Public Health
On Oct. 1, Montanans can finally breathe clean, smokefree air in any enclosed public space, including bars and casinos. Full implementation of the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act represents Montana’s most significant public health advance in more than 50 years.
In passing the Clean Indoor Air Act, the 2005 Montana Legislature recognized that an individual’s right to breathe smokefree air is more important than someone else’s desire to smoke. The law went into effect in October of that year, but legislators made an exception for bars and casinos and gave them four years to comply. Now, as the last residue of smoke is removed from our bars and casinos, Montana will become the 18th state nationwide to require all enclosed public spaces and workplaces to be smokefree. The citizens of Helena lead the way in supporting Clean Indoor Air, with an ordinance passed in 2002 that became a model for a healthy smokefree community.
The significance of this law cannot be overstated. When we turn our calendars to Oct. 1, our state will have adopted a public health measure that reduces heart attack incidence by nearly 20 percent. The list of fatal and chronic diseases caused by secondhand smoke exposure is long and complicated. But health experts agree that secondhand smoke critically damages the heart in the short term and causes lung cancer over time. It increases the risk of breast cancer in young women and harms unborn babies and young children. It also increases the risk of stroke in adults and triggers asthma attacks in children. It makes workers sick and causes them to lose time on the job. It costs people their good health and significantly burdens private and public pocketbooks alike. The U.S. Surgeon General concluded in 2006 there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and the only way to protect health is to eliminate exposure.
To their credit, several bars and casinos went smokefree before they were required to. It was a good business decision because their customers wanted it. And it was the right thing to do for their employees. In a 2008 survey of registered voters, Montanans said they preferred bars and casinos that had already gone smokefree by a margin of 7 to 1. By a margin of 10 to 1, they said the rights of customers and employees to breathe clean air in workplaces, restaurants, bars and casinos is more important than the rights of smokers.
Besides reducing death and disease by eliminating exposure, smokefree environments encourage tobacco users to quit and prevent young people from ever starting. Montana has a strong program to help people quit using tobacco, and more than 17,000 Montanans have called the Montana Tobacco Quit Line since it was implemented in 2005. Nearly 40 percent of them have successfully quit using tobacco, making Montana one of the most successful programs in the country.
We Montanans are guaranteed the right to a healthful environment in our state constitution. As a community we can now expect to breathe clean indoor air, and it’s up to all of us to monitor the indoor air environment. If you see a violation of Montana’s Clean Indoor Air Act, either in your workplace or in an enclosed public space, you can report it online at www.tobaccofree.mt.gov. You can also call the Lewis & Clark City-County Tobacco Use Prevention Program at 457-8924 or go to our website, www.co.lewis-clark.mt.us, where you will find a complaint form on the Tobacco Use Prevention page.
Tobacco addiction remains the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S., killing 440,000 people annually and 1,500 each year in Montana. If you are ready to make the most critical life decision you can make as a tobacco user, call the Montana Tobacco Quit Line toll free (866-485-QUIT). In addition to the cessation counseling services you receive from professionals, you will now get a lot of encouragement when you visit one of Helena’s many fine restaurants and bars, where patrons are enjoying a smokefree meal or drink with friends and family.
Melanie Reynolds is the health officer at the Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department. The Health Department’s mission is to improve and protect the health of all Lewis & Clark County residents.
Copyright © September 29, 2009 Helenair
