GASP stands for the Group to Alleviate Smoking
Pollution of Nebraska, Inc.
We are a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization, formed on January 11, 1989, on the 25th anniversary of the first U.S.
Surgeon General's report on smoking. Since that time, we have been working for a clean, smoke-free environment
and to prevent children from becoming addicted to tobacco.
Because we are a nonprofit corporation, we can receive your tax deductible donations! We will use them to work
toward reaching the following goals and principles:
The right of all persons to a healthy and
smoke-free environment when visiting public buildings, events, restaurants or any other place open to the public.
The right of all employees to a healthy
and smoke-free workplace.
The right of all children to have the opportunity
for a healthy and smoke-free life, without being exposed to tobacco advertising and careless merchant practices
providing easy access to tobacco products.
The right of smokers to purchase and use
tobacco products, as long as they refrain from smoking in public places where nonsmokers would be needlessly exposed
to known health risks from secondhand smoke. Although smokers should certainly have the right to endanger their
own health and lives if they so choose, they have absolutely no right to expose others to the same dangers. Smoking
is optional, but breathing is a necessity.
GASP keeps our supporters, members and mailing
list subscribers, informed of local, state, national and international tobacco related issues. For your convenience
we can tailor the information we send to each individual. Just tell us "I only want to learn about local and
state issues", and that is all we will send to you. Information is also made available on other tobacco related
news and issues, including the distribution of a guide to smoke-free restaurants within Nebraska.
You can also pick how we send information
to you. We prefer to use email because it is faster and reduces expenses, but we can also send information to you
by postal mail. You can also check this website for any new updates.
Because it is so important, most of the
information we send is to educate you about pending tobacco legislation. It includes information about 100% Smokefree
Restaurants, how the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Money is to be spent, how to stop children from becoming addicted
to tobacco, how to contact your Senator and other elected officials and various other important topics.
GASP helps individuals and groups of employees
and customers who are being bothered by smoke. We can keep your identity completely confidential. One of our quickest
successes was when we talked to a few MUD Board members about smoke from a private managers office bothering a
worker just outside that office. Within a month they banned smoking in all of their buildings. Employers do not
have the right to poision their workers with secondhand smoke.
GASP actively recruits members and supporters
at various public events and through the use of this website.
1. Published the State's first Guide to smoke-free
Dining.
2. The City of Omaha passed the State's first
local tobacco retailers ordinance.
3. The Lincoln/Lancaster government buildings
were made smoke-free.
4. The Mayor of Omaha made all city vehicles
and buildings smoke-free.
5. MUD and other businesses were convinced
to adopt smoke-free policies.
6. Several restaurants drastically enlarged
their nonsmoking sections.
7. Some restaurants switched to become 100%
smoke-free.
8. A statewide law was passed to prohibit
the free give away of spitting tobacco.
9. A statewide law was passed to eliminate
almost all tobacco vending machines.
10. A statewide law was passed to make all
State vehicles and nonresidential State buildings smoke-free.
11. A statewide law was passed to make all
Commercial Daycares smoke-free.
12. A statewide law was passed to make all
outdoor areas within 10 feet of State building entrances to be smoke-free.
13. GASP's President received awards for
the good work GASP did from the Nebraska Department of Health's Tobacco Free Nebraska program, American Lung Association,
Tobacco Free Heartland Coalition and the Nebraska Dental Association.
14. In 1999 and 2000 GASP volunteers have
gathered many names of people who want to help pass good tobacco legislation at the local and state levels.
Have you ever been out in public and suddenly
smelled the acrid scent of tobacco smoke as it permeated your clothing, sinuses, and even your lungs? Did you have
young children with you and watch them cough or rub their eyes?
Have you ever had to sit in a restaurant's
smoking area because the non-smoking section was full, as usual, or had to leave because of sensitivity to smoke
or a respiratory illness?
Do you work in a smoking environment and
come home stinking of tobacco, with sore eyes, a sore throat or a headache, or have you even had to turn down or
quit such a job because of the constant exposure to smoke?
Are you worried by the amount of pressure put on your child to start smoking, not only by his peers, but by the
tobacco companies?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then supporting GASP, whether as an active member, or as a mailing
list subscriber, is your opportunity to make a difference. Please click on the Membership Information button for
more details.
If you are busy (who isn't?) we can make
it so you will only spend ten minutes a month to make a BIG difference. Send GASP your email address and we will
send you your Senator's email address and a "draft" letter that you can change (or not) and click/zip
you have told your Senator how important this is to you, and you are done, free to return to other pressing things
in your life. You can make a big difference with very little effort.
We Want to Hear from YOU! Send tobacco and smoking related
comments for publication on the Comments page and any comments concerning site content or GASP to the president,
Mark Welsch.
Mark Welsch, President
GASP of Nebraska (Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution)
5611 Howard Street
Omaha, NE 68106-1257
402-558-0463
GASP can help you assert your right to
smoke free places.
GASP helps people convert work places, restaurants, homes in multi-family dwellings, and other places to smoke
free environments. Requests to help make apartments and condominiums smoke free is the fastest growing type of
request GASP receives.
Rental leases and condominium by-laws have provisions to protect residents from toxic tobacco smoke. There is also
a Federal law (the ADA) that protects people with any type of disability that is made worse when forced to breathe
secondhand smoke. In addition, there are state laws that offer protection as well.
If you are bothered by toxic tobacco smoke pollution, please refer to How to Contact Gasp above and call Mark Welsch,
GASP President.