04/11/2006

Proposed smoking ban in bars snuffed out

LANSING (AP) — Chris Vaive often heads to a downtown Irish pub for a cold one after a day sorting mail for the U.S. Postal Service.

He usually seeks out a bar stool near the door, closer to fresh air and hopefully farther away from the smoke.

But the effort was futile one recent night. When other patrons lit up right next to him, Vaive stayed in his seat, quietly bemoaning the stench on his clothes and the secondhand fumes he was inhaling.

"It's a Group A carcinogen," says Vaive, a 48-year-old from Lansing Township who quit smoking in 1999. "I feel it should be put out. It's really nice in here when it's not smoky."

Vaive dislikes smoke enough that he recently e-mailed lawmakers and urged them to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Unless they change course, however, Michigan appears unlikely to join a growing number of states with similar bans.

Bills that would prohibit smoking in restaurants and now bars have been sitting in the Legislature since 2000 but never gotten a vote. They're opposed by the Michigan Restaurant Association and the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, which say eateries and bars should be free to decide whether to allow smoking without intrusion from government. About 23 percent of Michigan adults smoke.

Many smokers agree.

"We're easy to pick on," says Tony Lema of Mount Clemens, who likes to smoke while having a drink.

The 55-year-old retired painter opposes a ban in bars and private clubs such as veteran's halls or fraternal organizations.

"We've got enough legislation. We need less, not more," Lema says.

The debate not only pits smokers against nonsmokers, but property rights versus public health interests.

State Sen. Ray Basham, a Taylor Democrat and sponsor of the proposed smoking ban, says he has no problem with people smoking in private.

"But their rights end when it goes up the nose of a nonsmoker," he says.

Basham says the issue is about much more than nonsmokers getting watery eyes at a restaurant or wearing smelly clothes home from the bar.

About 38,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer or heart disease each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Supporters of the legislation — including doctors, hospitals and health groups — say secondhand smoke is especially hazardous to pregnant women and asthmatics, along with bartenders and waiters who work inside smoky establishments all day or night.

New York City, Chicago, Dallas and 15 states have approved smoking bans in restaurants; fewer have restricted it in bars. The New Hampshire Senate last week killed a measure that would have banned smoking in that state's restaurants and bars.

Several Michigan counties have barred smoking in workplaces, but courts have ruled that only the Legislature can impose bans in restaurants.

So far, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have agreed with bars and restaurants, which say the decision to go smokefree should be driven by free market competition and customer feedback. They note that more Michigan restaurants are becoming smokefree on their own.

"We're the ones who know best, not some legislator in an office in Lansing," says Andy Deloney, spokesman for the state's restaurant association.

The Red Cedar Grill in Williamston became smokefree about six months ago after owner Craig Heath realized the number of smokers at the restaurant was diminishing and more nonsmokers said they were bothered by the smoke.

"The decision was driven by the needs of the customers," says Heath, who also owns restaurants in Lansing and Brighton. "It's a feel. We just got a feeling over time there were less and less smokers."

Heath doesn't support an outright ban, though. He says many regulars at his Brighton Bar and Grill like to smoke there; and while it may make sense for a fine-dining place to prohibit smoking, a pub or sports bar may not want to estrange its customers.

Nonsmokers like Vaive say they're the ones being alienated. Supporters of the ban argue that efforts to contain secondhand fumes to smoking sections are ineffective. They also note there's no evidence that bans in other states and cities have hurt sales.

Bronson Frick, associate director of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, says residents in states with clampdowns on smoking have quickly embraced smokefree dining and drinking. Those who smoke can step outside for a light and then return, he argues.

"It's part of a culture change taking place at the national level," Frick says. "The public does not want to go back to the way it was."

Basham, who's been sponsoring varying versions of smokefree legislation for six years, says he may consider a ballot drive to bypass the Legislature and put the issue directly before voters.

Florida voters have approved a ban, but such a campaign would be expensive here.

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The bills to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces are House Bills 4624-25 and Senate Bills 394-95.

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Campaign for Smokefree Air: www.makemiairsmokefree.org

Michigan Smoke-free Dining Petition Drive: www.smokefreediningpetition.com

Michigan Legislature: www.legislature.mi.gov

Michigan Restaurant Association: www.michiganrestaurant.org

Michigan Licensed Beverage Association: www.mlba.org

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: www.cdc.gov/tobacco