Press Release

Columbia Celebrates Two Years of the Clean Indoor Air Act

Columbia, Mo. (Jan. 9, 2009) - Two years after going into effect, the Columbia Clean Indoor Air Act is helping citizens, employees, students and visitors experience healthier environments. Columbia became only the second city in Missouri, after Ballwin in 2005, to implement an ordinance requiring 100 percent smoke-free workplaces and public places, including restaurants and bars.

For the past two years, similar smoke-free ordinances have been adopted in five additional Missouri communities: Chillicothe, Independence, Lee's Summit, North Kansas City, and Kansas City.

Those who patronize formerly smoky places have especially enjoyed the improved air quality. "I am happy people cannot smoke anymore in restaurants and bars. I hate going home smelling like smoke, with headaches and with my eyes stinging," says Columbia resident Anastasia Kononova.

Recently, new studies have shown that smoke-free ordinances improve the public's health. In the past two years, six studies found that hospital admissions for heart attacks decreased 8 to 39 percent one year after smoke-free ordinances were enacted. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently noted a 30 percent reduction in fatal heart attacks in the first two years after their statewide smoke-free law went in effect.

Smoke-free work environments have also encouraged some smokers to quit. The Columbia-Boone County Health Department offers free tobacco cessation classes which include nicotine replacement patches. Registration and additional information can be obtained by calling 573-874-7356. In addition, smokers wishing to quit can call the Missouri Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-Quit-Now. The quitline offers free nicotine replacement therapy to callers that are on Medicaid, Medicare or without health insurance. Smokers who use cessation classes or quitlines with nicotine replacement patches are nine times more likely to quit successfully compared to smokers who try through willpower alone.

About CASE: CASE is a group of researchers and experts on the health effects of secondhand smoke. Their main goals are to reduce workplace smoking and to promote smoking prevention programs in schools. CASE is funded with a Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative Grant provided by the Missouri Foundation for Health. The initiative is a nine-year, multi-phase program that includes grant-making, policy, capacity building, and evaluation and communication activities. MFFH is taking a comprehensive approach to tobacco use to assure integration of all aspects of prevention and cessation.