Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Breaking Bronx features a health-related story, event or tidbit as part of an online expansion of our Be Healthy! column.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and State Senator Gustavo Rivera, both local Bronx legislators, passed legislation banning smoking within 100 feet of school entrances and exits, the latest government effort to combat secondhand smoke.

New York State has already banned smoking in the majority of indoor spaces, while a New York City ban on smoking in public parks and beaches went into effect last May. This spring, Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced legislation to the City Council that would require residential buildings to develop written rules addressing whether smoking is allowed in both indoor and outdoor locations.

The bills sponsored by Dinowitz and Rivera, however, aim to protect children and adolescents from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

“Smoking is particularly dangerous to children,” said Dinowitz. “This bill will help to protect them from the scourge of secondhand smoke.”

“The Bronx has the lowest youth smoking rate of New York City. However, in order to keep our youth safe from smoking-related disease, we have to also work toward limiting children’s exposure to secondhand smoke,” said Rivera.

The legislation developed from discussions with healthcare providers and community members during the 2011 Bronx CAN Health Initiative.

Editor’s note: A version of this story appears in the June 28-July 11 print edition of the Norwood News.

Ask Be Healthly! Send Us Your Health Questions.

Got a pressing health, fitness, or nutrition question on your mind? Send them our way! We’re ready to tackle your queries about food, sex, illness, health insurance, prescription medications–any health-related topics that puzzle or interest you.

We’ll answer your question in a Q&A feature appearing in the Norwood News‘ Be Healthy! column. If we don’t know, we’ll ask the experts. You can sign your name or send it anonymously.

Send your queries to: norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org.

Here’s a link to the first installment of Ask Be Healthy!

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.