Salt Lake City airport’s smoking areas don’t protect non-smokers

 As Shane Lenz, of Tooele, puffs a cigarette before flying to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, he explains why he likes the special smoking rooms at Salt Lake City International Airport — especially since almost all other airports nationally totally ban smoking indoors.

"The findings in today’s report further confirm that ventilated smoking lounges and designated smoking areas are not effective," said Tim McAfee, director of CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health. "Prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas is the only effective way to fully eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke."

The CDC study found that at the five large hub airports in America that still allow some smoking — in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Denver, Atlanta and Washington Dulles — air pollution levels caused by secondhand smoke are five times higher than in airports that ban smoking. Inside designated smoking areas, the pollution levels average 23 times higher.

The CDC noted that while Utah law bans smoking in indoor workplaces and public areas, the law specifically exempts Salt Lake City International Airport. It even bans smoking at smaller airport terminals in the state.