Half of US states now have strict anti-smoking laws while nationwide ban is on track for 2020

Half of the states in the U.S. have banned smoking in restaurants, bars and the workplace since 2000, and federal health officials have predicted that cigarette smoking will be forbidden in all U.S. states by 2020.

In a new report, the CDC estimates that roughly 47.8 per cent of residents are now covered by comprehensive state or local indoor smoking bans.

Still, an estimated 88 million people age 3 or older are still exposed to second hand smoke, according to the office’s report.

‘It is by no means a foregone conclusion that we'll get there by 2020,’ said Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health, in reference to the goal of a ban in 50 states.

Still he maintains that he is ‘relatively bullish we'll at least get close to that number.’

Electronic cigarettes still raising questions in public places

In a world of rapidly growing technology, with more facets of daily life becoming electronic, one device can still turns heads: the electronic cigarette.

"People give me weird looks for smoking inside," said Jeff Martin, a freshman criminal justice major. Martin, also a traditional smoker, enjoys his e-cigarette indoors where normal smoking is not allowed.

E-cigarettes are devices that simulate the appearance and sensation of smoking. While they can be disguised, they often look like normal cigarettes. Some e-cigarettes are smoking cessation devices, akin to nicotine gum. Others are supposedly safer alternatives to smoking a cigarette or hookah.

No reason to carve exceptions in state smoking ban

When Washington voters were asked to approve one of the nation’s strictest smoking bans in 2005, protecting workers’ health was one of the most prominent arguments initiative supporters used.

Voters agreed that the people who worked in restaurants, taverns, bowling alleys, nontribal casinos and clubs shouldn’t have to breathe smoke for hours on end and risk a host of illnesses associated with secondhand smoke – which kills thousands of Americans every year. And so Washingtonians voted yes, and for five years workers’ health has been protected.

Now some legislators – including state Reps. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw; Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma; and Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup – want to take that protection away for some workers.

More German youths say no to cigarettes

Smoking is decidedly "out" among German youths, with just 13 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds in Germany starting the habit in 2010, according a study by the German Center for Health Education.

That is the lowest level since the organization started tracking youth smoking 30 years ago. The Center for Health Education also said about half as many German youths started smoking in 2010 as the same age group did in 2001, when 28 percent of youngsters smoked.

The Center for Health Education's Director, Elisabeth Pott, said the findings are part of a downward trend in smoking in Germany.