KING COUNTY, WA - Promoting the theme "Second-hand smoke kills. Let's clear the air," King County Executive Ron Sims , Public Health - Seattle & King County and local Seattle youth celebrated World No Tobacco Day today, reminding us that second hand smoke is a very real threat to public health.

King County activities for World No Tobacco Day included:

• King County Executive Ron Sims joined with Public Health - Seattle & King County Director Dr. Alonzo Plough in presenting Kirkland businesses with certificates of appreciation for their efforts in tobacco control.
• Chief Sealth High School hosted a smoke free health fair.
• Shoreline students participated in smoke free bowling at Spin Alley, a smoke free business.
• In addition, Public Health - Seattle & King County announced the release of its latest updated version of the Guide to Smoke-Free Dining in King County. The Guide is available by calling the Tobacco Prevention program at (206) 296-7613, or a searchable version can be found online at www.metrokc.gov/health/tobacco/guide.htm

In Kirkland, Executive Sims presented the Park Place QFC with an award for not selling tobacco to minors in five consecutive years of tobacco compliance checks.

"This achievement deserves our attention and recognition. Preventing our youth from getting hooked on tobacco is an important part of keeping our community healthy, both now and for the future," said Executive Sims.

"If we can keep our children from becoming addicted to tobacco before the age of eighteen, they likely will never start, " said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Public Health - Seattle & King County, who also participated in the presentation. "We are pleased at how well local retailers have responded to the challenge of keeping youth tobacco free."

Since 1989, Public Health's Tobacco Prevention program has conducted compliance checks and outreach educational activities with retailers to stop tobacco sales to minors.

Executive Sims and Plough also visited the Yarrow Bay Café, where the restaurant was presented with a certificate of appreciation for their voluntary decision to go smoke free, protecting the health of their patrons and employees. The Tobacco Prevention program has a campaign to promote smoke free restaurants, increasing the number of voluntary smoke free restaurants in Seattle each year. Currently, seventy-seven percent of the restaurants in Kirkland are smoke free.

In Seattle, Chief Sealth High School hosted a smoke free day with a health fair and special guest Jo Ann Tuttle, laryngectomee and cancer survivor. Students spoke with Jo Ann about her experiences and talked with other health professionals about the effects of smoking.

In Shoreline, students gathered at the Spin Alley bowling alley to celebrate the smoke free bowling alley. Spin Alley is a one hundred percent smoke-free venue every day, which is unique among bowling centers. Smoking is allowed at most bowling center sites, which exposes workers and patrons to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

In order to change this situation, The American Lung Association of Washington www.alaw.org received a grant from Public Health - Seattle & King County to implement a secondhand smoke education campaign with King County bowling centers and bingo halls that employ youth.

The purpose of this grant was to identify youth oriented venues that allow smoking in their facilities and to provide them with educational materials that would help them make informed decisions about creating a smoke free environment. Smoke-free youth oriented venues have proven to be effective in reducing tobacco use initiation among youth.

Here are some important facts to remember about second-hand smoke:

• Second-hand smoking has been causally associated with many life-threatening health effects, including lung cancer and heart disease.
• Tobacco smoke is a leading source of indoor air pollution, poisoning the indoor air and causing eye irritations, sore throats, coughs and headaches.
• There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

World No Tobacco Day is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) which is comprised of leading public health organizations around the world. The event was initiated by the United Nations to turn the world's attention toward the dangers of tobacco use.