Will Every U.S. State Have A Smoking Ban By 2020?

ATLANTA — By 2020, every state may have bans on smoking in restaurants, bars and the workplace, federal health officials predicted Thursday, based on the current pace of adopting anti-smoking laws.

The number of states with comprehensive indoor smoking bans went from zero in 2000 to 25 in 2010.

"It is by no means a foregone conclusion that we'll get there by 2020," said Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health.

But the success of the smoking ban movement has been astounding, and seems to be accelerating, he added. "I'm relatively bullish we'll at least get close to that number."

Nearly half of U.S. residents are covered by comprehensive state or local indoor smoking bans, the CDC estimated, in a new report.

Another 10 states have laws than ban smoking in workplaces, bars or restaurants, but not in all three venues.

Some other states have less restrictive laws, like requiring smoking areas with separate ventilation.

Only seven states have no indoor smoking restrictions, although some of their cities do: Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Gary Nolan, director of a smokers' rights group, said he wouldn't be surprised if the CDC's prediction came true. Public health officials and others have been putting tremendous pressure on bars and businesses to bar smoking, he added.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they prevailed," said Nolan, of the Smoker's Club. "It's just a little bit more liberty slipping away at the hands of big government."

Tobacco smoke is an established cause of lung cancer, heart disease and other maladies, and smoking has been called one of the nation's leading causes of death.

The science on the impact of smoking bans is younger. Because it takes years or even decades for cancers to develop, there's little information on the impact of bans on cancer rates. But studies have already charted declines in adult heart attack rates and in childhood asthma attacks after smoking bans were adopted in some communities.

The American Heart Association's chief executive, Nancy Brown, said the CDC report brings good news. But she said advocates have a lot of work ahead of them to make the 2020 prediction come true.

"It's too soon to rest on our laurels," she said, in a prepared statement.

Comments

[Connie Markley Boppre]

10:46 AM on 04/26/2011

walk down an NYC sidewalk breathe in all the bus/tax/car and air pollution....then let's measure that

[joannroth]

11:25 PM on 04/26/2011

Just because that is true, doesn't mean that the rest of the world should have to breathe second hand smoke. Makes no sense to compare the two. Saying you shouldn't have to deal with one problem because another problem is just as bad just isn't a valid argument. Internet bullying is a problem, so in that same line of argument you present, we should just shut down the Internet? Solve one problem at a time and separately.

Don't look for a excuse to continue killing others by your bad habits. I have no desire to die for your smoking pleasure.

So when you find a smokeless cigarette and figure out a way not to exhale, hey then I won't mind you smoking and will just feel sorry for your family you leave once it kills you.

Smoking is now grounds for divorce, is used in child custody cases, and is considered child abuse by children's advocacy groups. So all of those groups are in it together with the medical community and it is all just one big lie, one big conspiracy ... right and Santa Claus will be sliding down your chimney on Christmas eve too.... geesh!

[dpgaff]

03:02 AM on 04/27/2011

There is a solution. Require hepa filters with ionizers and charcoal filters in all public places. It's easy, cheap and effective. They are used in submarines.

[Connie Markley Boppre]

08:36 AM on 04/27/2011

then outlaw cigarettes..this is ludicrous. they are legal

[Connie Markley Boppre]

10:44 AM on 04/26/2011

is the country quits smoking, how will all the tax money be replaced ?

[scottb2]

05:11 PM on 04/25/2011

When the govt forces us all to quit smoking, who will pay for the childrens health care (SCHIP) that obama tacked 1.50 per pack tax on to fund?

[VJSleight]

05:49 PM on 04/25/2011

We would save Billions and Billions on reduced health care cost and there would be more than enough money to pay for SCHIP. If every smoker on Medi-cal and Medicare stopped smoking, the annual savings would be $9.6 Billion (after the first 5 years).
The societal costs of each pack of cigarettes is estimated to be $7.13 per pack. Smoking cost us so much more than it brings in for taxes. The diseases caused by smoking are our most expensive ones: heart disease, cancer, COPD. I would love it if we didn't need as many cardiologists and oncologists.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[onionboy]

10:56 PM on 04/25/2011

It would be made up for by the fact that in a couple of generations we would see a 90% drop in lung cancer and probably a 70-80% drop in COPD. Also, throat cancer, mouth cancer, etc. That will more than make up for it.

[DiKan]

02:39 PM on 04/25/2011

VJ,
What charity are you paid by?

[VJSleight]

05:04 PM on 04/25/2011

I volunteer a tremendous amount of my time to several charities but I don't get paid for it. I go out and talk to school kids about tobacco, I speak to civic organizations, I man booths at health fairs and other events giving out information but for none of this time am I financially compensated.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[joannroth]

12:08 AM on 04/26/2011

I'm walking in a Relay for life on Saturday and working at a booth. Some of us who have lived this and KNOW what we are talking about, do this because it is the right thing to do.

[Iatros78]

03:54 PM on 04/24/2011

jimmyb's claims are untrue. Johnson & Johnson acquired Pfizer Healthcare, maker of Nicorette, in late 2006. In contrast, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation had been working to reduce smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke for decades before this. One would have to believe that J & J knew decades in advance that they would acquire Pfizer and it's smoking cessation product. Such a belief is illogical and irrational. More importantly J & J makes much more profit treating the effects of smoking-related illness than it does from cessation products: band-aids to cover those wounds that heal more slowly, Listerine to mask the stench of tobacco, Lubriderm to moisturize prematurely aging skin, Visine to get the red out of eyes irritated from smoke, etc. But their real money is made from the drugs used to treat the heart disease, lung diseases, and various cancers caused by smoking. If J & J were interested in profits alone, they would be handing out free cigarettes!

The absurdity of jimmy's claims is that he accuses a nonprofit health group of deceptive criminal activities. In reality, it is the makers of Marlboros, Camels, and Newports who have been found guilty of racketeering charges, a verdict the Supreme Court let stand last year. The judge in the case stated, " over the course of 50 years, defendants lied, misrepresented, and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as ‘replacement smokers,’ about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco

[VJSleight]

05:29 PM on 04/24/2011

If you tell a lie over and over again, some people will believe and that's what the tobacco companies have relied upon for 60 years. Uneducated people will believe what they are told. Educated people will question everything they are told.
If you ever get the chance watch a BBC production of "Death in the West" (1986?)--absolutely hilarious with tobacco company executives comparing smoking with eating applesauce--both will kill you. But applesauce isn't killing very many people because they aren't eating enough of it.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[dpgaff]

10:43 PM on 04/25/2011

Aspergillus. This is fungi. It grows on bird droppings It grows on wet leaves. It causes lung cancer. It causes asthma. It is you who is repeating the same lie.

[joannroth]

12:05 PM on 04/24/2011

Huffington Post??? Why are you not posting reply's to Babby 201 comments? I have tried several times to reply and you are not posting any of them. ????

[jimmyb2020]

08:20 PM on 04/23/2011

90% of the studies of secondhand smoke were funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the propaganda arm of drug maker Johnson & Johnson, which has been a marketer of pharmaceutical nicotine inhalers and patches. The "scientiests" were wholly owned by RWJF and cheated on the data. As always, when there is a big scare promoted in the media, look for the money.

A study funded by the American Lung Association that actually measured exposure to tobacco smoke through collection devices worn by bartenders found that in an 8 hour shift they will breathe in the equivalent of .04 cigarette (three cigarettes per day is the threshold of proven cancer risk). This was reported by the Harvard professor who conducted the study, who also said that the ALA quashed the study because the result was not what they wanted.

The claim of heart attacks resulting from secondhand smoke was dismissed by the EPA as unproven...the claim being made by a RWJF owned scientist who cherry-picked data from small samples for short periods. The fact is that smoking bans in California and New York City have not lowered the heart attack rates at all.

Believe junk science if you like, but smoking bans have nothing to do with public health.

[joannroth]

09:23 PM on 04/23/2011

You actually believe you can suck smoke into your lungs day after day and have no ill effects from it. Unbelievable ......

[jimmyb2020]

11:47 PM on 04/23/2011

It's not a question of belief. The EPA Report clearly states that there is no measurable risk from actively smoking up to 3 cigarettes per day. Cigar smokers in several studies had a 10% lower risk of lung cancer than non-smokers. Our lungs evolved sitting around campfires and are highly efficient removers of toxins.

[RutherfordLaser]

12:33 PM on 04/24/2011

He believes there is no health risk. Nevermind how gross and stanky it is, we should all be grateful for his .04 cigarette each day.

[VJSleight]

10:59 PM on 04/23/2011

http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/17/3/159.full.pdf+html?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=waterpipes&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/factsheets/factsheet6.html

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS

[jimmyb2020]

11:50 PM on 04/23/2011

Most of your data was paid for by the RWJF, no more reliable than data bought by the tobacco industry.

[dpgaff]

09:44 PM on 04/25/2011

The surgeon general is owned by the government. Is he telling you that cancer is over 100 different diseases? That most of these diseases are caused by viruses, fungi, bacteria, and retroviruses?

[DiKan]

02:36 PM on 04/23/2011

Now I know why VJ is so passonate about this subject. She has a group which must mean its her lively hood.

[VJSleight]

03:05 PM on 04/23/2011

I am passionate about this subject because I am a former smoker and a two-time cancer thrivor who struggled to quit smoking after my first cancer diagnosis. I have been helping other smokers become smoke free for over 20 years now, most of this time, making no money at it at all. I have volunteered countless hours over the years to help prevent others from having to go through cancer treatment like I have (twice).
So, yes, I am passionate about helping others avoid the terrible effects of developing cancer and other devastating diseases caused by smoking. I feel it is a joy and a privilege to be able to provide a service that I am so passionate about. I know how difficult it is to quit and I can truly help those want my help. It's never been about the money for me but since when is doing something you love and feel passion for --a wrong thing???
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[VJSleight]

03:09 PM on 04/23/2011

I have nothing to hide--after all I use my real name instead of hiding behind an anonymous moniker. Google me and you can find out everything you didn't want to know.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[RutherfordLaser]

12:34 PM on 04/24/2011

You addicts defend smoking like its your "lively hood".

[DiKan]

04:12 AM on 04/23/2011

Are you calling me a liar??? Back then I didn't think I would need proof. We didn't have home computers we actually read and listened to professionals not spin doctors. In fact my grandmother told me they use to light a cigarette and hold the smoke in their mouth to stop toothache pain. Now call my grandmother a liar. You see by doing that it formed a coating to keep air out of tooth. All this science you quote from has been manipulated for the weak minded.

[joannroth]

11:48 AM on 04/23/2011

I guess you are talking to either VJ or me ... so if she won't say it, I will you and Babby are both liars and idiots. Manipulated science .... lol ... idiot By the way, this entire conversation is OVER, I prefer to talk to people with some form of IQ and the two of you don't have. You are both about the most ridiculous two people I have ever ran across.... Do your family a favor though, go on and pick your casket out and plan your funeral, it is the least you can do for what you are going to put them through. Never mind wasted breath on my part. LOL you know what, you both deserve what is going to happen to you. If we all just leave people like you alone pretty soon you won't be here to mouth off and your loved ones will be here typing to the next one saying exactly what we are trying to tell you. Good luck with that whole line of bull you are spreading!!! I will stop now and be nice after all, you are a smoker and you don't have that much longer to live.

[VJSleight]

12:42 PM on 04/23/2011

A main component of smoke is tar, which does coat the teeth (makes the yellow, attracts plaque which causes cavities and gum disease), that could be what your Grandmother is describing when she says that here teeth were coated. The pain relief is probably just from the flood of dopamine that is released when nicotine hits the brain. I've had many smokers in my program that would use smoking to relieve pain and when they quit, they had to increase their pain meds.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit,blogspot.com

[dpgaff]

10:52 PM on 04/25/2011

To extract nicotine from tobacco, you must soak the tobacco in water. This is called water soluable. The nicotine burns away when the tobacco is burning. Tobacco smoke wont even kill a insect. Nicotine is a dangerous poison. It was once used as an insectiside, but the smoke couldn't be used because it will not kill anything.

[MagicalPossibilities]

11:25 PM on 04/22/2011

I am a smoker, and must agree that I prefer the smell of smoke free indoor spaces. I don't smoke in my house.

But I think all the hype about secondhand smoke is ridiculous. If this were the case, why didn't previous generations of non-smokers drop like flies from cancer and emphysema? Until the late '80s people smoked everywhere.

I remember as a kid in the '70s going to a Bingo hall with my aunt. the smoke was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Kids didn't have asthma back then at the rates they do now. Interesting...

[Iatros78]

11:15 AM on 04/23/2011

"Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 46,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year." - The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/index.htm)

I guess 49,400 dead nonsmokers every year, including children, aren't enough for you.

Rational people look to science as the most reliable way to understand the world. They don't rely on anecdotal evidence from the good old days or magical thinking.

Here, for example, is a statement from the American Medical Association:
"Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States; exposure to secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of death. Tobacco use is a contributor to every chronic disease including diabetes, asthma and heart problems. The American Medical Association (AMA) has historically been an active supporter of passage of clean indoor air laws, increases in excise taxes on tobacco products, and other restrictions on tobacco use, promotion and advertising.” (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/public-health/promoting-healthy-lifestyles/smoking-tobacco-control.shtml).

[joannroth]

12:31 PM on 04/23/2011

Might be a reason why the children of those kids who were exposed now have asthma and the problems they have. Back in the 60's 70's and 80's was when people started taking their kids to places like bingo halls with high concentrations of smoke to fill their little lungs. It took a while to weaken their lungs and they in turned passed that weakened system on to their children. People died from this back then, they just labeled it something else because no one knew what they were looking at. "He was just always frail, he just finally died or (heard this one a lot) don't really know what killed her, she just died". They now do autoposy and want to know why and have test to figure out why uncle Fred was frail.

You get two people who's mother smoked like a freight train during pregnancy and while they were young in a house filled with smoke and they get together and have a child they both pass on their weakened systems to their children.

Then you start to get older, and after years of abusing your lungs and your body that is when it shows up. Heart disease emphysema, cancer, weakened immune systems.

We didn't use car seats either back then, we know better now. Same thing with second hand smoke, we know better now ....

[Michael Bierman]

07:28 PM on 04/22/2011

That VJ is one of those who wants to tell everyone that they must do it her way, I am sure any
of us guys who work at being manly, would find her a nag and a screeching fishwife.
I waish to enjoy a good cigar in peace. Thanks

[DiKan]

08:29 PM on 04/22/2011

Michael,
I feel you have described VJ to perfection. She probably buys into the class warfare too.

[VJSleight]

11:46 AM on 04/23/2011

Resorting to personal attacks when there isn't a legitimate argument to support your position. That's what the tobacco companies have done for 60 years.

[dpgaff]

11:06 PM on 04/25/2011

Do you also believe the newest scare story. Now "they" are saying that cevical cancer is caused by cigarette smoking. It has been known since 1981 that cervical cancer is caused by a virus and is a STD>

[stape45]

06:59 PM on 04/22/2011

There may be smoking bans all over the place, but not a single sales ban to be found. Get the picture? It's not about you at all - just your money.

[babby201]

06:28 PM on 04/22/2011

So much for equal rights , and opposing views.
But then again Im a white christian male , so I don't count anymore.

[Jimmy B]

06:59 PM on 04/22/2011

Smoking isn't a view it's a habit. Inhaling poision is not the same thing as being for or against something. If I decided to adopt the habit of spitting in eveybody's face everywhere I went, especially in resturants and bars, would that be a protected habit? Could I say I was being discriminated against because I'm a "spitter". Smoking is no less rediculous than that, and nonaddicts should not have to breathe the carcinogens of addicts in public.

[stape45]

07:07 PM on 04/22/2011

Great analogy. Fave and fan (#34).

[Jackalhead]

10:41 PM on 04/22/2011

Jimmy, my sense is that you're a brighter person than the analogy you just posted. In the event that you're not, I'll try to explain the difference between the two. Spitting in the face of others is illegal. Smoking is not. Would you support, or spend your money in a bar or restaruant that allowed others to spit in your face at will, or JUST NOT GO THERE? Perhaps there is a bar next door that won't tolerate people to spit in your face and you could go there instead. It really is that simple Jimmy.

[MagicalPossibilities]

11:10 PM on 04/22/2011

I am really tired of hearing that type of whining from "white christian males" acting like victims because they no longer have special rights and privileges. You are not discriminated against, you are just on equal footing with everyone else. Welcome to the 21st century...

[One of billions]

06:06 PM on 04/22/2011

Why don't we urinate in the middle of the streets? Because we respect each other enough to do that in the privacy of our own homes and those who don't have that same respect get fined. Most of our streets are clean because of the laws put into place to prevent such acts. Why not employ some people and build Smoker's Houses much like Bath Houses? You go there to publicly enjoy your cigarettes. I am entirely opposed to smoking. If you want to smoke go ahead, but please respect that I don't. You are not welcome in my house with a lit cigarette, but you should be allowed somewhere. Just like you go to an arena to watch a fight publicly and legally, while a street fight is broken up, and you go to a bar to enjoy a drink but walking down the street with an open beer (except in Las Vegas) is illegal...

[VJSleight]

06:34 PM on 04/22/2011

When smokers say "I enjoy smoking" what they are really saying is --my brain loves the flood of dopamine (the -I feel good-neurotransmitter in the brain) which is caused by nicotine activating receptors in the brain. Just as a heroin addict will say--"I enjoy my heroin" but that doesn't mean that we should support someone's addiction. Nicotine hijacks the survival instinct part of the brain--which is why smokers HAVE to smoke, it's no longer a choice.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com

[dpgaff]

11:10 PM on 04/25/2011

Here in taxachusettes it is illegal to smoke in private clubs. Even when the smokers formed the clubs.

[Beth Alexander]

05:28 PM on 04/22/2011

I personally can't stand cigarrette smoke when I am dining or at a bar, work, etc, but I also think it should be up to the businesses to make that decision, not the government. I would simply frequent those businesses that did not allow smoking more...

[Iatros78]

05:32 PM on 04/22/2011

Do you think that it should be up to businesses whether or not they put carcinogenic asbestos fibers into the air for employees and customers to inhale? If not, why not? Why should one airborne carcinogen be allowed in workplaces but another one not?

[Eagle Rock]

06:18 PM on 04/22/2011

I guess your against fireplaces in the home, establishments and outdoor campfires? Your exposed to way more carcinogens being around them that cigarettes!

[babby201]

06:27 PM on 04/22/2011

You wander from the subject with Hyperbole.

[Eagle Rock]

06:15 PM on 04/22/2011

Good for you! I, being a smoker believe the same. I can see where non-smokers don't like the smell and shouldn't be exposed to it. Yet, under the same as a smoker, I enjoy a smoke while waiting for food and/or drink and especially enjoy a smoke after a meal without having to get up and leave the establishment. There's no reason why there can't be smoking and non-smoking establishments. Thanks for seeing things from both points of view!