Mt. Pleasant passes smoke-free ordinance

July 12, 2007

Mount Pleasant, SC - Town Council tonight passed a final reading of a smoke-free indoor workplace and public place ordinance, joining nine other local communities in the state who have passed their own laws to protect workers from secondhand smoke in indoor areas.  The ordinance will become effective September 1, 2007, and covers all indoor workplaces and public places.

The town will join its neighbors Sullivan's Island, whose law went into effect in July of 2006, and Charleston, whose law will be implemented in July 2007.

The measure passed by a 7-2 majority vote.  Council members voting for the ordinance include: Gary Santos, Paul Gawrych, Mayor Harry Hallman, Joe Bustos, Nick Collins, Thomasena Stokes-Marshall, and Ken Glasson. Members Billy Swails and Kruger Smith voted against the ordinance.

The council's actions follow recent failed attempts by some statehouse legislators and the tobacco industry to pass a statewide preemptive law that would have blocked all local smoke-free laws in South Carolina.

Two attendees spoke in favor of the ordinance and no attendees spoke against it. Allison Tysinger, a local musician whose venues have included smoking establishments, thanked council for protecting worker's health.  Dan Carrigan of the Smoke-Free Action Network stated, "Mount Pleasant is showing real leadership by moving ahead to protect its workers from a proven health risk."

The U.S. Surgeon General declared in a 2006 report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and that the only way to make indoor air safe is to completely eliminate smoking in indoor areas.

Dianne Wilson of the South Carolina African American Tobacco Control Network said, "I applaud the mayor and council members for doing the right thing."

The passage concludes debate and consideration that lasted for more than one year.

Contact: Dan Carrigan, Smoke-free Action Network
(843) 509-5272, dancarrigan@msn.com

Dianne Wilson, Smoke-free Action Network
(843) 871-9439, cwilson298@aol.com