Smoking in Lexington is now confined to outside or at home

The authorities in Lexington - the second largest city in Kentucky, a leading tobacco-producing state - have prohibited smoking in public places.

The move was approved on Tuesday, in the city which has the highest percentage of adult smokers in the United States.

Although many residents are angry as a result, officials are considering similar moves in other parts of the state.

Following the lead of large, cosmopolitan areas such as New York City and California, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council banned smoking in public buildings.

These include including restaurants, bars and - perhaps most importantly in an area renowned for horse-breeding - racetracks.

Lunacy?

The ban is designed to protect people from second-hand smoke - inhaling others' cigarette smoke.

The smoker's privilege to light up in public ends when it reaches the next person's lungs Marilyn Peterson

But in a city where 31% of adults smoke - compared to just 23% nationally - many residents are fuming.

"I'm 85, have not seen a doctor for at least 18 years and smoke at least a pack of cigarettes daily. I would appreciate it if they would prove that my second-hand smoke has harmed anyone," Mable Smart wrote in a letter published by the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper.

Another reader, Len Jozunas, finds it "disingenuous" that the move should be touted as a public health measure "when the evidence is far from conclusive".

And according to Lexington resident James Kane: "The Urban County Council's vote for the smoking ban proves to me the patients have taken over the asylum.

"The council is trying to legislate behaviour instead of letting common sense rule and let the 'butt Nazis' vote with their spending dollars."

Breathing free

However some Herald-Leader readers applaud the ban.

"The smoker's privilege to light up in public ends when it reaches the next person's lungs," writes Marilyn Peterson.

And other local authorities in Kentucky are thinking of following Lexington's lead.

The public health director for Boyle County told the Herald-Leader that he would propose a similar ban in his area.

"If they can do it in Lexington, there's no reason it can't be done here," he said.