Creating Tobacco-Free Spaces
Smoke from cigarettes and other burning tobacco products, as well as aerosol from e-cigarettes/vapes, can harm people nearby who are not using these products.
Tobacco-free spaces protect children and adults from sickness and disease and help people live healthy lives.
Tobacco-free spaces also help kids see the importance of never starting to use tobacco and keep outdoor spaces free of tobacco trash.
Tobacco-Free Parks, Beaches, and Recreation Areas
- Healthy environments for healthy living. Secondhand smoke and e-cigarette aerosol can cause heart disease, cancer, breathing problems, and ear infections and can make asthma worse. Children, older adults, people with special health needs, and pregnant women are most at danger from exposure, even when outdoors.
- No tobacco trash.
- Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world.
- Butts are slow to break down and cost a lot to clean up.
- Tobacco litter can be deadly to wildlife and people. It can cause stomach problems and poisoning when eaten by fish, whales, birds, and other marine animals. People who eat fish that have tobacco-related chemicals in their systems may also become sick.
- E-cigarettes have batteries that can leak heavy metals like mercury and lead, as well as battery acid, into the ground.
- Children often pick up e-cigarette trash and cigarette butts and place them in their mouths — putting them at risk for getting very sick or even dying.
- Butts and e-cigarettes that are still burning or are not turned off can cause fires and burns.
- Positive model for youth. Tobacco-free outdoor spaces show youth that being tobacco-free is common. Allowing commercial tobacco use in parks, on beaches, and in other recreation areas where youth and families with young children go sends a dangerous message. Commercial tobacco use is not what we want to show children. Tobacco-free outdoor spaces have been shown to help kids stay tobacco free.
Image credit: The Young Lungs at Play image is a small version of a poster developed by the Sault Tribe Housing Authority in partnership with the Sault Tribe Strategic Alliance for Health Project. Clicking on the image will take you to a larger version of the poster.
Resources
- Cigarette Butt Litter (Surfrider Foundation) — Information about cigarette butt litter and why it’s a problem
- Tobacco-Free Parks: For a Healthy Community (Tobacco-Free Youth Recreation) — Reasons for, and steps on how to make, tobacco-free outdoor spaces, as well as fact sheets and a number of other resources
- Tobacco-Free Outdoors (Public Health and Tobacco Policy Center)
- Tobacco-Free Parks and Beaches PowerPoint presentation (MDHHS; scroll down the linked page to the Tobacco-Free Spaces section) — This Microsoft PowerPoint slide show can be used when presenting on the background and need for tobacco-free parks and beaches policy, discussing what should be taken consideration when working on such a policy, and providing tips on how to pass such a policy.
- Tobacco-Free Parks/Beaches Frequently Asked Questions document and Talking Points document (MDHHS) — These documents list the positive reasons for tobacco-free parks, beaches, and recreation areas. Because they are updated regularly, please contact us at 517-335-8376 to request copies.
Tobacco-Free Housing
Being around secondhand smoke and e-cigarette aerosol can lead to serious health problems, including lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and can make asthma worse in adults and children.
Secondhand smoke and e-cigarette aerosol can get into apartments from many places, including vents and cracks in walls or floors. As e-cigarette use rises, the number of explosions and fires in the home is likely to increase.
Adding e-cigarettes to smoke-free housing policies is an easy way to limit property damage and keep cleaning costs down.
Since people spend more time at home than any other place, getting rid of tobacco smoke and e-cigarette aerosol in apartments and other housing can greatly improve the health of the people living there.
Resources
- Change Is in the Air: An Action Guide for Establishing Smoke-Free Public Housing and Multifamily Properties (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) — Materials for owners and renters, fact sheets, toolkits
- Learn About Smokefree Housing Options (American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation) — Information for apartment ownersand tenants, including how to create a tobacco-free housing policy
- All About Tobacco-free Housing (American Lung Association) — Videos, factsheets and links to other smoke-free housing resources
- Going Smokefree Matters infographic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC])
- Going Smokefree Matters – Multiunit Housing infographic
(CDC)
- Clean Air For All (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) — Frequently asked questions, toolkits, factsheets
Tobacco-Free Outdoor Worksite Campuses
Tobacco is typically not allowed inside workplace buildings.
But, it’s also important to create tobacco-free outdoor worksite campuses to encourage commercial tobacco users to quit and create a healthy workplace for all employees. Examples of tobacco-free outdoor worksite campuses include county office properties, hospital campuses, and the grounds of community agencies and businesses.
Resources
- Tobacco-Free Business and School Campuses (Tobacco-Free Lancaster County [NE] Coalition) — Tobacco-free campus policy “how to” toolkit
- Tobacco-Free Grounds Policy Toolkit for Worksites (Olmsted County Public Health)
- Tobacco-Free Toolkit for Behavioral Health Agencies (Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, University of California San Francisco)
