Reply #64: Dangers of second-hand smoke [View All]

[kwassa]

Also from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/03/AR2006070300914_pf.html


Throw Out the Ashtrays
The case for bar and restaurant smoking bans gets even stronger.

Tuesday, July 4, 2006; A14

LAST WEEK the surgeon general's office issued its first exhaustive report in 20 years on the dangers of inhaling your date's cigarette fumes. The study confirmed everything we already knew and a lot of what we previously thought about secondhand smoke. It causes lung cancer and coronary heart disease -- those regularly exposed have up to a 30 percent higher chance of getting either of these terminal illnesses. Pregnant waitresses or bartenders working smoke-filled shifts can expect their babies to weigh less at birth. And cigarette smoke -- whether exhaled or snaking off a smoldering butt -- is plain unpleasant, triggering nasal irritation.

The report also concluded that air-cleaning appliances and separate indoor ventilation systems for smoking and nonsmoking areas can't protect patrons from secondhand smoke. Smoking bans in restaurants and bars, on the other hand, significantly reduce or eliminate the problem. Even when enforcement is lax, the study says that exposure to harmful particulates and chemicals is "several orders of magnitude" lower in regions that have bans in place than those that don't.

(jump)

Cue the hospitality industry screaming that smoking bans will hurt -- even destroy -- local businesses. But the evidence isn't on the side of bar and restaurant owners, either. In fact, the report indicates that people were more likely to go out to bars and restaurants after cities and states enacted tough anti-smoking laws.

(more at this site)