Smokefree DC is a citizen-based group whose goal is to promote smokefree environments in Washington, DC.
|
By Angela Bradbery, on January 22, 2010
Following a national trend, Los Angeles is making outdoor cafes smokefree, the Los Angeles Times reports. The city is also making the spaces within 40 feet of food carts smokefree as well.
No opponents showed up at the city meeting when this was considered, which suggests that it’s really no big deal. It really isn’t. The city already has smokefree parks and beaches. Making outdoor cafes smokefree isn’t a huge leap.
In fact, many other localities in the U.S. have laws ensuring outdoor diners are protected from secondhand smoke. They include Arkansas, Illiois, Georgia and West Virginia. Check out Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights for a complete list.
By Angela Bradbery, on January 19, 2010
In its latest edition, GW’s Hatchet takes a whack at covering the sidewalk smoking bill. Perhaps the story got whacked by an editor, because the reporters omitted a key point: that the purpose of the bill is to protect the integrity of the smokefree workplace law.
Right now, smoke drifts inside some offices – including medical offices. That, of course, violates the purpose of the smokefree workplace law, which is to protect employees from the toxins in secondhand smoke.
So no, it’s not about trying to mean to smokers. It’s all about health.
By Angela Bradbery, on January 19, 2010
Now that we have a new administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is finally getting serious about protecting the public health. Most recently, the agency has tried to block electronic cigarettes coming from China. The jury is still out on their safety.
Unfortunately, a judge has disrupted the FDA’s efforts. Last week, as reported in The New York Times and other media, a federal judge said the agency can’t stop the e-cigarettes from coming in, and that they should be regulated as tobacco products instead of drugs or medical devices.
Matt Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids made some good points in the story, saying that the judge ignored a common-sense distinction the FDA makes between tobacco products and non-tobacco products that have nicotine in them, like lollipops and water. Unfortunately, he also said that e-cigarettes provide an alternative to smoking in smokefree places.
Whoa. Hold on there. We don’t accept that. It’s still unclear whether the chemicals in the vapor emitted from electronic cigarettes is harmful. Plus, there is the confusion factor – a smoker with a real cigarette may see the smoker with the e-cigarette across the restaurant or bar and figure it’s okay to light up. That would burden employees at bars and restaurants with unnecessary enforcement responsibilities.
It’s not at all clear that these things can be used in smokefree spaces. Hopefully our friends at TFK will back off that notion.
By Angela Bradbery, on January 13, 2010
We’d like to tell you about a D.C. woman had so much secondhand smoke in her apartment that she hired a lawyer. The tale could be helpful to those of you who are dealing with smoke coming into your dwelling from another unit.
The case went through the condo board and then to court. In what is believed to be a precedent-setting case in the District, the woman won. The parties settled the case upon the smoker’s promise – enforceable by the court – to not smoke in her apartment or on her balcony ever again.
“This case represents the first known recognition by a District of Columbia condominium association of a non-smoker’s right to be free from the unhealthy effects of secondhand smoke in a multi-unit dwelling,” said J.P. Szymkowicz, the attorney who handled the case. ”It’s been a long fight, but it ended well, with the right to breathe clean air trumping the right to smoke.”
No money changed hands, but under the settlement, the smoker risks monetary penalties should she smoke in her unit or on her attached balcony in the future.
Continue reading D.C. woman wins court battle with smoker
By Angela Bradbery, on January 11, 2010
I meant to do a short roundup last week of coverage of the sidewalk issue but got busy. Here it is, slightly delayed.
The Washington Post had a thorough story. It was quite balanced and explained clearly that the proposal is not a ban and it comes with no enforcement mechanism. Channel 7 also covered it, and The City Paper’s Loose Lips included a mention in his daily roundup.
It doesn’t appear as though many others picked it up, which makes sense, since it’s really not that big a deal - the measure approved on first reading by the Council merely says that business owners can ask smokers to step away from the doorway so smoke doesn’t come back inside.
By Angela Bradbery, on January 5, 2010
The D.C. Council today took a solid step toward firming up the city’s smokefree workplace law and ensuring that workers aren’t exposed to secondhand smoke on the job. In unanimously approving on first reading bill 18-428, the “Prohibition Against Selling Tobacco Products to Minors Amendment Act of 2009,” the Council clarified that building owners can post “no smoking” signs in front of their buildings.
It’s a simple and very basic measure that will greatly help those who suffer when tobacco smoke enters buildings. It’s not a ban – there is no enforcement in the new legislation. However, we hope that smokers will abide by the request and move down the street.
Continue reading Building owners soon will be able to post “no smoking” signs
By Angela Bradbery, on January 3, 2010
Yes, even tobacco states can go smokefree. North Carolina, which produces about half the country’s tobacco, according to The Washington Post, went smokefree on Jan. 2. That includes bars as well as restaurants, making it a stronger law than Virginia’s (that state allows smoking in separately ventilated areas). (Note that many localities in Kentucky, also a major tobacco state, have smokefree bars and restaurants.)
Predictably, a North Carolina smoker interviewed by the Post complained about having his rights taken away. But, as Hugh Holliman, a member of the North Carolina legislature noted, no one’s right to smoke is touched by smokefree laws.
“This law doesn’t tell anybody they should’t smoke,” he said. “It’ saying non-smokers should have the same right to breathe clean air.”
Amen to that.
By Angela Bradbery, on December 29, 2009
When I was in Florida over Christmas, I picked up the paper I used to write for many moons ago and saw an encouraging story: Florida Colleges Restrict On-Campus Smoking. It said that beginning next year, Florida Atlantic University will limit smoking to 20 spots on campus, with the goal of being totally smokefree within a year. Nova Southeastern University limits smoking to 12 spots, while the University of Miami will not allow smoking at all on its medical campus as of March.
The biggest news, though, is that starting in July, smoking won’t be permitted anywhere on the University of Florida campus. UF has come a long way since I attended. Back then (late 80s), I had a dorm roommate who decided to take up smoking because she thought it would make her appear more artsy. (I’m not joking; I asked her to smoke in the hall. And no, it didn’t make her more artsy.)
The schools say they are doing it not only to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke but also to help smokers quit.
By Angela Bradbery, on December 16, 2009
A bill that would enable D.C. businessowners to post “no smoking” signs outside their property inched forward through the legislative process today.
The provision, just a few lines long, is tucked into a much larger bill (B18-428) design to curb tobacco sales to minors. The D.C. Council on Public Safety and the Judiciary approved the bill 4-0.
The signage provision came because of reports from business owners that secondhand smoke was drifting into offices through doors and windows, thereby violating the spirit of the smokefree workplaces law. Indeed, Smokefree DC has received quite a few calls about this — one from a cardiologist’s office. One need not know a huge amount about the health harms of secondhand smoke to know that it is about the last thing heart patients need.
Continue reading D.C. tobacco bill inches forward
By Angela Bradbery, on December 11, 2009
Great news from Michigan! The state legislature has voted to make workplaces, including restaurants and bars, smokefree in May 2010. Now all the governor needs to do is sign the bill.
The downside is the exemptions, which are for three Detroit casinos, cigar bars and tobacco stores.
It’s interesting to read the AP article; you’ll see people the same old tired arguments we heard in D.C. about government overreach, drinking and smoking going together, etc.
I think my favorite quote is from a woman who said she is find with smokers having to take it outside of restaurants and offices, but not bars. A bar, she said, is “the place you go to be a bad girl, bad boy.”
Okaaaaaayyyyyy ….
|
