The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: To develop policy recommendations to guide WHO Member States in implementing policies to protect the public from the harm caused by secondhand smoke exposure.

Method: Policy recommendations were developed with input from a multidisciplinary expert consultation held in Montevideo, Uruguay in December 2005 and reviewed by a broader group of experts on secondhand smoke science and smoke-free policies from governments and civil society.

Results: Evidence overwhelmingly shows that exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) causes a variety of serious and often fatal diseases in children and adults. The evidence also shows that improved ventilation systems cannot practically remove the toxins in tobacco smoke and that elimination of the source is currently the only strategy known to adequately protect public health. Economic studies of smoke-free policies consistently show that these policies have a neutral or positive impact on business in the hospitality sector. Ten countries - in both the developed and developing world - now require all indoor public places and workplaces to be smoke-free, and dozens of well-documented examples of successful implementation provide useful guidance for others to follow. WHO recommends that Member States implement legislation to make all indoor workplaces and public places smoke-free as soon as possible and offers policy guidelines to facilitate successful implementation.