he Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance

In 2006, CTEPA worked for the passage of The Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act requiring most enclosed public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars, to be smoke-free.  The exceptions to this new law included cigar-bars, casinos, and the Denver International Airport. In 2007 CTEPA supported efforts to repeal the casino exemption. Later that year, the Governor signed off on House Bill 07-1269, requiring all Colorado casinos to be smoke-free by January of 2008!

CTEPA is not yet finished!  While most are enjoying smoke-free air at work or indoor public places, exemptions in the state law result in unnecessary exposure of employees and customers to the poisonous and cancer causing chemicals in secondhand smoke.  We will continue to support local and state policies to remove the exemptions.  CTEPA conducted an air study inside four restaurants/bars in DIA that fully allow smoking inside. The results were compelling. The air in all four smoking establishments exceeded the EPA’s maximum safe exposure level for outdoor air.

Looking ahead to future Colorado legislative sessions, CTEPA will continue to counter the ongoing tobacco industry activity in Colorado and pursue policies to reduce death and disease from tobacco use and the horrible toll tobacco takes on our families, communities, and businesses.

Unfortunately, tobacco use remains the number preventable cause of death in Colorado. The tobacco industry continues to profit while so many suffer and hundreds of millions of tax dollars are used to treat tobacco related diseases.

We encourage you to contact your legislators and tell them to support to protect health and not the tobacco industry.

To stay informed about the progress of tobacco-related legislation at the Capitol, e-mail Bob Doyle, Executive Director of CTEPA, at [email protected]