Supports smoke-free bill

To the editor:

I am writing to express my support for Senate Bill 1, Statewide Smokefree Workplaces. In the past two years, I have lost two aunts who were very dear to me. Both were young, and both were chain smokers. Over the past 20 years, I have watched numerous aunts, uncles and cousins die from smoking-related illnesses. My Mom worked as a waitress in a restaurant with a smoking section while I was growing up, but never smoked herself. She now suffers from asthma. I have never smoked either, but I often spent time at the restaurant with her, was babysat by a smoker, and traveled frequently on planes with smoking sections. As a result, I was diagnosed with COPD at the age of 17.

While visiting the WWII and Vietnam Memorials in Washington D.C. this past April, I was brought to tears to learn that over 405,000 Americans died fighting in WWII, and over 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam. It was then that I realized the catastrophic loss that tobacco use and secondhand smoke causes. 440,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related illnesses. That’s 1,200 preventable deaths each and every day. Tobacco use is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S., and it is a worldwide epidemic.

I encourage our local legislators to take SB1 very seriously to protect our residents here in the Mat-Su Valley and around the state from the dangers of nicotine addiction, tobacco use and secondhand smoke. Thank you.

Misty Jensen

Mat-Su Valley resident