Tobacco Documents Online

C1sY.1tYL L. UE1t1:S 4xaoclalyd I'rc•. µ7it"r James Muorc Ilt a ciga- rette. took a lo.n.q drog and stepped aboard a euhway train. Mnmcnta later, he was under art'cst. The next day, after spending a night in Jnll. he appeared in Itranch 95 of Circuit Court of Cook County, commonly known as Smokcra' Court. Some x00 pcrsons were arrested last year for llghting up on Chicnl;o Transit Authorit)• lrains and buscs, a petty offcnsc puniahnhic by fines of $30 to $300. Those !ikc Moore who couldn't post i25 bond spent a nlg~!t behind bors. Similarly, tobacco smok- en across the nation arc encountering new re- straints and stiffcr penab Ues for indiscriminate;y tndulging their habil. An Associated Press sur- vey shows that since mid- 19iJ nearly half the atatcs 1n the country have en- acted laws restricting smoking in public placcs. Although enforcement is normally lax, penalties lange from token fines lo 60 days In Jail. Federal regulations Iimit smaking on airlines and inlerstatc buses and tralns. whllc pending law- aults seek to outlaw the ni-' cotine habit at New Orlcans' Superdome and Detroit's Pontiac Stadium. Scores of restaurants provide separate seating for nonsmokers. Students at several colleges and universitles have voted to ban the weed in class- rooms. Some employcrs forbid smoking on the Job. Behind the curbs are a growing numhcr of nuns- mokcrs who say they are entitled tu breathe smuke- free air. "For ycars• smokers have been able to sn ukc wherever they •a•antcd," says Kare DcCavnlcnntc, smoking and hcnlth con- suitant for the American Lung Assoclatton. "Now, we're trying to switch that around." While C`hicngo'e crack- down i.% unusually tough, the nmoktng arrests dratn- allse the chnnge. "It Just didn't make sense," sald Moore, a I 1 hnusctn n t ChIcngu'e nr lUts Cnrlton who waa nabUcd early this year. "It w,1.9 kinda 1lncon9cloua to light up. I gucy9 I knew It was against the law, but nobody ever paid alten- lion." Ilcfore the city's smok- Ing ordinance was tough- cncd, said one la•.v enforcement officinl, "emokers were treated like JaywalkcrA or aplttcra - they wcre virtually Ig- nored." • Only n few yenrs ngo-, the Idea that ncnsmokcrs const!tutcd a silcnt maJor- lty whose rights were bcing dcnled was almost unheard of. Mlss DcCavalcnnte traces active participation In a nonsmokcre' rights movement to "the 1972 surgeon gt•ncral's report. It included the first hard, scicntific facts on the ef- fects of secondhand smoke. "Whcrt Joe Citizen got wind of It, he said, 'Hey, that's me.' People u•ho had always becn bothered by smoke found out they w•er• cn't alone." Evidence that simply breathing tobacco smoke may be physically harmful - "Involuntary smoking" as It was callod by one gov- crnment report - led many nonsmokers to re- evaluate the habit they previously considered merely annoying. Today, a proliferation of groups with such likely namcs as ASH - Actton on Smoktng and Hcalth; GASP - Group Agntnst Smokers' Pollution; and ANSR - • Association for Nonsmokers' ttights - nc- tlvetv cncournse nunemok- ere to assert their right to brcathe smokelesa alr. The tobacco industr,v says lhcre's no evidence lh.tl hculthy nonsmoKCrs are hnrmcd by being near smokers. The 1975 eurgcon gcner- al's report sald, "Tubncco smokc can t;c a slFnificnnt source of atrnoapltcric pt4- lullon In enclu+cd arc,s." Ilut wlth inconchislvc slvc cid• cncc to dnte, nudicNl rc- scn nhera are trytng lo determine whclher ..rc• ondnan:l smoke Is dnngrr- ous to all ut,nsmokcrs ur nn Irritant only in peraoC' wilh resplrntury and heart allments. A nonsmokcre move- menl slo{;an, colncd by a Drentwoud, N.Y., housc- wifc, has bccn uned In rc- cent ycars by countlc.s nonsmokcrs who Inform Cc.mlly, frlends and total slrangcrs• "1'cs, I do mind if you smokc." The firm, but polltc ap- proach Is recr.mmcnded by. moat nonsmokers' CroupA. Ncverthcicas, lhc movc- mcnt also h,tis Its mllilants who c:nploy quch tactics as hiding ashtrays, un- corkinb bo:ties of am- monia whcn smokers 1!ght up and carrying Iltlle fans to blow the stuff back tnto the othcr guy's face. A Flint. ti(ich., school- teacher recently endured smoicc drlfling from an ad- joining booth at a restaur- ant throughout his mcal. Upon finishing, he walked over to the smoker and dropped some gnawed chicken bones on her plate. "Ma'am, you've been giv- ing me your garbage for quite a while," he said. "I thought you might llkc some of minc." Unaccustomed to such rebuffs, even in lheir milder forms, some of the natlon's cstimaled 52 mfi- lion smokcrs respond bet- ligcrcnlly. When Mlaml GASP members donned gas masks at a sports event to prolcal heavy smoke and poor ventilation, pastpres- idcnt Arthur Frnnkl re- calls that "one fellow to show his hostility put three cignrcltes In hls mouth nnd lit them." In F.ast Hnrtford, Conn., an angry smokcr took a I I w~i ~ ~ ~ CQ ~ ~ ('D tn ~ 1 t1 \ ~

4 I - r ` ph}•siciarn to court, charg- Ing he s,rayed her with a d!sinfectant. After a three- day trial. Dr. Joseph J. Kriatnn, who Insisted he merely doused the ciga- rette, was acquitted by a Jury of one cigarette amoker• one pipe emoker, one cigar amo!ter, two exsmokers and one person who had never smoked. Leonard Zurkowski, who opened a no-ernoking tav- ern In Milwaukee last ~r.•.r, c,id tt,c bar "uas a grcr,t suc-css until one niRht a bunch cf kids came In, llt their eigarettee and said we couldn't tell them not to amoke. ^ltihen I told them their rlghl to amokc stopped at my nrse, they busted the p:Uce up." Deeoite auch incldents, organized oppoa:!ion lo an- tismoking 1egS~latioh was minimal until recenltv, coming mos;'.y frcm clgar- , c~garetle-:•.nd pipepuff- Ir.g lawmakcrs. Defea;ed bil;s «ere rei^troduced time and agala, with In- crcasing succcss• For r~ccrdes, the only s^:oking regulations on state books •aere a Maine la%% .erittrn In 1StH to pre-vent fires In millyarda, stables and ce•cred br.dges and a 1511 Utah s:au°e thet ~ras !argel, Ig- norcd. In c.trly 1073. Arizona became the'first atate to enact IrFialatinn to protect :Io^sm-kel i. The hill•s principal lob- b, ist w~.s a S-_ ottsdnle, Arie.. uoman u-ho sa.. !.cr Incu/•,r!nc:t! In nor..mok- cr~' right,- t•eg1 n e!tcn c- bcsl friend dird of lung cnncer at nge ^-9. It con- trolled ,mnking In con- ftned places such as zztEeI.Co elevators,thoaters,librar- lee and bunca. California and Connecll- Cut, where the state hcalth commlasioner carries his ow•n "no smoking" sign to public meetings, followed suit the same year by re- .atricting smoking on com- mon carriers. Oregon issued a ban at meetings of public bodies. Seven etalea were added to the list In 1974. Nona- mokers' rights groups In F!orida pushed for a law that made iig!nine upln el- evators an offcr:se puniah- nbte bv a $300 fine or 60 days In fail. The upswing In antia- moking Icglslallon moved Ir.to 1975 with the introduc- tion of more than 400 bills In 0, states. Many states strengthened existing In«s, and a dozen enacted new bans. Including the niost extensive yet: Ihe Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act. "This law ts a total rev- ersal of the bnslc phlloso- ph~. that smokers can smoke whcrever there isn't a 'r.o smoking' sign," sald I.s sponsor, Slate Rep. Phyllis Kahn. •'The law statcs specifically that smoking is prohibitcd ex- ccptin designated areas." Hut If 19T3 wae a boom year for lawa geared to nonsmokcrs' rtg'tts. it also ' was the year many bust- nesses started taking a se- rloua, and rather dtsapproving, look at the Issue. It CONts money to set up special amoking areas. Critlcs, Including many lawtnakers. point to wlde- spread lack of prosecution under the laws and claim they are unenforceable. "It's silly to have a regula- tion lhat can't be en- forced,'' said one California legislntor. Anne Duffin of the To- bacco Institute ngreed. "You can't legislate cour- tes-v," she said. "And thnt's what these laws amount to." The National Restaurant , Association has a poeltlon statement oppoeing "govcrnment mandated no smoking sections." Lawmakers In states with emokinr bans eay en- forcement Is dlfficult, and most states don't even at- templ it. "It's the people In the el- evators, the cicrks In the stores and the nonsmokcrs in the chee_koct lines, who ty their remarks to offend- ers are enforcing the law," said a Dade County, Fla., commissioncr. The controversy haa been particularly keen In Minnesota, where the Clean Indoor Air Act took cfleet in August. The Plllsbury Co., which employs 900 persons at Its national headquarters In Minneapolis, Inltlally esti- mated It could cost the company {500,000 a year to comply with the acl' rcqulrrment of segregnled smoking arens In offices and factories. After a trial period, though, a Pillsbury spokesman said "thc law Is working out fairly well. It's helped nonsmokers greatly and although It may cost us some money. the problem Is more health than dollars." Despite Pillsbury's ac- ceptance, the state's Asso- clation for Commeres and Industry conslders the rer- ulations "unduly restr/c- tlve." Mlnnesola's restaura- leurs are especially upset with a requirement that they segregace their amok- Ir ); and nonsmoking cue- lomers. Still, a Minnesota Board of Ilcalth spokesman aald that it recent hearings to clarify specifics of the act, "The restaurant industry was solidly against It, but the ordinary citizens ap- p)nuded It, and the great majority of the teetimor.y was for strict enforce- ment." 'For years, smokers have been able to smoke wherever they wanted. Now, we're frying to switch it around.' - Conrulfanf for Americon (un9 Aftociofion 6 0 9 ~ ~