Half of U.S. states have comprehensive smoking bans: CDC

Half of all US states have enacted smoking bans in private worksites, restaurants and bars in the past decade, but a government report says southern states lag in adopting such laws

The report, released on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows swift progress in much of the country since 2000 to pass laws to protect nonsmokers from effects of secondhand smoke

But many southern states still allow smoking at worksites or bars or restaurants, and seven states have no laws prohibiting smoking in these public places

“In the span of 10 years, smoke-free workplaces, restaurants and bars went from being relatively rare to being the norm in half of the states and the District of Columbia, researchers said in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality report

As of December 21, 2010, 26 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted comprehensive smoke-free laws, and nearly half of residents in the United States478 percentare covered by state or local smoke-free laws, the CDC said

If trends continue, the nation could be 100 percent smoke-free by 2020, the researchers said

But states in the South and parts of the West have resisted comprehensive statewide bans Seven statesIndiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyominghave no laws banning smoking in private workplaces, restaurants and bars

That leaves about 88 million nonsmokers in the United States still exposed to secondhand smoke, the CDC said

Only three southern statesFlorida, Louisiana, and North Carolinahave laws banning smoking in any two of the three venues workplaces, restaurants and bars and no southern state has a smoke-free law covering all three

According to the US surgeon general, measures such as separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings do not fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, and the only effective measure is to ban smoking in all indoor areas

We must zero in on those areas that continue to lag despite studies that show smoke-free policies benefit public health and the local economy with lower health care costs, Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement

According to the CDC, secondhand smoke causes an estimated 46,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among US nonsmoking adults each year

Editing by Vicki Allen

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