THE "LAWS ALREADY PROTECTED" MYTH.  .  While most Minnesotans worked in smoke-free workplaces because of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act, not all of us did. Most notably the bars and restaurants that we visit and that are bartenders, waiters, waitresses and many musicians’ workplaces were NOT smoke-free. Before the Freedom to Breathe Act those employees didn’t have the same workplace protections from secondhand smoke that most did. Bowling alley employees, warehouses and factories, gas stations and repair shops, bingo halls, and casinos were among the many workplaces that the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act DID NOT protects workers from secondhand smoke exposure.

A survey of more than 8,000 Minnesotans sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health and other organizations found that roughly 80 percent of Minnesotans worked at a smoke-free job, but for example only 23 percent of restaurants and just 5 percent of bars were smoke-free. Why did we need a statewide smoke-free law?

Workers’ ongoing exposure to secondhand smoke was hurting their health.

Smoke-free workplaces are protecting their health and helping smoking employees quit.

Bottom line. Smoke-free policies work to protect people’s health. That’s why we need them.

[The Ventilation Myth]   [Back]