OUTDOOR TOBACCO SMOKE FACT SHEET
"CLEARING THE AIR"
“Failure to ban smoking in outdoor public venues
may expose non-smokers to levels of environmental tobacco smoke
(ETS) as high or higher than received in indoor spaces where smoking
is unrestricted." (James Repace, "Banning
Outdoor Smoking is Scientifically Justifiable", Tobacco Control
Digest, March 2000)
• 82 Percent of Californians do not smoke. (1998 California
Adult Tobacco Survey)
• More than 4,700 nonsmoking Californians are killed and
tens of thousands more sickened each year by secondhand smoke. Eleven
major health problems are caused in nonsmokers by secondhand smoke
(environmental tobacco smoke) including respiratory disease, lung
and nasal sinus cancer and heart disease. (Scientific Review
Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants and California EPA, Sacramento Bee
June 21,1997)
• The California State Legislature recently passed
a statewide ban on smoking within 25 feet of outdoor playground
areas designated for children. (CA Health & Safety
Code 104495) The cities of Modesto, San Ramon, Berkeley, Calexico
(Imperial County) and the County of Stanislaus have passed ordinances
creating smoke-free outdoor playgrounds, kiddy carnivals, zoos,
tot lots, wading pools and skate parks. Sacramento's Fairytale Town
and the Los Angeles Zoo restrict all smoking on their premises.
(BREATH--The California Smoke-Free Workplaces and Communities
Program, A Statewide Project of the American Lung Association- August
2002)
• All types of businesses, public and private are
legally entitled to create policies which restrict outdoor smoking
on their outside premises. State and Federal Courts have
found that there is no legal “right to smoke”.
Therefore, private businesses such as the Northridge Mall
in Los Angeles County and the Market Fest event in Redding have
responded to customer requests by choosing to ban smoking in outdoor
dining and shopping areas.
• Communities such as the Cities of Davis, Oakland, Sacramento
and Calexico and the Counties of San Mateo, Monterey, Marin, Sacramento
and Yolo have enacted ordinances or policies restricting smoking
in entryways or doorways. These are just
a few of the communities that have made entryways to their city
or county facilities safe from airborne carcinogens caused by secondhand
tobacco smoke. (BREATH-- The California Smoke-Free Workplaces
and Communities Program, A Statewide Project of the American Lung
Association- August 2002)
• Business owners around California are recognizing the
need to make their outdoor patios free of tobacco smoke. John Shannahan,
manager of Starbucks in Auburn, CA declared the decision to go smoke-free
on their outdoor dining patio was an easy one: "People
wanted to sit in a smoke-free environment. Ninety percent of our
customers have responded positively to our decision to go smoke-free,
outdoors. We've gained customers who enjoy a smoke-free environment.
Most Californians don't smoke; we should cater to the majority,
not the minority."
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