Dear Editor,

As a longtime Summerville resident, healthcare executive and frequent restaurant patron, I have high hopes of someday living in a smoke-free community. I urge our Summerville Town and Dorchester County Councils to propose and support an indoor smoking ban for any public buildings. Further, I recommend that they take the following points into consideration.

First, such an ordinance would be life-saving to those who work in our eating establishments. The Surgeon General’s 2006 report “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,” eliminated any scientific question about the dangers of secondhand smoke.  No amount of money can buy back health for a worker who has been exposed to the more than 50 cancer causing toxins found in smoke on a daily basis. All people, whether they work in downtown office buildings, hospitals or in restaurants and bars, deserve the right to breathe clean air on the job.

Our unemployment rate is currently 9.2% in Dorchester County. While customers can choose where they want to eat and drink, many employees have little choice about where they work. It’s cruel to ask anyone to choose between their livelihood and their health.

Second, such an ordinance would be good for business. That’s right, good for business.  Peer-reviewed scientific studies show no economic impact, and in some cases, a positive impact, on bars and restaurants where smoke-free laws have been put in place. Aiken County enacted a comprehensive ordinance in June 2007 and has seen no statistically significant drop in bar, restaurant, hotel, or leisure employment.  Charleston’s Office of Licensing reported a 5.9% revenue increase in 2007-2008 after the city’s smoke-free ordinance took effect, and Mt. Pleasant reported a .02 % revenue increase after their smoke-free ordinance was enacted. My family looks forward to the day we can provide business to all Summerville and county restaurants.

Business owners also benefit from reduced cleaning and maintenance costs, and from lowering their risk of fires and accidental injuries, potentially reducing their insurance costs.  Computer equipment, furniture, and carpets even last longer in a smoke-free environment.

In addition, employers may be interested to learn that multiple studies show that healthier workers miss less work, are more productive, and have lower health care costs. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the U.S. average annual productivity losses attributable to adult smoking was $81.9 billion (smokers are absent about 50% more often than nonsmokers) representing $1,760 per smoker/per year in lost productivity.

Third, a smoke free ordinance is the right thing to do for our community’s health. “No smoking” sections do not offer protection, and the only way to safeguard against the health hazards caused by secondhand smoke is to create smoke-free indoor environments.

The growing numbers of bans on smoking in restaurants, bars and workplaces are turning into potent weapons in the battle to prevent heart attacks in the larger community. In one of the largest analyses to date, researchers found that smoke-free laws reduced the rate of heart attacks by an average of 17% after one year in communities where the bans had been adopted. Even better, after three years, the rate had dropped about 26%-36%, depending on the study.  

In a remarkable example, physicians in Helena, Montana noticed a sharp drop in heart-attack admissions at the city's main hospital about three months after a ban against smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos went into effect in June 2002. The reduction was 40% in absolute terms—102 heart attacks per 100,000 persons after the ban, compared to 170 before the ban. Then in December of that year, opponents succeeded in getting the ban revoked. Heart-attack rates rose sharply again. In their results, published in 2004, physicians noted, “We performed an ideal experiment. We turned [the ban] on, and we watched the heart attack rate go down. We turned it off and watched it go back up."

Finally, if we truly care about reducing the cost of health care, smoke free ordinances are a critical part of the solution.  Smokers have at least $1,623 in excess medical expenditures per year, and a recent study by the University of San Francisco put the annual cost of treating illnesses related to second-hand smoke in the U.S. at as much as $6 billion. We all subsidize these healthcare costs.

Currently, 17 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and more than 350 cities and towns in the U.S. have regulations banning smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants, covering about 40% of the U.S. population. I ask our elected leaders to propose, and wisely vote for, similar comprehensive ordinances for the good of our community’s physical and economic well-being.

All best,

Deb Campeau

Sumter Ave.

Summerville

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