Tobacco Documents Online

Contra Costa packs:it in The Contra Costa County supervisers should be congratulated on their recent deci'- sion to limit smoking in publoc places. And their new orditaance should be taken as a tnodel by other communities that seek to protect the rights of non-smokers., . Actually, the new, ordinance iis a model, in the strictest sense of the word. It Was pro- posed by the locaS' chapters of'ttse Ana+ec+ran Cancer cwi+ot},, the American Heart Atsocia- tion and the American, Lung Associatibn; t~hr+ee national health orgaaisaaoas de; •:e,A too reduciag the damage dome to thepublic healthh by tobacco smoking. The ordinance prohibits smoking in end clbsed public places, requires employers to ensuresrmoke-free workplaces for effipioyees who don't srtsoke„and~orders restaurants that seat SO or more.to devote at least 40 percent of'their seats to non-smoking areas. It Was adopted, oni Monday by the city of Richmond and on Tuesday by Contra Costa, County as a whole. The next step is to try to convince aIG, the other 17, cities in the county to approve the same ordinance bef are Nov. ll.t'~tieannual! GreatArnerican Smakeout. Day. Lf they do. their county will'e become the first in, the L7nited'States to present a united front on behalf' of non-smokers' rights to breathable air. 0'f' course, there is some question as, to whether the presenee of smokers in a con- fined space necessarily renders the air in thatt space unbreathabie. Dr. Stephen Arnold of the American NTeart' Association cbntends that "the effect: on the lungs of a non-srnoker" from secbndhand smoke "can be thee equiva- Ient of smoking' a halt-pack of cigarettes a day." But scientists from the University of' Nia.ssachusetts and Georgetown University, brought to the Bay Area as expert witnesses by the tobacca iDdusuy, contend that re- search on the secondhand smoke issue is still inconclusive. I+fevertheles3, there ii+s no longer any seri~ ous doubt about the deleterious effects of smoking on~the healthloi smokers themselves. In the words of, the new surgeon generairs warniags whichmill begin appearing on ciga- rette pa ck:f the first' of'nert month, it is now a proven fact that' "=oking causes lung can- rer, heart disease (and) ezmpltqsema" and that "smoking,by pregnaatwoaaen may result, in fetal injury, ptemature birth and low birth weight•_"'If there is even the slightest chance that passive smoking exposes non-smokers to these dangers. it would be criminally negli- gent to force thetn to take that chance as the price of venturing into a~ public place. And not even the esperts retained by the tobacco industry contend' that passive smok- ing has been conciusively proven i to be ~ harrn- less. But' even if it had' been; this: would not justify, unrestricted smoking,in public places, particularly enclosed public places. A substantial portion: of the population understandably regards smoking in, their presence as a nuisance. 4nd'the legiumacy of laws limiting or forbidding public nuisances - loud noisemaking, for e=ample, and litter- ing, - has lbng since been established. - No one questions the right of smokers to damage their occn. health if' they so choose. Bt1t they have no~comparable rig52' eitt:er to endanger the health of' others,. or to maike nuisances of thernselves in publSc places. o-s