Since 2004 more and more countries are asking smokers to take it outside. In a perspective to be released tomorrow, The New England Journal of Medicine reports national indoor smoke-free policies reinforce the paradigm shift that smoking is a nasty, stinky habit that leads nowhere glamorous.

It's about time, if you ask me.

"In short, the world has begun to reclaim clean air as the social norm," write Gregory Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Public Health at HSPH, and Luk Joossens of the Association of European Cancer Leagues. "For too long, the tobacco industry has spent billions to normalize, market, and glamorize a behavior that is now recognized as a tragic drug addiction."

In 2003, the World Health Organization pushed for a global indoor smoke-free commitment - it's been ratified by 145 countries. Canada signed the treaty and began to implement national policies in 2004. The United States has signed but no federal commitment yet - only 17 states are officially smoke-free.

We Nomadik Fanatiks believe any minute spent outdoors is a good minute, but when you've gotta be inside, clean air shouldn't be a privilege.

Earth Day is less than 2 weeks away, and if you've been looking for a date to quit, consider this your shove. Get healthy and get powerful - it's the only way our Earth will survive the next millennium.

 Want your thoughts to be heard on smoking bans? Hop over to this post and weigh in with the blogosphere.
 

Julia Rosien,
Nomadik Editor