A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the U.S. is on pace to eliminate tobacco smoke in all public indoor spaces through state laws by 2020, if smoke-free advocates can accelerate progress in the states that still do not have smoke-free laws in effect.
"The progress made during the past decade in enacting comprehensive state smoke-free laws is an extraordinary public-health achievement. In the span of 10 years, smoke-free workplaces, restaurants, and bars went from being relatively rare to being the norm in half of the states and the District of Columbia," the CDC states in an update on smoke-free policies published April 22, 2011 in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The report is based on data in the CDC's Prevention's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) System database. (WCxKit)
The number of states with comprehensive smoke-free laws banning smoking in bars, restaurants, and indoor work sites increased from zero to 26 from 2001 through 2010. There are also 10 states with laws that prohibit smoking in one or two but not all three of these types of locations. Eight states have less restrictive laws, such as laws allowing for smoking in designated areas or areas with separate ventilation, and seven states have no statewide smoking restrictions in place for private work sites, restaurants, or bars.
The report points out that no southern state has a comprehensive public indoor smoking ban in place, but a large number of communities in these states have adopted comprehensive local smoke-free laws, so the authors of the CDC report believe "the Healthy People 2020 target of enacting smoke-free indoor air laws that prohibit smoking in public places and work sites in all 50 states and D.C. can be achieved if such laws continue to be adopted at the current pace, and activities are intensified in southern states." (WCxKit)
One of the CDC's Healthy People 2010 objectives unveiled in 2000 called for every state and D.C. to enact laws eliminating smoking in public places and work sites, and this goal has been retained in the Healthy People 2020 goals. The effort picked up steam in 2006 when the Surgeon General concluded that no level of exposure to secondhand smoke is risk-free and that the only effective way to eliminate the risk is to completely eliminate smoking in all indoor areas.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact:[email protected]
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