Smokefree Outdoor Environments
Outdoor smoking is a public health hazard. Secondhand smoke exposure outdoors can harm nonsmokers, plus smoking materials harm the environment. Concentrations of outdoor secondhand smoke can be as high as indoor concentrations, depending on where the smoking is taking place and the amount of secondhand smoke present.
Throughout the United States, hundreds of local governments have enacted smokefree air legislation for outdoor areas, especially recreational facilities like parks, playgrounds, and beaches, as well as school grounds and near buildings. Outdoor smoking concentrations can be as high as indoor concentrations where smoking could take place.
Some communities are requiring sidewalks in business districts be smokefree because merchants complain that smoke enters their storefronts and customers complain. As of January 2011, Great Neck, Long Island (New York) prohibits smoking on sidewalks in front of commercial buildings, Village Green park, and the Housing Authority; it stretches one mile. Smoking also is prohibited in the Village Green Park, the Village's Housing Authority and on benches in municipal parking lots. Fines are up to $1,000. Read the CNN Story.
Hospitals, businesses and colleges are instituting 100% smokefree campus policies. Read more about smokefree college campuses.
On February
2, 2011, New York City banned smoking at all public parks including pedestrian
plazas, beaches, boardwalks and much more.
Read our white paper on Smokefree Outdoor Recreational Areas supporting outdoor smoking bans which help:
- Protect people, especially children who congregate at parks, playgrounds and beaches, from secondhand smoke. Studies show that concentrations of secondhand smoke, equivalent to indoors, can exist outside.
- Set a standard that promotes public health by creating healthful environments for outdoor exercise and activities, and helps to normalize smokefree environments.
- Eliminate the concern of cigarette butts that are ingested by children and animals.
- Reduce litter and the increased costs for a municipality and the State for clean-up efforts.
- Reduce accidental fires caused by discarded cigarette butts in forests and parks.
- Improve oceanic and marine life, due to reduced amount of butts flowing into lakes, bays, and ocean. Read a presentation on the impact of cigarette litter on the environment, by Lauren Radano, the Rebel Coordinator for Cumberland County, NJ.
- Facilitate the preservation of land and water for conservation and recreational purposes.
Read air quality expert James Repace's research paper that supports smokefree outdoor regulations.
New Jersey has enacted legislation and regulations that require outdoor smokefree environments:
- The 2006 New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act (NJSFAA) prohibits smoking outdoors on all public and private K-12 school grounds (NJS 26:3D-58 at http://www.njgasp.org/sfaa_2010_w-ecigs.pdf, and NJAC 8:6-7.1 and 2 at http://njgasp.org/nj_admin_code.pdf)
- 2007 New Jersey Department of Health Regulations prohibit smoking at an exterior area, if smoking in the exterior area results in migration, seepage, or recirculation of smoke to an indoor public place or a workplace at which smoking is prohibited (NJAC 8:6-2.3a and 2.3b) at http://njgasp.org/nj_admin_code.pdf.
- The 2007 NJ Department of Health Regulations require that playgrounds, and recreational places owned by local municipalities, private entities or other individuals, be 100% smoke free, when a school district has exclusive use of a portion of such land. N.J.A.C. 8:6-7.2(b)(3). http://njgasp.org/nj_admin_code.pdf)
Voluntary Outdoor Smokefree Policies; Public Support
Many business owners have instituted 100% smokefree outdoor policies for their properties. In New Jersey, this includes the outdoor seating and pedestrian areas in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. College campuses are starting to implement 100% smokefree campus policies, and at least 100 hospital campuses in New Jersey have a 100% smokefree policy.
Public support is growing for outdoor bans. Read a letter to the editor supporting an outdoor smoking ban at the Somerville, NJ car show.
back to top^Last update: 12/30/11