Two Kentucky lawmakers have filed legislation to enact a statewide indoor smoking ban.
Rep. Susan Westrom and Sen. Julie Denton introduced the measure, which comes 50 years after the U.S. Surgeon General’s first report on the health effects of smoking. Currently, two dozen communities in Kentucky ban smoking indoors.
Dr. Sylvia Cerel-Suhl is a board member of the Central Kentucky Heart Association. She says the effects of second-hand smoke are too harmful to ignore.
“The Centers for Disease Control, back in 2004, released a warning to all patients with heart disease, not to be exposed to any form of second-hand smoke because of the increased risk of heart attack,” says Cerel-Suhl
Dr. Cerel-Suhl adds the bill would also have a positive effect on the economy, as the ban would result in a drop in sickness and health care costs.
