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A provision allowing Washington, D.C., businesses to post no-smoking signs and thereby ensure secondhand smoke doesn’t drift into their buildings is now in effect. The provision, which is part of a larger bill to curb teen smoking, gives a property owner or ground-floor commercial tenant the right to post a sign asking people not to smoke [...] It always happens this way: A city or state considers passing a smokefree workplace law that includes bars and restaurants. A hue and cry ensues. There is much debate, and some predict the end of civilization as we know it if the measure is enacted. Then the measure passes. The sky, amazingly, doesn’t fall. Restaurants and [...] New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering making parks and beaches smokefree, The New York Times reports. Not only for health reasons — secondhand smoke drifts, he notes — but for litter reasons too (I’ve never quite understood why smokers who toss butts on the ground think the world is their ashtray). “When you ask [...] Whew. It’s been a busy couple of weeks … I was in upstate New York for a week, enjoying the scenery and being totally unplugged, swimming and canoeing and hiking. Yes, the whole state is smokefree, which is great of course. Returned to a pile of work. Our friends at Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights have been [...] Wisconsin’s smokefree law takes effect July 5, and Smokefree Wisconsin has set up a website where people can submit questions. Under the law, all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, will be smokefree. More proof of the health benefits of smokefree workplace laws: Heart attacks dropped 2.4 percent after England’s smokefree workplace law took effect in July 2007. That translates into 1,200 fewer people per year who are rushed to emergency rooms with signs of heart attack. This is according to researchers at the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control [...] So you’d figure that if your kids are growing up in a non-smoking household, their exposure to secondhand smoke will be pretty minimal, right? Think again. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that children who are raised in smokefree homes and live in smokefree communities have less cotinine – a byproduct of cigarette [...] I just got back from D.C. for Democracy’s candidate forum. It was quite an entertaining show. D.C. for Democracy did a great job running the forum and luring candidates – most of the people running for local offices showed up, including the Mayor Adrian Fenty, Council Chair Vincent Gray and five Councilmembers (Kwame Brown, Jim Graham, Phil [...] Are you wondering how to make your apartment building smokefree? The Non-Smokers’ Rights Association in Canada has developed a detailed guide to developing and implementing a smokefree policy in an apartment building. Although it is geared toward apartment managers, condo owners and residents who want to enact change in their buildings will find it useful as well. Steps range from conducting [...] The Mississippi health department is launching a campaign to educate that state’s residents about the dangers of secondhand smoke. The point of the two-year campaign, a state health official told the Clarion-Ledger, is to build for support for a comprehensive smokefree air law. According to state data, secondhand smoke exposure kills 550 Mississippi residents annually. The government [...] |
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