[6/26] WORKPLACE SMOKING BANS REDUCE OFF-THE-JOB SMOKING

A study by the national Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, documents a very important side effect of the growing number of firms which prohibit smoking in the workplace.

The study provided conclusive proof that workplace smoking bans have reduced the amount of smoking by people in work.

While non-smoking policies were introduced chiefly to reduce the exposure of non-smokers to second-hand tobacco smoke, the study finds that they have also had an important impact on the behavior of smokers by reducing their opportunities to smoke.

It found that, even after adjusting for other factors, smoking rates had fallen much more steeply among those in work than among the unemployed.

More specifically, the prevalence of smoking among men in work declined by almost 5 per cent more than it did for those out of work between 1976 and 1993.

Fortunately, the trend towards non-smoking workplaces seems irreversible.

In 1985, about 25% of US employees worked in establishments that banned smoking in work areas.

By 1993, this had risen to 70%.

Today it is even higher, especially since five states have banned smoking in most workplaces.

ASH - ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH 2013 H Street, NW / Washington, DC 20006 / (202) 659-4310