The City Council of the City of Easley, South Carolina, hereby finds and determines:
(A) The City of Easley, South Carolina (the “city”), is an incorporated municipality located in Pickens County, South Carolina, and as such possesses all powers granted to municipalities by the Constitution and the laws of the State of South Carolina, including the powers enumerated in S.C. Code § 5-7-30 (2005 Supp) relating to regulating streets, markets, and public health.
(B) Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute has determined that secondhand smoke is responsible for the early deaths of up to 65,000 Americans annually. (National Cancer Institute (NCI) “Health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: the report of the California Environmental Protection Agency, Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph 10,” Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (NCI), August 1999). The Surgeon General has declared that:
(1) Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in nonsmokers exposed to smoke;
(2) Children exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk for sudden death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma;
(3) Adults exposed to secondary smoke have a higher risk of coronary heart disease and lung cancer;
(4) There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke; and
(5) Separating smoking and nonsmoking sections of indoor areas does not sufficiently remove the threats of secondhand smoke in enclosed areas.
(C) A significant amount of secondhand smoke exposure occurs in the workplace. Employees who work in smoke-filled businesses suffer a 25-50% 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. (Pitsavos, C.; Panagiotakos, D.B.; Chrysohoou, C.; Skoumas, J.; Tzioumis, K.; Stefanadis, C.; Toutouzas, P., “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.)
(D) Smoke-filled workplaces result in higher worker absenteeism due to respiratory disease, lower productivity, higher cleaning and maintenance costs, increased health insurance rates, and increased liability claims for diseases related to exposure to secondhand smoke. (“The high price of cigarette smoking,” Business & Health 15(8), Supplement A: 6-9, August 1997.)
(E) Certain outdoor events, such as parades, festivals, and other public gatherings, result in nonsmokers finding themselves in close proximity to persons who are smoking which can be reasonably seen to have the same effects of exposure as when nonsmokers are exposed to smoke in the same enclosed space. Lighted cigarettes, cigars, and pipes of people standing or sitting in close proximity have the potential of burning those with whom they inadvertently come into direct contact and making the air quality and peaceful enjoyment of outdoor events unreasonably restricted for nonsmokers.
(F) When there is a presence of secondhand smoke in enclosed spaces or in outside areas where there is a public gathering resulting in people being in close proximity in places that are otherwise open to the public at large inevitably results in person who do not smoke being forced to bear unwarranted health risks and inappropriate deprivation of peaceful enjoyment of the premises to which they have been invited or permitted to enter, even when steps have been taken to separate “smoking” and “nonsmoking” areas within the confined space.
(G) The city recognizes that smoke creates a danger to the health and safety of the public at large and that, in order to protect the health and welfare of the public, it is necessary to restrict smoking in the manner provided for in this subchapter.
(Ord. 2008-24, passed 11-10-08)