Coalition: Residents should choose smoke-free bars, taverns
Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008
Members of the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition are urging area residents to frequent smoke-free bars and taverns in Fayetteville.
The group launched an educational campaign Thursday about the dangers of secondhand smoke. The forum, hosted at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in concurrence with Lung Cancer Awareness Month, highlighted Arkansas’ progress since implementing the Master Tobacco Settlement and the Clean Indoor Air Act.
“When Fayetteville’s smoke-free ordinance went through, everyone was worried about the economic impact,” Ashley Toland, project coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition, said. “It turns out that 69 percent of Fayetteville restaurants reported higher sales after the ordinance passed.”
Dr. Joe Bates, deputy state health officer for the Arkansas Department of Health, spoke about the decline in smoking rates since the passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act.
“I think of Washington County and Fayetteville as the most progressive part of the state,” he said. “You’ve led the way in terms of smoke-free environments, but we’ve still got a ways to go. Arkansas is among the least healthy states in the country. Tobacco is the biggest reason.”
Bates said the percentage of Arkansans who smoke has decreased from 26.3 percent in 1997 to 22.4 percent in 2007. During that time, he said, Arkansas has consistently ranked higher than the national average.
“The peak time for smoking was in 1964, when 45 to 50 percent of adults in the U.S. smoked,” he said. “The trend has decreased since the smoking settlement passed in 2002. Now, it’s about one in five people.”
If current smoking trends continue, Bates said, smoking will kill 22 million people by the year 2050. Increased treatment coupled with more tobacco control, he said, could reduce that number to 6 million.
Toland said the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition hopes to continue its efforts toward creating a smoke-free infrastructure by encouraging support for smoke-free bars and taverns. Currently, Fayetteville’s smoke-free ordinance prohibits smoking in venues that serve meals. Establishments that only sell alcohol or incidental foods, such as peanuts or popcorn, are exempt from the ban.
“What a lot of people don’t realize is that exposure to secondhand smoke is just as deadly as lighting up,” she said.
Two years after the passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act, Arkansas continues to have the sixth highest number of deaths caused by lung cancer, largely because of known risk factors that increase a person’s chance of getting cancer — tobacco use, poor nutrition and obesity.
The bottom line, Toland said, is that secondhand smoke kills 53,000 people each year in the U.S.
Bill Quinn, spokesman for Tellurian Group Inc., presented an air-quality study comparing the levels of secondhand smoke in bars and restaurants allowing and prohibiting smoking. The study was conducted in 10 bars and five restaurants in Fayetteville and Springdale.
“Some venues exceeded the [Environmental Protection Agency’s] levels that are considered hazardous for outdoor air,” he said. “Workers in the locations studied were exposed to pollutants four times higher than recommended by EPA standards.”
The study also revealed that pollutants in smoke-free venues were 92 percent less than in smoking venues, Quinn said.
Toland said bars have the highest concentration of secondhand smoke and are the most dangerous for employees. A bartender, she said, is more at risk of exposure-related health risks than a firefighter or mine worker.
Toland went on to present the results of a local survey, which revealed that 72 percent of registered voters would support expanding the smoke-free ordinance to include stand-alone bars and taverns. The poll, which was conducted at random by phone, measured the opinions of 400 registered Fayetteville voters.
“Our biggest challenge hasn’t been the creation of anti-smoking campaigns,” Toland said. “It’s been the creation of an anti-smoking infrastructure. We encourage your support and ask that you spread the word.”
For more information, or to request a copy of the entire Survey of Registered Voters in Fayetteville, contact Toland at 872-5350 or nwatfc@gmail.com.
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