Year: 2011
Resolution Number: 49
Action Taken: Approved as Amended
Status:
Author(s): Adnan Hussain, Samuel W. Terman, Brian Rutledge, and Ami Badami
Sponsor: Adnan Hussain
On behalf of: Medical Student Section
Committee: D (Public Health)
Resolved Section(s):
RESOLVED: That MSMS asks the legislature to encourage landlords to offer smoke free apartment units and explore the creation of incentives, financial and/or non-financial to create smoke-free complexes/units; and be it furtherRESOLVED: That MSMS encourage its members to inform patients who live in multi-unit housing with children the risks of secondhand smoke and the indirect exposure occurring in multiunit housing. RATIONALE: There was vigorous debate concerning this issue surrounding the topics of personal freedoms and rights of the individual. The arguments made in favor of this resolution where the use of smoke tobacco created health hazards not just for the children, but for all that live in an apartment unit/complex. By having this policy in place, it would be protecting the public good. Opponents of this resolution argued about the right to enter the private residence of a person and regulate what they can and cannot do. Smoking is allowable at a specific age and regulating those who have the right to do so should not be told they cannot in their own home. Members questioned whether or not an apartment can be considered a private home when it is included in a complex of units. The Committee determined that it was in the greater interest of the pubic to prevent smoking in apartments and to find a way to offer incentives to promote that change.
RESOLVED: That MSMS asks the legislature to encourage landlords to offer smoke free apartment units and explore the creation of incentives, financial and/or non-financial to create smoke-free complexes/units; and be it furtherRESOLVED: That MSMS encourage its members to inform patients who live in multi-unit housing with children the risks of secondhand smoke and the indirect exposure occurring in multiunit housing. RATIONALE: There was vigorous debate concerning this issue surrounding the topics of personal freedoms and rights of the individual. The arguments made in favor of this resolution where the use of smoke tobacco created health hazards not just for the children, but for all that live in an apartment unit/complex. By having this policy in place, it would be protecting the public good. Opponents of this resolution argued about the right to enter the private residence of a person and regulate what they can and cannot do. Smoking is allowable at a specific age and regulating those who have the right to do so should not be told they cannot in their own home. Members questioned whether or not an apartment can be considered a private home when it is included in a complex of units. The Committee determined that it was in the greater interest of the pubic to prevent smoking in apartments and to find a way to offer incentives to promote that change.
Fiscal Note: NULL
Resolution: View PDF for Reduce Second-Hand Smoke in Apartments