(Letter to the Editor)
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be achieved. Politicians, health experts as well as supporters of the ban agreed that the number of lives
saved would be in the thousands.
Both employers and employees in the bar and restaurant business have reported reduced earnings.
Revenue from fine collection has lagged the costs of enforcing, publicizing and defending the ban in court.
New York City sited an 8% increase in overall sales tax collection but never provided the sales tax
collection results solely from businesses affected by the ban.
These expenses, weighed against a reduction in sore throats, itchy eyes and runny noses hardly seem
worth it.
The conclusion drawn from your article may be what the health department was unable to report; a
reduction in emergency room visits, a decrease in the rate of heart attacks, a drop in the state's mortality
rate or any real improvement in workplace health as a result of the smoking ban.
Thank you,
Jonathan Pinard
Executive Director
New York Coalition of Social Smokers, Inc.
www.socialsmokers.org
By CANDICE CHOI Associated Press Writer July 27, 2005, 1:47 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Bar and restaurant workers in New York are suffering fewer sore throats and runny
noses since the state's workplace smoking ban went into effect, health officials reported Wednesday.
The reduction is linked to the dramatic decline in employees' exposure to second-hand smoke, according
to findings published in the August issue of Tobacco Control, a public health journal. Prior to the smoking
ban in 2003, employees reported being exposed to 12 hours of smoke over a four-day period; that figure
dropped to 12 minutes in 2004.
While there were no significant changes in upper-respiratory symptoms like coughing, the report found
notable declines in a range of other symptoms, said Dr. Matthew Farrelly, the study's principal investigator.
Symptoms of runny noses, irritated noses and sneezing went from being reported by 54 percent of the
workers prior to the law to 12 percent a year after it went into effect, according to the report.
The incidence of sore and scratchy throats dropped from 42 percent to 17 percent in the same time frame,
while the incidence of red and irritated eyes slipped from 67 percent to 25 percent.
The saliva of the study's 32 participants was measured for levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine and a
marker of exposure to second-hand smoke.
Cotinine levels in participants declined by 78 percent within the first year after the law went into effect,
according to the report.
William Van Slyke, spokesman for the state's Health Department, said he expects to see continuing
declines in work-related exposure to second-hand smoke as the state continues to go after businesses that
violate the ban.
The smoke-free law, which went into effect July 2003, prohibited smoking in virtually all places of
employment. There is currently a 93 percent compliance rate among New York's bars, restaurants and
bowling facilities, according to the state Health Department.
Vendors that violate the ban can be fined $2,000 per citation.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--smokingban0727jul27,0,3540286.story
