There was an interesting study done by Stanford University in early 2008 that demonstrated that cigarette smoke can be harmful to non-smokers even outside. The smoke does not not dissipate in the air very well. If you are close to a smoker, breathing the smoke can be as bad as being in enclosed spaces. I guess that's why a number of municipalities and states have already passed or are considering outdoor smoking bans.
What I've also learned is that the smoke can be even more harmful for bystanders than it is for the actual smoker as the person smoking is inhaling the smoke through a filter whereas someone around them is breathing the smoke directly. And when a smoker drags on the cigarette, the tobacco burns at a hotter temperature, essentially burning cleaner than the smoldering, smoky emission as he or she just holds it in their hand. I have seen studies that have shown that blood vessels start to constrict within seconds of being exposed to tobacco smoke. Heart attack rates have dropped dramatically in every place that smoking bans have been enacted. The Surgeon General has said that no amount of exposure to cigarette smoke is safe.
Cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals including about 50 known carginogens, such as benzene, ammonia, acetone, tar, nicotine, arsenic and carbon monoxide. While any city will have pollutants in the air and life is not risk free, cigarette smoke (even outside) can be much more concentrated and more harmful to health than the ambient air. But because people cannot see the harm immediately, and because many of us can remember when cigarettes were everywhere (including on airplanes and in work places) people don't really appreciate the real harm of walking through clouds of smoke on the sidewalks.
Don't even get me started on the millions of cigarette butts that are on the ground everywhere around Seattle and how those filters (that don't really biodegrade) leach all of those lovely toxins and carcinogens into Puget Sound.
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West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog
