Last month, the Arlington City Council decided not to ban smoking at city parks, nightclubs, and bowling alleys.
That decision meant that the city remains among 20 of the 50 largest U.S. cities that do have comprehensive smoking bans, according to an analysis in the Centers for Disease Control’s Nov. 16 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Smoking is banned in the city’s restaurants, Cowboys Stadium, the University of Texas at Arlington, and many businesses. However, there are no comprehensive prohibitions for the city’s workplaces and bars.
Fort Worth is also among the 20 largest cities without a total ban on smoking in public places. Smoking is prohibited in the city’s workplaces and restaurants, but not in bars.
Dallas has a comprehensive smoke-free prohibition, as does Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso. They are among the remaining 30 of the 50 largest cities that are now covered by laws that prohibit smoking in all indoor areas of private workplaces, restaurants, and bars. In late 2000, only one of the 50 largest U.S. cities—San Jose, Calif.—was covered by such a law. As of Oct. 5, 2012, 16 of the 50 largest cities were covered by local comprehensive smoke-free laws, and 14 more were covered by state comprehensive smoke-free laws.
Ten of the 20 cities without comprehensive smoke-free laws are located in the south.
Researchers said they focused on smoking restrictions in the 50 largest cities because they represent an important indicator of nationwide trends in local and state policy and because they are home to nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population.
“Hundreds of cities and counties have passed their own smoke-free laws, including many communities in the south,” said Tim McAfee, M.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “If we continue to progress as we have since 2000, all Americans could be protected from secondhand smoke exposure in workplaces and public places by 2020.”
The 2006 Surgeon General’s Report concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and is a known cause of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks in infants and children.
Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger acute cardiac events, such as heart attacks. Cigarette use kills an estimated 443,000 Americans each year, including 46,000 by heart disease and 3,400 by lung cancer among nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are subject to comprehensive smoke-free laws. At one time, it was common that states would not allow local governments to enact anti-smoking laws that were more stringent – known as state pre-emption laws. The number of states that pre-empt local action against smoking melted from 19 in 2005 to 12 in 2010.
The bans have measured effects on public health. Fatal heart attacks decreased 7 percent in Massachusetts after the state outlawed smoking in workplaces. Studies in other states and nations that have imposed bans reaffirm that effect.
Bars and restaurants frequently oppose smoke-free laws, fearing that cigarette-smoking customers will go elsewhere. However, research consistently has shown that the bans do not harm sales and, in many cases, actually increase business.
An Oklahoma study found that the average particulate level in bars and restaurant smoking rooms was beyond the “hazardous” level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for outdoor air. Tobacco smoke levels were tested based on very fine particulate matter. The EPA considers air containing 250 micrograms per cubic meter or more to be hazardous outdoor air pollution, labeling it as emergency conditions. Restaurant rooms contained an average of 380 micrograms. Bars averaged 655.
Secondhand smoke annually kills 600,000 people worldwide. More than 1 in 4 of those deaths is a child under 5 years old. Smokers are at additional risk of their own secondhand smoke. For someone who smokes 14 cigarettes a day, his or her own secondhand smoke yields the risk of having smoked 2.6 more cigarettes.
Steve Jacob is editor of D Healthcare Daily and author of the new book Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits, Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us. He can be reached at [email protected].
