Smoke-free Ohio

Ohio's Issue 5 gets my vote. I think waiters, waitresses and other hospitality workers deserve the same smoke-free protection many of us now enjoy at our workplaces.

I remember years ago when Enquirer offices weren't smoke-free, and ventilation at the "Grand Old Lady on Vine Street" wasn't the greatest. I eventually brought a fan to work out of self-defence.

That was long before U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona's 709-page study in June said the science was no longer open to dispute: There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. That study also said no-smoking sections and mechanical air cleaners don't reduce the risks enough to make it safe.

U.S. health officials estimate that more than 126 million nonsmokers are still exposed to secondhand smoke in the workplace. Waitresses have some of the highest lung cancer rates in the nation.

We all pay for smoking-related diseases, through Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded health care programs. Claims about "smokers' rights "are bogus. Issue 5 doesn't stop anyone from smoking in Ohio. It just says you can't smoke in public places. Does anyone have a right to impose "involuntary smoking" on someone else?

As far as I can tell, the only industry hurt by smoke-free laws is the tobacco industry. In New York and California, restaurant business increased after smoke-free laws were passed. Louisville just went almost totally smoke-free, except for Churchill Downs.

Issue 5 doesn't ban smoking in private homes, even though many kids are also exposed there to cancer-causing smoke. Carmona made special mention of Kentucky kids. The secondhand smoke exposure rate for KY kids at home is 34.2 percent. Ohio kids aren't much better off, at 32 percent. Only smokers can spare their kids from exposure at home, but don't we owe it to them and others to assure healthier air in public places by voting for Issue 5?