Jump to full article: Brattleboro (VT) Reformer, 2009-07-01
Author: HOWARD WEISS-TISMAN, Reformer Staff
Intro: All Vermont workplaces become smoke free today as a new state law goes into effect, banning the designated smoking areas that were allowed under the previous law.
Public places have been virtually smoke free since the 1987 Smoking in the Workplace law was passed, and then updated under the Clean Indoor Air act of 1993.
Those laws permitted businesses to have segregated areas indoors where smokers could light up.
The new law, which lawmakers approved this past session, makes it illegal to smoke anywhere inside a public building.
"We have known about the dangers of second-hand smoking for many years," said Sheri Lynn, tobacco control program chief at the Vermont Department of Health. "People used to think some ventilation would help but there are no levels of safe exposure. This is about protecting public health."
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