Colorado Medical Society

WHEREAS, the U.S. Surgeon General, National Research Council, and National Academy of Sciences, report that environmental tobacco smoke causes lung cancer in healthy adult nonsmokers, and can cause lung function and structure alteration to the fetus of pregnant nonsmoking women. Additionally, in utero exposure is known to predispose children to long-term pulmonary risks. Further, these agencies found, separating smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce but does not eliminate a nonsmoker's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds that environmental tobacco smoke is a Group A Carcinogen - a category reserved for known cancer-causing agents in humans, and

WHEREAS, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH):

(a) finds that secondhand smoke poses an increased risk of lung cancer and, possibly, heart disease to people exposed in the worksite,

(b) recommends that nonsmokers should not be exposed to secondhand smoke, and

(c) finds that nonsmokers can be protected by elimination of smoking in the building, or establishing separately ventilated smoking areas that exhaust directly to the outside, and

WHEREAS, these studies find that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease, including cancer, heart disease and stroke in nonsmokers. At special risk are infants, children, teens, pregnant women, elderly people, non-smokers with long-term exposure to secondhand smoke, individuals with cardiovascular disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including the young, asthmatics and those with obstructive airway disease. Also harmed are those with health conditions induced by breathing secondhand smoke including asthma, lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory infection, decreased respiratory function, including bronchoconstriction and broncho-spasm, and

WHEREAS, the Colorado Medical Society and its member physicians are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of all of Colorado's citizens, therefore be it

RESOLVED, the Colorado Medical Society strongly and actively support both state and local efforts to prohibit smoking in the following places:

1) All enclosed areas of worksites and public places owned, rented, leased or otherwise under the control of the State of Colorado including motor vehicles.

2) Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways and any other common-use areas.

3) Buses, taxicabs, and other means of public transit under the authority of the State of Colorado, and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots.

4) All restaurants and bars.

5) Service lines.

6) Retail stores.

7) All areas available to and customarily used by the general public in all businesses and non-profit entities patronized by the public, including but not limited to, banks, laundromats, hotels and motels.

8) All areas of galleries, libraries and museums.

9) Any facility which is primarily used for exhibiting any motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital or other similar performance, except performers when smoking is part of a stage production.

10) Sports arenas.

11) Convention halls.

12) Public and private meeting facilities.

13) Every room, chamber, place of meeting or public assembly, including school buildings under the control of any board, council, commission, committee, including joint committees, or agencies of the State of Colorado or any political subdivision of the State of Colorado, to the extent such location is subject to the jurisdiction of the State of Colorado.

14) Waiting rooms, hallways, wards and semi-private rooms of health facilities, including, but not limited to, hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors' offices, and dentists' offices.

15) Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in hotels, motels, multiple-tenant office buildings and malls, apartment buildings, condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes, and other multiple-unit residential facilities.

16) Eighty percent (80%) of hotel and motel rooms rented to guests.

FISCAL IMPACT: None