It looks like voters in Kirkwood will decide whether to ban smoking in their community. The Kirkwood City Council recently voted to put the issue on the November 3 ballot. The proposal would ban smoking in indoor public places, but does make exceptions for retail tobacco stores and hotel rooms that are designated as smoking rooms.
The St. Louis County Council is also planning to put a similar, county-wide smoking ban on the ballot in November. The County Council's version of the ban would exempt casinos. I'd like to know what you think about these proposals. Are smoking bans needed to protect the public's health or do they harm small businesses? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Comments
Be careful of the fine print on the ballot. The tax exempt American Cancer Society tricked the voters of Ohio into voting for a ban with exemptions, only to have them removed AFTER they were voter approved. If they got away with it once, you know they’ll do it again. “Thank you American Cancer Society, we never knew all you do” The private vets clubs of Ohio who thought they were exempt according to the ballot learned what they do. I’m sure they are remembering them with with their donations and estate plans.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/04/30/smoking.html
David
The answer to your question is not an easy one. This is a difficult complicated issue. You should read the research yourself. The issue is clouded by the fact that Big Tobacco and Big Pharma fund most of the research. What I’ve found amounts to this – very little of the research shows any correlation to the health issues. Even the studies that did show a positive corelation to illness were usually small sample studies. Smoking is not healthy, but it takes a smoker a minimum of 20 years to be at risk to contract illness.
The economic studies fall into two categories – those done by economist that those done by public health advocates. Studies done by economist show harm and those done by public health advocates show they don’t.
First let me say….I am a smoker. Tried to quit many times and have not been successful. I had bladder cancer 6yrs ago. I am a survivor!! The causes of bladder cancer…1. smoking 2. industrial manufacturing 2. people that are in the hair salon industry. I worked for a manufacturing company in 1992 till 1999. A lot of times my urine smelled like the factory. I truely believe that is how I developed bladder cancer. I brought up the problem with the odor in our plant. NOTHING was done. Since, there have been many people that have passed that worked there. After the government elemimates smoking in public places….will they turn to the factors that cause cancer? Teflon on our cooking pans, plastic bottles and the list goes on. We all know they won’t. I have been to alot of resturants that have a great exhaust system. I believe the government is stepping into too much of our lives. It’s a person’s choice.