Four Beaches Ban Puffing

New Beachhead in War on Smoking?

National Campaign May Make Smokefree Beaches Newest Tourist Attraction

Move Consistent With Growing Smoking Bans in Other Outdoor Areas

At least four beaches have already banned smoking or set aside no-smoking sections in what may be the latest beachhead in the fight to protect nonsmokers from tobacco smoke both indoors and outdoors.

On Monday the town of Sharon, Massachusetts passed an ordinance which bans smoking at the town's beaches, as well as in all town playgrounds. Previously, Honolulu's City Counsel banned all smoking at Hanauma Bay, a beach which has about 1.5 million visitors a year. Since the law came into effect, most of those fined for smoking have been Japanese tourists who either cannot, or will not, understand the no smoking signs. The Honolulu City Council is now considering establishing no-smoking beaches at Waikiki.

Meanwhile, in Europe, there are now smoke-free beaches at Bournemouth, a British resort which gets more than two million visitors each year and has more discos than anywhere in the U.K. apart from London, and at Damp, a small resort along Germany's windy Baltic Sea coast. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a national antismoking organization which led the fight to ban smoking on airplanes, trains, buses, and in most other public places, says that it will begin a national campaign to encourage beaches all over the country to ban smoking, or at least to establish no-smoking areas.

Actually, the four beach bans are simply the latest steps in a movement ASH helped start to prohibit smoking even outdoors wherever it causes problems for nonsmokers, says law professor John Banzhaf, ASH's Executive Director, who cites the following: more and more sports stadiums are banning smoking n smoking in being prohibited in lawn-seating areas of places in which concerts are being presented, such as Wolf Trap Park near Washington, D.C.

A Davis, California, law enacted earlier this year prohibits outdoor smoking on sidewalks in front of buildings n many companies and building managers have prohibited smoking immediately adjacent to entrances to their buildings. These prohibitions are coming about because we are increasingly recognizing that even smoking outdoors can cause annoyance and irritation and sometimes even health problems when people are close together, says Banzhaf. He notes that the Sharon ordinance was championed by a woman whose husband is sensitive to smoke because he's asthmatic.

Banzhaf notes that there are also other very compelling reasons to prohibit smoking on beaches. In Honolulu, he notes, one of the major concerns was that cigarette butts left on beaches created a danger for sea turtles and other wildlife which frequented the area. Another good reason is to reduce litter. "Cigarette butts are one of the most pervasive types of litter found on beaches," he says.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 15, 1995

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL: John Banzhaf (202) 659-4310

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