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Fort Worth’s Smoke-free Ordinance Effective March 12

March 8, 2018

FORT WORTH, Texas – The comprehensive ordinance to clear Fort Worth’s air takes effect Monday, March 12, eliminating the exposure of secondhand smoke in all workplaces and protecting the health of all residents.

In December 2017, Fort Worth joined more than 80 cities across the state when its City Council voted create a safer, healthier environment for everyone who lives, works and visits our city, where 91 percent of residents agree that everyone deserves the right to breathe smoke-free air at work and in public places.

The Smoke-free Fort Worth Coalition, along with Mayor Betsy Price and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, supported the measure. This addition to the city’s clean indoor air ordinance will protect service industry employees who, along with musicians and entertainers, breathe more secondhand smoke while at work than any other type of employee and can suffer from many of the same illnesses caused by smoking.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 69 carcinogens. The U.S. Surgeon General found that secondhand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease and serious respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome.

Prior to the vote, Fort Worth was the only major city in Texas lacking a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance.

The coalition will inaugurate our smoke-free Fort Worth with a celebration Monday evening, to which media are welcomed to attend.

WHAT: Smoke-Free Fort Worth Celebration Night

WHERE:
Firestone & Robertson Distilling’s Whiskey Ranch
4250 Mitchell Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76119

WHEN:
Monday, March 12
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

*A short program begins at 6:30 p.m.

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