Blowing smoke
Let’s face it. The recent Commonwealth Court decision overturning Allegheny County’s indoor smoking ban should have come as no surprise. After all, the court is famous for finding ways to weasel out of tough decisions. The only reason it’s not the Cowardly Lion of Pennsylvania politics is because the Legislature holds that title and refuses to give it up.
Basically, the court ruled the state’s 1988 Clean Indoor Air Act pre-empts and supersedes Allegheny County’s smoking ban. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the decision or not. For now, it’s the law of the land – and only the Legislature can change that. Which is good reason for despair. To date, the General Assembly’s track record has been pathetic.
The Associated Press reports several state lawmakers have written legislation to ban smoking in certain places statewide. None of the legislation, though, has passed either the House or Senate. The reason is simple. Too many state lawmakers would rather expose workers to the danger of secondhand smoke than offend smokers. They’d rather put lives of innocent people at risk than lose one smoker’s vote.
It’s time for those who support the right for people to work in smoke-free environments and for everyone not to have the air that they breathe fouled by tobacco smoke to make their voices heard. They represent the majority of Pennsylvania residents, not smokers.
A survey of 700 registered Pennsylvania voters conducted by Harrisburg-based Susquehanna Polling and Research and commissioned by the Pennsylvania Alliance to Control Tobacco found that 84 percent believed employees in the state’s restaurants and bars should be protected from secondhand smoke.
Even more telling, the survey found that 86 percent agreed that restaurants and bars would be healthier for customers as well as workers if they were smoke free.
Earlier this year, a poll of 301 Pennsylvanians conducted by the Institute for Good Medicine at the Pennsylvania Medical Society found that a combined 70 percent said they preferred a smoke-free restaurant or a non-smoking section. Significantly, 56 percent picked the smoke-free restaurant choice while 14 percent favored the non-smoking section option.
Only 15.5 percent of respondents indicated they preferred a smoking section. The remaining participants indicated that it did not matter to them. If state lawmakers were not afraid of their own shadows, this would be a no-brainer. Unlike their counterparts in 20 others states, including Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Ohio, Pennsylvania lawmakers can’t see through the smoke being put out by the tobacco industry and smokers.
But then again, maybe they don’t want to.