Bill to do away with casino exception to smoking ban introduced

As promised, the next battle against deadly secondhand smoke got underway today when Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, introduced Senate Bill 1406 that will do away with an exception for casinos to the popular workplace smoking ban that went into effect on May 1.

SB 1046 would make the Detroit casinos smoke-free and extend to casino workers the same protection bar and restaurant patrons and employees enjoy from secondhand smoke. Basham has been fighting for the health of Michigan workers for more than a decade, and he was a key figure in helping pass legislation that took effect in May to make the state’s bars and restaurants smoke-free.

“Secondhand smoke doesn’t make any exceptions or exemptions, and Michigan law shouldn’t either,” Basham said. “The Legislature finally took action to protect patrons and workers in the state’s bars and restaurants from secondhand smoke exposure, and the men and women who work in the state’s casinos should be extended the same consideration for their safety.”

According to surveys, nearly two-thirds of Michigan voters support a workplace ban that includes bars and restaurants. Michigan became the 38th state to protect its workers from deadly secondhand smoke exposure. South Dakota, Montana, Vermont, Nebraska and Louisiana have strengthened their laws even further to make their workplaces, including restaurants, bars and gaming areas, 100 percent smoke-free. Data from the New York City Department of Finance shows that their tax receipts increased after the city went smoke-free, and there was also significant job growth in its bars and restaurants.

The predictions of a drop in business were not only false, but many bars and restaurants actually reporting an increase in business after the law went into effect.
Last summer air quality testing (AQT) conducted in Detroit’s three casinos revealed indoor pollution levels that were eight times higher than outdoor air, debunking the claim casino operators made in committee hearings on the smoking ban that their ventilation systems should earn them an exception to the workplace smoking ban.

When House Bill 4377 was approved with a bipartisan vote last December that made the Dr. Ron M. Davis Act law, a compromise exempted Detroit’s three casinos and so-called cigar bars because some people falsely believed the propaganda that a smoking ban would harm business. The success of the ban disproved that. Some critics of this public health issue pointed to the casino exception as proof that the smoking ban was not about protecting the health of workers and customers. This bill shoots that argument down.

“Casinos may be a safe-haven for smokers, but they’re like a gas chamber for workers,” Basham said. “Most Michigan bars and restaurants have gone smoke-free without any major uproar or a decrease in business, and have been able to still accommodate smokers without putting their non-smoking patrons and employees in harm’s way. It’s time for our state’s casinos to do the same, and I hope my colleagues in the Legislature will act quickly to pass this legislation.”

Secondhand smoke is the second leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and at least 200,000 workers die every year due to exposure to second-hand smoke at work. In 2006, the Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke and that eliminating smoking from all indoor areas is the only way to fully protect people from secondhand smoke exposure.

The smoking lamp is not lit in all authorized spaces

In a case of “I thought we were already doing this,” or “what took you so long,” the U.S.Navy is banning smoking on submarines, and the smoking lamp will be extinguished by December 31.

Vice Adm. John Donnelly, commander of Submarine Force, announced the ban last week. In the past, smoking had been confined to certain areas on the submarine. Individual submarine commanders will still be allowed to decide if crew members are permitted to smoke on deck.

“Our sailors are our most important asset to accomplishing our missions,” Donnelly said in a story in Navy Times. “Recent testing has proven that, despite our atmosphere purification technology, there are unacceptable levels of secondhand smoke in the atmosphere of a submerged submarine. The only way to eliminate risk to our non-smoking sailors is to stop smoking aboard our submarines.“

As numerous studies have shown, there is no safe amount of secondhand smoke, and there is no ventilation system yet invented that will make it safe. If the U.S. Navy cannot do it on their most expensive warships, neither can the Detroit casinos, who tried to make the case that their ventilation systems should earn them an exception to the workplace smoking ban.
Smoking was banned from inside surface ships as early as 1989 when I served on a guided missile destroyer. Hopefully, this will also help do away with the misguided petition drive by American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts to exempt them from the that workplace smoking ban that goes into effect on May 1 because they are private clubs.

Newspaper passes off opinion piece on smoking ban as news

It appears that the news hole of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus is matching its editorial page or the two are merging, based on an article in Wednesday’s edition on the workplace smoking ban called “Business owners expect to take hit.”

The paper has consistently editorialized against the smoking ban approved last Thursday and even ridiculed it. The fact is there is not one shred of evidence to support the claim that bars and restaurants will be hurt by the smoking ban. How do we know that? Because we are smoke free. have evidence from the 37 other states that are smoke free and entire countries that

We also have Michigan-based studies from respected organizations.

The University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy released a study on May 29, 2009 that concluded the state's bars and restaurants would not be hurt by a proposed workplace smoking ban. Another recent study in the spring of 2008 by the leading Lansing research firm Public Sector Consultants Inc. - called “Smokefree workplaces: The Impact of House Bill 4163 on the Restaurant and Bar Industry in Michigan” – also found a smoking ban had no negative economic impact on bars and restaurants.

I know the reporter knew about theses studies because I had a friendly debate with him on the smoking ban over the weekend on Facebook. He, as the article shows, is against the smoking ban.

It might be a fair article if it was on the opinion page because the business owners who are quoted in saying a ban will hurt them are basing it on their opinion, not on real evidence or results. Also, no where does anyone ask the questions: how can the 20-23 percent who still smoke have such an effect on business?

The manager of the Howell Bowl-E-Drome makes the ridiculous, baseless claim that “he expects a 25 percent to 30 percent loss of business when the ban goes into effect. “ Does he really believe people will stop bowling just because they can’t smoke and bowl at the same time? Please. Why not challenge that ridiculous claim?

The manager of Lu & Carl's and Stout Irish Pub, two nice places off of Grand River in Brighton that I have been to, is claiming that he will lose business. But the even more ridiculous claim he makes is that customers will drive more than 40 miles to a Detroit casino just to have a smoke and a beer.

If the customer does that, they will also have to gamble because the ban only exempts the casino gaming floor, not the casino’s bars and restaurants. Why was that not brought out in the article? I know the reporter knew about it.

The only restaurant the kills the reporter’s premise is from Livingston County’s most popular and successful restaurant, Stillwater Grill in Brighton. Here is the major difference between this and the claim by the manger at Lu & Carl's and Stout Irish Pub: it’s based on results, not opinion.

It would have been hard to ignore the Stillwater Grill in the story because it is named the top restaurant every year in the poll the paper runs annually.

The Stillwater Grill in Brighton went completely smoke-free on its own about a year ago in both the dining area and bar, and the results have been the same as what we have seen in the 37 other smokefree states.

General Manager Dan Carter said, "We never saw a decrease because of it. We actually saw more people coming in and saying positive things than coming in and saying negative things.”

The bottom line is that this is a public health issue, and even if it did hurt business it should not matter because secondhand smoke is deadly and there is no is safe amount of secondhand smoke. The fact that it does not hurt business is just a bonus.

The Governor will sign House Bill 4377 into law on Friday afternoon, and the smoking ban will go into effect May 1.

Major battle won on the smokefree front, but the public health war continues

I have written 90 posts over three years on the workplace smoking ban, and now that the Legislature finally did the right thing and approved a partial ban on Thursday, I’m experiencing a slight case of withdrawal.

I got a pretty good fix this weekend, and I had to knock down some of the same, tired old arguments from the other side. I had a long running debate on Facebook with a former colleague at the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. I was, frankly, quite surprised that he was against it, and the arguments he used. Again, so much for the myth of the “liberal media.”

His tired arguments mirrored the same arguments the Op-Ed page of the paper used to editorialize against it. But, over the weekend they ran a poll, and support in conservative Livingston County was more than 60 prevent for the workplace smoking ban. Like I have said time after time, this is a nonpartisan issue.

The Detroit News ran a CyberSurvey on the issue, and 49.3 percent say are pleased with the smoking ban that was passed, and just 36 percent said it was too restrictive. Another 14 percent said it did not go far enough. I don’t think it went far enough either, but I am more than satisfied, for now. Compromise is necessary to get things done in politics. Like President Obama recently said about the health care reform debate, “we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

That means 64 percent who took the survey support a workplace smoking ban and 36 percent do not. That pretty much reflects how the entire state feels.

It was also interesting to read the rightwing blogs. Even though almost 70 percent of Michigan residents support the ban, not one right wing blog was for it, not one. If you need any more proof on how out of touch the Republican Party really is there it is. Plus, it was a bipartisan bill, and Republicans and Democrats were on both sides of the issue.

Here’s a little sample of the rightwing opinion:

“Nanny Statists Win”
“Here's a thought: why not let people make their own decisions?”

Here’s another one:

“I'm left scratching my head that people in my own party, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan, the Grand Ol' Party, are trumpeting about the smoking ban in Michigan along with Democrats who have ruined our state, giving a failed governor a Leftist victory in removing more freedoms from the citizenry.”

That’s a lot of lies in one run-on sentence.

Some are hard to follow, but here is one, as near as I can tell, on how a ban will hurt bar business. That myth, of course, has long been debunked:

“An after work beer and a smoke at a bar will not translate to an after work beer in the local watering hole alone. Bar patronage will decrease.”

Here’s another one:

“Arguments abound on the RINO designation with those who still support the Republicans that vote "progressive," saying "but you should concentrate on the 95% that you agree with them on.. “

The good news is I expect to continue to write about the workplace smoking ban. I think there was enough support in the House to pass a clean bill. The fight is not over. This is a huge victory; make no mistake about that, but that was the big battle, and we still have a smaller battle before we have won the war.

There is still a bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 114, that completely bans smoking, including casinos. This was a true grassroots effort, and we need to step up the pressure to pass this and protect all workers, no matter where they work. We still have a year left in the current legislative session. A great time to pass this would be during the lame duck session next December.