NEWS
Cycling legend Armstrong to visit Madison for smoking ban
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Also by Beth Mueller:
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- Smokes out: Youngsters kept cigarette-free (February 25, 2008)
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by Beth Mueller
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Seven-time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong will come
to Madison in a week to advocate for a ban on smoking in Wisconsin, his
foundation announced Tuesday.
Armstrong, a cancer survivor, will speak with Gov. Jim Doyle
at a rally at noon Tuesday, March 4 at the Monona Terrace, pushing for
legislation currently in both houses of the Legislature that would ban smoking
in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
“He’s a great advocate,
obviously a fabulous athlete, and we’re honored to have him come speaking about
this bill,” said Allison Miller, a spokesperson for the American Cancer
Society, one group in a coalition working on the legislation and hosting the
Armstrong event.
Miller added Armstrong is
lending his support for the legislation as part of his broader cancer advocacy,
especially because smoking is the leading preventable cause of cancer.
“I think it obviously raises
awareness around the state. There is a vast degree of public support,” Miller
said. “Him coming to speak just reminds people that this is a really important
issue for everyone everywhere.”
Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for
Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, who is heavily involved in
negotiating a compromise on the smoking ban in the Senate, is less optimistic
about Armstrong’s impact.
“I honestly don’t think having a celebrity come makes much
difference in the process at all,” Lynch said. “Legislators have to answer to
the people who live in their districts, not Lance Armstrong.”
Smoking ban debate heating
up again
An Assembly version of the
smoking ban will get a public hearing today, with both sides of the issue
expected to turn out in force.
“This is a piece of legislation
that has wide bipartisan support,” said Scott Becher, spokesperson for Rep.
Steve Wieckert, R-Appleton. “We believe that its time has come.”
Wieckert, along with Sen. Fred
Risser, D-Madison — who introduced the legislation in each house — are expected
to speak at the hearing, in addition to various lobby groups on both sides of
the issue, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services and a
representative of the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Tobacco Research and
Information.
“We’re moving on a very fast track, and we’re very pleased
from working on [CM1]our Republican
and Democratic friends on this,” Becher said.
Rep. Doc Hines, R-Oxford, chairs the Assembly committee
hearing the bill today and said though the committee won’t vote on the bill
today, he believes they have the votes to pass it out of committee next week.
“If we’ve got any chance with it at all, it’s got to be the
same thing that’s gone through the Senate committee,” Hines said.
Lynch, however, said the prospects for the bill in the
Assembly look grim.
“I’d be surprised if the Assembly passed [it],” Lynch said.
“The speaker over there has made no effort to get this bill to the floor and
has pretty much indicated he doesn’t want to deal with the issue.”
Progress in the state Senate on
the smoking ban legislation has been slow, with negotiations breaking down
again last week.
According to Miller, the coalition is generally willing to
compromise with its opposition, which is mainly led by tavern groups.
“We’re certainly willing to
compromise, but it’s about trying to find that balance, and there’s just some
things you can’t give up,” Miller said.
Lynch said advocacy groups play
an important role in informing legislation like the smoking ban, “however, if
they dig in so far on one side of the issue and refuse to compromise, they do a
disservice to the issue they’re working for.”
“If they don’t compromise soon and get the legislation
passed this session, they’re going to have to start all over in 2009,” Lynch
continued.
Study finds smoking bans
haven’t hurt business
A report on the effects of
smoking bans across the country by the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group
released Tuesday showed the bans they examined did not hurt local economies.
“What we find is that
regardless of the size of the community or the type of the community, … the
outcomes are consistent, and that is that smoke-free policies either have a
neutral or positive economic impact when implemented,” said WISPIRG policy
advocate Bruce Speight.
Thomas Laprade (February 27, 2008 @ 11:51am):
If the public was honestly and truthfully informed about the effects of second-hand smoke, there would be fewer no-smoking laws in this country.
A little smoke from a handful of crushed leaves and some paper that is mixed with the air of a decently ventilated venue is going to harm or kill you?
There has never been a single study showing that exposure to the low levels of smoke found in bars and restaurants with decent modern ventilation and filtration systems kills or harms anyone.
As to the annoyance of smoking, a compromise between smokers and non-smokers can be reached, through setting a quality standard and the use of modern ventilation technology.
Air ventilation can easily create a comfortable environment that removes not just passive smoke, but also and especially the potentially serious contaminants that are independent from smoking.
Thomas Laprade
Thunder Bay, Ont.
D. Bruce Fox (February 27, 2008 @ 1:44pm):
I do not know about Wisconsin, but in Indiana every pharmacy is required to have a liquor license. If that is true in your state an increase in the number of licenses may only indicate the number of vendors selling prescription drugs have increased to service the needs of former smokers.
Who funds the organizations doing the research? In most cases it is the Robert Wood Foundation who uses the profits of Johnson & Johnson to support anti-smoking propaganda to enhance the sales of patches, gums, ADD and ADHD medications, and antidepressants.
Look to Illinois and Minnesota for actual evidence of business losses, they are not far away.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 5:25pm):
Smoking is not a right. There, I said it.
Bill Hannegan (March 1, 2008 @ 1:49am):
Just released research by Federal Reserve economist Dr. Michael Pakko shows that smoking bans do indeed hurt some businesses. Dr. Pakko urges lawmakers not to adopt "a Pollyannaish outlook in which communities can achieve public health benefits with no economic consequences."
http://stlouisfed.org/publications/re/2008/a/pages/smoking-ban.html
Dr. Pakko warns that bars and casinos are hardest hit by statewide smoking bans. Dr. Pakko cites the only peer-reviewed economic study of the effects of smoking bans not derived from data gathered either by public health groups or the bar/restaurant industry, but solely from government employment data, which shows the huge detrimental effect smoking bans have
on bars. These economists warn that smoking bans could cut bar jobs in some states 14 percent!
http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/vol7/iss1/art12/
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