Smoke-Free Workplace States

Washington is the ninth state to adopt a comprehensive, statewide smoke-free workplace law that includes restaurants and bars. Other states on the list include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Florida, Idaho, Utah, and Montana have passed statewide smoke-free laws that exempt only stand-alone bars (Montana's law will extend to bars in 2009). Numerous cities and counties across the US have taken action as well, as have entire nations including Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and Norway.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke is responsible for at least 35,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease and over 3,000 deaths from lung cancer nationwide each year. The widespread practice of smoking in buildings exposes nonsmoking occupants to combustion by-products under conditions where airborne contaminant removal is slow and uncertain. Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco or passive smoke, contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic or to cause cancer. It meets the criteria to be classified as a potential cancer-causing agent by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency responsible for health and safety regulations in the workplace. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies secondhand smoke as a Group A carcinogen, which means that there is sufficient evidence that it causes cancer in humans. It also is classified as a "known human carcinogen" by the US National Toxicology Program.