U.S. to widen smoking ban on federal property

WASHINGTON (Reuter) President Clinton plans to sign an
executive order this week imposing the broadest smoking ban on
federal property ever enacted, the Washington Post reported in
Tuesday editions.
The newspaper quoted unnamed administration officials as
saying that Clinton's order would set a standard policy across
the government and extend existing prohibitions to places
currently exempt, such as military officers' clubs.
In addition, it would ban people from lighting up their
cigarettes outside federal office building entrances.
``It's become clearer and clearer that this is a significant
health risk, and we wanted a uniform government policy that
brings all the agencies up to that level,'' one administration
official, who declined to be named, told the Post.
The U.S. military and many federal agencies already restrict
smoking in their facilities, but the presidential order would
ban smoking in virtually every executivebranch building owned
or leased by the federal government and forbid outdoor smoking
in courtyards and near building entrances, according to the
newspaper report.
The only exceptions would be rooms with separate ventilation
systems to the outside, residential units such as military
barracks, and some other narrow areas such as in ``undercover,
miltary or diplomatic situations that are essential to
accomplish agency missions,'' the paper said.
The order would give agency managers a year to conform to
the new standards, the Post said.