The Smoke-Free Movement
Editorial: Smoke ban needs Senate panel's OK
This editorial from the Daily Southtown also deserves its own post:
March 6, 2007
The issue: The state is ready to take up the matter of a smoking ban in Illinois' public places.
We say: This is the best way to curb secondhand smoke and avoid a patchwork of local laws.
Illinois' influential state Senate Executive Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, and among the bills to be discussed is one that would ban smoking in virtually all public places.
A similar bill is progressing through the House, and the approval of the Senate committee would put more teeth into the effort to get the no-smoking legislation passed. Several Southland lawmakers are on the Executive Committee -- Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), Lou Viverito (D-Burbank) and Christine Radogno (R-Lemont). Viverito and Radogno have added their names as bill co-sponsors. Two other local senators who aren't on the committee, Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) and Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), also have signed on as co-sponsors.
The legislation would ban smoking in workplaces and in public gathering spots such as restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and casinos. It's important that this legislation proceeds through both chambers and eventually becomes law. Supporters point to the dangers of secondhand smoke as the primary reason the smoking ban is needed. According to the American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke contains more than 60 known or probable carcinogens and more than 4,000 chemicals, including formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide and carbon monoxide. The U.S. Surgeon General last year said there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
The legislation would not outlaw all smoking but would create an environment in Illinois that would limit exposure to secondhand smoke.
The legislation also is important because it would level the playing field among businesses in the state. As it stands now, counties and municipalities can adopt their own smoking bans. But that has created a situation in which businesses such as bars and restaurants in towns with smoking bans are claiming their patrons are leaving for towns where no bans are in place. With a statewide ban, no business would have an advantage over another.
We hope members of the Executive Committee take into account what's best for the health of the state's residents and what's sensible for businesses. If they do so, we believe committee members will wind up recommending passage of the bill.
March 6, 2007
The issue: The state is ready to take up the matter of a smoking ban in Illinois' public places.
We say: This is the best way to curb secondhand smoke and avoid a patchwork of local laws.
Illinois' influential state Senate Executive Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday, and among the bills to be discussed is one that would ban smoking in virtually all public places.
A similar bill is progressing through the House, and the approval of the Senate committee would put more teeth into the effort to get the no-smoking legislation passed. Several Southland lawmakers are on the Executive Committee -- Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), Lou Viverito (D-Burbank) and Christine Radogno (R-Lemont). Viverito and Radogno have added their names as bill co-sponsors. Two other local senators who aren't on the committee, Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) and Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), also have signed on as co-sponsors.
The legislation would ban smoking in workplaces and in public gathering spots such as restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and casinos. It's important that this legislation proceeds through both chambers and eventually becomes law. Supporters point to the dangers of secondhand smoke as the primary reason the smoking ban is needed. According to the American Cancer Society, secondhand smoke contains more than 60 known or probable carcinogens and more than 4,000 chemicals, including formaldehyde, arsenic, cyanide and carbon monoxide. The U.S. Surgeon General last year said there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
The legislation would not outlaw all smoking but would create an environment in Illinois that would limit exposure to secondhand smoke.
The legislation also is important because it would level the playing field among businesses in the state. As it stands now, counties and municipalities can adopt their own smoking bans. But that has created a situation in which businesses such as bars and restaurants in towns with smoking bans are claiming their patrons are leaving for towns where no bans are in place. With a statewide ban, no business would have an advantage over another.
We hope members of the Executive Committee take into account what's best for the health of the state's residents and what's sensible for businesses. If they do so, we believe committee members will wind up recommending passage of the bill.