Locals Are Responding To Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Ads For Smokefree Housing

Ads on public transit have the American Lung Association answering daily calls for stronger smokefree housing laws, lung association officials said.

The ads have been placed on Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District buses and they show cigarette smoke drifting into one apartment from another. According to the association, one apartment gets as much as 65 percent of its air from nearby apartments, depending on wind direction, the weather and the structure.

A 2011 study showed that nearly 100 percent American children living in multi-unit housing had a measurable level of tobacco exposure in their bodies even when no one in their home smoked.

The lung association’s advocacy manager Alexandria Nelson said the association has been hearing from suffering renters and condo owners and from landlords supportive of smokefree housing. More have called to say their willing to advocate for smokefree housing laws.

More than 1.5 million residents of California, including residents of Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond and El Cerrito, are covered under laws prohibiting smoking in condos and apartments.

Residents of Oakland, San Leandro and Castro Valley, however, must rely on their landlords to take action if smoke is drifting into their unit.

Those local governments do not require smokefree units in apartment or condo buildings.

“Based on the complaints we receive, as well as calls from tenant/landlord counselors, code enforcement, and other health agencies, we know that many more Bay Area residents want their city councils and boards of supervisors to adopt similar laws,” Nelson said in a statement.

The ads began appearing on buses in January and will be removed by March 21.

The association expects the campaign to make seven million impressions. The Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition funded the campaign. The coalition wants to protect residents from secondhand smoke and reduce the disproportionate effect of tobacco use on low-income residents.

--Bay City News

--Image courtesy of Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition

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