Complain about a product or service

No-Smoking Laws Now Cover Half the U.S.

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 6, 2007

• Bank Stopped From Enabling Online Tobacco Sales • Study Finds Big Tobacco Exploiting Ad Ban Loophole • Do Tobacco Firms Cut Menthol to Hook Young Smokers? • Wegmans, DeCicco Markets Ditch Cigarettes • Secondhand Smoke Linked To Hospital Admissions • Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix Linked to Seizures, Heart Problems, Diabetes • Congress Moves To Tighten Tobacco Controls • Toddlers Affected Most By Secondhand Smoke at Home • Tobacco 'Innovations' Aimed at Younger Smokers • Heart Attacks Drop After Smoking Ban in Italy • Physician Highlights Hazards of Bartending • Anti-Smoking Suit Targets Restaurants • Smoking Linked to Sleep Disturbances • States Challenge R.J. Reynolds Cigarette Ads • Smokers Cost Taxpayers $10 Billion • Secondhand Smoke a Serious Health Risk • Would Women Rather Smoke Than Get Fat? • Kroger Agrees to Curb Tobacco Sales to Minors • No More Free Smokes in California • Second-Hand Smoke Tied to Lower Test Scores • Secondhand Smoke Bad for Pets • Researchers Link Smoking To Dementia • Smoking Turns On Genes -- Permanently • Bill Targets Online Cigarette Sellers • UK Tries Nicotine Patches on Pregnant Smokers • More Toxins Found in Smokers' Children --- • More about Smoking & Health

Thanks to passage of smokefree workplace legislation in Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio, more than half of all Americans will soon be protected by law from passive tobacco smoke.

According to a California-based group called Americans for Nonsmokers Rights (ANR), that will mark the first time more than half the country is covered.

In addition to local residents, travelers will be prime beneficiaries -- especially since Las Vegas and Phoenix are already top vacation destinations, baseball spring training is expanding westward, and the 2008 Super Bowl is already scheduled for Phoenix next February.

According to ANR executive director Cynthia Hallett, the year just passed was a historic one for nonsmoking travelers. She noted that Westin and Marriott hotels went smokefree, along with the cities of Washington and Chicago, and more than 100 new local smokefree laws were passed.

In addition, the Surgeon General of the United States issued a landmark ruling that branded as unsafe all levels of exposure to passive tobacco smoke. That statement included the caveat that ventilation systems are not viable alternatives to 100 per cent protection of nonsmokers.

Despite that report, however, gambling interests in Atlantic City and Las Vegas remain opposed to casino smoking bans and 30 states started the new year without statewide smoking protections in place.

Americans who travel overseas may soon find skies friendly even at ground level: the European Union is considering smokefree workplace legislation that would cover all member countries.

Smoking has already been banned or limited in several foreign countries, including France, Ireland, and Israel.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.