A new statewide law prohibiting smoking at New York playgrounds between sunrise and sunset when children under the age of twelve are present took effect on October 10, 2013. The law aims to protect children from the dangers of toxic chemicals in secondhand smoke.
In recent years, hundreds of counties, cities, towns, and villages in New York State have passed laws or adopted policies to restrict smoking in their municipal parks and/or playgrounds. Nearly all the municipalities in Onondaga County have adopted such policies through Tobacco Free Onondaga County’s Young Lungs at Play initiative. The new law does not prevent local municipalities from adopting anti-smoking policies that are more rigorous than the new statewide law.