The Rationale for Banning Public Smoking

Although controversial when they first appeared earlier this decade, public smoking bans have become increasingly present in state and federal legislation. The primary reason to instate a public smoking ban is the harmful health effects of secondhand smoke. However there are many other important reasons, including: the loss of productivity in the workplace due to employees suffering from pulmonary or throat infections, higher energy costs for ventilation of smoky rooms, a higher danger of fire, reduced air quality, and higher insurance costs.

As citizen awareness about the dangers of tobacco has risen over the last 20 years, local and state activism has pushed through more and more anti-smoking legislation. It has been a bottom-up, grassroots effort, completely circumventing the powerful tobacco lobbies in Washington. Federal law still only bans public tobacco use in government buildings, and even then, many federal buildings have special, separately-ventilated rooms for employees who smoke. The United States remains one of the few industrialized countries lacking a comprehensive national smoking ban. All public bans in the U.S. are enacted at the state and local level, resulting in a patchwork pattern of public smoking across the nation. As of 2008, only about 50 percent of Americans were protected by a public smoking ban.

Current Anti-Smoking Legislation

All 50 states ban smoking in either government buildings or the workplace, or both. Twenty-three states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have some form of public smoking ban in effect. Fifteen states have strengthened their public smoking ban laws in the past year. As the awareness of the dangers of public smoking become more and more apparent, more legislation is being passed to control public smoking. For a complete list, state by state, of the anti-smoking legislation passed in the last year, the American Lung Association has produced State Legislated Actions on Tobacco Issues: 2007 (this is a pdf, so you will need to download Adobe Reader to read it).

Public Smoking Bans Around the World

At least 54 countries have some sort of public smoking ban in place around the world, though enforcement does vary. Ireland made headlines in 2004 when it passed the first national, comprehensive smoking ban in all public buildings and spaces. Ireland’s example was quickly followed by several other European countries.

Critics predicted that such a ban would hurt Ireland’s economy and affect its beloved pub culture. Subsequent studies have shown this to not be the case, with pub sales actually rising six months after the ban was enacted. Other countries have shown similar results, and cite decreased energy expenditure from not having to constantly ventilate a smoky room and improved worker production as economic factors that more than offset any decrease in sales and tax revenue.