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South Carolina Shakes Off Tobacco Ties

Cities and counties across Palmetto State are enacting smoke-free policies

Posted by: Editor | May 12, 2011

Better health is winning against Big Tobacco — even in tobacco-growing South Carolina.

In the past two weeks, three more South Carolina cities — Atlantic Beach, Florence and Spartanburg — have approved smoke-free workplace ordinances that include restaurants and bars. That brings to 41 the number of smoke-free cities and counties statewide, protecting 34 percent of the state's population.

South Carolina's progress is setting a great example for other southern states, which a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found lag behind the rest of the nation in enacting protections from harmful secondhand smoke.

Nationally, 29 states, Washington, D.C., and more than 600 municipalities have enacted smoke-free laws that include restaurants and bars.

South Carolina has produced tobacco since the 17th century, and the state is still among the top tobacco-growing regions in the country. As more and more cities and counties are proving, nostalgia shouldn't stand in the way of protecting public health. Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, heart disease, chronic lung ailments and other health problems.

Smoking-related diseases kill 6,100 South Carolinians and cost the state $1.1 billion in heath care bills each year. So more cities, towns and counties should forge their own history – saving lives and money by protecting everyone's right to breathe clean air.

We congratulate the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative and its many partners on their smoke-free successes and look forward to even more progress.