The air is about to get cleaner around playgrounds in all state parks, including Moraine State Park.

The state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on Friday announced a ban on the use of all tobacco products within 30 feet of playgrounds in state parks. The ban includes all forms of tobacco, e-cigarettes and vaping.

The DCNR is enacting the ban as a part of the Department of Health's “Young Lungs at Play” program.

“State parks (are) doing their part to take part in that to promote healthy air around playground areas,” said Dustin Drew, Moraine State Park manager.

The ban is an extension of a policy the DCNR adopted a few years ago prohibiting tobacco use at swimming beaches in state parks.

“This is a further expansion of that,” Drew said. “We did the beaches one at a time to roll it out. We got a lot of positive feedback. It's a nice progressive pattern to expand it to playground areas.”

He said most playgrounds are near beaches, where designated smoking areas have been placed close enough to allow parents to keep an eye on their children.

The DCNR has implemented smoking controls at 44 of its 54 swimming beaches at state parks throughout the state. Smoking is not permitted at state park pools.

Park visitors occasionally complain about people smoking, Drew said.

The state park playground ban eliminates children's exposure to secondhand smoke at 135 locations in the state's 121 parks. Notification signs will be installed by Memorial Day.

A “Young Lungs at Play” representative pitched the program to Butler City Council at a meeting in January. Council approved a policy banning tobacco use at city parks and playgrounds.

“The smoking-nonsmoking issue is a challenge. You're taking the right of one person away from them for the benefit of another person, but other people have the right not to be around smoke,” said city Councilman Jeff Smith. “You really need to err on the side of the person (who) is being impacted by another person's actions. Eliminating smoking in the parks benefits people who don't want to be around it.”

Municipalities that adopt anti-tobacco policies receive signs to post at parks and playgrounds, and have their names added to a Department of Health honor roll.

As of this past fall, more than 1,150 communities across the state have adopted outdoor tobacco-free policies at parks, zoos, athletic fields, playgrounds, trails and even city sidewalks and streets, including 28 areas in Butler listed on the department's honor roll.

Katie Hartman, of Adagio Health Inc., one of eight regional contractors that provide tobacco use prevention and cessation activities, including the Young Lungs at Play program, said the ban is intended to protect children.

She said secondhand smoke causes 38,000 deaths and one million child illnesses per year in the country.

“We're very excited about it. We've been working with state parks for a while. We're doing everything we can to protect children,” Hartman said.

Claims that the vapor exhaled while vaping is water vapor is a myth because it contains nicotine, formaldehyde and other cancer-causing chemicals, she said.

Eliminating cigarette smoking results in cleaner air and keeps cigarette butts off the ground. Butts are litter and choking hazards for children, she said.

“We just want to make sure all parks are about cleaner air and healthy activity, and smoking just doesn't fit in there,” Hartman said.

Efforts to convince more municipalities to adopt the ban in their parks are ongoing.

“We're still reaching out to municipalities and cities for their parks. It's a process,” Hartman said.

The Young Lungs at Play initiative is funded through the Department of Health and the American Lung Association.