Each year thousands of tobacco control workers meet at the US National Conference on Tobacco or Health. Eleven years ago, in Boston, the opening plenary of the first meeting was held in the Roxy Hotel. Participants at the session complained of the stench of stale tobacco smoke which lingered in the air from an event on the previous evening.

The most recent meeting, held in May 2005, took place in Chicago, where smoking is still allowed in the lobbies of convention hotels and adjacent bars and clubs. The same complaints heard years ago about Boston were expressed by this year’s attendees. A group of delegates conducted research on the air quality of Chicago bars and restaurants in an effort to urge conference organisers and city leaders to adopt a smoke-free policy. Fifty people were trained in …