Smoke-free zones gain new territory

"There's a lot more effort to help people quit smoking," says Helen Darling of the National Business Group on Health in Washington. "And more companies will not allow smoking anywhere on the campus - that's a trend."

It is also a vanguard of the antismoking laws now advancing through state legislatures nationwide. In the 11 years since California first instituted a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, a handful of states have considered similar restrictions each year. So far, measures to prohibit smoking in restaurants, bars, or workplaces have taken effect in 10 states.

As many as 20 states may take up the issue this year. "This hasn't really happened before," says Bronson Frick of the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation in Berkeley, Calif.

He expects most bills to fail, but the fact that antismoking laws are being considered in states such as Georgia and North Carolina represents progress to him. Add to that the cities that have already passed workplace bans - including Laramie, Wyo., and Lincoln, Neb. - and he sees an expanding antismoking imprint. "The political will is changing," says Mr. Frick.

Leading the way, not surprisingly, is San Francisco. Last year, several coastal cities in southern California went so far as to ban smoking on public beaches. This year, San Francisco supervisors passed a law - supported by the mayor - that will prohibit smoking in all city-run recreational areas except golf courses.

That includes Mission Dolores Park - and Daniel Lopez. On a cloudless morning, Mr. Lopez and a friend sit on a bench atop the park's grassy ridge, looking out over the skyline of San Francisco - the city framed by a stand of palm trees and smudged by the white thumbprint of a stubborn postdawn haze.

The turquoise lighter in Lopez's hand betrays that he is a smoker, but when he learns of the new smoking ban - which should go into effect July 1 - he defends it, while his friend rails against it.

"The next thing they'll tell me is that I can't wear shorts," says his friend, Marty Soni.

Speaking with the earnest tone of one bestowing great wisdom, Lopez answers: "It's not too much to ask for preservation. I'd probably forget, but I'd do my best to try to abide by it."

Farther down the hill, au pair Simona Piazza tends to her tiny charge, an infant nestled in a stroller taking mouthfuls of baby food. She, too, is a smoker. And she, too, supports the law. "Other people should have a chance to breathe fresh air," she says.

To be sure, San Francisco is a different sort of place, where self-awareness seems to be written into the city charter. But Lopez and Ms. Piazza also suggest how far the public debate has shifted in recent years.

"When this all started, people thought it was unacceptable to ban smoking at work," says Ms. Brantner of Workplace Fairness. These days, "it's not popular to defend smoking."

Between 1989 and 2003, the following states passed laws prohibiting employers from discriminating against smokers:

Arizona
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Source: American Lung Association

While many states have some restrictions, the following states have total smoking bans in restaurants, bars, and workplaces:

California
Connecticut
Delaware
Maine
Massachusetts
New York
Rhode Island *

*as of March 1, 2005

Source: American Lung Association

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