To the editor:

"You don't want to ruin the atmosphere in these places," said student Vivan Pinto in defense of smoking in The Chronicle's April 6 article, "University's smoking policy for eateries to be revised." Those words could not have been more ironic, for it is smoking itself which is poisoning the atmosphere in all of our buildings.

On January 7, the EPA issued a report blaming secondhand smoke for about 3,000 lung cancer deaths each year. The same report concluded that secondhand smoke also causes hundreds of thousands of respiratory infections and aggravates asthma symptoms in up to one million children each year! If you want to check these figures, consult the January 8 edition of The New York Times.

The EPA now classifies secondhand tobacco smoke as a Class A carcinogen along with benzene and asbestos--it's a killer! Smoking hurts not only the smoker but also everyone else around and should therefore be treated as a crime.

Unfortunately, the government will be slow to enact the proper legislation to protect non-smokers' right to healthy air. However, the University should take the initiative and ban smoking everywhere on campus, not just in the Medical Center. Consider it a form of preventive medicine which, though it seems impractical, will keep people from being unwillingly subjected to the unhealthy effects of tobacco smoke.

The first and most important step should be a ban on smoking in all buildings since they have such enclosed atmospheres. Allowing smoking indoors is a gross injustice that is absolutely intolerable! I beg the Facilities Committee and other applicable people to take what actions they can to ban smoking in our buildings immediately.

Finally, thank you, ASDU legislators and Mr. Wes Newman, for making steps in the right direction by limiting smoking in dining halls. Let's keep moving ahead on this important issue.

David Lott

Engineering '94