Grassroots movement building and preemption in the campaign for residential fire sprinklers.

Home fires account for 85% of fire deaths in the United States, the majority in 1- or 2-family homes lacking fire sprinklers. Since 1978, however, a grassroots movement has successfully promoted more than 360 local ordinances mandating sprinklers in all new residential construction, including 1- and 2-family homes. The homebuilding industry has responded by seeking state preemption of local authority, a strategy previously used by other industries concerned about protecting their profits.

The impact of state preemption of local smoking restrictions on public health protections and changes in social norms.

Introduction: Preemption is a legislative or judicial arrangement in which a higher level of government precludes lower levels of government from exercising authority over a topic. In the area of smoke-free policy, preemption typically takes the form of a state law that prevents communities from adopting local smoking restrictions.

Background: A broad consensus exists among tobacco control practitioners that preemption adversely impacts tobacco control efforts.

Clean indoor air in El Paso, Texas: a case study.

Background: Exposure to secondhand smoke is an important preventable cause of illness and death. A Smoke-Free Paso del Norte Coalition in El Paso, Texas, led a drive to introduce an ordinance to protect nonsmoking persons from the health effects of secondhand smoke in public places. The ordinance was introduced in April 2001 and was passed on June 26, 2001.

Application of a rating system to state clean indoor air laws (USA).

Objective: To develop and implement a system for rating state clean indoor air laws.

Design: The public health interest of state clean indoor air laws is to limit non-smoker exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Current estimates of health risks and methods available for controlling ETS provided a framework for devising a ratings scale.

State laws on youth access to tobacco in the United States: measuring their extensiveness with a new rating system.

Objective: To develop and implement a rating system evaluating the extensiveness of state laws restricting youth access to tobacco.

Design: State laws on youth access to tobacco were analysed and assigned ratings on nine items. Six items addressed specific tobacco-control provisions, and three related to enforcement provisions.