66% of rural Hoosiers support making all workplaces smoke-free; message to policymakers clear 
Two-thirds of residents in rural communities in Indiana support a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law that eliminates secondhand smoke in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, according to new public opinion survey data released today by the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA).
The public opinion data, collected and analyzed by the IU Survey Research Center, found that across rural communities in Indiana, 66% of rural Hoosiers support a law making all workplaces, including bars, restaurants and membership clubs, smoke-free.
According to Susan Gleason, Program Coordinator for the Tobacco Education & Prevention Coalition for Porter County, the numbers and the message to policymakers speak very clearly: Hoosiers are ready for all workplaces, including bars, to be smoke free.
Ms. Gleason said, “This new survey data measuring support for a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law just shows that people in rural communities in Indiana overwhelmingly support a smoke-free law that protects all workers, just like people in the rest of Indiana. We value the lives of our workers—who are also our neighbors, friends and family—here in Porter County just as much as people in any of the dozen Indiana communities with a comprehensive smoke-free law or the majority of the states in the U.S. with comprehensive statewide smoke-free laws.”
The survey also found that, on average, 85% of rural Hoosiers believe that workers should be protected from secondhand smoke exposure in all workplaces, with even 60% of current smokers in agreement.
Secondhand smoke is proven to be a serious health risk. In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a conclusive report that says secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory problems. The 2006 report says that even the most advanced state-of-the-art ventilation or filtration, smoking rooms and separation of smokers and nonsmokers cannot eliminate the health risk caused by secondhand smoke. The report also found that even brief exposure is proven to be harmful and that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
Ms. Gleason summarized the IRHA report by asking “So why are Porter County’s workers and the public at large still left out of such a simple, common sense policy to protect us from secondhand smoke?”