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| Cities, counties can save lives by adopting smoking bans |
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Jul 23, 2008 |
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The State - EDITORIAL
By WARREN BOLTON, Associate Editor
SMOKING BANS save lives. A recent government study affirming that fact shouldn?t shock anyone.
Instead, it should prompt more cities and counties in South Carolina to act.
It?s hard to understand why even more local governments haven?t jumped at the opportunity to protect the health and lives of workers and patrons since the S.C. Supreme Court gave them the green light.
Many have been wringing their hands over the prospects because some bar and restaurant owners won?t like it. Those business owners should be able to make the decision themselves, some argue.
But this is a matter of life and death. And ? now, this may be a shock for some ? keeping people alive and healthy is a higher priority than personal preference.
Innocent people ought not be at risk of getting sick and dying because of someone else?s bad, and dangerous, habit. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. Cigarettes cause lung cancer and other deadly illnesses ? in smokers, and in nonsmokers who inhale smoke.
Health officials say secondhand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking adults by at least 20 percent. It heightens their chance of developing heart disease by at least 25 percent. Secondhand smoke increases children?s risk of asthma attacks, ear problems, acute respiratory infections and sudden infant death syndrome.
Cities and counties should enact bans, first and foremost, to protect workers ? something government has been doing in the workplace for decades. While patrons can choose not to go to certain restaurants, employees have no choice but to work in smoke-filled rooms, constantly exposed to cancer-causing agents.
The recently released Centers for Disease Control study found that the percentage of nonsmoking Americans breathing in cigarette smoke has dropped dramatically since the early 1990s. It found that about 46 percent of nonsmokers had signs of nicotine in their blood in tests done from 1999 through 2004. That?s way down from the 84 percent registered in similar tests done in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Guess what CDC researchers attribute the big decline to? Smoking bans. That?s right. The growing number of laws and policies that ban smoking in workplaces, bars, restaurants and public places is creating healthier communities.
According to 2007 CDC data, the number of adult smokers has dropped below 20 percent. That also helps explain the decline in exposure to nonsmokers.
No doubt, some adults choose to stop smoking once they?re told they can?t light up in public any more. Also, as most states ? South Carolina not included ? have increased their cigarette taxes over the past several years, smoking has decreased.
It?s widely acknowledged that, on average, for every 10 percent increase in the cost of cigarettes, adult smoking declines by 3 percent. The effect on smoking among teens is even more dramatic, with a decline of 7 percent.
Just think of what would happen if our state raised the cigarette tax and passed a statewide smoking ban. Unfortunately, state elected leaders haven?t seen fit to do either. They came close to raising the tax this past legislative session, but the governor vetoed it. And lawmakers haven?t summoned the will to pass a smoking ban, largely due to the strong tobacco lobby.
So, for now, local governments are South Carolinians? only chance for relief.
And there?s a great need for relief. While there?s been a great decline in the number of nonsmokers who take in secondhand smoke, that?s tempered by the fact that nearly half of nonsmokers continue to involuntarily inhale poison.
The new CDC report has somber news for some groups, particularly children and black people who are nonsmokers. While the proportion of blacks with a recent exposure to smoke dropped from 94 percent to about 71 percent, it dropped from 83 percent to 43 percent for whites.
Also unsettling is the fact that exposures for children didn?t drop as steeply as for adults. More than 60 percent of children ages 4 through 11 had recent exposure to cigarette smoke in the 1999-2004 period.
It?s time to kick the habit.
Governments must ban smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Families and individuals must stop lighting up at home and in cars.
I know quitting isn?t easy.
But it?s easier than watching friends, loved ones and neighbors suffer and perish from the effects of secondhand smoke.
Reach Mr. Bolton at (803) 771-8631 or wbolton@thestate.com.
? 2008 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com |
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| PO Box 1017 Prosperity, South Carolina 29127 PH (803) 364-1011 FAX (803) 364-0116 |
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