| Air
in NYC bars is less smoky than Utah's -- here's what
you can do to help
By Lauren Murakami
November 14, 2005 | Next
time you go to a bar in Utah for some drinks you might
as well inhale a car tailpipe, because the smoky air
is just as bad for your health.
Second-hand smoke is considered a
class A carcinogen, the most deadly rank for cancer-causing
agents. Each year 53,000 non-smoking Americans die from
cancer, heart disease, and lung disease because of their
exposure to second-hand smoke, according to the National
Cancer Institute.
"A third of the country is
already covered by workplace, bar or restaurant bans,"
said Bronson Frick, associate director of the nonprofit
American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. Utah has already
passed laws banning smoking in restaurants. But smoking
is still permitted in private bars and clubs, which
is almost all of Utah's drinking and dancing establishments.
There are seven states, California,
New York, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, Massachusetts
and Rhode Island, plus hundreds of cities that have
passed smoke-free legislations banning smoking in workplaces,
restaurants, and bars, according to the American NonSmokers'
Rights Foundation.
"Since the law went into effect
[in New York], business receipts for restaurants and
bars have increased, employment has risen, virtually
all establishments are complying with the law, and the
number of new liquor licenses issued has increased-all
signs that New York city bars and restaurants are prospering,"
according to the March 2004 report, The State of Smoke-free
New York City: One-Year Review.
Smoking really does affect us all,
I personally have to wash my hair three times and quarantine
the clothes I wear when I go out for a drink. It makes
the next morning a much more vivid memory when the stench
from the night before is still on you. Employees are
put into harmful situations at their workplace because
they work at these bars and clubs and are exposed to
the smoky air daily.
There are some private clubs in Utah
that have already banned smoking including The Red Door,
The Spur, The Tavernacle, Fat's Grill & Pool, Buvez,
and Renee's. Bars and clubs in Utah are also used as
musical venues for various gigs. But because Utah laws
allow smoking, singers could end up choking on the air,
or at least sounding raspy.
As the evidence for the dangers of
second hand smoke proves true, owners of these bars
and clubs have a greater liability for their employee's
health, according to Stanton A. Glantz, project coordinator
of the website TobaccoScam. By going smoke-free, they
would also reduce the costs of their insurance premiums.
Such as fire, medical, liability and workers compensation.
Plus carpets, drapes, paintwork and cloths would help
to lower maintenance costs. Lower operating cost equals
higher profits.
When I lived in New York City the
bar atmosphere was so much cleaner because of New York's
smoking ban. How can we let our clean-cut Salt Lake
City image be dirtier than New York? Maybe for me it
is just a matter of smoke in my hair, but with all this
mounting evidence about the harmful toxins in secondhand
smoke, it could easily be me who is gets cancer. Then
I wouldn't have any hair to wash.
If people choose to smoke that is
their choice, I am definitely not telling people how
to live their lives. But because of their decisions,
what they exhale shouldn't have the potential to end
other people's lives because of their stinky butts.
So if people choose to smoke that
is their choice. But let's take it outside, not inside
Utah bars and clubs, where no ventilation system could
possibly clear out all of the cigarette smoke.
I urge anyone who feels like they
have the right to breathe smoke-free air in all Utah
venues to check out www.smokefree.net. It has a formatted
e-mail set up that can be forwarded to our state legislators,
so your opinion can be heard. So sign up, send an e-mail,
it takes 10 minutes. By urging the Utah Legislature
to enact a smoke-free workplace maybe you can save a
life, or maybe I won't have to do my laundry as often.
Either way one person's decision to smoke cigarettes
shouldn't be forced upon everyone around them.
In addition, as cheesy as it sounds,
I also found out “the truth about tobacco” at these
websites, so for more information check these out: http://www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu/,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/, http://www.no-smoke.org,
http://cleanlungs.com & http://www.tobaccofreedom.org.
NW
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