Tobacco Documents Online

Tougher Smoking Measure At Issue " The"'pros and cons d a sargent ne~ ~tismo~g bi~ ~n ~ w~ Coun~ mem~r Hilda H.M. Ma~n (Stateh~-At ~ge) has pc~ le~s- ~fion forbidd~g ~o~g ~ o~c~. employe rostrums, ~ys, haul. ~e b~ wo~ ~r- q~e ~t ~gement ~ ~d ~en" to ~ ~g ~ ~g ~ $25 for ~ ~t ~, ~ e~pro~ons ~ ~ r~e~ e~orc~ ~en~ ~w, su~ as ~e ~ on ~g ~ ~ls ~ ~ ~e h- ~es; ~e ~'s ~ht to r~d b~e~ ~c~ ~ ~tions, ~ ~o ~e o~ead- "We getc~ at leant two or thr~e t~ne~ a week" from wor~ra hoping for an proscription, - said Janet Kee~an; executive to Mason. But according to a woman for the Tobac~ In- stitute, which represents the tobacco industry and figh~ smoking regulation. businesses and employers are capable of settling dis- l~tes without government intervention. "[Restaurateurs] are in See SMOKING. page 3, CoL Prosl Cons Of Smoking Bill at Issue SMOKING, l~rom Page I business to serve their custom- era--that's why they offer sugar and Sweet 'n' Low on the tables," ~aid Brennan Moran of the insti- tute. "In work places, smokers and nonsmokers generally get along, and work something out. When the need require~, management can resolve the issue." In 1978, the council gave unan- imous preliminary approval to a stern antismoking bill. The Tobacco Institute then hired lawyer-lqbbyist Larry C. Williams; two weeks later, the council voted to table the pack- age. Outraged health organizations • thenorganized to lobby the council, which a year later passed the cur- " rent law. It does not address ing in restaurants, hotel logics, offices and industrial plants, as did the controversial 1978 proposal. The D.C. Interagency Council on Smoking and Health, a coalition of medical groups and professional societies, heartily, endorses Ms- son's plan, according to Chairwom- • an Amber Washington. "We're very pleased to see it ha~ pening," said Washington, of the American Heart Association. "We've been working toward this for a long time." Because of evidence that second- hand smoke can cause lung cancer in healthy nonsmokers, .Washington said, the time has com.e to mandate protect.ion. "Workers and individuals going to restaurants and other public places ha¢e the right to go out and not suffer," Washington said. • Council members John Ray (D-At Large) and Jim Nathan~n (D-Ward 3) are sponsors of Mason's new proposal, but neither is on the Pub- lic Works Committee, which will vote on whether to send the hill to the full council after an.an-yet un- scheduled public hearing. The com- mittee is chaired by Nedine Winter (D-Ward G) who voted against an- other Mason-sponsored smoking ban in 1985. Still, antismoking activists are determined to clear the air in the District, which has the highest can- cer rate in the United States. "We will go to a public referen- dum" if the bill fails, said Ilene Freed, president of Washingtonians for Non-Smokers' Rights, a group formed after the last defeat to keep the issue alive. "The whole climate has changed so much, even in the last year." Bolstering the arguments in favor of the ban was last year's surgeon general's report cordirmiag severe health risks from second-hand smoke. T!19810063