We say that it's about time that smoking will be banned at Beltzville State Park starting on Memorial Day, opening day at the park. Beltzville is one of 16 additional beaches added to the state's pilot program to ban smoking, and it will bring the total to 39 of the 54 swimming beaches within Pennsylvania's state parks.

Although smoking will be banned on the beach itself, there will be a designated smoking area nearby.Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the inclusion of Beltzville is in line with the state parks' primary mission, which is to provide opportunities for enjoying healthful outdoor recreation for thousands of visitors every year.Who wants to smell cigarette smoke, or, even worse, cigar smoke, while lounging on the Beltzville beach on a warm sunny day?Dunn said the department has gotten tremendously positive feedback from visitors for improving air quality and reducing cigarette-butt litter. Other local beaches which will benefit from the no-smoking ban are at Tobyhanna in Monroe County and Tuscarora in Schuylkill County. In addition, Hickory Run in Luzerne County and Promised Land in Pike County are on the list.Among parks that already had smoke-free beaches were Gouldsboro in Monroe and Ricketts Glen in Luzerne.The restrictions apply to cigarettes, cigars, pipes and e-cigarettes. Dunn said the department's intent is to instruct the public by installing tobacco-disposal units and publicizing the ban through signs and support groups. In keeping with the educational theme, violators will not be cited, but, if they refuse to stop tobacco use after being ordered to do so, they will be asked to leave the park.Many area municipalities ban tobacco use at their pools or public parks, and since the adoption of the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008, smokers have become personae not grata in public places and in the workplace. Outdoor areas aren't covered by the law, but many government agencies, hospitals, colleges, schools and businesses have made their entire properties smoke-free facilities.One of the most positive public health trends of the past decade is the rapid acceptance and adoption of public smoking bans. These bans are intended to reduce the effects of smoking on the general population, including complications related to secondhand smoke.We are encouraged by how quickly these laws have been adopted. More than half of the states have smoke-free laws, and almost half of the U.S. residents are covered by state or local smoke-free laws, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is hopeful that these bans might cover 100 percent of the country by 2020.Researchers said that the three most effective changes that dropped smoking rates in the country from 45 percent in the 1960s to less than 20 percent today are: smoke-free worksites, increased prices of cigarettes and aggressive anti-tobacco media campaigns.Dr. Mark L. Steinberg, a researcher at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said it is clear that community and state smoking bans positively impact health, calling them a "terrific public health policy, because they work on multiple levels."These bans reduce environmental fallout from tobacco, or secondhand smoke exposure; they send the unmistakable message that smoking is unacceptable, exactly the message we need to be sending to our children to discourage the next generation of potential smokers, and they make it easier for smokers who want to quit. When smoking is less convenient, smokers who are ambivalent about quitting become more motivated to do so.Smokers who visit Beltzville and other state parks may complain about the inconvenience of the newly instituted ban, but there is little doubt that everyone benefits, and we commend the state for extending this program to our area. We strongly recommend that the entire state park system become smoke-free, and we also recommend that park patrons respect this ban and abide by its provisions.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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