Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workplaces and buildings open to the public such as restaurants, bars, office buildings, schools, retail stores, hospitals, libraries, transport facilities, and government buildings, in addition to public transport vehicles such as aircraft, buses, watercraft, and trains. However, laws may also prohibit smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, college and hospital campuses, and within a certain distance from the entrance to a building, and in some cases, private vehicles and multi-unit residences.
A generational smoking ban is a ban on selling cigarettes to people born after a certain year.
The most common rationale cited for restrictions on smoking is the negative health effects associated with secondhand smoke (SHS), or the inhalation of tobacco smoke by persons who are not smoking. These include diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The number of smoking bans around the world increased substantially in the late 20th century and early 21st century due to increased knowledge about these health risks. Many early smoking restrictions merely required the designation of non-smoking areas in buildings, but policies of this type became less common following evidence that they did not eliminate the health concerns associated with SHS. A 2024 systematic review revealed that air quality in partially enclosed outdoor hospitality venues where smoking is permitted as well as inside the adjacent outdoor and indoor non-smoking areas, the World Health Organization PM2.5 guidelines supporting extensions of smoke-free policies to outdoor hospitality settings are often exceeded.
Opinions on smoking bans vary. Many individuals and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) support smoking bans on the basis that they improve health outcomes by reducing exposure to SHS and possibly decreasing the number of people who smoke, while others oppose smoking bans and assert that they violate individual and property rights and cause economic hardship, among other issues.
Rationale
Smoking bans are usually enacted in an attempt to protect non-smokers from the effects of secondhand smoke, which include an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other diseases. Laws implementing bans on indoor smoking have been introduced by many countries and other jurisdictions as public knowledge about these health risks increased. (UK Health Secretary: The smoking ban "is a huge step forward for public health and will help reduce deaths from cancer, heart disease and other smoking related diseases")WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; First international treaty on public health, adopted by 192 countries and signed by 168. See in particular Article 8 Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke.
Additional rationales for smoking restrictions include reduced risk of fire in areas with explosive hazards; cleanliness in places where food, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, or precision instruments and machinery are produced; decreased legal liability; potentially reduced energy use via decreased ventilation needs; reduced quantities of litter; healthier environments; and giving smokers incentive to quit.
Evidence basis
Research has generated evidence that secondhand smoke causes the same problems as direct smoking, including Erectile dysfunction(Smoking causes erectile dysfunction because it promotes atherosclerosis) lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and lung ailments such as emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. Specifically, meta-analyses show that lifelong non-smokers with partners who smoke in the home have a 20–30% greater risk of lung cancer than non-smokers who live with non-smokers. Non-smokers exposed to cigarette smoke in the workplace have an increased lung cancer risk of 16–19%. An epidemiology report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), convened by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that the risk of coronary heart disease is increased by around 25–30% when one is exposed to secondhand smoke. The data shows that even at low levels of exposure, there is a risk, and the risk increases with more exposure.
A study issued in 2002 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization concluded that non-smokers are exposed to the same carcinogens on account of tobacco smoke as active smokers. Sidestream smoke emitted from the burning ends of tobacco products contains 69 known carcinogens, particularly benzopyrene and other polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and radioactive decay products, such as polonium-210. Several well-established carcinogens have been shown by the tobacco companies' own research to be present at higher concentrations in secondhand smoke than in mainstream smoke.
Scientific organisations confirming the effects of secondhand smoke include the U.S. National Cancer Institute,Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke : A monograph from the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 6 August 2007. the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 6 August 2007. the U.S. National Institutes of Health,Environmental Tobacco Smoke. From the 11th Report on Carcinogens of the National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 6 August 2007. Archive the Surgeon General of the United States,The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Dated 27 June 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2007. and the World Health Organization.Tobacco Smoke and Involuntary Smoking: A monograph of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
Air quality in bars and restaurants Restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants can substantially improve the air quality in such establishments. For example, one study listed on the website of the CDC states that New York's statewide law to eliminate smoking in enclosed workplaces and public places substantially reduced RSP (respirable suspended particles) levels in western New York hospitality venues. RSP levels were reduced in every venue that permitted smoking before the law was implemented, including venues in which only smoke from an adjacent room was observed at baseline. The CDC concluded that their results were similar to other studies, which also showed substantially improved indoor air quality after smoking bans were instituted.
A 2004 study showed New Jersey bars and restaurants had more than nine times the levels of indoor air pollution of neighbouring New York City, which had already enacted its smoking ban.
Research has also shown that improved air quality translates to decreased toxin exposure among employees. For example, among employees of the Norwegian establishments that enacted smoking restrictions, tests showed decreased levels of nicotine in the urine of both smoking and non-smoking workers (as compared with measurements before going smoke-free).
Public Health Law Research In 2009, the Public Health Law Research Program, a national program office of the US-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, published an evidence brief summarising the research assessing the effect of a specific law or policy on public health. They stated that "There is strong evidence supporting smoking bans and restrictions as effective public health interventions aimed at decreasing exposure to secondhand smoke."Workplace Smoking Bans and Restrictions, Public Health Law Research 2009
Ecological damage Many smokers carelessly discard cigarette butts, which easily enter ecosystems. Cigarette butts contain high levels of nicotine, a devastating toxin for most animals. Many animals, including infants, may ingest these butts, facing both the immediate threat of nicotine poisoning and the dangers associated with plastic ingestion. Furthermore, burning cigarette butts can cause wildfires. Disposing of cigarette butts in sewers can lead to clogged drains and subsequent flooding.
Tobacco farming also has negative environmental impacts. Firstly, it contributes to deforestation, with approximately 5% of global deforestation linked to tobacco cultivation. An estimated one tree is lost for every 300 cigarettes produced. Deforestation leads to climate change, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and water pollution. Secondly, tobacco farming requires large amounts of fertilizer, causing soil degradation and pollution. Some fertilizers even contain radioactive materials that can be transferred to the lungs of smokers and those exposed to secondhand smoke. Additionally, tobacco farming consumes significant water resources, exacerbating water shortages. The overuse of pesticides pollutes water sources, harms wildlife, and poses health risks to tobacco farmers, particularly in developing countries where safety knowledge may be lacking and child labor is prevalent. Tobacco production also releases substantial greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. Tobacco waste pollutes oceans, rivers, soil, and urban environments. In developing countries, tobacco farming raises food security concerns, as valuable water and farmland are used for tobacco instead of food crops. Overall, tobacco farming causes severe damage to both the environment and human health, necessitating measures to reduce its negative impacts.
History
One of the world's earliest smoking bans was a 1575 Roman Catholic Church regulation which forbade the use of tobacco in any church in Mexico. In 1590, Pope Urban VII moved against smoking in all church-owned buildings.Lader, Malcolm Harold; Henningfield, Jack E.; Martin Jarvis (1985). Nicotine, an old-fashioned addiction. London: Burke Publishing. pp. 96–8. He threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose". Pope Urban VIII imposed similar restrictions in 1624. In 1604 King James VI and I published an anti-smoking treatise, A Counterblaste to Tobacco, that had the effect of raising taxes on tobacco. Russia banned tobacco for 70 years from 1627. The Ottoman Sultan Murad IV prohibited smoking in his empire in 1633 and had smokers executed. The earliest citywide European smoking bans were enacted shortly thereafter. Such bans were enacted in Bavaria, Kursachsen, and certain parts of Austria in the late 17th century. Smoking was banned in Berlin in 1723, in Königsberg in 1742, and in Stettin in 1744. These bans were repealed in the revolutions of 1848. Before 1865, Russia had a ban on smoking in the streets.
The first building in the world to ban smoking was the Old Government Building in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1876. The ban related to concerns about the threat of fire, as it is the second largest wooden building in the world.
The first modern attempt at restricting smoking saw Nazi Germany banning smoking in every university, post office, military hospital, and Nazi Party office, under the auspices of Karl Astel's Institute for Tobacco Hazards Research, established in 1941 under orders from Adolf Hitler. The Nazis conducted major anti-tobacco campaigns until the demise of their regime in 1945.