ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080730
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SMOKING IS ALSO A FORM OF POLLUTION

AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL engineer, I appreciate the ecological concerns of Salem High School students protesting use of styrofoam products in the school cafeteria. But it is ironic that two of the 12 protesters suspended from school were suspended for smoking! Apparently, they are not well-informed with regard to the human health dangers of various forms of pollution.

Within the scientific community, it is generally agreed that more than 300,000 people in the United States die every year from tobacco smoke (including up to 30,000 people who die from inhaling other people's smoke). Put in terms of Salem High School (if present rates continue), it can be estimated that more than 100 of the 1,000 students currently enrolled will eventually be killed by tobacco smoke. This puts the pollution potential of tobacco smoke (and styrofoam containers?) in perspective.

A final observation: It greatly saddens, frustrates and angers me to see the large percentage of high-school-age people smoking when I go to Lee-Hi Lanes (bowling alley in Salem). It saddens me, because I know about the serious damage they can be doing to their health. It frustrates me, because it appears they have learned nothing from their parents' generation, with regard to tobacco addiction. And it angers me, as does seeing anyone needlessly polluting the air we all breathe.

\ MARK BAHNER\ ROANOKE 


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