No state in the Southeastern U.S. fully bans smoking in all private worksites and eating venues, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
States have rushed to pass smoking bans over the last 15 years, and now more than half have comprehensive smoking bans that prohibit the activity in workplaces, restaurants and bars. Now nearly 60 percent of Americans live in states with comprehensive smoke-free laws, up from fewer than 3 percent in 2000, according to the CDC.
Yet states on the Southeastern seaboard have lagged in passing smoking bans. And state legislatures have recently slowed down on passing such measures, with just North Dakota and California approving comprehensive smoking bans since 2010.
The CDC noted Thursday that it’s been a decade since the Surgeon General published a report on the dangers of second-hand exposure to tobacco, urging states to continue advancing smoke-free laws.
“Ten years ago, the Surgeon General concluded there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden. “We’ve made great progress in protecting many Americans from secondhand smoke exposure, but millions of Americans, especially those living in Southeastern states, are still unprotected from this completely preventable health hazard.”
According to the CDC, more than 41,000 non-smoking Americans die every year from heart disease and lung cancer, both of which can be caused by exposure to second-hand smoke.
“Smoke-free laws provide a low-cost, high-impact benefit to the public’s health,” said Corinne Graffunder, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “These laws substantially improve indoor air quality, help smokers quit, prevent youth and young adults from starting to smoke, change social norms about the acceptability of smoking, and reduce heart attack and asthma hospitalizations among non-smokers.”
