A healthy San Antonio economy depends on healthy San Antonians.
This is the mission of the Smoke-Free San Antonio Coalition as it urges city leaders to strengthen the city’s indoor smoke-free policy to protect all workers and patrons from the deadly effects of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is a serious workplace, public health and safety issue.
In 2003, San Antonio took the first steps toward improving the indoor air quality in public places with the passage of an ordinance that limited smoking in restaurants. While certainly not strong enough to make a significant difference, it gave us all a taste of life in a smoke-free world. Now, seven years later, we are motivated to strengthen our laws with indisputable scientific evidence citing the deadly effects of secondhand smoke and studies that overwhelmingly show strong smoke-free laws do not harm restaurant sales, bar sales or tourism.
Any doubt that secondhand smoke is harmful to health was firmly put to rest in 2006, when the U.S. Surgeon General issued the most comprehensive scientific report ever produced on the negative health impact of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in America today and is responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually in otherwise healthy non-smokers. Secondhand smoke causes deadly illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, respiratory illness and low birth-weight births.
Across the country, cities have implemented laws to restrict smoking in public places with little or no cost to state or local governments or businesses. San Antonio is the only major metropolitan city in Texas without a strong smoke-free ordinance in place. Twenty-nine cities across Texas, including Austin, Dallas, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Galveston, Houston and El Paso, have all passed strong ordinances.
Nationwide, there are 30 states with strong smoke-free policies in place. The U.S. Virgin Islands is the latest U.S. territory to enact a strong smoke-free law that includes bars and restaurants.
Perhaps more compelling are the motives behind a strong smoke-free ordinance. It is scientifically proven that employees in non-smoking environments are healthier and more productive, miss less work due to illness and cost less to insure. Our community boasts a thriving hospitality industry, yet we continue to expose our workforce to deadly levels of secondhand smoke every day. Hospitality workers have a three to four times greater risk of developing lung cancer, and food service workers exposed to secondhand smoke are 50 percent more likely than others to die of lung cancer. It’s not fair to ask that segment of our workforce to choose between staying healthy and earning a living.
Studies show no reduction in revenue to businesses in cities after strong smoke-free ordinances passed. In fact, many businesses reported not only a happier work force, but also a more loyal patronage once the restaurant or bar became smoke-free.
A recent poll conducted by Baselice & Associates, Inc., showed that five in seven respondents (72 percent) think the right of customers and employees to breathe clean air is more important than the right of smokers to smoke and owners to allow smoking (21 percent).
On behalf of the Smoke-Free San Antonio Coalition, we look forward to creating a community where we all enjoy our right to breathe clean air. We urge Mayor Julián Castro and City Council to pass a strong, comprehensive smoking ordinance that protects the health of all workers.
Smoke-Free San Antonio is a coalition of organizations concerned about the health effects of secondhand smoke. Members include American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Lance Armstrong Foundation, March of Dimes, Bexar County Medical Society, Texas PTA, Texas Department of State Health Services (Tobacco Prevention Department), Region 8, La Fe Policy Research and Education Center, Transplants for Children and other local organizations. For more information, please go to www.smokefreesanantonio.org. You can also join the conversation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/smokefreeSA, or follow us on Twitter @SmokeFreeSA2010.
