Comprehensive Smoke-free Laws

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, which contains approximately 70 known or possible carcinogens.

Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke causes nearly 42,000 deaths among nonsmokers, including up to 7,300 lung cancer deaths.

Throughout the country, elected officials at the state and local levels are recognizing the health and economic benefits of comprehensive smoke-free laws. The only way to fully eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke is to prohibit smoking in all public places, making them 100 percent smoke-free.

• Reduce Exposure to Secondhand Smoke:

Smoke-free laws reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, encourage and increase quitting among current smokers, and reduce health care, cleaning, and lost productivity costs.

• Improve Health:

Smoke-free laws have been proven to improve the health of workers in those establishments, as well as the general public. Comprehensive smoke-free laws have been shown to reduce hospital admissions and deaths from respiratory disease, coronary events and other heart disease, and cerebrovascular accidents in hospitality workers.

• Good for Business:

Smoke-free laws protect health without impacting business. The U.S. Surgeon General’s Report concluded, “Evidence from peer-reviewed studies shows that smoke-free policies and regulations do not have an adverse economic impact on the hospitality industry.”