by Brianna Crandall — April 22, 2011—By 2020 or sooner, the entire nation could have laws banning smoking in all indoor areas of private sector worksites, restaurants and bars, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. These places are major sources of secondhand smoke exposure, which the CDC says is responsible for 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers each year.
The projection is based on the rate at which states have been adopting comprehensive smoke-free laws. In just the past 10 years, 25 states and the District of Columbia have enacted these laws, the CDC report said.
The study, published in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, lists the smoke-free status of every state and the District of Columbia. In addition to listing the states with comprehensive smoke-free laws and years they went into effect, the report also lists the 10 states that have laws prohibiting smoking in one or two—but not all three—of the venues included in the study.
The report also identifies eight states that have less restrictive laws, such as those allowing smoking in designated areas or areas with separate ventilation. And the study details the seven states that have no statewide smoking restrictions in place for private worksites, restaurants or bars: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Additional information on secondhand smoke exposure and smoke-free laws is available on CDC’s State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System (STATES) Web site.
