JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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To estimate the extent of exposure of the US population to environmental tobacco smoke and the contribution of the home and workplace environment to environmental tobacco smoke exposure. ⋯ The high proportion of the population with detectable serum cotinine levels indicates widespread exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in the US population. Both the home and workplace environments significantly contribute to environmental tobacco smoke exposure in the United States.
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In 1994, Baltimore, Md, became the first city to generally prohibit billboards from displaying alcohol and tobacco advertisements. The owner of most of Baltimore's billboards, Penn Advertising, sued, but the federal district court rejected the billboard company's complaint and ruled that the First Amendment had not been violated and that the federal cigarette labeling acts had not preempted the ability of Baltimore to regulate and prohibit billboard cigarette advertising. ⋯ States and municipalities command broad authority to protect children and to shield the public from intrusive forms of advertisement that inflict their messages on a captive audience. A billboard ban thus offers local communities a legal avenue to help curb the rising tide of juvenile smoking without raising taxes, creating bureaucracy or angering smokers.