Cigarette Smoke the Main Culprit in Building Warning Signs

The signs are all over Hermosa, hanging in parking garages, office buildings and apartment complexes.

"This area contains chemical substances known to the state of California to cause cancer, reproductive toxicity and birth defects," they read (see accompanying photo).

These notices have been a part of town, and the rest of the state, since 1986 when California voters passed the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act under Proposition 65.

The measure made these signs mandatory in all businesses with 10 or more employees to inform people in the area that they could be exposed to harmful toxins.

An interesting facet of the law is that businesses are required to post a sign stating that chemicals only are present, not detailing which chemicals.

You have to contact the businesses if you want to know the particulars, and that's exactly what Patch did. The answer? Most of the "chemical substances" are cigarette smoke.

Nearly 50 percent of cancers are caused by cigarette smoke, with other environmental toxins accounting for much less of the diseases' rates, according to research.

"It's a major human cancer-causing agent," said Dr. Joseph Landolph, who served on the Proposition 65 advisory board of scientists who have studied these toxins.

An expert in carcinogens and an associate professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine, Landolph has also served on the committee that recommends to the state which substances should be recognized as cancer-causing agents.

"Cigarette smoking is responsible for between 30 to 50 percent of all human cancer" in those exposed to firsthand and secondhand smoke, Landolph told Patch. "Industrial carcinogens cause probably about 5 to 8 percent."

Here in Hermosa Beach, the signs that warn of cancer-causing chemicals are most visible at apartment buildings, such as The Gallery on 2nd Street, an Equity Residential property.

Management had to post the signs because the apartment complex allows smoking on the premises, said Ann Hemmila who serves as a leasing agent for The Gallery.

She was not aware of any other chemicals present that would fall under the signage requirement.

Cori Davis, a resident of The Gallery, told Patch that she hadn't noticed the signs, but she's alarmed by the thought of them.

"I would definitely want to know what substances are here that I need to be aware of," Davis said. "I think they should have to list it if they're going to say that something's toxic."

David Hattrup, a resident of the nearby Playa Pacifica apartment complex on Herondo Street, also managed by Equity Residential, said that he has noticed the signs in his building, but he's not concerned.

"I don't have any reaction to them," Hattrup told Patch. "They're just kind of everywhere as an 'inform-the-public' type thing. Thank you for informing me, but I'm going to keep doing my daily stuff."

But surprisingly, the signage posted in apartment buildings is not meant to notify tenants of the risk of exposure, but rather employees, said Eric Wiegers of the California Apartment Association.

"Apartment buildings are just another…public facility where [the signs] are required by law," he said. "That's a common misconception people have—it's not for residents of an apartment community, it's for employees," such as building managers or maintenance staff.

Regardless of whom the signs are for, Hermosans have a right to know whether toxins that cause cancer and birth defects are present in places of business, Landolph said.

"Should people in the apartment buildings jump out of the window? No, not at all," Landolph said. "They should find out what the sticker is there for, and they have a right to do that."

Once residents educate themselves, they then should focus on reducing their voluntary exposure to cancer causing agents, such as cigarettes, he added.

Viruses, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis A and B, cause about 10 percent of cancers, Landolph said. Vaccines can help in some cases, such as the Gardasil shots that help keep the HPV virus from developing into cervical cancer in women and penile cancer in men.

But in addition to limiting exposure to cigarette smoke and getting the Gardasil vaccine, Landolph recommends that people watch their diet. "Eat green, leafy and yellow vegetables and fruits."