Regents urge total tobacco ban on campuses

Ohio’s higher-education board voted unanimously today to urge the state’s public colleges to be leaders in promoting healthy lifestyles by banning smoking and all tobacco products on their campuses. “It’s the right thing to do,” said James Tuschman, chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents. Going tobacco-free would cut health-care costs for students, faculty and staff at the schools, as well as the state, he said. In 2006, state voters approved a constitutional amendment that bans smoking indoors or within 25 feet around building entrance, exits or windows of public buildings and workplaces, but many schools still allow smoking outside.

 Although the Board of Regents can’t force the state’s public two-year and four-year schools to go entirely tobacco-free, it hopes the schools will set a good example. In recent years, several Ohio campuses have been considering whether to go entirely tobacco-free as more people embrace healthier lifestyles, but only one public school has done so: Miami University. Last year, the University of Toledo also banned all tobacco products on campus, but students, staff and faculty can smoke in designated huts around campus or in their personal vehicles.

 Currently, Columbus State Community College, Ohio State University and Ohio University all ban smoking inside campus buildings. Ohio State also has a tobacco-free zone that encompasses 12 buildings including the Wexner Medical Center, Aronoff Laboratory, Biological Sciences building and greenhouse, and several halls. Officials from the schools said it’s too early to say whether their trustees will recommend a total ban on tobacco, but they likely will consider it. Ohio schools should act quickly, Tuschman said, because so far this year there have been an estimated 10,270 new cases of lung cancer in Ohio, with 7,430 of them resulting in death, according toe the American Cancer Society.

The total public and private health-care expenditures caused by smoking is $96 billion — including nearly $5 billion just from second-hand smoke exposure. Secondhand smoke causes heart disease that kills thousands of Americans every year. Smoking also causes cancer, stroke and emphysema, as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. More than 10 percent of college students smoke regularly; 27 percent of the state’s 18- to 24-year olds overall are smokers. “Virtually 100 percent of smokers start before they are 26 years old,” said Dr. Theodore E. Wymyslo, director of the Ohio Board of Health.