After
years of debate and delay, the Colorado State Senate had the
opportunity to vote February 27th on a comprehensive smoke-free bill.
Just as regulations have been established to set health and safety
standards in workplaces, a statewide smoke-free law is critical to
protect the health of patrons and employees of restaurants and bars.
Secondhand
smoke contains over 60 different kinds of chemicals which cause cancer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, secondhand smoke kills at
least 53,000 nonsmokers a year, including 3,000 lung cancer deaths and
35,000 coronary heart disease deaths.
Rather
than a debate focused on the clear public health benefits to all
Coloradans, the proposed Clean Indoor Air Act has been slowed by claims
that there could be an adverse economic impact to Colorado’s
hospitality industry.
Fortunately
there is no need to speculate or rely on anecdotes. Across the country,
state and local governments, big and small, have passed health-based
initiatives similar to the one now being considered by the Colorado
legislature. Over the last decade there has been a wave of clean indoor
air regulations passed in many states and hundreds of communities
across the country. Today more than a third of the nation’s population
lives in a community that has comprehensive smoke-free worksite
regulations.
The
scientific studies and empirical, independent data collected from these
communities have found no adverse economic harm to their hospitality
industries. As the number of people who live in smoke-free communities
continues to grow, Colorado only falls further behind the rest of the
nation in having adequate public health protections from the dangers of
cigarette smoke.
Consider
a study conducted in 2003 and published in the international scientific
journal Tobacco Control. The study involved a comprehensive review of
97 economic studies done over the years addressing the impact of
smoke-free laws on the hospitality industry. Twenty-one of these
studies met the most rigorous scientific criteria for evaluation and
not a single one of these studies concluded that smoke-free regulations
were bad for the hospitality economy. The report concluded,
“Policymakers can act to protect workers and patrons from the toxins in
secondhand smoke confident in rejecting industry claims that there will
be an adverse economic impact”.
In
the same study, it was found that every single study claiming a
negative impact was supported by the tobacco industry or an agency with
ties to the tobacco industry. No industry-supported study met the most
rigorous scientific evaluation criteria and is rarely published in the
scientific literature. In other words, the studies that report adverse
economic consequences from smoke-free regulations in hospitality
economies are poorly designed scientific studies.
After
California passed a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance, an industry
opposed to smoke-free policies released a survey of selected bars in
California that claimed a decline in business of 59 percent. Rather
than rely on an industry funded, unscientific survey, California’s
sales tax agency conducted an analysis of actual taxable sales. The
agency found, contrary to industry claims, an increase in revenues.
Many
cities are finding a positive economic impact as well. The city of New
York’s Department of Finance found restaurants and bars added 10,600
jobs while sales tax receipts increased by 8.7 percent after going
smoke free. Not surprisingly, Michael O’Neal, the president of the New
York City Restaurant Association has since stated, “Smoke-free
workplace legislation does not hurt business.”
Despite
these facts and clear public health benefits of a comprehensive
smoke-free law, the tavern lobbyists have proposed a ban on smoking in
only restaurants. Also, the exemptions to the bill now include;
casinos, taverns, race tracks and VFW’s. This proposal is opposed by
the health community (CoPIRG, Colorado Public Health Association,
Colorado American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American
Lung Association, GASP, BREATH and CTEPA), a growing number of
restaurant and bar owners, the Colorado Restaurant Association and
community groups concerned about the health of all workers. Only a 100
percent smoke free law will protect all workers.
In
contrast to claims of lost business and scare tactics by the tobacco
industry, passage of the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act will mean
cleaner air and better public health.
