Veteran tobacco control leader Dr. Witold Zatonski has lamented that "'passive smoking' is a mild term." So is "secondhand smoke." "Involuntary smoking" is stronger, but people may not understand it.

Words and phrases that are commonly used are hard to change—and "passive smoking" is the widely used term in many countries. Most tobacco control advocates now use the terms "passive smoking," "involuntary smoking," and "secondhand smoke." Dr. Zatonski has encouraged the use of the term "forced passive smoking" in order to convey the fact that nonsmokers, especially children, are forced to breathe the smoke of others.

"Environmental tobacco smoke" and "ETS" are both terms promoted by the tobacco companies because they do not adequately convey the seriousness of the issue; indeed, these phrases mean little to most people. Dr. Jonathan Samet, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, cautions tobacco control advocates never to use these terms.

The Pan American Health Organization also uses the term "100 % smoke-free environments" to make it clear that partially smoke-free areas are unacceptable. It is important that we move quickly in our rhetoric from the cause, "passive smoking," to the cure, "clean indoor air" and "100% smoke-free environments."