Oh would you people SHUT UP ALREADY! Of course the American lung Association has those "stats" they want your MONEY! My mom smoked when she was pregnant with me and my brother and we were both born at well over 8 pounds and we never had any problems. I don't think that you should smoke in the car with the windows up or blow smoke all over your kids but really....

"They were understanding when I explained that I could not compromise the health of my then 2-month-old infant."

They were NEXT DOOR, any smell that was coming through the walls was not harmful to your child. It is whiny people like you who demonize peopl e who are suffering from an addiction that if you look at real stats, only significantly harm themselves. Shame on you, and shame on your husband. You should have at least spoken with your neighbors before tattling on them to your leasing office.

And also, I don't believe the government OR the state has any right what-so-ever to ban smoking in ANY privately owned establishment. If people smoke there, you can eat at home or find a non-smoking establishment to eat and play in. What buisness owners do is a buisness owner's buisness and if they want to allow people to smoke in their establishment...the government should not be permitted to stop them.

And for the record, I have never smoked even once in my life.

I think that if the houses are attached, most certainly! See, I look at it as: it's easier for the smoker to go out of their way to smoke some place else if they really must do it; why should you, the non-smoker, have to go out of your way so that you don't ruin your health? ... I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think that the non-smoker should have to compromise, but rather the smoker should. They're doing something that is well-known to be bad for the human body; why, if they want to put themselves at risk which is one thing, should we still let them put others at risk as well?

As a once smoker, now non smoker, I find smoking more irritating than when I was a smoker. But I dont think its right to ban smoking in private residences. If a person(s) are paying to live there, its not right to take away their freedoms.
My upstairs neighbor smokes all the time and it comes through in the bathroom. Although its a bit annoying to smell cigarette smoke, we live with it because we dont own, we rent. Thats the fact of life. If you rent, you've got to put up with the small things like noisy neighbors and smoking.
I think its probably best you are moving. Make sure you find out who your neighbor is and if they smoke beforehand. Good Luck.

I think, you should get rid of the person that is doing the second hand smoke.
I have a 5 month baby girl and my dad smokes a lot.
He doesn't go near the baby at all, when he's smoking and he waits a while to play with the baby, after he's just smoke.
This is your neighbor that smokes, I take it?
If it's them, then you should tell them to stop and if they don't then you need to report them, because it's going to effect the health of your 2 month old baby.

Suggestion:  When you find a place to move to, talk to the landlord (or whoever) and explain your concerns to them.  If there is more than one townhouse or apartment to pick, maybe they will help you pick one that doesn't include smoker neighbors!

i live in an apartment and also have a neighbor that smokes. we are lucky because it doesn't always come down into our apt (and when it does it comes through the bathroom ceiling so at least we can shut the bathroom doors). i hate the fact that his bad choices effect our health but i also hate the idea of taking away more freedoms in our country. i think that there could be some sort of compromise. couldn't apartments have designated units for smoking away from non-smokers. i think that would be a better law but i don't know. surely there is something we could do to appease everyone.

@Made2sing4Jesus@xanga - I didn't blow up on her. Koala can do what she wants and believes. I just feel like she should have asked the smokers to go outside before she told the leasing office and moved and that she maybe overdramatized the effects  of the little bit of smoke coming in through ventalation could have on her child. There are cases that those precautions, or putting your foot down would be necessary for instance:

For the past 5 years since my dad quit, my mom who smokes indoors will only smoke outside. Now, my boyfriend's mom only smokes inside-I mean chain smokes with all the windows up all day. The smell in her house is AWFUL, and when we decide to have kids, they won't be going over to their grandmother's unless she puts the cigarettes down or goes outside.

It just really bugs me when people get bent out of shape about other people's choices and they kind of skirt around the issue instead of meeting it dead on. Like, I wouldn't just expect Joe's mom to KNOW that I wasn't bringing the kids over because she smokes, I would tell her what I expect. Does that make sense? I certainly never meant to offend anyone, especially not a mother doing what she think's best for her child..I just think she went about it the wrong way.

@soapbox_sara@xanga -  Thank You for a kind response , I would say when we forget the strength of words in our language such as shaming someone we should be quite careful. Words can kill or build up.
 As for the way she  handle it...that too was in her shoes with those neighbors...I think either would be correct in a good situation we should not fear a leasing office when they can actually do something about the vents etc.

Have a Good Day =)

Well I grew up with two parents who smoked like chimneys. Recently they promised not to smoke anywhere but outside or in their bathroom with the door closed (which is twice removed from any hallway or main part of the house). And I have to say that the air quality in our house is much, much nicer. So as far as your question goes, I don't think it should be banned in public housing unless at the owner's discretion. It doesn't bother me when it's isolated in my house, so I can't imagine it would severely bother me if it was next door.  But I do think that if a tennant, such as yourself, has an issue with it, that should be taken into consideration and every measure should be taken to ensure your health and safety.

Good luck with your moving endeavors! I wish my parents had thought more about the effects of their secondhand smoke, so I really think it is wonderful that you are taking such measures to ensure your child's health and comfort.

As someone who lives in a smoke free home and doesn't have any friends or family who smoke, I feel for you.  My brother lived in an apartment once where the downstairs neighbors smoked.  As it was a converted single dwelling, the door at the top of the steps was the problem.  It drove him crazy.  He and I also once went to tour a house that was for sale and the stench of cigarette smoke was more than we could bear.  Of course the real estate agent didn't know if the owners smoked or not, but we did.  It was a deal breaker for him. 

Personally I do not frequent any restaurants or such facilities that are not totally smoke free.  I understand what the maintenance guy said but it is difficult to be tolerant of cigarette smoke, at least for me it is.  You unfortunately do not seem to have a choice (other than the one you reached) 

I think that there are a lot of smokers who have no idea (many are considerate) how much second hand smoke can be an annoyance to a lot of non-smokers.  But to ask a person not to smoke in their own home seems extreme.  Like I said, it would drive me nuts to be in your situation and it seems like you have unfortunately had to go to some extremes to try to take care of it.  I am not sure what to suggest.  If it bothers you enough then moving seems to be the only option.  It is a shame that this is the only choice let to you.

The government encourages people not to smoke and yet derives huge amounts of tax income on tobacco product.  Seems like a big conflict of interest to me.

It frustrates me that with all of the anti-smoking education out there that people still choose to smoke.  There must be something that smoking provides to a person that is not being provided for by anything else in their lives.

Sorry for rambling. 

@soapbox_sara@xanga - Hmm, I think I understand better where you're coming from. This might not have been clear, but we went to the leasing office soon after we moved in over a year ago.  We simply wanted a thorough air duct and carpet cleaning because we assumed that the previous tenants had been smokers and the smell was just lingering.  It wasn't until a year later that we realized it was coming from next door.

In my opinion, it's much better to try to work something out with the leasing office than go knocking on all the neighbors' doors to find out who smokes and then ask them to stop.  I'd agree with you if I had gone to the leasing office to report a specific complaint about our neighbors without even talking to them.  We did nothing of the sort.  Our hope was that the management had some tricks up their sleeves that would take care of the smoke seeping in  through the walls and vents.  Nothing worked for the baby's room, and that is why we are moving.

As for mentioning the smoking ban for multi-unit homes, I thought it was a great idea after reading this article about it happening in California:  http://www.nbc11.com/news/14307719/detail.html.  I didn't come up with it, but I do agree that less smoking indoors would benefit a lot of people.