Based on the rate of states enacting anti-smoking laws, by 2020 all 50 states may have bans on smoking in restaurants, workplaces and bars, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention press release.
The prediction is based on a study of the rate at which states have adopted smoke-free laws protect against secondhand smoke exposure. Since 2000, 25 states and Washington D.C. have enacted anti-smoking laws.
Eliminating smoking from worksites, restaurants and bars is a low-cost, high-impact strategy that will protect nonsmokers and allow them to live healthier, longer, more productive lives while lowering health care costs associated with secondhand smoke,” said CDC director Thomas Frieden in a press release. “While there has been a lot of progress over the past decade, far too many Americans continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke at their workplaces, increasing their risk of cancer and heart attacks.”
Almost half of the United States. is protected by state or local smoking bans, according to the CDC report, with about 10 other states that have some form of smoking ban in the private sector
However, seven states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming have no statewide smoking restrictions, although some of their cities do.
Gary Nolan, director of a smokers’ rights group, told The Boston Globe that he would not be surprised if the CDC’s prediction came true because of efforts by the public health officials to prevent smoking in public venues.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they prevailed,” Nolan said to the Boston Globe. “It’s just a little bit more liberty slipping away at the hands of big government.”
Around 88 million nonsmoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke every year, with more than half of children over the age of three exposed to secondhand smoke, according to the CDC.
According to the 2010 Surgeon General’s tobacco report, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and that even low levels of smoke exposure can lead to “a rapid and sharp increase in dysfunction and inflammation of the lining of the blood vessels,” which can result in heart attacks and stroke
“Secondhand smoke is responsible for 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers each year,” said Ursula Bauer, director of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, in a press release. “Completely prohibiting smoking in all public places and workplaces is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure.”
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I recently was at the Potawanimi Casino in Milwaukee, I am very concerned about all those hundereds of workers that have to breath in the smoke…..and it looked like everyone was smoking.
How does outlawing smoking in small businesses in Wisconsin …..and “saving” those workers from the second had smoke make…for thier safty, make sense……yet the Casino’s workers are in unhealthy environment …..and no one cares???