OVERCOMING A POWERFUL TOBACCO LOBBY IN ENACTING LOCAL SMOKING ORDINANCES - THE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY EXPERIENCE

As part of a comprehensive tobacco education campaign, local health de partments throughout California have been engaged in the process of en acting local clean indoor air ordinances to protect the public from th e effects of secondhand smoke. This paper describes how a Northern Cal ifornia Bay Area health department worked with city and county governm ents to pass ordinances in the face of persistent tobacco industry opp osition. The key strategies used by the health department included org anizing broad-based coalitions, achieving effective use of the media, and educating the business community. Tobacco industry tactics include d establishing local front groups that launched a massive misinformati on campaign to frighten local businesses into believing that passage o f an ordinance would adversely affect their business. Finally, the aut hors discuss how the tobacco industry has created a climate through st ate and national legislative activity to undermine the ability of loca l health departments to pursue effective tobacco control policies, mos t notably through preemptive legislation.