Tobacco, Dethroned

Source from:  washingtonpost.com Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Page A14 02/15/2006

IN VIRGINIA, where tobacco has been king for the better part of four centuries, the throne has suddenly gone wobbly. By a 21 to 18 vote, the state Senate moved yesterday to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and virtually all other enclosed public places: shopping malls and banks; sports arenas and hotel lobbies; and shops, laundromats and waiting rooms. As in other states that have enacted smoking bans, concerns about the health effects of secondhand smoke were too obvious for lawmakers to ignore. While the smoking ban's fate in Virginia's House of Delegates is uncertain, the import of the upper house's action is clear: The arguments against smoking bans are crumpling faster than a spent pack of Winstons. Recently New Jersey became the 11th state to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other workplaces; in addition, hundreds of counties, cities and towns, including the District, have enacted or are moving toward similar bans. It's increasingly clear that within a few years smoking, like spitting, will be off-limits in most indoor spaces in the United States. With luck, the good word will go forth from Virginia and register quickly in neighboring Maryland, where the state legislature is scheduled to hold a key hearing today on banning smoking in restaurants and bars. Similar bills in Maryland have been defeated for three years straight; last year's version died by a single vote in committee. But as Virginia's vote indicates, the tide is turning in favor of a rational policy under which government regulates a potent risk to public health. The restaurant industry, which opposes the ban, has scored rhetorical points by warning darkly of the adverse economic impacts on bar owners and restaurateurs. Just watch, they have thundered: We'll all lose business to competitors in neighboring jurisdictions that have safeguarded smokers' precious liberties. But a growing number of studies have debunked those arguments; in many places where smoking has been banned, employment and tax revenue generated by bars and restaurants have done quite nicely. And in some localities they may even have benefited by attracting new customers -- pregnant women, asthma sufferers, families with children -- who tend to favor smoke-free places. And what if, as is increasingly the case, contiguous jurisdictions adopted smoking bans? What if Virginia and Maryland both banned smoking at bars, restaurants and other indoor public spaces? That would spell the end of arguments about neighboring competitors and the end to a public health hazard that large majorities of Americans have decided is unacceptable. Enditem