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Smokers Toxic to Bar, Restaurant Workers
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Oregon is the 22nd state to implement such a law, said Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
"The implications of this study are pretty obvious," McGoldrick said. "Any worker in a bar, restaurant or anyplace else, should be protected from the carcinogens in secondhand smoke. There is no reason for exemption for any class of workers, particularly in the recreation industry."
Fears that laws banning smoking in eating and drinking places would hurt businesses have been long ago disproved, McGoldrick said. "In fact, they seem to help business," he said. "About 80 percent of people are nonsmokers, and they prefer to be in a smoke-free environment."
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Another report in the same issue of the journal noted that employers are increasingly likely to be held legally liable for exposing workers to secondhand smoke, even in localities where laws permit workplace smoking.
The legal analysis, from the Public Health Institute in Oakland, Calif., found that workers harmed by secondhand smoke are turning to worker compensation laws, state and federal disability laws for redress. It is now employer's responsibility "to provide a safe workplace" to have smoking banned where they work, the researchers wrote.
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute can tell you more about secondhand smoke.
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Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 6/28/2007
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SOURCES: Michael Stark, Ph.D., principal investigator, Multnomah County Health Department, Portland, Ore; Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Washington, D.C.; August 2007, American Journal of Public Health
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