Ban praised
Two years ago, bar and restaurant owners put on their best Chicken Little impression, warning anyone who would listen that banning smoking indoors at public places would spell certain disaster. Yet, lo and behold, Pennsylvania’s indoor smoking ban hits the two-year mark tomorrow and the sky hasn’t fallen.
The Clean Indoor Air Act, which was passed because of the dangers of secondhand smoke, hasn’t led the state’s smokers to stop going out to eat and drink, as critics had warned. In fact, there’s no evidence that it has changed where the state’s smokers eat and drink. It has, by all accounts, been a major success. The act has improved public health by limiting exposure to secondhand smoke and also means countless Pennsylvanians don’t come home stinking to high heaven after a night at the bar.
Jack Hench, owner of Ye Olde Ale House in Hampden Township, was one who worried the ban would hurt sales, but he told the Harrisburg Patriot News that he’s changed his tune.
“I would have to say, out of all honesty, it has been better, business-wise,” he said.
What’s more, the public seems to have come to terms with the Clean Indoor Act.
State police, who enforce the ban at eating and drinking establishments, say the number of citations and warnings are falling. According to the Patriot News, both citations and warning letters are down in the first six months of the year over the last six months of 2009.
This may be partly due to the fact that many bars and restaurants have added patios or outdoor areas to accommodate smokers, but we also see it as clear evidence the public has embraced the smoking ban.
We’ve also heard stories that the new law has also encouraged some smokers to quit lighting up, and that’s certainly a good thing not just for smokers but for their co-workers, friends and families.
People need to be reminded constantly about the terrible toll that cigarettes take on the general population.
According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco use accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States, including about 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. Smoking also causes cancers of the larynx (voice box), mouth, pharynx (throat), esophagus (swallowing tube), and bladder and has been linked to the development of cancers of the pancreas, cervix, kidney, and stomach and some types of leukemia.
So, if the Clean Indoor Act leads to a reduction in those number, no matter how small, it’s well worth it.
But the Clean Indoor Air Act isn’t perfect. While it bans smoking in public places and businesses, it also includes exceptions for private clubs, designated hotel rooms and bars where food accounts for 20 percent or less of sales. In light of the Act’s success, we’d like to see those loopholes closed and the smoking ban extended to include those current exceptions.
After all, the current exceptions are not fair to the employees of those private clubs and excepted bars to have to work in secondhand smoke and it’s not fair to the majority of bars that have had to ban smoking.
If Pennsylvania is going to ban smoking in public places, it should do so in all public places.
With the public’s acceptance of the smoking ban in evidence by the decrease in citations, legislators need to find the political will and courage to close the ban’s loopholes.