Secondhand Smoke

and Smoke-Free Policy

This article is going to be a little different; however, it is still very much health related. By the time this article is printed Mt. Washington City Council will have had the first reading of a smoke-free ordinance. This is an emotionally charged issue—mainly due to fear of the unknown and misinformation—still, the public needs the facts, minus the emotions, that makes this issue worth discussing.

Scientific studies, the Surgeon General, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and numerous others, ALL agree that secondhand smoke is a known cancer-causing substance and should be avoided.

Secondhand smoke IS a toxic air pollutant. Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Secondhand smoke affects nearly every organ of the body, causing heart disease, lung and other cancers, breathing disorders such as asthma, and sudden infant death syndrome. Most Kentuckians do not smoke (72 percent—that is 7.2 people out of 10 who doesn’t smoke.), yet 74 percent of Kentuckians are regularly exposed to the secondhand smoke in public places from the other 28 percent who do smoke. (Source: Secondhand Smoke and Smoke-Free Policy, 2006)

Comprehensive smoke-free ordinances protect smokers and nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. Smoke-free ordinances/laws significantly reduce air pollution. Workers under smoke-free laws have an almost immediate improvement in breathing symptoms. The majority of workers and the public-in-general like smoke-free laws. Smoke-free laws are generally self-enforcing. When employers, employees, and the public are well educated about the law and its intent, there are few enforcement problems. (Source: Secondhand Smoke and Smoke-Free Policy, 2006)

Peer-reviewed, scientific studies consistently find that when communities go smoke-free business is not harmed. This is the most common fear among business owners, especially the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels/motels, bars, etc.), who often share stories of economic hardship. The emotional factors are removed from these studies, which use objective economic indicators, like the taxes collected from the hospitality industry by the city and state. Bottom line—there is no scientific evidence that smoke-free laws have adverse economic effects on business. (Source: Secondhand Smoke and Smoke-Free Policy, 2006)

Ned Fitzgibbons, Public Health Director predicts within the next 5 years there will be no smoking in any public place. As of 2006, 12 countries (that is the whole country—like England, Ireland, Italy, etc.) have smoke-free laws prohibiting smoking in public places and worksites. Twelve States have smoke-free laws: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Over 500 locales (cities or counties) have smoke-free ordinances.

Some things to remember from this article are:

A Smoke-Free Law for Bullitt County would: