Fresno State students concerned with second-hand smoke exposure who advocate for a smoke-free campus, Project IMPACT 4 Life, will host a public screening of the film, “Addiction Incorporated,” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 in Engineering East, Room 191.

Co-sponsored by Fresno State’s Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Safety Council and Associated Students, Inc., the event is free and open to the public.

The film has won critical acclaim for its true story of scientist Victor DeNoble, an influential whistleblower whose research and work as a chemist for Phillip Morris USA Inc., the nation’s leading cigarette manufacturer, led to the first federal regulation of the tobacco industry.

DeNoble has since become a strong tobacco-prevention advocate who speaks regularly about his experiences and the dangers of tobacco use.

“We are privileged to be able to screen the film here in Fresno,” said Melanie Ruvalcaba Project IMPACT program manager for the American Lung Association in California. “It’s a very informative film about the deceptive tactics that the tobacco industry uses, even today, to keep smokers addicted to their products.”

Ruvalcaba was a Project IMPACT member when she was a Fresno State student, graduating in 2011 with a Master in Public Health.

The student club was started in 2010 and today, about 20 members participate in campus educational activities such as informational tabling and cigarette butt clean up throughout the year. Previous efforts include support of an ASI resolution passed in 2011 to create a tobacco-free campus for which the club has been collecting petition signatures.

Fresno State established a smoking policy in 2003 after the CSU Board of Trustees authorized its 23 campuses to limit smoking to specified areas or ban smoking on the campus altogether. The policy designates 22 areas on campus where smoking is permitted. State law already bans smoking from workplaces and all buildings accessible to the general public throughout the state. CSU regulations ban smoking from within 20 feet of buildings but allowed university presidents to set up stricter rules.

Project IMPACT participated in a university ad hoc Smoking Policy Review Committee in 2012 created by President john D. Welty that reviewed, among other things, the smoking locations leading to the elimination of one and relocation of two others.

Last month, the Office of Environmental Health & Safety and Risk Management reminded the university community of the Fresno State policy that smoking is only allowed at the remaining 22 outdoor locations.

For more information about the event and/or the parking code, contact Project IMPACT 4 Life at projectimpactforlife@gmail.com

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(University Communications news student assistant Alejandra Garcia contributed to this story).