Texas Border Business
Mission, TX (June 28, 2016) – Mission city council voted unanimously Monday to approve an ordinance that would prohibit smoking in workplaces, protecting everyone’s right to breathe smoke-free air on the job.
“With this ordinance, Mission becomes the 52nd city in Texas and 6th in the Rio Grande Valley to protect the health and safety of all workers and residents,” said Charlie Gagen, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network grassroots manager, “The 81,000 city residents, plus the visitors and workers who come to town, will enjoy clean indoor air thanks to the actions of the city council.”
Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 69 carcinogens. The U.S. Surgeon General found that secondhand smoke is a proven cause of lung cancer, heart disease and serious respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome.
Other Texas cities that have enacted smoke-free ordinances include: Alton, Edinburg, Pharr, Harlingen, Brownsville, El Paso, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and College Station. Those cities have reported no negative effects to their economy, and one has reported an increase in business as people from other towns come to enjoy the clean indoor air provided by the ordinance.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, Tobacco Prevention Control Coalition, Smoke-Free Mission, and Mission residents worked together and with the city council to pass this ordinance and improve the public health & quality of life for the citizens of Mission and greater RGV.
