VIDEO: Kentucky – Business Has Never Been Healthier (smoke free)

During 2013, the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children will be working to pass a statewide, comprehensive smoke-free law which would prohibit smoking inside all work-sites  including restaurants and bars. We are working with the Smoke-Free Kentucky Coalition to CLEAR THE AIR.

We all have the right to breathe clean indoor air—workers, families, children, everyone.  Currently, about one-third of Kentuckians live in communities with comprehensive smoke-free laws, leaving thousands of children still living in communities where they are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places. Secondhand smoke can cause numerous health problems in children such as respiratory infections, ear problems, and severe asthma exacerbation.

Here’s how a smoke-free law will benefit children:

  1. Comprehensive smoke-free laws improve child health.
  2. Children who live in communities with smoke-free laws are more likely to have parents who do not smoke.
  3. Youth are less likely to start or remain smokers after smoke-free laws are implemented.

The wide array of folks supporting the Blueprint think it’s pretty clear and simple: we need to protect our children from secondhand smoke.

Children aren’t the only ones who will benefit from this legislation. Smoke-free laws do not harm businesses and workers will be protected from the dangerous effects of secondhand smoke in their workplaces. For evidence, take a moment and view this video recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It highlights how various businesses have been impacted by local smoke-free ordinances in Kentucky. The truth is, a statewide, comprehensive smoke-free law is good for health and good for business. We need to ensure that workers are protected and we need to help businesses thrive.

Also, please join the hundreds of organizations supporting a comprehensive, statewide smoke-free law by filling out the smoke-free resolution located on the homepage of the Smoke Free Kentucky Coalition website. While the latest public polls in Kentucky show that the majority of Kentucky voters support a comprehensive smoke-free law, we need hundreds of Kentuckians letting our legislators know it’s time to CLEAR THE AIR IN KENTUCKY.