This Tobacco Company Is Banning In-Office Smoking

Here's a little bit of irony for you. Reynolds American Inc., America's second-largest tobacco company and manufacturer of Camel, is banning indoor smoking in areas other than outdoors or its designated smoking vicinities. Because, you know, second-hand smoke and cancer, or whatever.

The company announced that starting in 2015, employees will no longer be allowed to smoke cigarettes, cigars, or pipes at their desks, or anywhere else in the office, for that matter. Nicotine gum-chewing, snuff, and e-cigs will still be permissible when the ban goes into effect next year. Eclipse cigarettes, which have been controversially marketed as a “safer” cigarette, will also be permitted (an explainer video about how these work can be watched here).

The company is apparently allowing its current indoor smoking policy to continue until it breaks ground on new indoor smoking structures for its employees (how thoughtful). According to the Center for Disease Control, the percentage of Reynolds employee smokers falls in line with the national average of 18 percent.

According to the AP, Reynolds spokesman David Howard had this to say about the decision to ban smoking: "We believe it's the right thing to do and the right time to do it because updating our tobacco use policies will better accommodate both non-smokers and smokers who work in and visit our facilities. We're just better aligning our tobacco use policies with the realities of what you're seeing in society today."

A gold star to Reynolds for good behavior.

Image: Giphy