about 8 years old, my mother smoked but didn't want my father to know, so she smoked in the car (with the windows rolled up) and I had asthma; I remember struggling to breathe then (we are talking in the '50's before anyone knew the dangers of smoking much less second hand smoke). Everywhere I went except in church, a lot of people smoked. They smoked in stores, in restaurants, in movies, in bars. Lots of my friends smoked so when I was with them I was breathing in the smoke. I never smoked because of asthma. I remember being so happy when some places started banning smoking, and ever so happy when it became more widespread. I lost a friend because I would no longer sit in the smoking section with her as I had done for 6 years. In 1996 at the age of 53, I was diagnosed with COPD...so unfair since I had never smoked; had lived with a parent who did and a husband who did. Recently I had a doctor ask me "when I quit smoking" because of the COPD diagnosis. Sometimes when I say I never did, I can see a certain level of mistrust about my statement. So another stigma; I bear the cross of other's smoking. I personally would love to see tobacco banned completely; my 37 y o brother who smoked since he was 14 died of lung cancer, and my friend of 46 years recently died of lung cancer.

My father smoked in our house from the time we were born until he died from bladder cancer at 68. I had to sneak the windows open to get fresh air because even as a child, I somehow knew it was really bad for you and that was in the early 60's. Consequently, due to second-hand smoke inhalation, I developed double pneumonia at 5 years old and suffered from colds and strep throat bouts every year until I was in my late 20's. Apparently, second-hand smoke gives you a low immune system as well as a 50% risk increase in cancer of any type in your later years if you were subjected to it as a child. Back then, it was ignorance on his part but now, there is no excuse for anyone to subject anyone else to second-hand smoke in the home or in public places! It is costing us too much in human suffering and medical costs and needs to STOP!

I have never been a smoker and i have pulmonary disease.
My mother smoked, her mother smoked, her brothers smoked.
At many of my previous jobs- smokers. Smokers handling food. One time I got pneumonia from the employer smoking and since it was a family Greek restaurant they just thought I was complaining because no one had the courage to say it makes me sick- literally. As the years have gone on my breathing worsened and living under the refineries in Corpus Christi in my developing years it has been a challenge. Pets also suffer from second hand smoking. They have rights too.
My Uncle Romeo died from smoking. It was so ugly to see him dying.
Other people I Know have lung disease from smoking. There is enough pollution and air, water should be a privileged natural resource for man and beast.
Recently the SxSW smokers were uncaring and I do hope altogether smoking is banned everywhere.

It's just plain nasty. I have allergies and people with that nasty habit set my allergies off. If I walk down a sidewalk and see someone smoking I hold my breath till I pass and hope my next breath is smoke free. Some of the areas I live in are finly going smoke free but that don't stop them from lighting up right outside the door of the places you may be visiting. That needs to stop. Fresh Air for Everyone is how it should be!

I had a very small studio apt that was only 425 sq. feet. The windows would not open, no ceiling fans. My kids brought me a little six week old kitten. At that time I smoked indoors. She is now eleven years old with upper respiratory problems due to second hand smoke. When she is sleeping I can hear her wheezing from across the room. I've never been so sorry I smoked inside in my life, and now do not smoke myself. I love that little cat, and it kills me everytime I hear her wheeze. Second hand smoke really is harmful to animals as well as people to those of you who smoke with your pets in the house. Lesson learned here.

We have a small home based graphics business here in Lewisville, TX and when we take our customers out for lunch and dinner we have to leave town because Lewisville is not a smoke free environment and 99.9% of our customers are non-smokers.. recently one or our out of town customers inquired about moving here and we had to refer them to Flower Mound because they are non-smokers and Lewisville is not very friendly to non-smokers.. They are looking at homes above the $250,000.00 range.. I have another customer who had a home built in Flower Mound six (6) years ago for the same reason at a then price range of about $975.000.00 and now both of their children have moved to Texas from out
of state and they have moved to Flower Mound with their families for the same reason. It is hard to say how much money the Lewisville city fathers have thrown out the window because they refuse to impose a SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT for those residents who wish to breath fresh air while out to eat with their family and friends. OUR CITY COUNCIL IS INCREDIBLY STUPID ON THIS ISSUE!!!

I was 14, studying in a French lyecee, where smoking was permitted to students, so I began smoking.
I smoked till the age of 35, and one day I got bored of all this smell, and live coals, flying around me, and entering my throat.
Soon and still now, I am very happy with this decision.
For an ex-smoker, being a second-hand smoker is horrible! You can feel and smell all the odor and touch of the nicotine steam. You know WHY this is bad.

My oldest sister just had lung surgery. She has lung cancer. She has never smoked a cigarette in her life, but she lived for years with a chain smoker. My Dad died of lung cancer and he was a Prince Albert chain smoker. So I have a double whammy.

It wasn't until I was a grown woman that I understood the full effects of growing up in a household with smokers. As a child, my parents and grandparents didn't know the dangers of secondhand smoke, and they smoked inside during winter and in the car with the windows rolled up. A few years after living on my own, I suddenly developed terrible seasonal allergies and, eventually, allergy-induced asthma. Even though I have avoided cigarette smoke at all costs, I live with the damage that was done to my lungs, and the rest of my body, as a child. My four children have all had to receive asthma-related treatments from the time they were very young. After my oldest child was hospitalized at the age of 4 for a severe asthma attack, I found out that my exposure to secondhand smoke could have contributed to their asthma because the toxins I was exposed to may have affected the health of my eggs prior to fertilization. We can't dismiss the importance of limiting everyone's exposure to secondhand smoke. Don't continue to allow future generations to be at risk. We know the dangers. We have seen the results. Let's reverse the course and provide our children and their children with a better future than that.

I fought on the coalition for a Smoke Free San Antonio for 9 years and we finally won! We not only won that I can go back to my favorite dancing clubs and not go home hoarse, smelling like smoke and get bronchitis over and over. It has given me my happiness back to dance again and be sick free! My son is an asthmatic and now has a smokefree environment to work in and he loves to go dancing in the younger nightclubs with the same benefits - smokefree to breathe. When you can't breathe nothing else matters. Let's make Texas Smokefree once and for all!!!! What are we waiting for???Kristy S from San Antonio, Texas

When I was growing up, both my parents smoked. I always hated it. I thought I had motion sickness as a child, but one weekend, I went out of town with a friend whose parents did not smoke. I didn't get sick! I then realized it was the smoke in the car that made me sick. I also got headaches as a child as the result of second-had smoke, and I still do many years later.

Smoking is still allowed in bars in Temple. My husband and I used to enjoy going out to listen to live music, but we gave it up because we can't stand the smoke. When we used to go out, I would literally undress and leave my clothes in the garage, because I couldn't stand the smell in my house. I also had to shower and wash my hair, because I couldn't sleep when I smelled of smoke.

I know that some businesses are opposed to being smoke free because they feel that they will lose business, but they need to realize that they have already lost business to people like me who can't stand to be around smoke. It would be really nice to be able to go anywhere in Texas and enjoy the many wonderful things our state offers without being confronted with smoke. I hope this passes!

My dear brother-in-law, Max Hand was 46 when he succumed to lung cancer due to second hand smoke.

Max was a hard working individual who was never sick. He did have allergies and thought that he was having more problems than usual with his allergies. When he went to the doctor, that is what the doctor thought at first but did order a chest X-Ray. That is when a tumor the size of an orange was found on the upper left lobe of the lung. The cancer was found to be Stage 3a Adenocarcinoma.

I was with my sister and brother-in-law when Dr. Debra Prow diagnosed the fateful disease. My sister said "how can this be, Max has never smoked." The great doctor's reply was "we know this type of cancer is caused by two things, tobacco smoke or street drugs." My brother-in-law with his typical dry sense of humor replied "well, I have never had the pleasure of doing either." Dr. Prow's response was "did your parents smoke?" Unfortunately the answer was yes.

We simply must get the word out that smoke kills - whether it is the individual smoking or those around us. It must be stopped.

I have asthma and can't be around second hand smoke without becoming very ill. There are many restaurants in my hometown I would love to eat at but can't because they allow smoking. It seems unfair to me. Anyone should be able to go one hour without smoking. But there are many people, like myself, who can't be exposed to second hand smoke at all without becoming very sick. It doesn't make sense to allow this to continue with all of the information we have on the dangers of second hand smoke.

I put up with second hand smoke from friends for years, and at bars and restaurants, and it adversely affected my breathing and I developed allergies and asthma as a result of second hand smoke. The good news, my allergies have dissipated as restaurants in Dallas have gone smoke free and as I have diligently avoided being in the midst of smokers during the past several years. What I would like to see occur in the State wide smoking ban movement - is that the ban extend to outdoor public spaces, including in front of public buildings and really in front of all commercial buildings. I hate to come out in front of say a hospital and encounter smokers and even in front of a Starbucks. This being said, perhaps commercial establishments and public buildings can require that smokers can not be within say 10 or 20 feet of their entries - or have designated outdoor smoking areas that are located at a reasonable distance from their entrances.

I was born with under-developed lungs, caused by the second-hand smoke my mother endured around her family during pregnancy. Today I still battle asthma and am constantly bombarded with the smoke whenever I try to enjoy a night out. Smoking is deadly not only for the person smoking but for everyone around them.

hello everyone im a thirty yr old single mother with a 7 yr old daughter and i tell people around me, please do not smoke but they do not listen.
why u may ask? i have asthma now and while growing up and now i take meds, and now iam sad and heart broken now it continues now my daughter faces it she may have pre asthma later on.
All i ask this law need to stop for people to respect other health breathing plz? think of the future generations coming into our world.
thank u.

My neice - while working trying to help with college tution worked in a place where she suffered from secondhand smoke , she was faced with a dilemma -as the job market today dictates you better take what you can get. That is unbelievable that anyone should be subject to cancer causing expousure on any level .. I would like to refer to an article in the Ft Worth Star Telegram- " Your rights end where my lungs begin"

My grandmother died from long cancer and never smoked....! But my grandfather DID...! This should be a no Brainer....our children's tiny LUNGS should have the right to develop to maturity the way god meant for them too.....

I work in a metal stamping plant and every guy in maintenance smokes.
They sit around the table every day and in the maintenance office smoking. I
can't go in the office without being over taken by the smoke. I fear that
if I report it to the city, I will be treated poorly. I love the guys I work
with, they are like family to me. I just don't know what to do.

People have a right to enjoy whatever they wish as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others. Second hand smoke has affected my health & my lifestyle. I am asthmatic & highly sensitive to smoke; which is an asthma trigger for me. My adult onset asthma is a result of growing up exposed to second hand smoke from my chain smoking father. Since diagnosis 32yrs ago, I have been unable to attend functions where there will be smoking. I am unable to go to clubs, bars, or restaurants where there is smoking. We would frequent more businesses, that currently are off limits to me for health reasons. The outdoor functions we attend have its' risks as well; smokers will come sit next to us, & without asking or considering those around them, light up; Forcing us to leave. For me breathing smoke free air is not a choice, but a life sustaining necessity.

I have been an advocate of a smoke-free state for many years and taught tobacco prevention as well. I have always been offended by the carelessness of smokers and exposure to secondhand smoke.

A few years ago secondhand smoke became more personal when my outgoing healthy mother same down with pneumonia leaving her with asthma. As a result she could no longer tolerate secondhand smoke of some popular restaurants in our hometown.

Often even walking through doorways of stores where people are standing outside smoking will set off an attack.

It should be the right of all people to patronize any establishment without being subjected to harmful secondhand smoke.

Thank you for your attention on this very important issue.

DeAnn Phillips

I work in a Federal Facility (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) in Fort Worth, TX. After one enters the facility there is a yellow walled "smokeroom" that a stinch erodes from daily as all employees are forced to walk in front of I they want to eat in the cafeteria. Many attempts have been made to sway management on the ill effects without getting through the "union" wall that has been created. What is one to do that simply wants to
Work in an environment that is smoke free?

I moved to Texas two years ago from Washington State and was so surprised that Texas still allowed smoking in restaurants and did not even offer a non smoking section. I am a retired nurse and have seen what damage smoking does to people and their families.

I urge you to pass a smoke free Texas to protect the health of the people here. Most business owners should look at the added health cost related to thier employees that smoke and the amount of lost time to smoke breaks and upper resperitory illness connected to a smoker. I live near Paris Tx. and there is not one place to eat here without smoke, I hate to go into them and have my hair and clothes smell of smoke. I also resent having to breathe the smoke filled air.

I was diagnosed with COPD although I have never smoked. My physican believed it was from second hand smoke which I was exposed to in the workplace. It is now a significant cost to my employer for treatment for this disease. No One should have to go through this because they need or want to work.

I'll never forget in August of 2000, my wife and I saw The Who at Reunion Arena in Dallas. It was our first time to see this legendary band in concert (which included the late-John Entwhistle on bass). While the show was one of the best concerts ever, the atmosphere was anything but. In fact, it was awful due to the fog of pot and cigarette smoke everywhere. My wife has asthma, and it was terrible for her. We both got high off the second-hand smoke. Plus that smell lingered for days after the show even after repeated showers. Now we've been to recent shows at Amercan Airlines Center in Dallas including Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Police and Tina Turner among others. This was after the city passed their smoking ordinance. What a difference! No second-hand smoke whatsoever from cigarettes or pot. In fact, anyone trying to light up is ratted out by fellow attendees. The only smoke being created are the pyrotechnics and the fog machines on the stage. That's cool. But in the audience, it's just irritating.

I AM A BRONCHIAL ASTHMATIC WHO MUST AVOID CIGARETTE SMOKE AT ALL COST. I DO OT GO NEAR SMOKERS. I DO NOT HAVE FRIENDS WHO SMOKE. I DO NOT GO PLACES WHERE SMOKING IS ALLOWED. I AM FORTUNATE THAT I LIVE IN MY OWN HOME AND CAN CONTROL WHO COMES THROUGH MY DOOR.

EVEN PASSING A SMOKER OUT DOORS MAKES ME NERVOUS. IT MAKES ME UNCOMFORTABLE TO EVEN WATCH SOMEONE SMOKING.

I HAVE GIVEN UP TRAVELING OUTSIDE THE US BECAUSE SMOKING HAS BECOME SO PREVALENT ALMOST EVERYWHERE. MUCH OF AUSTIN HAS BECOME A SAFE HAVEN AND ALL OF CALIFORNIA IS SMOKE FREE IN ITS PLACES OF BUSINESS, SO I SPEND MY TIME HERE AND THERE.

FOR THE HEALTH OF OUR CHILDREN AND OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE, WE MUST LIMIT CIGARETTE SMOKING IN AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE.

My son was born with an allergy to cigarette smoke which causes him to have severe bronchospasms when he inhales second hand smoke.

He is now a teenager and cannot enjoy the fun of bowling or eating @ nice restrauants because of second hand smoke.

We need to make pass the Texas Smoke Free bill so he and others can enjoy going to public places without the fear of having an allergic reaction which results in emergency treatment.
Barry

Why?

1) Nicotine is MORE addictive than opiates. I’ve worked with an addicted population in an urban Drug Treatment Court. Don’t allow anyone with an addiction – be it to cigarettes or crack cocaine, heroin or alcohol, work, food, sex, etc. etc. – tell you with their chemically altered brain – it is a matter of personal freedom.

2) When a smoker’s personal freedom; including their second-hand, toxic smoke, crosses over into my personal space – it is also a matter of my personal freedom not to have to share their addiction’s consequences. Why should my $24.00 entrée and $6 glass of wine have to smell of their second hand smoke?

3) Smoke stinks to high heaven. There isn’t an aroma – short of a rotting carcass or having been sprayed by a skunk – worse than old cigarette butts in an ashtray or on the breath or clothes of a smoker.

4) If cigarette butts were so good; why don’t the smokers fill their vehicle’s ashtrays and dump them into a garbage can at home? In part, addicts (of any stripe) are inherently very selfish and self-centered – often to the extreme and unhealthy ways. Witness those unable to walk 10’ to the large, sandy vase placed outside the doors of public buildings. Instead, they throw their butts on the ground or out a car’s window. It seems one of the large West Texas brush fires has been attributed to a carelessly – make it intentionally – discarded butt in a region with months-long burn ban.

5) When the health care costs of a nicotine addiction eats-away at state and national budgets; when the cost of health insurance premiums increase to cover the consequences of smoking – I stand-up and say: "No!". My modest pension is shrinking faster than my desire to cater to the costs of maintaining an addict’s addiction. Treatment – yes! Relapse – that’s a teaching moment. But enabling someone’s destructive and costly behavior? Not in this life-time!

6) Need I continue?

As a working musician, the biggest threat to my health and livelihood is second-hand smoke. I have to turn down paying gigs because of indoor smoking. It makes me really sick! I've been told "it's not that bad, you can make it through a one-hour set" -- well the fact is I can't step inside a place where even one person is smoking, not for one minute. It makes me instantly nauseous.
Nobody has the right to poison the air that everyone breathes. It's the same as poisoning the public drinking water.
Even my musician friends who smoke don't mind going outside to do it. The smoking ban in Austin has spawned a trend in outdoor patios at most of the new clubs. This gives everyone more choices and more freedom.

I moved to Austin in November 2010 from Colorado. Colorado has smoke-free since 2006 and I loved it! I was disappointed to learn that Texas is not a smoke-free state and was relieved to know that Austin (where I relocated to) is a smoke-free city. My family recently visited San Antonio and we were happy to see that San Antonio is also smoke-free. During our move to Texas, we stopped at a number of communities to eat and stay which allow smoking in the restaurants and in the hotel lobbies and breakfast areas. Disgusting! I only wish the people in those communities could experience the health benefits of being smoke-free. Furthermore when we drive to Colorado in October, we will not be going the same way and visiting the communities that allow smoking - we will find new routes, might be longer, but we won't be full of smoke! Some-free Texas - the only way to live!

Bryce Kyburz

Mom smoked in the house until the allergist told her I needed allergy shots 3 times a week - 1973. She stopped smoking in the house and allergy shots were reduced to 1 a week. Mom died of lung cancer at 56.
I have asthma attacks to second smoke. I often have to pull off the road and use a inhaler when drivers at stop lights are smoking!
I am a type 1 diabetic withOUT health insurance.
Give us(breath)break.

I HATE SMOKING! DON'T TELL ME SMOKING OR SECOND HAND SMOKE DOES NOT KILL! It kills people every day!

My dad smoked from the time he was 13 and had a heart attack at age 55. Then at age 56, he nearly died on an operating table because his lungs and heart were so compromised the doctor had to stop surgery to resuscitate him. The doctors told him if he smoked again he would die. His friend brought him a carton of cigarette to the hospital and my mom told him it was either cigarettes or her. She would not allow him to come home from the hospital so he went to stay with his friend. A month later and still smoking, he caught pneumonia and nearly died. He threw his cigarettes in the garbage can and called my mom and never looked back. Even though he quit smoking, at the age of 74, he died from complications related to his days of smoking. He had emphysema and COPD and his tissue was so damaged from smoking, he hemorrhaged to death when his doctors tried to repair his colon.

Then when my mom was 72, she underwent medical tests for diagnosing Hepatitis C and her doctor asked me if my mother ever smoked. I said no, but my dad had been a chain smoker for most of their married life. Then the doctor said that explained the condition of her lungs.

My aunt smoked for years, she has had breast cancer and melanoma.
My uncle smoked and he died of prostate cancer.
My cousin smoked and she had stomach cancer.
I can list hundreds more but this space should be left open for other to tell their story.

I have asthma and I never smoked a cigarette in my life. But I am severely allergic to nicotine and my son was born with severe allergic reactions to nicotine. His lips swell up and his tongue itches when he is exposed to cigarette smoke for longer than a few seconds. He has never been exposed to cigarettes except in public places where we couldn't get out fast enough yet we are forced to be exposed to other's toxic habit. I believe cigarette smoke is damaging our very DNA GENES when we are exposed to the toxic wastes of tobacco and my son’s geneticist agrees.

My biggest pet peeve is being forced to endure cigarette smoke that is infiltrating our apartment; thanks to our neighbors nasty habits. I pay rent but I have no right to the peaceful enjoyment that is supposed to be granted under Texas law because the Texas Legislature is bought and paid for by the Tobacco Industry and the Texas Apartment Association, who mistakenly believe SMOKERS ARE A PROTECTED CLASS OF CITIZENS, will not enforce the Fair Housing Laws to protect tenants from second hand smoke that is killing them. SMOKERS ARE NOT A PROTECTED CLASS! The facts are second hand smoking is considered a health hazard and Fair Housing Laws under HUD rules should be enforced to stop people from smoking where it is killing their neighbors. My second biggest peeve is being forced to walk through a fog of second hand smoke at entrances of building that ban smoking. No one enforces the 50 foot rule in Texas. WE MUST FIGHT TO BAN SMOKING TO SAVE LIVES AND SAVE OUR CHILDREN’s LIVES! PERIOD!

Going out for music in Austin used to mean enduring secondhand smoke and coming home smelling like tobacco. Now I breathe easier with cleaner air.

My parents smoked and had both developed heart disease. My brother and I never smoked; however, my brother had asthma and died due to heart disease at age 51. I have tried to avoid exposure to second-hand smoke as an adult. Smokers at one work place objected to my use of an air freshener to dispell the smell of their cigarettes. No kind of restrictions on smoking existed at that time.

I'm pregnant and I can't go to a bar to see a show!!

I am a huge music fan and go to concerts all the time and the venues are filled with smoke and it is damaging my lungs in addition to just being gross and making the whole experience less enjoyable. It is not fair for me to have to breath in other people's smoke just to be able to see a band that I love. I always love going to concerts in Austin where it is smoke free. It's a much better experience. Please make Texas Smoke-Free!

I am another person who is allergic to cigarette smoke. When I am around those who smoke my eyes burn, my throat sears, my lungs fill with phlegm for days after the encounter. This doesn't take into account all of the times the smell lingering in my hair causes me to throw up.

Smokers seem to think their rights are being infringed but what about the people their smoke has hurt. Need I mention the folks with breathing issues they pass in the street, the children they are slowly poisoning or killed out right because they smoked in the home, their pets as well.

Smokers have a habit that is more selfish than drug users because they poison all who come in contact with them instead of just themselves. I call upon the people who sworn to serve the public to do so and ban smoking in all public spaces including parking lots. Do your jobs and protect the innocent

My father died from lung cancer at age 53. I was expecting my first child, the first grandchild in the family. I was about 6 or 7 months along when he died. I am thankful he knew I was having a boy and sad he was not there to ever meet him. He started smoking as a teenager in the 1950's, when it was a cool thing to do. We know better now. I sometimes worry if I will have problems down the road, due to the exposure from his cigarette smoking. 53 is too young to go... it started our with emphysema, which robbed him of his ability to do his beloved scuba diving. He wasted away to nothing, such a sad, undignified way to go. I don't want to end up that way, nor have my children end up that way. Smoking is nasty and gross!

Every time we go out dancing we have to
put with smoke in our clothes, in our hair,
and in our lungs.
My husband, Barton, is so allergic to the smoke
he starts coughing very hard.
Please help us pass the NO SMOKING LAW FOR TEXAS.

Iwas exposed to second hand smoke throughout my childhood, in the home, suffered constant sore throats and as an adult have lung problems associated with the second hand smoke. Please don't put anyone else through it!

I currently reside in Paris, Texas where there is smoking still allowed and tolerated in enclosed areas like restaurants, bars and clubs like the Eagles and Elks Lodges, where it is sometimes so hard to breathe, you have to step outside to catch a breath of fresh air in order to clear your eyes and take a deep breath. I have witnessed smokey diners and bars where the air is so hazy thick with cigarette smoke and everyone, whether they 'smoked' or not, were breathing all this in...including the little babies and children who 'didn't smoke'! When you go to these places, no one thinks twice about lighting up and who it will affect, but I feel myself having a harder time trying to breathe normally while there, and afterward your whole person, from your hair to your clothing--even your socks under your jeans reek of that smoke! It takes a shower and a washing of hair to get to feel clean and healthy again so I can go to sleep and not stink up my bed with that smokey smell. But when I wake up the next day, I seem to have my sinuses bothering me. It's probably trying to clear out from what it took in the previous day. So many people smoke here and it's passed down to their kids so it's almost inevitable that these children will end up addicted to cigarettes. Worse yet, even those who don't choose to smoke have to breathe it in and then get hooked just by that second-hand smoke. It's such a shame...really it is! I wish people here were more health-conscious, but they just don't seem to know any better since that's the way it's always been here. SAD...

I am orginally from CA and moved to TX 5 years ago for college and have remained in this wonderful state even after graduating; I am also a registered TX voter. Growing up in CA had its advantages, like people not being able to smoke anywhere near or in a building. I fully support the right for people to smoke, if they so choose, but smokers are making an invalid argument that this law hinders their rights because it is ALSO a nonsmoker's right to breathe clean air. If someone wants to smoke a cigarette, they should do it in the privacy of their home or car or in an area where the vile smell and poisonous smoke will not bother other people. I long for the day when I can hang out at a bar with my friends and leave at the end of the night NOT smelling like an ashtray with a sore throat and WITHOUT having been forced to expose myself to the health hazard of secondhand smoke.

In the 1980s, when I worked for my college newspaper and began working professionally, newsrooms were terrible places for secondhand smoke. We all sat in a big newsroom, top half filled with smoke, bottom half filled with people, old pizza boxes, stacks of newspapers, and old phone books. While I never smoked, I worked for years in smoke-filled workplaces.

Although things changed in the late 1980s and early 1990s in workplaces, we need clean-air environments everywhere people are together. Texans deserve to be healthy and young Texans should have the right to grow up to work and play in smoke-free environments. At 43, I was diagnosed with cancer, without any family history. While I can't know for sure what caused it, I do know for sure that prevention is possible. We should put our efforts behind prevention, which costs little to do, but would save lives, families, and dollars, too.

I live in Brown county. There is a restaurant called Humphrey Petes. They have a bar there in the back but if you want to sit outside and eat you have to walk thru the smoke. My husband and I ate there the other night and I could not believe my eyes. We were eating and we watched a couple come in with a brand new baby in a carrier and I thought to myself how stupid can you be take a new born in a smoke filled room. They need to be punished themselves and people wonder why there child comes down sick with a disease. I can’t wait till the LAW PASSES OF SMOKE FREE TEXAS so many of us would be so happy!!

I would like to share my story on the effects second hand smoke has had on me. My parents were smokers all my life and even though I always told them it bothered me, they never stopped. When I was 18 I was having alot of breathing trouble and coughing so I finally went to my doctor. He did an x-ray of my chest and asked me if I was a smoker and I told him no, I had never smoked a cigarette in my life. He told me my lungs looked as if I had been a smoker for 25+ years and I was only 18.

I was diagnosed with Chronic Bronchitis, not acute, but Chronic. I was also diagnosed with early warning signs of developing COPD. Most people don't get COPD or Chronic Bronchitis until they have been smoking for quite some time. I was put on two differant type of asthma medication and was dependent on an inhaler. I went home and told my father what the doctor said and he flat out told me that he was not going to quit smoking and that I could get out if I did not like it, he was addicted and it was just to hard to quit. I was also in a relationship with a heavy smoker.

My whole family smoked and hates when I ask them to do it somewhere away from me. They act like I am a burden. I finally moved away when I was 20 to live with my mother in Dallas. She did not smoke and my step father always smoked outside. My condition started improving and soon I was not dependent on an inhaler. My bronchitis seemed to disappear and I got better.

I became pregnant in 2009 and had also lost my job right after. I had to move in with my husbands parents and his mother is a very heavy smoker. She did not care that I was pregnant and just kept right on smoking around me throughout my whole pregnancy. When I was about 5 months along all my old symptoms started coming back. I was coughing, I could barely breathe and I was really worried for my child.

Right before I had my son I went through a really bad bought of bronchitis and two weeks later I went in to labor 6 weeks early. My son was born with a low birth weight of 4lbs 12 oz and of course had jaundice. He came home from the hospital and we were still living with my in-laws and his mother was still smoking but now she was smoking around my infant. She told us that no one has ever gotten sick from second hand smoker and basically that we need to get over it or live somewhere else.

My son starting coughing and having fits when he was 3 months and of course I was worried. When he was 6 months we finally made it out on our own and away from the death trap. My son miraciously just stopped coughing and once again my symptoms started to improve. Every time I am around smoke for just a minute I get sick and start coughing. I feel that it is unfair that people can smoke for 40 years and never get sick but because I was pretty much forced to suffer second hand smoke inhalation, I have become sick. The pain in my chest never goes away. The coughing may have stopped but the scars it has left on my body will likely never heal.

I don't want anyone to ever go through the pain that I did. My sister is 6 years old and because she is around second hand smoke every day of her life she is already having problems as well. She has problems where she will pass out because she cannot breathe and she has had bronchitis 6 times in the past 3 months! She now has to be on breathing treatments, the doctors could not find a real reason for it but I know the reason, its the same reason that I am sick today.

To Whom It May Concern: My young 13 year old daughter in 1995, was a target child by the massive bill board advertisements by Phillip Morris, before tobacco ads were banned from the view of school children, and she began to smoke when she entered in elementary school against my consent.

Her tobacco addiction caused her a lot of health problems and her coughing at night became unbearable, today she has asthma and trouble breathing all the time, is 28 and still addicted strongly to tobacco, this worries me very much since she was addicted at a very young age.

With my daughter's tobacco addiction came the second hand exposure to me, through her laundry where I can attest, the smell of tobacco smoke on clothes lingers for long periods of time, not to mention when she began to smoke in her room a yellow sticky film formed on the ceiling and walls of the room.

It was when I saw the yellowed sticky ceiling that I realized if smoke did that to the walls, it must sure do the same to the lungs and my concern against tobacco smoke grew to the degree it is today, as I am allergic to tobacco and have lived an isolated life not being able to socialize in smokey places.

I support all movements to ban public tobacco smoke in working places as well because when my daughter was a baby she spent a lot of time at her father's restaurant in Texas by the gulf coast where smoking was allowed and caused her serious ear and throat infections to the point of having her tonsils removed at age 5, and now I feel so guilty for not knowing the complete perils of tobacco back then.

I am convinced tobacco smoke is slowly exterminating human health in total disregard to the ailments associated to the diseases from tobacco, the main one being cancer, no longer a secret and a health terror that needs to be addressed by banning public smoke to stop the financial burden on the state for tobacco related diseases,

And stop the early half a million graves tobacco claims in its profitable business every year. Clearly society has an obligation to the vulnerable innocent and younger generations, but Congress and all Texas legislature has a deeper and bigger obligation to public health and all of us voters and taxpayers, victims of second hand smoke.

I for one would LOVE a smoke-free Texas! I have
Asthma,Severe Allergies,& Atopic Dermititis. My mother smoked until I was 17yrs old & starting @ the age of 3yrs,I developed Pneumonia,Chronic Bronchitis & LIFE-LONG severe allergies that affect not only my breathing,but my skin. I have severe Atopic Dermititis to the point I had to quit work...(I am an RN).I lost my house ,my income,& most of my personal possessions.Now I have found it almost impossible to even live in an Apt.Complex because the smoke comes through the walls,vents,etc.It has made my life a living nightmare! And trust me...when one has severe itching all over their entire body,have very thin skin from years of steroid use(can not be an option now),are only one antibiotic away from a Staph Infection causing death,yes! You would want everyplace to be smoke-free. Like others,it evens affects my skin when I just walk past someone with a cigerette.Even the smoke on someones clothes affects me.And wearing a mask does "NOT" help...believe me...I have tried everything! I do not enjoy being sick. My Son & his Wife had their 1st baby this year in December...they live in Fla.My 1st fear was,"Oh no! How do I fly on an airline without the possiblity of getting very sick?" You don't know who you will have to sit next to. Once it starts,it doesn't want to stop.I can not take an anti-histimine now because I have become allergic to them also. I personally think I have managed this battle for most of my life,(57yrs),pretty well.But I find it harder & harder to keep the positive attitude the older I get.Please Texas,make "all" of our beautiful State healthier.Including smoke-free apts as a choice,without having to decline one because the rent is usually a lot more. I did not ask for this desease,but I do need to manage it...I just need the choice.Thank you for your time. Sincerely,Carol Hughes

While my cancer has no known relationship to secondhand smoke I can share with you how it feels to hear "You have cancer."

My Father was a chain smoker so our home was filled with secondhand smoke. In my nursing career I was exposed to secondhand smoke from the patients, their visitors, physicians and smoking nurses.

Cancer costs too much! It cost me my Father, Uncle & Aunt. It cost me my entire left leg and 2 sections of my right lung. I suffer with phantom limb pain, Horner's syndrome, neuropathy, hearing loss, memory problems r/t the near lethal chemotherapy.

Please do all you can to prevent cancer. You are saving your life and the lives of others.

I live in a rural area and though there really are few smokers overall, there are no laws prohibiting smoking in public places such as beer joints and restaurants. It is so unfair that just a few people can ruin the clean air for everyone else. I am 46 years old and have voted in every election since I turned 18 years old. I vow to only vote for those that vote to pass this law. Smoke*Free Texas should be passed now! La Grange/Weimar Texas

I am very fortunate to live in Austin, TX where our leaders have made social outings that much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately my father does not enjoy that luxury in Wheeler County. You see my father, Julian Torrez, was in law enforcement there for many years. A very well respected narcotics deputy for Wheeler County Sheriff's department. The building that they were housed in was deemed "smoke-free" after my father petitioned the local judge. The issue was that being from small town Texas there was no one to enforce this.

I would like to explain that thorough genetics and exposure to methamphetamines on the job my father is working with the capacity of 1 and 1/2 lungs. So needless to say coming to work for the citizens Wheelers county was compromised by the lack of respect from his colleagues and superiors. And with no ones to enforce the new rule...my dad was made to suffer through.

My father awakes every morning having to expel a large amount of green mucous. He sleeps at night with a CPAP to ensure his oxygen levels at night. He uses an inhaler regularly for when he gets winded. The list can go on for days.

I just find it very unfortunate that although his initial condition was not a result of smoking or smoking exposure it was further compromised by a lack of respect from smoking peers. The lack of authority in Wheeler county to enforce a smoking ban in buildings deemed smoke free is tragic and is example of the injustice that is happening to many in small town Texas.

We appreciate your time and hope that this year will be a year of change!

Thank you all for your hard work

I've been allergic to nicotine my entire life.

Up until 2 years ago when Dallas banned smoking, it was not uncommon for me to have to get the rest of my meal packaged to take home because someone had lit up at a table next to me. God help me if I wanted to see a band in a club because I could only tolerate short bouts and then have to come home and heavily soap my hair at least three times to get the stench of cigarettes completely gone.

It wasn't uncommon for me to smell the stench of cigarette smoke when I blew my nose up to 2 days after a encountering a smoker.

Now that Dallas has the ban in place, I can ENJOY being out! I don't have to leave my meal early or miss out being with friends at a club.

The only draw back is on gorgeous days when I'd love to be on the patio of a place but those areas have evolved into smoker's pits.

Too often people yelp about smoking bans impeding upon their personal rights. In those situations, I give this this example:

If someone is drinking alcohol at a table next to me, that alcohol does not affect my blood stream. When a smoker lights up, my personal rights are drastically affected because I have to physically leave the area so what about my personal rights?

I hope Texas implements more wide spread smoking bans state-wide!

Raine Devries
Dallas, Texas

I quit smoking in October 1999 shortly before my mom passed away. I am really surprised I did not start smoking again.

I never believed it when people told me that you could smell it but boy do I now.

I work in a museum and 2 volunteers smoke. One goes out every 45 to 60 minutes. I spray a room freshener every time she comes by me. I am tempted to do that with the other.

He does not think that I can smell it--duh! I will not transport either of them for that reason.

I still think that it contributed to the death of my nephew who had asthma in 1997.

I do not go to restaurants or bars in my area that allow smoking.

My widowed uncle Richard (Dick) Godfrey died of throat cancer when I was fifteen. His death left his daughter, my cousiin Robin, with no parents at the age of nine. My mother, Ida Bell Alton, died of severe COPD and circulatory compromise which cigarretes had exacerbated to the point that she was unable to walk, bathe, or feed herself. I have some respiratory issues as the result of second hand smoke. It is time for us to cease tolerating the deaths & health complications caused by tobacco. The government has outlawed substances which have been SUSPECTED of causing cancer & other health problems but continue to not only allow but subsidize the tobbacco industry while that industry adds harmful chemicals to an already poisonous substance. Make Texas a smoke free environment & tell smokers they may no longer poison innocent bystanders.

My name is Justin Julian, and I'm 40 years old. My wife, Jenn, and I have severe allergies. The number one allergen for both of us is tobacco and tobacco smoke.

For me, smoke is a severe irritant. If I'm around smoke for more than a few minutes, I'll feel like I have a nasty cold for a good day after, even with my antihistamines.

That's an annoyance. I'm writing to tell about my wife. Jenn has more severe allergies than I do, with the added bonus of allergic asthma.

If she's exposed to smoke for more than a few seconds, especially in an enclosed room, she can and almost always does go into an asthma attack. If she stays in the situation, it goes beyond what her emergency inhaler can handle and she has to leave immediately.

This keeps us from patronizing many of the bars and restaurants in our area. We live in Lewisville, where they do not have a non-smoking law. We have to drive to Flower Mound or into Dallas to eat at most sit-down restaurants, have a drink with friends, or see a live band.

Jenn has a microbusiness making and selling jewelry. She often has to turn down vending events because they are held in clubs that allow smoking. This harms her ability to make money.

Smoking rates are down to about 20% nationwide. Why should people like myself and especially Jenn have to suffer and be locked out of so many public places, just so 20% of the population can engage in their habit when and where they want? Why can't they step 50 feet away outside a door to smoke, so we can live our lives?

I have never smoked. I served in the U. S. Navy for 20 years, 1951 to 1971. Most of the people that I worked with, both Military and civil service smoked all day long. I had to keep the windows open in order to be able to get my work done. Many of the enlisted men and officers smoked cigars. Ugh. They used to gripe because they claimed that the air conditioner could not keep the office cool.

My husband served 20 years in the Navy as well. He smoked a lot. He started smoking as a teenager, as many people do. He smoked until after we retired and bought a house in Colorado and settled down. I started to suffer with asthma shortly after that and he quit smoking. He passed away last year suffering with cancer and heart disease. After the cancer cells showed up in his lungs he didn't last but a couple of months. He suffered a lot, it was painful to see him.

I'm on oxygen, that's my story, except for smokers standing close to building's over hangs and 0n porches in good clear weather, You need to be 25 feet from the building. Its the Law in some Cities all over the U.S.A. The Smell and Smoke is killing me too! Stoppit.

I have never smoked, but all of my siblings and my father, as well as cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, were smokers. My husbands and in-laws also smoked. For most of my life, I was bothered with respiratory infections. Inhaling tobacco smoke gives me an instant headache. At age 61, I was diagnosed with cancer, and subsequent tests showed that I have COPD and a recurrent bronchial condition. The multiple allergies I have throughout the year are worse when I am forced to even walk through an area where smoking occurs. Often when I am going into the cancer treatment center where I receive chemo, I am forced to cover my nose and mouth to avoid inhaling the smoke from people clustered around the entry with cigarettes. Even a slight whiff can nauseate me and cause me to have phlegm and mucus for several days. Before the shopping areas had bans on smoking, I had to shop very late at night to avoid breathing the smoke of shoppers who left a trail and odor in their wake. Even then, it wasn't always avoidable, and the air was sometimes heavy with it as I shopped where smokers had recently walked. My mail sometimes smells of stale tobacco, presumably from smokers handling it. If I bring it inside, the smell nauseates me until I remove the offending items and spray room freshener to weight down the polluted air. My only safe areas are indoors. Often when I have been out in my yard, the smoke from someone's cigarette or cigar has wafted to me from several hundred feet and a headache was almost instant. I love being outdoors, and I love live music, but it's almost impossible to move freely in the world to enjoy these things without becoming ill from second-hand smoke. Smokers usually feel they are doing me a big favor if they go outside to smoke. Indeed, it seems they feel I have imposed upon them. I can't choose where I shop, get my car serviced, go for medical procedures. Those are public places, and others who use them can make me ill for days or weeks at a time because I am forced to breathe polluted air, which for me is the same as poison. My health and my enjoyment of life have been severely and negatively affected by the smokers who share my space on the planet. The very least they should do is keep their filthy residue away from places where it can accumulate and assault me when I can't avoid the places. They weren't born smoking but I was born breathing. They have a choice, but breathing isn't a choice.

I have lost 3 family members who were smokers. I lost a grandfather, my step-father and a brother-in-law. All of these people were under the age of 60! I am a breast cancer survivor and my husband was a cigar smoker. My entire family smoked as I was growing up. I have often wondered if this had anything to do with my breast cancer. Will I ever know? My mother still smokes and I have begged her to stop! I am a volunteer for ACS and I believe in a Smoke Free Texas! All people should have clean air to breath.

Officially, a non-smoker of almost one year. I smoked for 25 years of my life. Stopping smoking was the hardest thing I have ever done. After two failed attempts I quit for good last March with the help of Jesus Christ and the Nicotine Patches. I can honestly say that I feel my productivity at my place of employment has greatly benefited since I quit. I no longer have to ‘step outside’ when a difficult challenge faces me.

When I was a child my father was part owner of a bar and sometimes I would have to go to work with him and stay in the office while he tended bar. I was hospitalized several times for pneumonia as a result and ended up with asthma.

When my youngest was born it turned out she had severe asthma that required twice daily nebulizer treatments. We tried to avoid all smoke filled environments but even in food establishments that has "separate" smoking areas set aside her asthma could be triggered. It is infuriating to be traveling with the children only to stop at a recognized chain restaurant (IHop, Denny's, Waffle House etc.) and have to follow her meal with medication and breathing treatments. Even when I would leave the youngsters in the car with my husband while I went in to order so we could eat at a park or in the car, I would come out smelling so strongly of smoke that it would make her sick.
As my daughters got older they got part time jobs, often waiting tables, to put themselves through college. They were often assigned to wait on the people in the smoking section even though it gave two of my girls migraine headaches.
It is past time for Texas to demonstrate its regard for the health of all Texans by outlawing smoking in enclosed areas.
Thank you.

My maternal grandmother died from cancer of the lungs, and had never smoked a single cigarette. My aunts and uncles all smoked continually around her, and she died at the age of 70. All of my other grandparents lived until their 90s. Such a loss of a wonderful woman.

Until a few years ago, I would just get headaches from being around secondhand smoke. I would need to go to bed and sleep the headache away because I was allergic to smoke. I had a hard time just breathing clean air let alone smoke from around building entrances and exits. Smoke has no boundaries in restaurants and other types of establishments as it does not stay within their sections. Around 2008, I found out that I have Primary Pulmonary Hypertension which makes just breathing clean air hard to do much less putting up with smoke. I am unable to go into certain restaurants and stores due to existing smoking policies, and I find it quite hard to be able to breathe in those places. Even hospitals entrances and exits seem to have tolerance for the smokers and none for the non-smokers. There are few places that I am able to patronize due to smoking policies. Just trying to breathe around smoke makes my lungs hurt beyond belief. After being around smoke, I have to worry about getting a upper respiratory infection or bronchitis, or even pneumonia.

I had three brothers, two sisters, one sister-in-law, one brother-in-law, one nephew, many cousins to die before they were 70 yrs old of cancer and heart disease because they smoked.
I also had a friend that was in her 40's to die from her husband's second hand smoke, she never smoked in her life but her husband was a chain smoker.

SMOKING KILLS, plain and simple! Both my parents smoked and both died from it. I don't want to be around it, I don't want my kids around it. I am tired of taking my kids bowling and leaving like we just smoked a pack of cigarettes. I hate leaving the grocery store and walking thru a cloud of smoke because the employees are taking their smoke breaks (then handling the food we buy!) ENOUGH ALREADY!! Nonsmokers have been treated like second class citizens for tooooo long. If people choose to smoke and die early, fine. Just do it where the rest of us don't have to be around it. There is nothing good about smoking, so put an end to it!!

I'm a former smoker of 17 years (quit just over 28 months ago), and it's only in the last few weeks that I've stopped hanging out at a bar in Travis County that's outside the Austin city limits. In those few weeks, the chronic cough I had has disappeared. Food tastes better since stopping, etc. Smoke free Texas would be great!

I developed asthma while I was pregnant. Ever since, if I smell smoke (even on a person's clothes) it can trigger an asthma attack. I also take the Park & Ride into downtown Houston. I have to make a concerted effort to stand upwind of the smokers standing outside of the buildings while I am waiting in line for the bus home. Also, my aunt survived lung cancer in the 1960's. I have done everything in my power to stay clear of all exposure to smoke after seeing what smoking did to her.