Smoke gets in their lungs
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t's easy to understand why smokers view the steady progress of smoking bans in public places to be the very definition of Draconian government imposition into their personal lives. They are harsh -- no doubt about it.
But they are not too strict when you stack them up against this kind of information: Between 140 and 250 Utahns each year die as the result of exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the 2007 Utah Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Annual Report. Data like that eviscerates arguments that smokers are being unfairly targeted.
Because this is such an important public health issue -- 188,000 Utahns smoke, and 1,100 of them die each year as a result -- more and more governments are moving to defend nonsmokers from the ill wind created by friends, co-workers, neighbors and total strangers in public places. The Davis County Health Board placed restrictions on public smoking in June, and now Weber-Morgan health officials are poised to do the same.
We applaud their decisions. We understand that tobacco is a legal product. But it's a health hazard, too, and the primary public interest being served by these public smoking restrictions is that secondhand smoke harms nonsmokers.
The argument frequently is made that a steady diet of cheeseburgers is a health hazard, too, and the smoking restrictions are merely a prelude to diet laws. But such arguments are bogus, because cheeseburgers don't emit secondhand fats, excess sodium and cholesterol to the salad-eaters nearby.
As reported in this newspaper in September, New York City has found that its controversial public-space smoking bans have resulted in fewer smokers, as well as smokers who are smoking fewer cigarettes -- not to mention all those nonsmokers who are no longer exposed to secondhand smoke. Utah is discovering much the same result, albeit on a dramatically smaller scale.
The Weber-Morgan Board of Health's decision to begin drafting legislation to prohibit smoking in certain public places was not a unanimous decision. Weber County Commissioner Jan Zogmaister voted against it, as did Tina Kelley, a member of the Morgan County Council. Both have reservations about how the law would affect private and public properties, and think increased education is a better route to take.
We agree with them that the county health department should be stressing increased public education programs regarding smoking.
But the fact is, asking politely doesn't always work -- sometimes it takes the firm hand of government to get the job done.
