Breathe Easy with Smoking Bans

Over the last two decade there has been a steady movement towards improving the air quality in the United Sates by implementing smoking bans in public places and higher taxes on tobacco products. This smoke free movement has been motivated by the increase in evidence based research confirming the effects of both passive and active smoking. Although many smokers know the numerous health risks associated with smoking cigarettes, disease that have been attributed to tobacco usage still remain the leading cause of preventable deaths in the US (Stop Smoking , 2013). Despite the evidence there is still forceful opposition when considering a smoking ban on any community. This opposition is based on beliefs that the constitutional right infringement, misinformation about the negative effects of second-hand smoke exposure, fear of public backlash and lose of business from smokers. 

 The most common argument of those who oppose smoking bans in public places is that by prohibiting smokers from smoking inside a public place will decrease the amount of business smokers bring to an establishment. Firstly it is important to recognize that people who smoke are an important consumer group to businesses such as bars, restaurants, and gambling establishments and that the concerns of the business owners are valid. Recently there has been an increase in research studies that have reported on the economic effects of implementing a smoking ban in public places. These studies have found that the smoking ban has no effect on a businesses in fact on one occasion the business decreased after a smoking ban was repealed  (Pyles & Ellen, 2012). Researchers from the 1994 study in California Glantz and Smith, concluded that “legislators and government officials can enact such health and safety requirements to protect patrons and employees in restaurants from the toxins in secondhand tobacco smoke without the fear of adverse economic consequences”(p. 1085).

The second most common objection to the smoking ban is that the ban is a personal infringement on the rights of the smoker. This harder to defend against because every person has the right to make their own decisions about their health but it is also important to keep in mind the idea that our choices affect those in our surroundings. The proposition of a ban on smoking in public places is an attempt to protect those who have chosen to refrain from smoking from the toxic chemicals that can be inhaled from secondary exposure. “Second-hand smoke is responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 (ranging 22,700-69,600) heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers annually in the United States”  (Stop Smoking , 2013).  Smoking bans over time will gradually decrease these unnecessary deaths as well as help those who have recently quit smoking permanently quit smoking. By helping to promote and support clean air policies like smoking bans in public places we help each person breath a little easier. 

Stop Smoking . (2013, Janurary ). Retrieved Feburary 2, 2013, from American Lung Association : http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/

Glantz, S., & Smith, L. (1994). The Effect of Ordinances Requiring. American Journal of Public Health , 1081-1085.

Pyles, M., & Ellen, H. (2012). Economic Effects of Smoke-Free Laws on Rural and Urban Counties in Kentucky and Ohio. Nicotine & Tobacco Research,, 111-115.