Categories
· Smokefree Policies
· Editorial
USA, by State
· Pennsylvania
|
Jump to full article: Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, 2008-04-28
Intro: Pennsylvania's legislative leaders appointed a conference committee in December that was supposed to expedite work on a statewide indoor smoking ban. The committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow, and there's little evidence to suggest the six members are going to agree on a comprehensive ban without exceptions.
While our lawmakers have dithered and failed to get this done, here's what's been accomplished in other states: . . .
All of these changes have taken place since December, when Pennsylvania merely decided to give the issue more study.
The District of Columbia and 21 other states had bans in place before then: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Not all of the laws are as far-reaching as they could be; some of them have exemptions for casinos, bars or other workplaces.
The U.S. surgeon general's 2006 report on secondhand smoke said there is no safe level of exposure and concluded that it causes lung cancer, heart disease, serious respiratory illnesses, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome. That's why 84 percent of Pennsylvanians agree we need a state law that will protect all workers from the serious health hazards of secondhand smoke.
If our legislators don't get this done, Pennsylvania's new slogan will have to be "America's Ashtray."
Jump to full article » |