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Health Department Starts Enforcement of Smoke Free Illinois, issues Citation

September 06, 2010

The DeWitt/Piatt Bi-County Health Department announced today that it has initiated enforcement of the Illinois Smoke Free Act which requires all public establishments to be smoke-free.  The original act was passed in January of 2008, but was amended in February of 2009 to allow for improved enforcement capacity.  “Our agency has been working with local law enforcement officials to craft enforcement protocol to guide our efforts at holding local establishments accountable,” said David Remmert, Public Health Administrator, “like it or not, it is the law and we are bound to provide enforcement and ensure compliance with it”.

            Local health department officials, working in cooperation with the Bement Police Department, investigated two Bement area pubs last Saturday evening November 14, 2009.  The Lucky Monkey was found in compliance with the law, but officials witnessed multiple individuals engaged in smoking at the West End Pub when checked around 10:00 p.m. and a citation was written and provided to the bartender doing business on behalf of the pub.  “We feel that we’ve done an adequate job of educating local businesses about the need for compliance with the Act, but now that the act is a year-and a half old, we simply must enforce it,” said Mr. Remmert, “Folks have been given more than fair warning.”  The Health Department intends to step up enforcement campaigns in the coming weeks throughout both DeWitt and Piatt Counties.

            The Smoke-free Illinois Act prohibits smoking in virtually all public places and workplaces, including offices, theaters, museums, libraries, educational institutions, schools, commercial establishments, enclosed shopping centers and retail stores, restaurants, bars, private clubs and gaming facilities.  Illinois joins 22 other states that have taken this step to protect its residents, workers and visitors from the harmful and hazardous effects of secondhand smoke.  Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of tobacco products and the smoke exhaled from the lungs by smokers that contains a complex mixture of chemicals, many of which are known to cause cancer.  In a 2006 report by the US Surgeon General, it was estimated that exposure to secondhand smoke kills at least 65,000 people a year in the United States who do not smoke.

For more information about the Smoke-free Illinois Act, log onto www.idph.state.il.us/smokefree.

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