Indoor smoking bans

More major cities in the United States are have banned indoor smoking than ever before, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency says as of Oct. 2012, 30 of the largest cities in the U.S. are covered by the bans, a dramatic improvement from the year 2000 when San Jose, Calif. was the only large city with comprehensive legislation enacted.

For the report, CDC researchers looked at the 50 largest U.S. cities by population, to see which of them had comprehensive indoor smoking bans on the books. A comprehensive law means it bans smoking in all indoor areas including workplaces, restaurants and bars.

"Communities have made tremendous progress eliminating smoking from worksites and public places in 60 percent of big cities in the United States. Smoke-free laws save lives and don't hurt business, " said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "If we can protect workers and the public in the remaining 20 largest cities, 16 million people would be better protected from cancer and heart disease caused by secondhand smoke."