ROSENDALE – State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah had a message for people who want to smoke outside in public places – Don’t!

Shah was at the Rosendale Community Center Tuesday to speak in support of smoke free outdoor spaces in Ulster County and throughout the state.

Everyone knows that smoking cigarettes is very unhealthy, and leads to things such as cancer, but there is much to be understood about the effects of second hand smoke, he said.

“Second hand smoke can be just as bad,” he said, “children exposed to second hand smoke, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, are subject to have much higher rates of asthma and respiratory problems.”

Those problems are totally preventable, noted Dr. Shah, and they can be avoided by passing laws such as the ones on the books in Rosendale, and many other municipalities throughout Ulster County, which create smoke free outdoor environments.

The problem doesn’t stop there.

“If you look at what happens with the garbage that’s left behind it gets into our water supply and we can detect these nicotine and cancer causing agents in the water we drink,” Dr. Shah explained. “Wildlife are poisoned and die as a result of cigarette butts and it’s something we can easily fix by passing laws that limit outdoor exposure to cigarettes in public spaces.”

According to Ulster County Public Health Director Dr. La Mar Hasbrouck 5,000 of Ulster County’s children are smokers and 30,000 adults are smokers.

Director of Tobacco Free Action Coalition of Ulster County (TFAC) Ellen Reinhard said that the amount of smokers in Ulster County is above the national average and prohibiting smoking in public areas where children play is an effective way to change the trends that leads to the amount of people who become smokers, or even accepting of it.

“Children model adult behavior, so when there’s tobacco use in front of children they will look at it as a friendly behavior, and something they want to do because they look up to adults, and as far as adults you are de-normalizing tobacco use when you are limiting smoking so it helps adults make the decision to quit,” she said.

Reinhard added that through county-wide surveys TFAC has found 80 percent of the community to be in support of smoke free outdoor environments, smokers included.