Contact:
Angela Bradbery (202) 669-6517
Michael Tacelosky (202) 271-9320

March 17, 2005

D.C. Council Should Protect Workers and the Public by Passing Smokefree Workplace Legislation

Smokefree DC Statement

For too long, too many District workers have had to risk their health for the sake of their job because they work in smoky environments. And for too long, people who frequent D.C. establishments have similarly jeopardized their health and the health of their families. It's time for the District Council to do what seven states and several countries have done: make all workplaces and indoor public places in the District smokefree.

Today we applaud the D.C. Councilmembers who are supporting smokefree workplace legislation for the District. They rightly recognize that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease, and is linked to respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. They also realize that the District has one of the worst laws in the country when it comes to clean air; in D.C., it is legal to smoke in offices, health care facilities, day care centers, taxis and most every public venue.

Inevitably, some will make Chicken Little predictions of economic doom if smokefree workplace legislation is passed, but studies of tax data and employment data in jurisdictions that have gone smokefree show businesses do just as well, if not better. Just last month, Montgomery County released data showing a 7.6 percent increase in restaurant sales taxes in the year after the county went 100 percent smokefree.

We hope that the final bill passed by the full D.C. Council will include all workers, regardless of their profession. We urge Councilmembers to fulfill their duty, which is to protect the health and welfare of all D.C. residents and workers, because everyone deserves to breathe clean air.

Smokefree DC (www.smokefreedc.org) is a nonprofit membership organization that supports 100% smokefree environments for all workplaces, including offices, restaurants and bars, because no worker should be forced to breathe smoke on the job.