Sunday, March 01, 2009
Smoking ban will make a real difference
Dan Radmacher
Recent columns
- Heading back to the debate in Appalachia
- Redistricting process must be taken from pols
- A shutdown remains a very real possibility
- U.S. Navy Vets case argues for campaign limits
From the RoundTable blog
If all went well, the General Assembly adjourned last night. (As I write this Thursday, negotiators were still working out differences between the House and Senate revisions to the budget.)
For all the attention given to lawmakers and their antics, the General Assembly rarely accomplishes anything that has a genuine, direct and noticeable impact on the quality of life of a broad swath of the citizenry.
That can't be said this year with the hard-fought passage of a ban on smoking in the state's restaurants.
It's not a complete ban, as most know. Private clubs are exempt, and restaurants that can afford a separate room with its own ventilation system can offer a dining option to those who can't go an entire meal without lighting up.
But when the law goes into effect on Dec. 1, it will mark an immediate improvement for workers and patrons of restaurants that now allow smoking.
This has been a contentious and emotional issue, especially considering Virginia's long history with tobacco and the undue influence the industry still exerts here.
Many people passionately and sincerely argue that this should be a free market issue. They point out that many restaurants in the state have gone smoke-free voluntarily and argue the state should simply wait for the market to bring the others along.
But this is not about the free market. It isn't about a business owner's nonexistent right to operate without government interference. Governments set many rules for businesses, especially restaurants, and most people are thankful for that (unless you really like a side of mouse droppings with your hamburger).
Government regulations help ensure the food we eat is safe and that workplaces are not dangerous places for employees. A smoky restaurant isn't a safe workplace. Secondhand smoke is a proven carcinogen that can also cause any number of lung and heart ailments.
A coal mine with the level of toxins of a typical sports bar/restaurant would be shut down. There's no valid reason that food servers and bartenders should be subjected to a more dangerous atmosphere than coal miners.
Under the new legislation, workers could not be forced to work in the separately ventilated smoking rooms.
This bill is a major, though belated, step forward for Virginia. Many other states less under the sway of tobacco banned smoking in restaurants years ago.
I'll admit to being somewhat reflexive in my opposition to smoking in public places. I also cringe whenever I see a parent smoking around a child. Once, when dropping my son off at day care, I noticed a woman driving in behind me smoking in her car. I fumed, thinking she probably had a young child in there with her.
Sure enough, she and a toddler got out of the car. To top it off, when she turned around, I could see she was many months pregnant.
As disgusted as I was by that example of parental disregard for her offsprings' well-being, I couldn't make myself support legislation introduced this year to making smoking in a car with children an offense punishable by a fine up to $100.
Even though I think that smoking in a car (or a house, for that matter) with a child present is morally wrong and a terrible thing to do, I just don't see it as a public health issue requiring state intervention.
But after we ran a short editorial expressing that sentiment, a commenter on The RT blog hit us with a pretty legitimate point:
"No wonder our great state is being so poorly ran. We can bar smoking in an establishment where patrons have a choice to leave if they do not like it. However, we do not think it right to punish someone for lighting up with a child strapped down right next [to] us who doesn't have the choice to leave, forcing them to inhale the carcinogens. Nice logic there cap'n."
He didn't change my mind, but he gave me something to think about. I still think a public service campaign teaching parents what secondhand smoke does to their children would be more effective than having police pull over smokers if they see a car seat in the back.
House Speaker Bill Howell all but admitted the compromise on the smoking ban in restaurants was a political concession in a year when all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are up for election. Republicans wanted to show Virginia voters, especially those in Northern Virginia who increasingly lean Democratic, they can get something accomplished.
Whatever the reason, they did get something accomplished, and it will make a very positive difference in the lives of many people.
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
