Tobacco Documents Online

9be.~''s.ami Herald Lighting up beconmes battle over civil rights : : - f he tobacco industry engaged in a nationwide campaign to obtain gou- iernment protection for the most lethal drug in America today."- _ " Kathleen Scheg, staff counsel for that curbs smoking in public and - take any kind of personnel action ': Labasky is`confident the new ver-. industry. It - wants a "smoker's . refusing to hire smokers."_.Scheg :. actions against smokers was vetoed ' rights" law to counter' Florida's says smoker's rights law eould fos-- b~y Gov. MartineZ. toughening Clean Indoor Air Act ter lawsuits*against employers who,- Florida Clean Air lobbyist Beth ' Absolutely not, says the tobacco health and . economic Interest in,,-,,employers. from taking personnel : whether they smoke? . employers "> thus --fee1•strong• - states: A Florida bill'prohibiting ` discipline'workers on the basis of guns and .AIDS combined.:' Many. •, lina and Tennessee, but lost in 19-•,- to hire, fire, promote or otherwise •-hol, - ilhcit drugs, :auto accidents,1... tucky; Rhode Island, South.Caro-y;:, Should employers have the right - Americans a• year, .more than alco-,: : da's. They won in Colorado; .Ken- homes, against employers' orders? • Jersey: •"Tobacco .kills . 434,00Q, , state legislatures, including Flori- Action on Smoking and Health. It's called "smoker's bill rights.". • , - - Do people have a right to smoke ers' health : care • benefits.'- Says - it s not that simple. SATURDAY, APRIL 6,1991 smoker,"!Malchon insists;. "is no The American Civil Liberties more a civil right than the right to Union agrees. "By the same logic; " be an alcoholic or to sniff cocaine. _ says. ACLU's Colleen 0'Conrtor, " [~ple who eat.too much choles- icotine is an addictive drug " _~ terol could be barred from employ- . 43~a,vvv aeatns a year j; s~., ; = ment... : Smoking, saq tobacco: foes, is the .. : leading cause; of premature death, :; ::~ e_ esy solutions `. ` = illness and job absente 'e~sm. It con-";: But across an America weighin- work-.5 rights against iavages`of, tobacco~ .. soaring'~costs of tn~utes to .. . , tobacco, a perfectly legal sub- ASH's Scheq, an expeFt onlegisla- ..; Tobacco lobbyists last year took stance off the job and in their own tive battles from California to New' • smoker's rights into two dozen the bill rides a tide of favor among pnate. - ~. legislators sensing the public's If a person is doing something anti-smoking mood. It breezed legal, on his own and away from the through the House 103 to 8 and job. then we say he should not be cleared Senate committees unani- discriminated against. It's that sim- mously. "The choice to . be a ple." ~ the 1985 smoking law. Backed by say. 'Help wanted. Smokers need heart-lung-cancer health groups, not apply.' That's total.ly inappro-'. work places. against tobacco users. .•.. - . - -sion i#ill pass handily. "Our last . John French, tobacco lobbyist in Ironically, . Florida's. new bill, hurdle is the floor of the Senate." Tallahassee: "What's really at . while tightening restrictions on- .-- But tobacco strategists are confi- stake is -whether the three out of - - smoking in restaurants,- airports, dent, too. Smoker's rights doesn't ten adults in Florida who smoke will hospitals. and prisons, and banning ' have to be in the Clean Air bill. Vir- experience additional prejudicial it in schools, is silent on smoker's tually anyy bill• will do. In the final treatment because a militant group rights. - - rush, bills tumble through without imposes their will. This is simply a Tobacco lobbyist Jack Cory sees : even being read. question of personal freedom." -this as sinister. "The bill by its - "It's early yet " says Cory. "We Not so, says State Sen. Jeanne silence is permitting the most insid- have all the time in the world." Malchon, D-St. Petersburg, Senate ious discrimination. Your Miami French agrees. "We've still got sponsor of a major new version of Herald carries classified ads that arrows in our quiver."