More US Nonsmokers Protected by Smoke-Free Laws

The number of strict state laws prohibiting smoking in private-sector worksites, restaurants, and bars in the United States increased substantially between 2005 and 2007, according to CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). These locations are significant because workplaces are settings where large numbers of adult nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) and because employees in restaurants and bars are likely to be exposed—and in high concentrations.

The new report uses information from a CDC database that tracks state-specific tobacco-related data as well as information on tobacco-related legislation and reviewed the status of state laws restricting smoking in these locations as of year-end 2004 and year-end 2007.

During this 3-year period, 18 states strengthened their smoking restrictions for private-sector worksites, 18 strengthened their smoking restrictions for restaurants, and 12 strengthened smoking restrictions for bars. Also, the number of states that required all three settings to be smoke-free increased from 3 to 12 and those with no smoking restrictions for any of these three settings decreased from 16 to 8.

"These findings are encouraging as they suggest that we may achieve the national health objective of establishing laws making indoor public places and worksites smoke-free in all states by the year 2010," said Janet Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

World No Tobacco Day

In honor of World No Tobacco Day—an annual event sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1987 to help raise public awareness of the dangers of tobacco use—CDC joins with its global tobacco-control partners to promote evidence-based strategies that are comprehensive, sustained, and accountable and have been shown to reduce smoking among youth and adults and protect nonsmokers from SHS. The theme of this year's observance is "Tobacco-Free Youth: Break the Tobacco Marketing Net."

While the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars worldwide each year on advertising and promotion, these evidence-based tobacco control strategies have been shown to reduce smoking rates among both youth and adults.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control calls on countries to implement scientifically proven measures to reduce tobacco use and its toll, including:

• Implementing measures to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke

• Increasing the price of tobacco

• Combating cigarette smuggling

• Regulating the contents of tobacco products

• Banning all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (in accordance with their constitution or constitutional principles)

• Placing large, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs

As WHO uses the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2008 as an opportunity to renew global efforts in tobacco control, another article in MMWR reports findings from the school-based Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in Sri Lanka in 1999, 2003, and 2007. The survey findings indicate that cigarette smoking and the likely initiation of smoking by people who had never smoked before had a steady decline between 1999 and 2007; whereas other tobacco use remained unchanged.

Why Go Smoke-Free?

The 2006 Surgeon General's Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, concluded that SHS causes premature death and disease in children and nonsmoking adults and that there is no risk-free level of exposure. Smoke-free workplace policies are the only effective approach to ensure that SHS exposure does not occur in the workplace. 

In addition to protecting nonsmokers from the health effects of SHS, smoke-free workplace policies also help smokers quit. While SHS exposure among nonsmokers has decreased substantially over the past 20 years, millions of nonsmokers continue to be exposed to this substance, which contains more than 50 carcinogens.

Additional Information

• Tobacco Use among 13–15 Year Olds — Sri Lanka, 1999–2007
• State Smoking Restrictions for Private-Sector Worksites, Restaurants, and Bars — United States, 2004 and 2007
• CDC’s Tobacco Control Efforts
• World No Tobacco Day 2008*