Smoking banned in Beaver Stadium! I can only react to this news with much joy. The University has finally done something dealing with this problem.

I have been coming to Penn State football games ever since I was about 4- or 5- years-old. I also have been allergic to cigarette smoke almost all my life. I cough, sneeze, feel nauseated and often go that one step beyond nausea. When I would sit with my parents, often someone would light up around us. My parents would politely ask the person if he/she wouldn't mind not smoking since I would get very ill.

Sometimes, it would be a nice person who would not smoke. More often than not, the person would refuse, and I would either have to change seats with a member of the family or suffer throughout the game.

In the past three years that I have been a student here, I have encountered the problem of students who have smoked around me in the student sections. I tried to follow the model of my parents and ask politely if they would stop.

The responses I received were rude and very nasty. I would be cursed at, told to change my seat or just leave the game since they had a right to smoke. "Besides," one guy said to me, "it all goes up into the air anyway."

Yes, smoke does eventually dissipate into the air, however it first diffuses into the air all around the smoker. This affects all the people sitting next to the smoker in all directions. The actual smoke breathed out by the smoker is bad enough, yet that is smoke that is filtered by the lungs.

What about all the smoke given off by the lighted cigarette? That smoke contains pure carcinogenic material unfiltered into the air breathed in by non-smokers.

I recently attended a radiation safety class in which one of the topics covered by the instructor dealt with atmospheres of the working place. He showed us one sample in which many toxic chemicals were listed in high proportion. Through the analysis that was done, it was found that workers under Environmental Protection Agency guidelines would only be able to work in that area for 53 seconds per week! What was this toxic atmosphere? Cigarette smoke.

So those of you who are complaining about not being able to smoke in Beaver Stadium, do you actually realize the risk you are putting non-smokers through?

You may have rights as a smoker, but nonsmokers also have rights to clean air wherever they may go, including a football game. So if you can't handle not smoking for about three and a half to four hours, go outside the stadium at halftime or wear a patch. You can't pollute my air space anymore.