(A) Secondhand smoke has been repeatedly identified as a health hazard, as evidenced by the following:
(1) The U.S. Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
(2) The California Air Resources Board categorized secondhand smoke as a toxic air contaminant, along with most toxic automotive and industrial air pollutants, for which there is no safe level of exposure.
(3) The California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included secondhand smoke on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm.
(4) The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has concluded that the only means of effectively eliminating health risk associated with indoor exposure to secondhand smoke, cannabis smoke, and aerosol from electronic smoking devices is to ban smoking activity.
(B) Exposure to secondhand smoke anywhere has negative health impacts, and exposure to secondhand smoke can occur at significant levels outdoors, as evidenced by the following:
(1) Levels of secondhand smoke exposure outdoors can reach levels attained indoors depending on direction and amount of wind, number and proximity of smokers, and enclsoures like walls or roofs.
(2) Smoking cigarettes near building entryways can increase air pollution levels by more than two times background levels, with maximum levels reaching the hazardous range on the United States EPA’s Air Quality Index.
(3) To be completely free from exposure to secondhand smoke in outdoor places, a person may have to move 20 to 29 feet away from the source of the smoke, about the width of a two-lane road.
(4) In 2014, secondhand smoke was responsible for an estimated 33,950 heart disease-related and 7,330 lung cancer-related deaths in the United States.
(5) Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by about 25% to 30% and increases the risk of stroke by 20% to 30%.
(6) Secondhand smoke kills more than 400 infants every year.
(C) Electronic smoking device aerosol may be considered a health hazard, as evidenced by the following:
(1) Research has found electronic smoking device aerosol contains at least 10 chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, lead, nickel, and toluene.
(2) Electronic smoking device aerosol is not harmless water vapor as it contains varying concentrations of particles and chemicals with some studies finding particle sizes and nicotine concentrations similar to, or even exceeding, conventional cigarette smoke.
(3) Evidence continues to build that exposure to electronic smoking device aerosol, including secondhand exposure, has immediate impacts on the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and thus likely poses a risk to human health.
(4) Given the increasing prevalence of electronic smoking device use, especially among youth and young adults, widespread nicotine exposure resulting in addiction and other harmful consequences is a serious concern.
(5) A number of health authorities, including the U.S. Surgeon General, ASHRAE, and State of California’s Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee (TEROC) all support inclusion of electronic smoking devices in regulations of smoking and other tobacco product use.
(D) Accordingly, the City Council declares that the purpose of this chapter is to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of, persons employed in, and persons who frequent the city who would benefit by the regulation of smoking, and to recognize that the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority over the desire to smoke.
(‘61 Code, § 5-7.01) (Ord. 590 C.S., passed 6-16-93; Am. Ord. 962 C.S., passed 5-15-19)