COLUMBIA- South Carolina was recognized as the 2008 winner of the Americans for Nonsmokers Rights Smokefree Air Challenge Award, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control reported today.
It is an honor for our state to have been selected for this award that is considered a top achievement in tobacco control, said Sharon Biggers, director of DHECs Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control. The real winners are the thousands of South Carolinians protected from secondhand smoke in the workplace because of the states 27 local smoke-free ordinances.
The award, which recognizes leadership in passing local smoke-free laws, was presented earlier this month during the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in Phoenix.
Biggers said that since Jan. 2008, 16 communities in the state passed comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws, which include restaurants and bars. Since 2006 when the Surgeon General released a landmark report called The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, four S.C. counties and 23 cities and towns have passed smoke-free laws. To see a complete listing, visit http://www.scdhec.gov/health/chcdp/tobacco/docs/Ordinancemap_UpdatedJune1709.pdf
The agencys Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control provides local communities education on the dangers of secondhand smoke exposure and technical assistance on smoke-free policy implementation. For more information, visit http://www.scdhec.gov/tobacco.