Report: US on track to have smoke-free areas in all 50 states by 2020

All 50 states could have smoke-free worksites, restaurants and bars by 2020 if current trends continue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report.

The projection is based on the rate at which states have been passing laws to protect people from second-hand smoke over the past 10 years. Over that time period, 25 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws banning smoking in all three of those venues; another 10 states ban smoking in one or two of the venues; and eight others have less restrictive laws, such as those allowing smoking only in designated areas or areas with separate ventilation.

"Eliminating smoking from worksites, restaurants and bars is a low-cost, high-impact strategy that will protect nonsmokers and allow them to live healthier, longer, more productive lives while lowering health care costs associated with secondhand smoke," CDC director Thomas Frieden said in a statement accompanying the report. "While there has been a lot of progress over the past decade, far too many Americans continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke at their workplaces, increasing their risk of cancer and heart attacks."

Seven states — Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming — have no restrictions in place.

The American Heart Association greeted the report by urging those states' officials to follow suit.

"We must zero in on those areas that continue to lag despite studies that show smoke-free policies benefit public health and the local economy with lower healthcare costs," said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown. "Elected officials, particularly those in the South, must do more to enact comprehensive smoke-free laws and give citizens a greater opportunity to breathe clean air."

The 2010 Surgeon General's report found that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and that any exposure can lead to immediate damage to the body's organs and DNA. More than half the nation's children over the age of 3 are exposed to second-hand smoke, according to the CDC, and almost 50,000 non-smokers die every year of heart disease or lung cancer as a result.