In Public Smoking Battle, Health First

In “Bar Wins in Battle Over Smoking Ban” (June 2), I was surprised to read that a county judge ruled against the smoke-free bar law. Fortunately for the lung health of Orange County residents, support for a smoke-free workplace, restaurant and bar policy has only increased since its 1997 implementation to a whopping 73% of Californians in favor.

The passing of AB 13 by California voters showed that public health is a priority. Obviously, the people who filed the numerous complaints that led to the citations at Lucky John’s felt that their lung health and those of their fellow community members was at risk. It’s been known since 1986, when the surgeon general released a report that secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer in healthy nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke is now classified by the EPA as a known human carcinogen and is unsafe at any level of exposure. In addition, secondhand smoke has higher concentrations of some harmful compounds than the mainstream smoke inhaled by the smoker.

It is important to consider the preferences of both nonsmokers and smokers whenever possible, but when one’s preference is a matter of life and death to another, support of public health must come first. Being able to breathe air free of cancer-causing toxins is a necessity; smoking is not. As an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled (Johnson vs. the City of Westminster, County of Orange, 1998), “Smoking is not a fundamental right.”

Kristi Munns

Communications director

American Lung Assn.

of Orange County