Butler City Council made a decision this week that could make residents breathe a little more easily — literally.

On Thursday, the council voted in favor of making Butler's parks and playgrounds tobacco and nicotine-free zones. As a result, the policy will be forwarded to the state's Department of Health, which will add the city to its honor roll for the move.

It's well deserved.

In recent years, cities across the nation have taken up stricter smoking laws, which have been met with applause by some and derision by others. Questions have been raised about whether legislating health choices is a good idea.

In the case of Butler's decision, it is.

A 2014 report from the U.S. surgeon general estimated that secondhand smoke causes about 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease annually. Between 1964 and 2014, about 2.5 million people died from exposure to secondhand smoke.

Even more unsettling is this statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: about four out of 10 U.S. children between the ages of 3 and 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke.

In other words, a disturbing percentage of U.S. children — and most likely, at least some in our communities — are being exposed to a dangerous health threat that could be prevented.

On top of that, part of the Pittsburgh region was the only location in the United States Thursday to have a Code Orange air quality alert. Such an alert means that higher concentrations of fine particulates in the air could pose risks to children, the elderly and persons with various ailments.

And in an annual air quality report last year by the American Lung Association, the Pittsburgh region was ranked seventh worst in the nation for year-round particle pollution.

So, if Butler council's vote even goes a small way toward improving air quality at sites where children tend to gather, it will be worth it.

Some concern was expressed at the council's meeting that the policy would be difficult to enforce — and council members said it wouldn't be a top enforcement issue for police. But despite that, we agree with Councilman Bob Dandoy that the policy might still deter people visiting parks and playgrounds from smoking in the vicinity.

We hope this is the case, and that Butler residents observe and follow the rules. The city council did the right thing.

— NCD