Chatham County, Georgia, will be a healthier place to live, work, and play thanks to a Smoke-¬free Ordinance passed by the Chatham County Commission on February 24. 

By a vote of 7-1, the Commission adopted the most comprehensive smoke-free ordinance in the state of Georgia.  

Effective March 25, 2012, the ordinance applies to any business that allows the public inside or has at least one non-¬family member employee. All bars, restaurants, outdoor serving areas and private clubs will now be smoke¬-free. Electronic smoking devices known as "e-cigs" are also prohibited in all businesses and public places. 

The Chatham ordinance is even stronger than the smoke-¬free air ordinance that was implemented by the city of Savannah in 2011. The county ordinance tightens up ambiguities in the city ordinance by prohibiting Hookah bars and lounges.

A study by the Department of Health Behavior and Aerosol Pollution Exposure Research Laboratory at Roswell Park Cancer Institute confirms that indoor air quality has been vastly improved at several venues that previously allowed smoking but have been smoke-free since passage of the city of Savannah's smoke-free ordinance in 2011. Indoor air quality monitoring was performed at locations throughout Savannah that allowed smoking prior to the ordinance and again after the ordinance took effect. The study, funded by the Department of Public Health's State Tobacco Use Prevention Program, shows a 94 percent decline in very unhealthy particle pollution levels at those businesses.

In an initiative spearheaded by the Chatham County Health Department, volunteers measured fine particle emissions inside of 11 businesses where patrons were smoking in August, 2010, prior to the smoke-free ordinance taking effect. Personal aerosol monitors recorded levels that were deemed "very unhealthy" according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index. Air quality recorded in those same locations in November, 2011, almost a year after the ordinance passed, resulted in a "good" rating.

"The bottom line is that secondhand smoke is dangerous and people who frequent public places - including bars and restaurants - in Savannah are now breathing better air," said Diane Weems, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for the Coastal Health District. "It's our mission to protect the health of the public and the smoke-free laws passed by both the city and county help to do just that."

According to the report, the study demonstrates that employees and patrons in Savannah bars and restaurants with observed indoor smoking prior to the smoke-free air law, were exposed to harmful levels of indoor air pollution resulting from indoor smoking. The reduction in exposure to toxic tobacco smoke will result in improved health outcomes for Savannah workers and residents.

"Chatham County's smoke-free ordinance will reduce medical costs and lost productivity associated with secondhand smoke exposure. It will also benefit those employees who currently have no choice about being exposed to deadly secondhand smoke," said W. Douglas Skelton, M.D., District Health Director for the Coastal Health District. "Above all, it will protect our citizens and visitors to our beautiful county from unwillingly breathing in the cancer-causing chemicals emitted by tobacco smoke."

Passage of the ordinance was a public health initiative championed by Healthy Savannah, the brainchild of former Savannah Mayor and Chatham County Board of Health member, Otis Johnson. The mission of Healthy Savannah, which includes the Chatham County Health Department, is to support healthy lifestyles by advocating for and implementing programs and policies that make the healthy choice the easy choice.

-Story by Sally Silbermann, Risk Communicator/Public Information Officer, Coastal Health District 9-1