The purpose of the new Smoke-free Fort Collins law is to

1. protect the health and environment of the city’s residents, employees and visitors;
2. advance the right of all persons to breathe smoke-free air; and
3. recognize that the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority in public places and work places over the desire to smoke.

Studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause for disease in nonsmokers. Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke decreases the risk of deadly diseases.

• The Environmental Protection Agency has designated secondhand smoke as a cancer-causing agent (carcinogen) along with other known hazards, like asbestos.
• Secondhand smoke contains nearly 5,000 chemicals, 60 of which are known toxins and carcinogens, including arsenic, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, and radioactive elements.
• Illnesses induced by breathing secondhand smoke include lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory infections and more.