Tobacco Documents Online

George Bucks 202/225-.5473. Mr. Chairman, Thank you £or thin opportunity to support of a smoking ban on all domestic airline-fl£ghtso Bach year americans take more than 300 million plane trips, and airline cabins are the workplace. £or about 70,000 ~llght: attendants. The airliner cabin environment aireotty affects the health of eve.zyone on board. ~or ~oo long, we have been led to believe that, when we boarded a c~eroial airliner, we bad a choice het~esm a smoking or non-smoking section. After scores of snient££ic s~udies, we know ~hat the only real choice a person has on a commercial flight .is between smoking and passive smoking -- and as tar as one's health is concerned, that's no choice at all. The ~atlonal Academy of Sciences in its report; Environmental Tobacco Smo~e: Measurlna ExPosures an~ Assessln~ ~ealth Effects, estimated that passive smoking (breathing environments/ tobacco smoke) is responsible £or approximately 2~4~0 lung ~ancer deaths aen~sl-lyo This compares to between 1,300 and ~,7~0 new caner cases (all sites) resulting from toxic air pollutan~s in ~he general environment. The enclosed envlrosmen~, llm~ted ventilation and close prox£mi~ of passengers aboard airplanes makes passive smoking unavoidable. A~rplanes also have tmiqse clime%Is conditions such as I~ relative hnmldlty and high levels of ozone which may exacerbate the effects of passive smoking by passengers and crew. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's 1966 report, The Health Conseonen~es of Tnvoluntar~' gr~ok~.na, provided a er~.tical ~evlew of the available evidence pertaining to the health e£fects of passive smoking. The Repor~ represented the work of more than 60 scientists, representing a variety of d~scipllnes. The Report concluded ~hat passive smoking is a cause of disease# including lung oanoe~ in healthy nonsmokers. The Surgeon General's Report declared that the simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not eliminate, exposure of ne~smokers to environ- mental tobacco smoke. In. 1986, the National Academy of Sciences completed a Congresslonally-mandated study on airline passenger cabin air quallty. The Study concluded that, for health and safety, reasons, al~ smoking aboard domestic commercial flights be prohibited. The nclentlf~o panel concluded that both passengers ~ members were harmed by drifting smoke in aircraft cabins and that cigarette smoking posed a significant fire hazard on board as well. In response to that report, I've introduced legislation, The Airline Anti-Smokin~ Ae~ (H.R. 432) to b~n smoking on all domestic airline £1igbts. This legislation would lessen Irrltati4a and d~scc~fort to passengers and crew, reduce potenti~l healg_k hazards T!0045-1337

:~.~,~.'. ~.-...... ~ ...... . .. ........ .~.... ............ ~.~-+_~-~.~.~+++.., .... ~"- " : "" ~'. "': : .-~. '~ . "~ .~.: " ~echaps aos~ ~11£ng~ £s ~e ~docs~ H.R. 412 has rece£ved • " • • . . . . . -~ ..... ~.~ ~e ~oc£a~£on or ~1£9h~ ~end~s (22,000 s~ong) and ~e .... ~ £s ~e Ma~£onal Aca~em~.o~ Sc£ences' c~clus£on ~a~ ~ attendant~ ~h~e the same amount o~ smoke at work as .someone ltvin_a with a c.ack-a-da_v smoker. • Recently Tr~spor~atton Secre~a:~ EItZ~ Dole re~ec~ ~e on ~1 domest£c fl£ghts within ~e U.S. Clea=ly~ no solution to ~£s heal~ ~=ea~ is forthc~ng. Sin~ the A~in- istca~ion won't act+ Congress mus~ ~e: the pa8~ 10' years~ at~tudes a~u~ smoking ~ p~l~c plaeen have changed. Currently, onlF 26t popela~£on are :egula: ~oke:~ -- and that level c~tn~es to decline. Nonsmokers are no longer ~ust tr:ikake5 ~stanaers when a ~oke¢ ltgh~ up in a p~bl£e place. We n~ kn~ that the non- smoker's health is at risk ~¢ougb unavo£dable ~ss£ve ~oking. ~£s is e~ectally true In the closed envtro~ent of cabin. ~e aouse £n ~ul~ app:oved ~ ~enen~ ~ok£ng ~omestic ¢ligh~ of two hours or less -- and ~e Senate App¢op ~tations Co, tree recently app~ove~ a similar ~¢ee-year ~n o~er sim¢iar actlons, Air C~a~a h~ £nstitute~ smokeless El£ghts ~tween Mew York ~d Toronto, and ~ust last week, Call- ~o¢n£a legislators pass~ a smoking b~ on in-state flights, effective Janua~ 1, 1988. ~ ~e Surgeon Gene~al s~ted: "~e =ight of ~e smoker to ~oke stops at ~e po£nt where his or her smoking ~ncreases ~e d£sease r~sk in ~ose ~cup~tng ~e s~e enviro~ent. Let's keep the clouds outs1~ of the a~rcraft where they belong. T10045-1338