Across the United States and around the world, people are speaking up for their right to breathe clean, smoke-free air, free of the proven dangers of secondhand smoke. The result has been a surge in the number of laws that require all workplaces and public places to be smoke-free. It’s time for every state and community to pass strong smoke-free laws that protect everyone from secondhand smoke. In the U.S., 13 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico have now enacted strong smoke-free laws that include restaurants and bars. The states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington (the Colorado law takes effect July 1, the DC law extends to bars on January 2, 2007, and the Montana and Utah laws extend to bars in 2009). Two other states – Florida and Idaho – have smoke-free laws that exempt only stand-alone bars. Hundreds of cities and counties across the country have also taken action, as have whole countries including Ireland, England, Uruguay, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Italy and Bhutan. Secondhand smoke isn't just annoying. It's scientifically proven to cause lung cancer, heart disease, and serious respiratory illnesses and is responsible nationally for thousands of deaths each year. Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and 69 known carcinogens including formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, benzene and radioactive polonium 210. The evidence is growing all the time of the harm caused by secondhand smoke: A study published June 2005 in the online journal BMC Pediatrics found that a pregnant woman's exposure to secondhand smoke can be just as harmful to her fetus - causing permanent genetic mutations - as if the woman herself was a smoker. A January 2005 study in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that exposure to secondhand smoke harms children's mental development, reducing kids' scores on math, reading and spatial skills tests. The CDC has advised persons with heart disease to avoid indoor settings where smoking is allowed because of scientific evidence that even short-term exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger harmful cardiovascular changes that increase the risk of heart attacks. The evidence is overwhelming that smoke-free laws protect health without harming business. Dozens of studies and hard economic data have shown that smoke-free laws do not harm sales or employment in restaurants and bars and may even have a positive impact. Some of the strongest evidence comes from New York City, where a report found that, in the year after the city's comprehensive smoke-free law took effect March 30, 2003, business receipts for restaurants and bars increased, employment rose, the number of liquor licenses increased, virtually all establishments are complying with the law, and the vast majority of New Yorkers support the law. There is also growing evidence that smoke-free laws can save money. A study released in August 2005 by the Society of Actuaries found that secondhand smoke costs our country $10 billion a year in health care bills, lost wages and other costs.