According to the American Lung Association, “smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death worldwide.” Not only does smoking and tobacco use affect those using it, but the results from secondhand smoke are just as bad. The American Lung Association also claims that secondhand smoke causes more than 41,000 deaths each year.
For these reasons, Eastern Michigan University will be implementing a new policy on July 1, which will ban the use of tobacco on campus. This new policy will ban cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, hookah smoked products, pipes, oral tobacco and nasal tobacco.
This new policy is going to have a number of positive effects, which will benefit both tobacco users and non-users. Students and faculty members who use tobacco will be forced to think twice before using tobacco products on campus. Non-users will now be able to walk around campus without having to inhale smoke when walking by smokers on their way to class.
Having a tobacco-free campus is very exciting and we are creating a path that hopefully other universities will begin to follow. Not only will a tobacco-free campus deter students and faculty from using tobacco at all, but it will also ensure clean air for anyone on campus.
