Why Ban Smoking in Restaurants & Other Workplaces?

- There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

- Even brief secondhand smoke exposure has immediate adverse health effects.

- Nonsmokers exposed to second to secondhand smoke at home or work increased their risk of developing heart disease by 25-30 percent and lung cancer by 20-30 percent.

- Even the most sophisticated ventilation systems cannot completely eliminate secondhand smoke exposure and that only smoke-free environments afford full protection.

- About 3,000 non-smokers die annually from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.

- 35,000 non-smokers die annually from heart disease caused by secondhand smoke.

- Secondhand smoke is a Group A carcinogen because it is a known cause of lung cancer in humans and contains 4,000 chemicals including known poisons such as formaldehyde, benzene, and hydrogen cyanide.

- Workers have been awarded unemployment, disability and worker’s compensation benefits for illness due to exposure to secondhand smoke.

- A smoking employee costs the employer at least $1,000 per year in total excess and indirect health care costs.

- Bars and restaurants workers are 11/2 times more likely to die of lung cancer than they would be if bars and restaurants were 100 percent smoke-free.

- Bars and restaurants workers have the highest prevalence of smoking-related lung cancer.

- Eight hours of working in a smoky bar is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

- Smoke-filled casinos have up to 50 times more cancer-causing particles in the air than highways and city streets clogged with diesel trucks in rush hour traffic.

- Workers in gambling venues are often exposed to higher levels of secondhand smoke.

- In 2008, 85% of casino patrons surveyed said they preferred a non-smoking environment.

- Nonsmokers regularly exposed to 30 minutes of secondhand smoke suffer death rates 30 percent higher than that of unexposed nonsmokers.

- A half hour of exposure to secondhand smoke dramatically increases a person’s short-term risk of heart attack.

- No properly conducted study shows a negative economic impact. Some even show that a smoke-free measure improves business.

- As evidence mounts about the dangers of secondhand smoke, so does the legal liability of employers—including restaurants.

- In addition, here’s what restaurant owners pay out of pocket by allowing smoking in their establishments:
- Higher maintenance expenses (carpets, drapes, cloths, paintwork)
- Higher insurance premiums (fire, medical, workers comp, liability)
- Higher labor costs (absenteeism, productivity).

- Ventilation systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars may reduce odor, but fail to guard against secondhand smoke's real health dangers.

- The tobacco industry and the HVAC industry have been advised by their attorneys that making any health claims about ventilation exposes them to litigation.

- There is no safe level of secondhand smoke; no feasible ventilation system can control the health risk from secondhand smoke.

- The toxic particles that remain after visible smoke is gone, otherwise known as third-hand smoke, embed themselves in furniture, carpeting, and objects around them and pose an especially great risk to children and infants for cancer and may
affect brain development.

- A smoke-free air law in michigan could lower hospital admissions for heart attacks by up to 3,340 admissions annually.

- There was a 41% drop in those hospitalized in Pueblo, Colorado three years after smoke-free laws were enacted.