Global Smoke-Free Worksite Challenge Issued at Clinton Global Initiative

A coalition of health-care related organizations and companies issued a challenge this week for employers worldwide to ban smoking. The Global Smoke-Free Worksite Challenge was announced at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

The Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson, the American Cancer Society, and the Global Business Coalition on Health, a group of more than 200 companies and nonprofits involved in global health issues, signed on to the challenge, The Wall Street Journal reports.

These organizations have pledged to influence other employers to go smoke free, and to offer support and share best practices to help with implementing smoke-free policies. They also committed to supporting governments’ efforts to extend 100 percent smoke-free protections to all indoor worksites, public transportation and indoor public places.

Smoking is banned in workplaces in 25 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The article notes only 11 percent of people worldwide are protected by comprehensive national smoke-free laws.