Friday, April 17, 2009
Senators in Kansas recently sent a bill to the House containing a ban on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, throughout the state. Last Friday, the Kansas legislative session wrapped up with the ban never going to a vote. A statewide ban is a good idea for both Kansas businesses and its residents.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the levels of secondhand smoke in restaurants and bars are two to five times higher than residences with smokers. This is important, because according to the California Environmental Protection Agency almost 50,000 adult nonsmokers die each year in the U.S. from secondhand smoke. Even short exposures to secondhand smoke can reduce heart rate variability, which can increase the risk of a heart attack or damage the lining of blood vessels.
Scott Pelan, Lenexa junior, supports the statewide smoking ban.
“I respect a person’s decision to smoke,” Pelan said. “But I also respect a person’s decision not to, and I don’t think they should have to be exposed to smoke.”
Currently 21 states* have banned smoking in almost all public places, including restaurants and bars. Many other states have partial statewide bans. For example, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana and Nevada prohibit smoking in most public places, including restaurants, but exempt stand-alone bars.
Many cities throughout the state already have citywide smoking bans in effect. Overland Park and Leawood prohibit smoking in restaurants and bars, and Lawrence’s ban went into effect almost five years ago, in July 2004. Johnny’s Tavern owner Rick Renfro said he lost about 25 percent of his business when the ban passed. He said smokers who used to frequent Johnny’s left because of the ban and started going to other nearby bars outside Lawrence city limits.
Although Renfro is against regulations of smoking, saying he thinks it should be a business’ own decision, he supports a statewide ban.
“The problem with the smoking ban is it’s city to city,” Renfro said. “I’d rather it be statewide to level the playing field.”
Shannon Lobb, Kansas City, Mo., junior, said she didn’t mind the ban even though she was a smoker herself. Lobb said that even in restaurants where there was no smoking ban, she chose not to smoke out of respect for the other patrons.
“The smell lingers for a long time,” Lobb said. “It really doesn’t make a difference if I’m in a smoking section — when someone is smoking in a restaurant, everyone can smell it.”
Legislature should pass the statewide smoking ban, which may reappear during the wrap-up session starting April 29. The ban protects the health rights of nonsmokers by preventing their exposure to second-hand smoke, and protects businesses from losing customers because of citywide bans.
*The 21 states with smoking bans are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New ork, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
Editorial: Students should support smoking ban
Smokers and nonsmokers alike should support a statewide smoking ban in public ...
Letter: Why I’m against the statewide smoking ...
Tactics employed by anti-smoking advocates turn
Brown: Smoking ban should pass
Secondhand smoke is especially bad for those with asthma.
Kieler: Smoking ban offers only positives
Considering the majority of Americans do not smoke, the ban offers the ...
State bill could end local smoking ban
New legislation would overturn the long-established non-smoking ordinance in Lawrence.
Syring: Smoking ban should be upheld
The owner of two local bars filed a lawsuit against Lawrence in ...
Changes to smoking ban could affect local ...
State law will ban smoking within 10 feet of doorways and windows.
House passes state-wide smoking ban bill
The vote came in Thursday in favor of banning smoking in Kansas.
Lawrence smoking ban may become statewide
Smoking ban may soon be statewide, business owners fear customer decline. Statistics ...
Health Authority wants state smoking ban
The Kansas Health Policy Authority proposed a 50 cent per pack user ...
Local smokers face further restrictions
Bill mandates outdoor smokers be 10 feet away from restaurant doors and ...
Private clubs temporarily exempt from statewide smoking ...
Lawrence businesses must still follow the stricter local smoking ordinance.
Gentry: Blowing smoke
Student smokers continue to ignore restrictions across campus, putting others at risk. ...
McNaughton: Smokers refuse to acknowledge health problems
I still don’t understand because smokers smell and taste terrible.
Letter: A single glass kills more tha ...
Alcohol abuse causes more damage than cigarette use.
Local bars now building patios
The city commission recently approved a new patio for the Jackpot Music ...
Letter to editor: ‘No Smoking’ signs
Marcoux: Smokers need to pay attention to signs.
No more smoking in the boys room
Business closes because of disagreements between tenants and building owners.
Regan: Smoking taboo doesn't fly abroad
Smoking in Ireland more acceptable than in U.S.
Seeing Through the Smoke
For years, we've seen the Surgeon General's warning on cigarette packs. But ...
Three KU freshmen open their own shop
The new smoking-lounge business will open today and is being run by ...
Bars’ owner contests ban
Drinking in the streets
Letter to the Editor: Anti-smoking scare tactics ...
After reading the commentary piece by Cassie Gentry, I got a little ...
Moffitt: Pressure on smokers to quit, harder ...
It is hard to give up smoking, but in a world where ...
Hookah smoke means double trouble for users
Smoking a hookah is just as bad as smoking cigarettes.
New cigarette ads designed to persuade smokers ...
FDA will require cigarette packaging to contain graphic warnings about the dangers ...
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
I love it when people post things without proofreading them. I clicked on "Health benefits alone are enough to warrant a bad."
I'm not a big fan of smoking bans. It's okay, though, I'll just stay at home and drink moonshine from a mason jar. It's not like my money means anything to local bars anyway.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
A U.S. Supreme court decision during the early 1970's ((Lloyd Corp v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551 (1992)) said a place of business does not become public property because the public is invited in.
By using that same reasoning. A restaurant or bar is not public property. We need to support small business and stop regulating them out of business."
The air inside a building is, in essence, “owned” by the building owner. That means that the building owner, is in a Position to control the amount of smoking (if any) that is Permitted in the building.
Just because you invite someone into your home (private property), does not give them the right to tell you how to run your home.
Government has the right to collect Taxes and other fees. The Health Department is responsible for protecting the public from un-seen health threats such as cleanliness and infestation by rodents, roaches, etc, which are not seen by the general public.
Smoking/SHS is not an un-seen threat. Everyone has the right to walk out if an establishment does not suit their preferences. They control if a business survives by their right to spend or refuse to support that business.
Signage, at the entrance, is sufficient warning needed to make an informed decision. This supports free choice.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
Every place that puts these bans in sees a decrease in nightlife in general and live music opportunities.
Those outside of this business will parrot..."oh NYC and LA are just fine".
Actually they are not and haven't been since the bans went in. A steady decline of performance opportunities started with the bans, but that is just easy first grade math.
The current economic climate in the US doesn't help, but the bans were detrimental to this kind of business long before the general economic decline of the last few months.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
I am not a smoker. In fact, I leave any establishment that is smoky or even smells of smoke. If I do not, my sinuses become congested and the drainage causes me to get a sore throat. I do not allow smoking in my home or in my office. I refuse to stay in hotels that cannot guarantee me a smoke-free room.
Having said that, I oppose a smoking ban.
It is a matter of private property rights. A property owner should be able to determine whether to allow smoking on his or her property, or not. If I don’t like the property owner’s decision, I have the right to go elsewhere. If enough people object to smoking in an establishment, the owner will have to ban smoking or go out of business.
Think of it this way. Fifty years ago, smoking was more prevalent. You could not even avoid smoke in a doctor’s office. Thirty-five or forty years ago, businesses started banning smoking or at least providing non-smoking areas. Many smokers were upset by this. Would you have supported a law at that time that required businesses to allow smoking, or would you have said it should be up to the property owner?
If you support a legal ban on smoking now, but would have opposed requiring businesses to allow smoking 35 or 40 years ago, you only believe in freedom for those who agree with you. In other words, you do not believe in freedom at all.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
Pretty damn easy. If you don't want to be exposed to smoke, DON'T GO TO THAT RESTAURANT.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
jbarrett. You have hit the nail on the head. I would like to thank you for one of the most sensible remarks I've seen on many Forum pages. Our Legislators seem to think people can't read or think for themselves. Most have no idea that if SHS/ETS were as dangerous as they would have us believe, very few of us would be alive today after years of being in or around smoke.
Those same Legislators have no idea the one of the most dangerous substances we cannot avoid is gas and diesel fumes. There is also no profit motive in trying to ban those products.
There is a definite profit motive in banning smoking. The Pharmaceuticals manufacturing Smoking Cessation Products are behind most, if not all smoking bans.
I have found, in many years of research, if you follow the money it takes very little time to find the true motives of activists that try to control what we do in our everyday lives. They never fail to tell us, it is for our own good.
Again I say, thank you for your comments.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
Worried about your right to breath clean air? It’s not in; your homes because of the materials it’s built from. your own Kitchen because of cleaning products. your yard because of the insecticides you spray. your car because of the materials used in the upholstery and the fumes that come into your car while driving. Nowhere outside because of the pollution due to gas/diesel engines. See chart. http://www.burningissues.org/comp-emmis-part-sources.htm Ignore the fact that the EPA Report was vacated as fraudulent. Ignore over 250+ studies showing no harm from SHS. They don’t tell us that living close to major traffic hi-ways or large Urban areas increase the incidence of Cancer or Heart Disease by 50% or more. Ignore the businesses going broke across the Country because of Bans. We do have, agencies using misinformation to control others for profit not health.
Smoking Studies. http://encyclopedia.smokersclub.com/163.html
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
Having family in the funeral business for more than 55 years, I can assure you that deaths due to shs are next to nonexistent. The exaggerated claims made by tobacco control really need to be investigated. The conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical companies pushing nicotine cessation products also needs to be investigated. I believe the entire marketing of smoking bans is a scam with a huge profit motive.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
Undertaker...I love it. Great name. Also: virgil, thank you for those well informed comments. We have the same rash of anti-smoking op/eds every single year. I encourage you to write a letter to the editor.
Editorial: Statewide smoking ban would benefit Kansans
I found an Electronic Cigarette that allows me to smoke in banned areas and I really like it. The reason is because when you exhale there is no smoke only vapor and they allow you to choose the level of nicotine that you want. Friday on CNN they did a piece on the ElectronicCigarettes and said the same thing plus a number of other positive points. If you want to check it out go to this link
http://myinlife.com/smokeelc
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID