A coalition of health care agencies wants the Legislature to pass smokefree laws to protect Oklahomans from second-hand smoke.
Officials from the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society said Thursday that second-hand smoke from cigarettes and other tobacco products causes heart disease and cancer.
Lawmakers placed restrictions on smoking in public places in 2003. But the state's law exempts barrooms and allows smoking in ventilated areas.
Legislation that would have banned smoking in bars and other public places died on the Senate floor earlier this year.
Cynthia Hallett, executive director of the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, says big tobacco companies oppose smokefree laws. Hallett says some lounge operators claim smokefree laws could have negative economic consequences.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
