Airplanes were among the first places to go cigarette-free in the 1980s, when public health advocates convinced regulators that passengers should not be forced to breathe someone else's smoke.
Then smoking was outlawed in California restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Most recently, cigarettes were banned at beaches and parks across San Diego County, and El Cajon made smoking on the street a crime.
Now there's a new frontier in the war on tobacco: apartments and condominiums.
Anti-tobacco groups across the county are lobbying elected officials and apartment owners and managers to ban smoking in multiunit residences for the sake of those who share walls, ceilings and floors with smokers.
The odor can permeate adjoining units, they say, posing a danger to neighbors and further sickening those with asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
"Sometimes at night, I have to put a machine on my son to help him breathe," said Gabriela Magana, who taped over the vents in her National City apartment to keep out smoke after 7-year-old Ramon was diagnosed with asthma in May.
"He was never a sick child. He used to play football, but he had to leave all that."
Health advocates point out that less than 14 percent of Californians smoke cigarettes, so it makes sense to adopt policies that shield the majority of people from unhealthy air.
Others worry about how such restrictions would be enforced and whether it is fair to dictate what smokers can do in their homes.
Activists in San Diego and National City are pushing elected officials to enact laws against smoking in apartments and condos. Others are promoting voluntary policies to landlords and management companies.
"When it comes to multiunit housing complexes, what your neighbor does, does affect your health," said Lisa Archibald of Communities Against Substance Abuse, an El Cajon advocacy group that favors a voluntary prohibition. "People need to be protected from harmful exposure."
Secondhand smoke was declared a toxic air contaminant by California in 2006. While it isn't known to cause asthma, secondhand smoke can exacerbate the symptoms, said Jan Davidson, a longtime nurse practitioner at Allergy and Asthma Associates in Mission Viejo, which has a roster of about 20,000 patients.
Some patients say they can smell smoke from neighboring apartments or condos, Davidson said, citing ventilation systems or poorly sealed windows as possible pathways.
"Often they're asking us what they should do," she said. "We agree that it can certainly be a problem, and they need to go speak to their management and see what can be done."
Smoking bans in residential complexes have been on the wish list of anti-tobacco groups for years.
But only in recent months - after some cities in California barred cigarettes from beaches and parks - have activists felt that they had a real shot at passing such restrictions.
"Public opinion is very favorable toward smoke-free housing," said Mary Baum of SAY San Diego, which has been meeting with San Diego council members to try to ban cigarettes from condominiums and apartments. "Healthy housing is a big concern in this area."
A handful of cities have banned apartment smoking since May 2007, when Temecula required 25 percent of its new and existing units to be smoke-free. Several others are considering similar or stricter legislation.
The most comprehensive law was approved in Belmont, a Bay Area community that prohibits smoking in every condominium and apartment.
More apartment owners are warming to the idea of reserving units for nonsmokers, said Eric Wiegers of the California Apartment Association. It can cut cleanup costs when smokers move out and act as a selling point to potential renters.
"Our industry is moving that way anyway, but it should be voluntary," Wiegers said.
Smoking bans raise enforcement questions, Wiegers said.
"It's very hard for a landlord to figure out who's smoking and who's not," he said. "Then what do you do, become the smoking police?"
In Vista and Oceanside, workers at the Vista Community Clinic have been approaching apartment owners and managers about the health threat posed by tenants' smoking.
So far, about 20 apartment owners have volunteered to restrict tobacco use among tenants, said Gena Knutson, the clinic's tobacco control program manager. They've posted signs and amended leases to make residents aware that smoking is not permitted, Knutson said.
"It's new. It's controversial," Knutson said of the campaign. "In trying to take those baby steps, we felt more comfortable going with the voluntary policies rather than seeking legislation."
Ofelia Alvarado, the smoke-free housing policy manager for the American Lung Association of California, prefers laws to voluntary agreements. Alvarado has been organizing National City residents affected by neighbors' tobacco use and plans to alert the City Council to their experiences to win support for a smoking ban.
"This is an emergency," said Alvarado, who noted that many residents cannot afford to move. "These people are literally trapped."
Maria Eugenia Velazquez has lived at the Park Apartments in National City for more than 10 years. After she upgraded to a three-bedroom unit last year, a chain smoker moved in upstairs. She doesn't have the $1,500 or more it would cost to move.
Velazquez blames the smoke for sending her asthmatic daughter to the emergency room three times.
"I can't turn on the air conditioner because it spreads the smoke around," she said.
Last year, National City was selected to participate in a federal project that inspects houses for health hazards such as mold and lead dust.
But Mayor Ron Morrison is not sold on regulating cigarettes inside the home.
"I'm not a smoker and I don't allow people to smoke in my house," Morrison said. "At the same time, I'm not sure where I start jumping on people's rights to smoke in their own homes."
From behind the counter at Smoke For Less, a discount tobacco shop in City Heights where a box of Marlboros is $3.99, store owner Dat Luong frowned when he heard about efforts to prevent smokers from lighting up in apartments.
"They banned it in restaurants, they banned it in bars. Where does it stop?" Luong said. "When you're in your own home and you can't smoke, that's pushing it."
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