Maine tobacco law outlined, during anti-smoking conference

  PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Healthy Aroostook, a Healthy Maine Partnership and a program of Aroostook County Action Program, Inc., hosted a conference on Maine tobacco laws on April 8 at the Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center.
“In 1985, the state of Maine passed the Maine Smoking Act which set the standard for tobacco use by employees and in Maine’s public places,” said Jo-Ellen Kelley, community education specialist for Healthy Aroostook. “Many businesses and individuals are still unaware of exactly what the laws regarding tobacco use are in Maine. For this reason, we felt it would be beneficial to offer this conference.”
The keynote speaker for the conference was Sarah Mayberry, program director for the Breathe Easy Coalition of Maine. An estimated 50 area business representatives and individuals attended the conference.
Maine law protects people from secondhand smoke by prohibiting smoking in indoor workplaces, indoor public places, restaurants/bars including outdoor dining areas, state parks, state beaches, state historical sites, and in vehicles when children under 16 are present. Under the law, every employer in Maine must establish, or negotiate through the collective bargaining process, a written smoking policy that complies with Maine law. The policy must then be posted for all employees to see and each employee must be provided with a copy of the policy if requested.
One new buzz phrase in the health industry is “third-hand” smoke. Third-hand smoke is the tobacco smoke contamination or smoke residue that remains after a smoked tobacco product has been extinguished — the toxins that linger on carpets, furniture, clothes, hair and skin long after smoking has ceased. Infants and children are uniquely susceptible to third-hand smoke because they are often held close to hair, clothes and skin.
In Maine, 25 percent of the population uses tobacco products. This means that the majority, or 75 percent, of Mainers do not smoke. Mayberry made the point that this was not about the tobacco user but about the ill effects of tobacco itself.