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Information on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Controls

Health:

Hundreds of authorities and entities worldwide agree that secondhand tobacco smoke is a health hazard and that the evidence is sufficient to warrant action. Among these authorities: the National Cancer Institute, US EPA, US Surgeon General, National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization, AMA, Cancer, Heart, and Lung associations, courts and governments around the world (including the New Jersey Assembly), and tens of thousands of proprietors of workplaces and public places throughout the nation. The basic human health need to breathe unpolluted air takes precedence according to these authorities and decision makers.

Safety:

Fires started by cigarettes are the leading cause of fire death in the United States. Smoking and ETS also increase accidents and occupational hazards.

Population:

84% of New Jersey adults are nonsmokers.

Public Opinion:

Repeated studies show that almost all nonsmokers and the majority of people who smoke support secondhand smoke controls. A statewide, scientific poll conducted in March 2000 by the Eagleton Institute found that 83% of all New Jerseyans (smokers and nonsmokers) want smokefree workplaces and 67% want restaurants to be smokefree.

Proliferation in the USA:

Hundreds of cities and counties throughout the USA and more than 50% of states have strong smokefree air laws.

Experience with local NJ smokefree workplace legislation and policies, pre-2006 NJ SFAA

Highland Park enacted smokefree workplaces and public places legislation in 1996. Secaucus, Lawrence Township, and Marlboro enacted partial smokefree restaurant ordinances in the mid 1990s. Glassboro enacted a 100% smokefree restaurant ordinance in 1999, Linwood eliminated smoking in restaurants in 2000, Pitman made restaurants and public places smokefree in 2000. Most large employers and hundreds of small employers had adopted smokefree policies. All the major malls were smokefree. More than a thousand restaurants (not counting chains and fast-food) were smokefree; many of them with bars.

 

The 2006 NJ SFAA requires all workplaces and public places be smokefree, with a few exceptions, including casino gaming floors.

Economics:

Numerous scientific studies, based on the tax returns of restaurants and bars and tourism statistics, show no loss of income (and, in some places, increased profits) when municipalities enact smokefree air laws, even where neighboring communities have no legislation (patrons could go to the next town).

Restaurants and bars:

Eating and drinking establishments need to be included in smokefree air laws because they are among the most smoke-polluted places; restaurants are the most frequented public places; and employees in these workplaces deserve protection as much as any other employees; many employees are teenagers and/or people with no health insurance.

Ventilation:

ASHRAE standards for indoor air/ventilation have long recognized there are no thresholds for safe exposure to ETS. In the words of James Repace, internationally recognized expert on ETS and ventilation, to eliminate the hazards of ETS by ventilating would require turning public places into veritable windtunnels.

Common sense arguments

Smoking is optional, breathing isn't.

Everyone, especially children, needs to live in a world of smokefree environments so educational teachings and public health messages to live a smokefree life will be reinforced by example and common practice.

Responses to opponents' charges

It's not fair to tell smokers they can't go to restaurants and bars. Smokers can go anywhere, they just can't smoke everywhere.

Smoking is an adult freedom of choice. Freedom is a strange word for addiction. Choice is an inaccurate description of smoking; almost all smokers started in childhood, were overwhelmed by billions of dollars of tobacco marketing (which made an informed choice impossible), were too young to make a life-and-death choice, and continue smoking because of addiction. Indeed, most adult smokers say they wish they could quit.

Tobacco is a legal product. If tobacco were a new product, it would not be allowed into commerce today, given what is known about it. Tobacco is really a quasi-legal product. Special licenses are required to sell it. It can't be advertised on the airwaves or large billboards. It's illegal to sell to minors. Its use is prohibited in many public places. It's more accurate to describe tobacco as a dangerous, controlled substance like alcohol and firearms. Indeed, the federal government groups them together in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Restaurants and bars are private places; let the owners decide; patrons can just go to another restaurant or bar. Restaurants and bars are places of public accommodation, licensed to serve everyone and must meet minimum health standards and anti-discrimination laws.

I need to allow smoking to make a profit. Once upon a time factory owners said they needed child labor and cotton growers said they needed slave labor to make a profit.

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updated January 28, 2010