A team of researchers led by Professor SA Glantz from the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, has reviewed several scientific studies on the effects of smoke-free workplaces on smoking behavior. They concluded that 'Smoke-free workplaces' not only protect non-smokers from the dangers of breathing in other people's smoke; such places if enforced also encourage smokers to quit or reduce consumption. Their research was published in the July 27th, 2002 issue of the British Medical Journal. They found that implementing smoke-free workplaces led to 4 out of every 100 smokers reducing the amount they smoked. The reviewers looked at the effectiveness of various means of containing the problem of smoking in the population. They compared the effectiveness of totally smoke-free workplaces versus smoke-free areas, effects of legislation including increasing taxes, and the effects of smoke-free workplaces and clean air legislation on teenagers.
             People are increasingly insisting on a healthy environment and clean air. Forward-looking businesses are already providing it for both their customers and staff. Public attitudes towards smoking have changed a lot over the last two decades. Smoke-filled buses, trains, and cinemas are a fading memory. Businesses that fail to recognize this will increasingly find customers voting with their feet. The vast majority of people agree that smoking should be restricted to public places. But what of workplaces? Can organizations save non-smokers from the smoke of those who chose to smoke? These are pertinent questions begging for answers.
             The problem with smoking in workplaces appears to be that those who don't smoke breathe in smoke produced by smokers (passive smoking). Through passive smoking, nonsmokers inhale the toxic waste of tobacco, emitted from the combination of tobacco smoke from the burning ends of cigarettes, pipes, and cigars, and exha...