Nearly 53,000 premature deaths occur each year in America because of secondhand smoke, according to The National Cancer Institute.

Fresno State̢۪s current smoke-free policy went into effect on April 1, 2003 and the policy states that smoking will not be permitted except where designated smoking area signs are posted.

Individuals, Mentors, and Peers Advocating to Control Tobacco (IMPACT) Executive Advisory Board believes the policy isn̢۪t being implemented like it should be.

A group of about 35 Fresno State students who encourage smokers to quit and encourage non-smokers to stay away from tobacco make up IMPACT.

They receive a grant through the California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section and receive support from clubs that are willing to adopt a tobacco-free policy.

Anna Luzania, IMPACT executive advisory board member and public health major said, “We clearly have a smoke-free policy but it’s not being enforced. We took pictures and surveys and all our evidence shows that there hasn’t been any enforcement at all.â€Â

“We had a little competition last year to see who could pick up the most cigarette butts on campus. All the places that were designated areas, we didn’t take any from the ashtrays. We just got litter. We stopped counting after 10,000 cigarette butts,â€Â she said.

By establishing tobacco-free environments, secondhand smoke will probably decrease.

People will become accustomed to these environments and that will reduce smoking all together because it will no longer be acceptable to smoke in a public work environment.

Susan Pearman, IMPACT Program Manager, said, “We send out petitions and they always come back with at least 75 percent in favor of tobacco-free policies and Fresno State came back even higher than that. Even smokers said that they prefer tobacco-free.â€Â

Luzania added, “A lot of smokers themselves can see and they say they don’t want to smoke. The policies are almost encouraging and they’re like, ‘Yes! Make it! So I can stop that way.’ It’s something they despise.â€Â

Other colleges in the United States and even in California have adopted a tobacco-free policy. Schools like Stanford University, UC San Francisco, UC Davis, and Fresno Pacific University all have 100 percent tobacco-free policies without any exemptions.

University High School sets Fresno State apart from some of the other colleges when it comes to a tobacco-free policy because generally high schools don̢۪t allow smoking in any form on campus.

“I don’t think college students get it in their head. The replications of smoking are so far distant in the future, they can’t see it.

All their lives they’ve been taught ‘tobacco is wacko’ and all the cheesy mottos out there. And they’re like, that’s lame, I’m in college, I don’t need that,â€Â Luzania said.

The Surgeon General̢۪s report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke concluded that establishing smoke-free work environments remains the only way to make sure that secondhand smoke exposure doesn̢۪t happen in the workplace because ventilation and other air filtering methods cannot control exposure to non-smokers.

Pearman said, “Smokers are being accommodated at the expense of everybody else and not accommodating the poor folks on campus that have asthma or other lung problems. Our goal is a 100 percent tobacco-free campus.â€Â