Hole in the Wall
Chris Gray, Brain Damaged?
RECEIVED Tue., Sept. 6, 2005
Dear Chris Gray,
Your tirade about the smoking ban is selfish and nonfactual ["TCB," Music, Sept. 2]. You really didn't know that the citizens voted for it? You think the city "imposed" this on you? And now it's Lance Armstrong's fault because of his "deep pockets"? Are you brain damaged from secondhand smoke?
The smoke-free public place/workplace laws around the country are designed to protect employees and the public from secondhand smoke, which is the combination of smoke exhaled by a smoker and the smoke from a burning cigarette. This combination is dangerous for both the smoker and the nonsmoker; it contains more than 4,000 chemicals and includes 43 known to cause cancer. In '93, the EPA classified secondhand smoke as a class A carcinogen, like asbestos and radon, and there is no safe level of exposure. Waitresses have higher rates of lung cancer and heart disease than any other traditionally female occupation. One eight-hour shift in a smoky bar equals smoking 16 cigarettes, and two hours in the same bar equals smoking four cigarettes.
All people have a right to work in an asbestos-free, smoke-free environment, including those who make their careers as bartenders, servers, bussers, band members, etc. Being a cancer patient who works in the service industry and who also enjoys seeing my favorite bands play in clubs, I am thrilled to have the option of going out again. Why do you deserve a smoke-free office/workplace and I don't? Why is your health more valuable than mine?
If this is really going to cause you to sit at home just so that you can smoke, then you are a sad antisocial nut. I will take your place in the bars and clubs and enjoy every smoke-free minute of it.
Your tirade about the smoking ban is selfish and nonfactual ["TCB," Music, Sept. 2]. You really didn't know that the citizens voted for it? You think the city "imposed" this on you? And now it's Lance Armstrong's fault because of his "deep pockets"? Are you brain damaged from secondhand smoke?
The smoke-free public place/workplace laws around the country are designed to protect employees and the public from secondhand smoke, which is the combination of smoke exhaled by a smoker and the smoke from a burning cigarette. This combination is dangerous for both the smoker and the nonsmoker; it contains more than 4,000 chemicals and includes 43 known to cause cancer. In '93, the EPA classified secondhand smoke as a class A carcinogen, like asbestos and radon, and there is no safe level of exposure. Waitresses have higher rates of lung cancer and heart disease than any other traditionally female occupation. One eight-hour shift in a smoky bar equals smoking 16 cigarettes, and two hours in the same bar equals smoking four cigarettes.
All people have a right to work in an asbestos-free, smoke-free environment, including those who make their careers as bartenders, servers, bussers, band members, etc. Being a cancer patient who works in the service industry and who also enjoys seeing my favorite bands play in clubs, I am thrilled to have the option of going out again. Why do you deserve a smoke-free office/workplace and I don't? Why is your health more valuable than mine?
If this is really going to cause you to sit at home just so that you can smoke, then you are a sad antisocial nut. I will take your place in the bars and clubs and enjoy every smoke-free minute of it.
Brenda Hutchison