History of WV Smoke Free Communities
Shortly after the 1992 Environmental Protection Agency ruling, linking secondhand smoke exposure to lung cancer, the Morgantown City Council became the first local government in West Virginia to pass an ordinance restricting where the public could light up indoors.  The Monongalia County Board of Health soon followed as did many other West Virginia Communities.

In 2007, When the City of Marlinton and Pocahontas Board of Health adopted Smoke Free Work and Public ordinances, WV made public health history by becoming the first and still only state with every county enacting a local clean indoor air ordinance/regulation in the United States.  

 As the popularity of smoke free laws took effect, the tobacco industry realized that if people had fewer opportunities to smoke, the fewer cigarettes would be bought. The industry realized that the bottom line was in trouble from the growing number of local smoke free air laws. “While we’re not married to any particular form of preemption language, we’re dead serious about achieving preemption in all 50 states.”  -Tina Walls, Philip Morris, July 1994  ( add Smoke Free Threats Link) Add Smoke Free Regulations Threats: Preemption – American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation | no-smoke.org

“By introducing preemptive statewide legislation, we can shift the battle away from the community level back to the state legislatures where we are on stronger ground.” 

-Tina Walls, Philip Morris, July 1994 “We could never win at the local level…So the Tobacco Institute and tobacco companies’ first priority has always been to preempt the field, preferably to put it all on a federal level, but if they can’t do that, at least on the state level.” -Victor L. Crawford, Tobacco Institute, 1995 

Exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with disease and premature death in nonsmoking adults and children.^2.  It is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country, killing 53,000 non-smokers in the US each year.^17. Nonsmokers regularly exposed to SHS suffer death or morbidity rates as much as 30% higher than those of unexposed nonsmokers.^18. 

Secondhand smoke is proven to cause lung cancer in non-smokers¹⁹ causing an estimated 3,400 lung cancer deaths in the United States each year.^3.There is also evidence linking SHS to other types of cancers, including childhood leukemia and breast cancer.¹³ 

Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate effects on the respiratory and circulatory systems.^2. These effects interfere with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of heart attacks.^16. 

Secondhand smoke exposure is especially hazardous to elderly people with existing chronic health conditions. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), ear and respiratory infections, and asthma.^2. Chronic exposure to SHS by pregnant women can have adverse effects on the developing fetus. ^2.

The workplace is a major source of secondhand smoke exposure.² Employees who work in smoke-filled businesses suffer a 25-50% higher risk of heart attack and higher rates of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as increased acute respiratory disease and measurable decrease in lung function.²³ Some studies have found they have as much as a 50% increase in lung cancer risk due to tobacco smoke exposure in the workplace.²²

1. World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2009. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2008.
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006. 
3. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2013. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, 2013.
4. American Cancer Society. Cigarette Smoking. www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/ webcontent/002967-pdf.pdf. Last updated: January 17, 2013.
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ending the Tobacco Epidemic: Progress Toward a Healthier Nation. Washington: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, 2012.
6. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Toll of Tobacco in the United States of America. http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/ research/factsheets/pdf/0072.pdf   Last updated: February 6, 2013.
7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco Control State Highlights 2012. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2013.
8. The West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention. Tobacco is Killing (and Costing) Us: A Report on Tobacco Use Rates, Smoking-Related Deaths, and Smoking-Related Health Care Costs in West Virginia. Charleston, WV: WV Bureau for Public Health, 2009.
9. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services.  2007 and 2009 West Virginia Youth Tobacco Survey Report. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Bureau for Public Health Statistics Center, 2011.  
10. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The Toll of Tobacco in West Virginia. www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/west_virginia.   Last updated: December 5, 2012.
11. The West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention. Tobacco Is Killing (and Costing) Us, 2005-2009. (The 2012 Updated Summary of the Tobacco is Killing and Costing Us Report.) Charleston, WV:  WV Bureau for Public Health, 2012.
12. Fielding, J. E., and Phenow, K. J. (1988). “Health Effects of Involuntary Smoking.”  New England Journal of Medicine, 319, 1452–1460 
13. American Cancer Society. What is Secondhand Smoke?  www.cancer.org/cancer/ cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke.  Last updated: January 17, 2013.  
14. Repace, J.L. ”Exposure to Secondhand Smoke”, Chapter 9 in: Exposure Analysis. W. Ott, A. Steinemann, and L. Wallace, Eds. CRC Press, 2006.
15. Americans for Nonsmoker’s Rights.  Thirdhand Smoke.  http://www.no-smoke.org/ learnmore.php?id=671 Last updated: April 2, 2013.
16. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2010.
17. Glantz, S.A. & Parmley, W. Passive Smoking and Heart Disease: Epidemiology, Physiology, and Biochemistry, Circulation, 1991; 83(1):1-12; and, Taylor, A., Johnson, D. & Kazemi, H., Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Cardiovascular Disease, Circulation, 1992; (86): 699-702. 
18. Americans for Nonsmoker’s Rights. Secondhand Smoke: The Science.  www.no-smoke.org/ pdf/SHS.pdf. November 2006.
19. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking (Also Known as Exposure to Secondhand Smoke or Environmental Tobacco Smoke—ETS). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992.
20. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2012.
21. Fracasso, M.E. et al. “DNA Damage and Repair Capacity by Comet Assay in Lymphocytes of White-collar Active Smokers and Passive Smokers (non- and ex-smokers) at Workplace,” Toxicology Letters 167(2): 131–141, December 1, 2006.
22. Siegel, Michael (1993). “Involuntary Smoking in the Restaurant Workplace: A Review of Employee Exposure and Health Effects,” JAMA 270(4): 490-493.
23. Pitsavos, C. et al. “Association Between Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the Development of Acute Coronary Syndromes: the CARDIO2000 Case-control Study”, Tobacco Control 11(3): 220-225, September 2002.)
24. Building Trades Unions Ignite Less Tobacco [BUILT] Project. Unions Yes – Tobacco No. California: Department of Health Services, 2001.
25. West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention. Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet. www.wvdtp.org/ Portals/5/SHS%20FACTsheet%20%20011510.pdf.  January 2010.