Starting this weekend, bars and restaurants across North Carolina is all set to become smoke-free, which would make it the first state in the southeast to take this step, as has been confirmed by US health officials.

The law, which will be effective Saturday, does not, however, prohibit smoking in places such as private workplaces, which has prevented the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from including the Tar Hell State in its list of regions which have a 100% ban on smoking across all workplaces, bars and restaurants.

As confirmed by the CDC's State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation System, as many as 22 states currently have 100% smoke-free workplaces, restaurants and bars.

CDC officials have share that as many as 46,000 heart attacks and 3,400 cases of lung cancer deaths every year are caused by secondhand smoke, which makes it important for officials to introduce such laws. Over 126 million non-smokers across US are exposed to secondhand smoke, which is very harmful for their systems.

In Michigan, laws banning smoking at workplaces, bars and restaurants will be effective starting May 2010, and Wisconsin will place the ban starting July 5 of next year.