Smokefree Parks and Recreation Areas: Improving Maryland’s Public Health

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Smokefree Parks and Recreation AreasImproving
Marylands Public Health

• Center for Tobacco Regulation, Litigation
  Advocacy
• University of Maryland School of Law
• 500 West Baltimore Street
• Baltimore, Maryland 21201
• [phone] phone [phone] fax
• kdachille_at_law.umaryland.edu

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Presentation Outline

• Adverse public health and environmental impacts
  of tobacco use in public parks and recreation
  areas
• Secondhand smoke as a known human
  carcinogen/toxin
• Additional health risks to children
• Cigarette litter as a pollutant and threat to
  wildlife
• Tobacco use as a cause of unnecessary fires
• Smokefree parks around the U.S.
• State of Maryland
• Impact on the State
• Current smokefree initiatives
• Benefits of smokefree parks and recreation areas

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Secondhand Smoke

• Also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
• Contains over 4,000 chemicals, including toxins
  like formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride,
  arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide
• Listed by the U.S. EPA as a Group A human
  carcinogen
• Known cause of respiratory diseases,
  cardiovascular disease, and premature death in
  nonsmokers

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Secondhand Smoke (ETS)is a Public Health Threat

• According to the U.S. Surgeon General, There is
  no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand
  smoke for adults or children (June 2006)
• Annual cost of medical care, mortality, and
  morbidity from ETS exposure in the U.S. is around
  10 billion
• ETS is particularly harmful to infants and young
  children, causing increased incidence of
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Chronic ear infections
• Bronchitis, pneumonia, and severe asthma attacks

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Tobacco Use in Outdoor Public Spaces Poses
Additional Health Risksfor Children

• Ingesting discarded cigarette butts can lead to
• choking
• burns
• nicotine poisoning
• vomiting
• irregular heartbeat
• seizures
• Contributes to childrens perceptions that
  smoking is acceptable behavior

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Cigarette Litter Pollutes

• Cigarette butts are the most common form of
  litter
• Cigarette filters break down slowly and never
  fully biodegrade
• Nearly 80 of cigarette butts wind up in human
  water systems
• State and local governments spend money to remove
  cigarette butt litter
• Tourists tend to avoid litter-filled areas,
  resulting in lost revenue

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Tobacco Use in Parks Injures Wildlife

• Animals mistake cigarette butts for food
• Ingesting butts, packaging, and cartons causes
  starvation, strangulation, nicotine poisoning,
  and death
• Chemicals released from cigarette butts into
  water are lethal to critically important
  plankton-like animals

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Tobacco Use in Parks Causes Unnecessary Fires

• Yellowstone National Park (1988)
• More than 630 square miles burned
• Caused by discarded cigarette
• National Parks superintendents may designate
  portions of parklands as closed to smoking when
  necessary to protect park resources, reduce the
  risk of fire, or prevent conflicts among visitor
  use activities.

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Smokefree Areas around the U.S.

• Most states and the federal government have
  passed laws prohibiting smoking indoors
• Numerous municipalities and states are
  prohibiting smoking in outdoor spaces
• Outdoor ordinances include bans on smoking at
  public sports and recreation venues, playgrounds,
  parks, beaches, and public gardens

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State of the StateImpact of Tobacco Use on
Maryland

• 597 million in heath care costs due to ETS
  exposure 73.8 million of which went to
  childrens health care (2005)
• Smoking-related litter 8 of debris recovered
  in 2005 International Coastal Cleanup cigarette
  butts alone 7 of total
• Cigarette-caused fires in 57 public
  park/recreation areas 61.9 acres of burned
  forest land (2006) accounted for 6 to 8 of all
  wildfires (2005-07)

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Maryland State and Local Initiatives

• Most counties ban tobacco use on school grounds
• Five counties restrict tobacco use in outdoor
  parks, recreation areas, ball fields, and public
  common areas
• Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007smoking in public
  indoor areas prohibited as of February 1, 2008

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Making Maryland Public Parks andRecreation Areas
Smokefree Would

• Reduce public exposure to ETS and its negative
  health effects
• Prevent children from viewing smoking as
  normative behavior
• Lower the number of cigarette butts discarded
• Reduce costs associated with cleanup
• Reinforce the Maryland Park Services trash-free
  parks program
• Reduce the risk of smoking-related fires
• Protect wildlife

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Thank YouAny Questions?