101-Staff Report.pdf
PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
CITY HALL
10 10UPERTINO, CA 95014-3255
TELEPHONE: (408) 777-3110 www.cupertino.org
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting: May 3, 2011
Subject
Consider an Ordinance adopting Chapter 10.90 of the Municipal Code to regulate smoking in
recreational areas.
Recommended Action
Conduct the first reading of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Cupertino adopting
Chapter 10.90 of the City Municipal Code to prohibit smoking and tobacco use in recreational areas.
Description
Good health is important to Cupertino residents and businesses. One of the outcomes for the
recreation areas smoking and tobacco free is a positive step in making these popular outdoor public
areas healthier.
San Jose, Milpitas, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, and County of Santa Clara have adopted ordinances
restricting smoking in recreational areas. Campbell and Los Gatos are considering adopting a ban on
smoking in recreational areas.
Discussion
On January 10, 2011 the City entered into an agreement with the County of Santa Clara for the
purpose of preventing tobacco use. The agreement was a conduit for which the City is eligible to
receive $23,387 in grant funds from the Centers for Disease Control. If the Council approves the
proposed amendment to the City ordinances, this grant will help the City to implement a city anti-
smoking and tobacco use policy in recreation areas.
Currently there is a State law that prohibits smoking near playgrounds and tot lots used by children
(California Health & Safety Code section 104495). The law applies only to parks designed
specifically for use by children and does not apply to smokeless tobacco products. State Law also
prohibits smoking within 20 feet of public buildings.
Enacting restrictions on smoking and tobacco use in addition to state minimums are supported by the
data showing that tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in the United
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states, accounting for about 443,000 deaths each year; and scientific studies have concluded
that tobacco use can cause chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, in addition to
3
cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, and mouth. These adverse affects are not limited to the
user of tobacco products.
4
The U.S. Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke,
and the California Air Resources Board placed secondhand smoke in the same category
1
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Targeting Tobacco
. 2008, p. 2. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/pdf/osh.pdf.
2
-
Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses United States, 2000-
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 57(45): 1226-1228, 2008. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm.
3
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Targeting Tobacco
. 2008, p. 2. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/pdf/osh.pdf.
4
US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General. The Health Consequences of
Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. 2007. Report highlights available at:
www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/factsheets/factsheet7.html.
as the most toxic automotive and industrial air pollutants by categorizing it as a toxic air
5
contaminant for which there is no safe level of exposure. The California Environmental
Protection Agency included secondhand smoke on the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to
6
the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. In fact,
secondhand smoke is responsible for as many as 73,000 deaths among nonsmokers each year in
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the United States, and exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart
8
disease by approximately thirty percent. These harmful effects are especially troublesome for
children in that secondhand smoke exposure causes lower respiratory tract infections, such as
pneumonia and bronchitis in as many as 300,000 children in the United States under the age of
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18 months each year, in addition to exacerbating childhood asthma.
It is also important to note that levels of secondhand smoke exposure outdoors can reach levels
attained indoors depending on direction and amount of wind and number and proximity of
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smokers. The irritation from secondhand smoke begins at levels as low as 4 micrograms per
cubic meter, and in some outdoor situations this level can be found as far away as 13 feet from
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the burning cigarette. To be completely free from exposure to secondhand smoke in outdoor
places, a person may have to move nearly 25 feet away from the source of the smoke, about the
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width of a two lane road.
5
Resolution 06-01, Cal. Air Resources Bd. (2006) at 5. Available at: www.arb.ca.gov/regact/ets2006/res0601.pdf;
See California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board. News Release, California Identifies
Jan. 26, 2006. Available at:
www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr012606.htm.
6
California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Chemicals
Known to the State to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity. 2006, p. 8 & 17. Available at:
www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/prop65_list/files/P65single081106.pdf.
7
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fact Sheet
Secondhand Smoke. 2006. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm.
8
Circulation, 111: 2684-2698, 2005. Available at: www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/111/20/2684.
9
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Targeting Tobacco
f Preventable Death. 2008, p. 2. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/pdf/osh.pdf.
10
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fact Sheet
Secondhand Smoke. 2006. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm.
11
Klepeis NE, Ott WR, and Switzer P. Real-Time Monitoring of Outdoor Environmental Tobacco Smoke
Concentrations: A Pilot Study. San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University,
2004, p. 34, 80. Available at: http://exposurescience.org/pub/reports/Outdoor_ETS_Final.pdf; See also Klepeis
-Journal of Air and
Waste Management Association, 57: 522-534, 2007. Available at:
www.ashaust.org.au/pdfs/OutdoorSHS0705.pdf.
12
Junker MH, Danuser B, Monn C, et al. f Nonsmokers at Very Low Environmental
Environmental Health Perspectives, 109(10):
1046-1052, 2001. Available at: www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1242082&blobtype=pdf;
-Free Regulations in Outdoor Settings: Beaches, Golf Courses, Parks, Patios, and
William Mitchell Law Review, 34(4): 1621-1638, 2008. Available at:
http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/site/supersite/contact/pdfs/WilliamMitchellRepace.pdf.
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-Free Regulations in Outdoor Settings: Beaches, Golf Courses, Parks, Patios, and
William Mitchell Law Review, 34(4): 1621-1638, 2008. Available at:
While the effects of smoking and second hand smoke are harmful, the implications of using
smokeless tobacco are equally concerning and should be addressed. Smokeless tobacco use causes
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cancerous, and smokeless tobacco products are known to cause lung, larynx, esophageal, and
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oral cancer. Additionally,
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disease and death.
While smoking and tobacco use have many adverse effects, the litter associated with
smoking and tobacco product use also poses a health threat to young children. In 2004, American
poison control centers received nearly 8,000 reports of children poisoned by the ingestion of
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cigarettes, cigarette butts, and other tobacco products. Children who ingest cigarette butts can
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experience vomiting, nausea, lethargy, and gagging. Cigarette butts are also a major and
persistent source of litter. It is estimated that over two billion cigarette butts are discarded every
day worldwide, and that Americans alone discard more than 175 million pounds of cigarette
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butts every year. Cigarette filters, made of plastic cellulose acetate, take approximately 15
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years to decompose. In just three hours, 340,000 cigarette butts were collected from California
beaches during the 2008 Coastal Cleanup Day, making cigarette butts the most common type of
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trash found 24 years in a row. Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of birds, fish,
whales, and other marine creatures that have mistaken the filters for food, causing the animals to
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ingest harmful plastic and toxic chemicals Los Angeles County recorded a 40% decrease in
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cigarette butts after banning smoking on beaches in three cities.
http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/site/supersite/contact/pdfs/WilliamMitchellRepace.pdf.
14
National Cancer Institute. Smokeless Tobacco and Cancer: Questions and Answers. 2003, p. 2. Available at:
www.smokefree.gov/Docs2/SmokelessTobacco_Q&A.pdf.
15
US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Targeting Tobacco
. 2008, p. 2. Available at:
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/pdf/osh.pdf.
16
Nicotine and
Tobacco Research, 1(1): 21-44, 1999.
17
American Association of Poison Control Centers. 2004 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison
Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. Elsevier Inc., 2004, p. 645. Available at:
www.poison.org/prevent/documents/TESS%20Annual%20Report%202004.pdf.
18
Cigarettes and Cigarette Butts by Children Rhode Island, January 1994-Morbidity and Mortality
Weekly Report, 46(06): 125-128, 1997. Available at: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046181.htm.
19
Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Chapter, Hold on to Your Butt, www.surfridersd.org/hotyb.php.
20
Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Chapter, Hold on to Your Butt, www.surfridersd.org/hotyb.php.
21th
California Coastal Commission. Press Release: California Finds Silver Lining at the 25 Annual California
Coastal Cleanup Day. Nov. 30, 2009. Available at: www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/11.30.09.pressrelease.pdf.
22
Surfrider Foundation, Cigarette Butt Litter. Available at: www.surfrider.org/a-z/cig_but.php.
23
Volunteers Comb Coast: Annual Cleanup Turns Up Tons of Trash, Which Generates Helpful
DataSan Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 17, 2006. Available at: www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060917-
9999-2m17cleanup.html.
The vast amount of data supporting the adverse health risks, as well as threats to the
environment, also demonstrates the high cost of smoking and tobacco use. The total annual
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economic burden of smoking in the United States is $193 billion, and the total annual cost of
smoking in California was estimated at $475 per resident or $3,331 per smoker per year, for a
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total of nearly $15.8 billion in smoking-related costs in 1999 alone.
In an attempt to protect the public health, safety and welfare the proposed ordinance would prohibit
smoking and use of tobacco products in all City recreational areas.
Sustainability Impact
Smoke and tobacco free recreational areas help reduce litter as well as the air pollution. Smoke free
recreational areas also reduce the risk of a serious wildfire in local parks.
Fiscal Impact
The grant from the Centers for Disease Control will provide funds to implement the smoke and
tobacco free recreational areas policy. These funds will be used to pay for any new signs for the
parks as well as informational/educational material regarding the new policy.
Prepared by: Teresa Zueger and Mark Linder
Reviewed by: Donna Henriques
Approved for Submission by: David W. Knapp, City Manager
Attachments:
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. News Release, Slightly Lower Adult Smoking Rates. 2008. Available
at: www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2008/r081113.htm.
25
Max W, Rice DP, Zhang X, et al. The Cost of Smoking in California, 1999. Sacramento, CA: Tobacco Control
Section, California Department of Health Services, 2002, p. 74. Available at:
http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=ctcre.