photo by Leslie Cantu

Matthew Carpenter of Hollings Cancer Center told council that studies unaffiliated with tobacco companies found no negative economic impact from banning smoking.

photo by Leslie Cantu

Councilman Ricky Waring, Town Administrator Dennis Pieper, Mayor Berlin Myers, Town Attorney Mark Stokes and Councilmen Aaron Brown and Mike Dawson listen to people speaking about the smoke-free workplace ordinance.

Summerville Town Council approved first reading of an ordinance Wednesday to ban smoking in businesses, despite personal reservations of some council members.

Councilmen Bob Jackson and Aaron Brown said they were sympathetic to business owners’ concerns that they could lose business to establishments outside the town limits, where smoking would still be allowed.

Nonetheless, the two men said they were voting for the ordinance because their constituents wanted it passed.  Jackson urged proponents of the ban to encourage the county to pass a similar ban.

After the meeting, Ladson resident Martha Dunlap of the Smoke-Free Lowcountry Coalition and other proponents said they’ll be pushing both Dorchester and Charleston counties to pass smoke-free workplace ordinances.  They’ve been speaking to Dorchester council members for several months, they said.

Monday’s council vote was 4-1, with Councilman Ricky Waring voting against. Councilman Walter Bailey wasn’t at the meeting.

Brown said he had reservations but would still vote for the ban.

“I think we’re losing a lot of freedoms here in America,” he said.

After the meeting, he said government has a role in regulating industry.  Without government intervention, there wouldn’t be minimum wage or child labor laws, he said.

“I think it is government’s job to correct issues that affect public health,” he said.

Council heard from 15 people, with sentiments running 2-1 in favor of the ban.  Proponents included researchers from MUSC, a representative from Susan G. Komen for the Cure and residents.

Eleven-year-old Lauren Holliday asked council to pass the ban. She said her younger brothers wheeze when near smoke.

Tony Alberg, associate director for prevention and control at MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center, said researchers are discovering more links between second-hand smoke and disease.  Those negative effects include long-term implications, like possible links to cervical or breast cancer, and short-term problems like lower levels of antioxidents, which makes individuals more susceptible to illness.

He said second-hand smoke is akin to asbestos: once people understood the dangers posed by asbestos, government stepped in and banned its use to protect workers.

Matthew Carpenter, a cancer control specialist at the cancer center, told council that a meta-analysis of studies of the economic impact of smoking bans found 80 percent of the 97 studies reviewed found no negative economic impact.

When researchers looked only at the studies that weren’t funded by tobacco money, they found 100 percent agreed there was no negative economic impact.

But opponents, while concerned about loss of business, said their position was based on more than economics. They said it was about personal freedom and choice.

“I’m not a smoker.  I don’t like to be in a confined space with a lot of smoke,” said Bob Brittenham of Montreux Bar and Grill on West Richardson Avenue.

But, he said, “no one has to patronize our business if they find our policies objectionable.”

Ed Bowles said smokers are already an overtaxed group.  Further, smoking and being near smoking is a personal choice, he said.

“Nobody has ever forced me to go into or work at an establishment that is smoking,” he said.

If someone is exposed to secondhand smoke, it’s his own fault, he said.

“You chose to work there, you chose to walk in,” he said.

Waring said he’s never smoked but he agreed with those who spoke against the ordinance.  Government shouldn’t be meddling with business and telling people what they can do, he said.

Councilwoman Kima Garten-Schmidt said she understood the concerns of business.

“I feel more for the people out there with health concerns,” she said.

America needs to get healthy, and Summerville can set an example by banning smoking, she said.

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