Report may help bans on smoking

Publication Date: 2006-07-10

• Author:Associated Press
• Publication:Winston-Salem Journal

Activists will push bill for workplaces

A recent report on the dangers of secondhand smoke could bolster anti-smoking efforts, especially at work sites, health and government officials say.

Activists will push a bill next session that would allow local governments in Mecklenburg County to ban smoking in all workplaces, even bars and restaurants, they said...

North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Nevada have been among the least restrictive states in prohibiting people from smoking in certain public places, said Bronson Frick, the associate director of the advocacy group Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

North Carolina law bans smoking in buildings such as hospitals and libraries but not in every workplace.

The state also prohibits local governments from passing smoking regulations that surpass state laws.