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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Editorial: Put Health over Liberty and Pass Statewide Smoking Ban in GA [04/29-3]
Excerpts from: Editorial: Put health over liberty
Atlanta Journal Constitution [04/28/05]
The governor is still grappling with whether to veto the statewide smoking ban approved by the General Assembly on its final day of the 2005 session.
"On one side are the health issues but on the other are personal freedoms and liberties," said Dan McLagan, spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. "The governor is still going through the decision-making process."
A new Zogby International poll conducted last week for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ought to help Perdue decide in favor of the ban. The poll shows that 64 percent of Georgians endorse the legislation restricting smoking in public places of business, including restaurants and bars that allow children under the age of 18.
The ban will not stop Georgians from smoking in their homes, cars or sun porches, only in indoor public spaces where others would be affected.
Perdue could opt to just ignore the smoking ban, neither signing nor vetoing the bill by the May 10th deadline, and it would become law in July. But McLagan said, "That's not really his style. He'll take some action."
The governor is conflicted, said McLagan, because he believes that the public can already avoid the threat of secondhand smoke by frequenting bars and restaurants that cater to nonsmokers.
While the public may have some choice, workers have none. As a son of rural Georgia, Perdue knows only too well the limited job opportunities in many regions of the state. A single mother toiling as a food server in a small-town cafeteria shouldn't have to choose between emphysema and feeding her children.
Like any other workers, waitresses and waiters deserve the same job site protections that state law affords construction workers and road crews. Why should thousands of Georgians employed by restaurants face daily exposure to a known carcinogen?Not only is it morally bankrupt to ignore the proven health risks to workers in smoke-filled environments, but it's also costly to the state. Wages are especially low in the restaurant industry, and those workers often end up on the public tab when they develop cancer or other diseases related to secondhand smoke.
When asbestos was linked to deadly cancers, the government banned its use in most household insulation products to limit exposure. Well, secondhand smoke contains 4,000 chemical compounds, 60 of which are known or suspected of causing cancer.
Young children are highly susceptible to secondhand smoke, which is blamed for between 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis, in babies and toddlers each year.
Yet, Perdue says he's reluctant to sign the smoking ban because it infringes on a smoker's liberty. Would he rather infringe on a child's health? That's exactly what the governor will be doing if he vetoes the smoking ban.
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