Many people believe that smoking ban efforts have to start in communities before moving up to the state level. However, in their community-level study of six Appalachian states, Dr. Ferketich and her co-authors find that only 20 percent of counties had smoking ban laws in place, and that the laws were largely ineffective in reducing smoking in public places. The researchers recommend that attempts to enact clean indoor air laws must be made on a statewide level to work. Their results will be published in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health. You can read more about the study at OSU Research News.