Jacob Sullum | September 20, 2007
In yesterday's discussion of smoking bans, a few commenters wondered why improved ventilation is not a viable alternative. In his 2006 report on secondhand smoke, then-Surgeon General Richard Carmona insisted that smoking bans are the only acceptable option (even while denying that he was making any policy recommendations). But around the time that Carmona's report came out, a paper commissioned by the American Gaming Association concluded that ventilation systems can give smoker-friendly casinos air quality at least as good as the air quality outdoors or inside smoke-free office buildings. The main example cited by the report is the Bellagio, where tests in 1999 and 2005 found levels of respirable suspended particles and gases associated with tobacco smoke similar to those outside the casino.
Casinos (which, as the report notes, may soon be the last remaining businesses in the U.S. where smoking is permitted) obviously have an interest in convincing legislators that ventilation makes bans unnecessary. But if these results hold up, they will present an interesting test of the motives underlying anti-smoking ordinances. Will supporters of these laws be satisfied by demonstrably clean air quality, or will they switch to the argument that smoking bans improve "public health" by encouraging smokers to quit or by preventing them from setting a bad example for the kids?
A similar question was raised by California's ban, which is officially a workplace safety measure. It ostensibly allows bars and restaurants to create separately ventilated rooms for smokers, as long as employees don't have to enter them. Last I heard, state regulators had failed to create standards for such rooms, so in practice they remain illegal.
The Bellagio ventilation system sounds expensive to install and operate, but something similar might still make economic sense not just for casinos but for smaller businesses as well. I recall a small tobacconist's lounge in New York where the air seemed fresh and clean despite half a dozen guys puffing away on cigars, thanks to a ventilation system that immediately whisked the smoke away. I suspect the air quality was better in that smokers' lounge than it was on the street outside.
A PDF of the AGA report is available here. NYC CLASH (a smokers' rights group) discusses ventilation here. Ventilation champion Mark Wernimont holds forth here.
[Thanks to Bill Hannegan for the tip.]
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This is silly. I've been to the Bellagio several times. If you're walking around, the air seems fine, but if you happen to sit next to a smoker or a group of smokers, no ventilation system in the world is going to prevent you from reeking of tobacco...
Is It the Smoke or the Smoking?
The smoking
This is all morality and prohibition not science and public
health.
I thought everyone here would be aware of that
but today's generation of "libertarians" never cease to amaze
me.
This is silly. I've been to the Bellagio several times. If
you're walking around, the air seems fine, but if you happen to sit
next to a smoker or a group of smokers, no ventilation system in
the world is going to prevent you from reeking of
tobacco...
Sooo....don't sit/stand right next to a smoker?
I'm hoping that they switch to the "public health" argument. At least with that, you could easily show how retarded it is by going a step further by insisting that alcohol poses as great or greater public threat than smoking.
Casinos (which, as the report notes, may soon be the last
remaining businesses in the U.S. where smoking is
permitted)
Revenues at Atlantic City casinos have been dropping in
the wake of a partial smoking ban, while many continue the fight
for a full ban.
Hr. Kovacs -
traditionally "public health" arguments have focused on air and
water borne contaminants, so the alcohol probably wouldn't be a
good analogy.
In that case, Semm's advice seems to be the best one.
Plus, smoke is the least of your worries if you wanna gamble all
night. There's a reason those casinos exist!
Or: consumers have to weigh their options - gamble and potentially
get some smoke (not to mention the eye sores from the bad work and
overly-enthusiastic collagen injections they'll see) or not
gamble.
Would a casino try a voluntary test case with smoking and non
smoking sections?
Tell ya what: instead of the government telling us what to do when
we voluntarily go to other establishments populated by others,
voluntarily, maybe we could ban the government from certain
behaviors that appear to be addictive to governmenting... uh...
thingy. See how they like it.
("tobacco.org" really doesn't seem like the best of sources,
btw)
CoveAxe: Do not give them any reason to go after alcohol... The
nanny staters are already attacking it... I do not want a federally
mandated serving amount... I do not want to be limited to
purchasing only one drink in a bar so that I am not counted as a
binge drinker.
I stand by my drunken brethren and scream that small laws are
pieced together into large tyrannies.
Nephilium... (Ohhh... Neph has a clicky name... where could that
go? Maybe to a poster that explains the small laws
statement...)
Would a casino try a voluntary test case with smoking and
non smoking sections?
Casinos in Atlantic City have done that for years; of course that's
not good enough for the health busybodies.
see - that's the problem! JMR nails it! Why the hell would the
busybodies mess with that arrangement?????????
With the smoking and non smoking sections, that should cover all
the bases - there shouldn't be a problem. That's a great
solution.
Argh. I'm really pissed now.
*aggressively takes bite out of sno-cone
Casinos in Atlantic City have done that for years; of course
that's not good enough for the health busybodies.
Of course not. I'm not alone in seeing the resemblence of
anti-smoke crusuders and other movements worried about "public
morality". You know, the Taliban, Saudi government, Pat Robertson,
etc. They will justify lieing because it's "for the greater good".
When tobacco execs lie to congress, it's criminal, but when they
lie it somehow becomes an opinion. What a bunch of hypocritical
assholes.
"I'm not alone in seeing the resemblence of anti-smoke crusuders
and other movements worried about "public morality""
AND IT PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"What a bunch of hypocritical assholes."
AMEN!!!!!!!
Designated smoking and non smoking sections are a great
solution.
ARGH!
2005 found levels of respirable suspended particles and
gases associated with tobacco smoke similar to those outside the
casino.
Shyeah. "similar". All it takes is one molecule, and the whole slot
machine row has lung cancer. Not good enough.
Hookah bars are starting to spring up all over California. But I'm not seeing much resistance to them. This tells me that this anti-tobacco movement is pure leftism: cigarettes come from Evil Republican Farmers™ in the Racist South™, but hookahs are part of a brown skinned culture currently being oppressed by the imperialist Bush administration.
What Ralphy said.
What this might do is make the "smoking section" a workable
solution.
Bah, humbug! Policy is driven by emotion, not empirical
evidence.
Silly Earthlings!
If there's a ventilation system that can make the air in a casino breathable, then it is truly a miracle of science. 15 minutes in any random casino in Vegas and I feel like Patty and Selma wrapped in one.
What a bunch of hypocritical assholes."
AMEN!!!!!!!
Designated smoking and non smoking sections are a great
solution.
ARGH!
Oh, you had to go and bring
THIS up!
If there's a ventilation system that can make the air in a
casino breathable, then it is truly a miracle of science. 15
minutes in any random casino in Vegas and I feel like Patty and
Selma wrapped in one.
Then, maybe don't go in them?
(Tip o' the hat to Bloom County's "eat less and exercise" strip,
which I couldn't find and so had to post another that I could.)
Then, maybe don't go in them?
so we should allow someone else's dangerous habit to influence
where we can and can't safely visit? we should allow others, who
for no other reason than their own habit which by its very nature
cannot be contained, dictate where people can comfortably visit. we
should cater to the addictions of others?
this isn't a nanny-state issue. it's a refuge of the
inconsiderate.
if someone wants to shoot heroin in to their eyeball at a casino,
or snort coke from a hooker's ass crack i honestly don't care. the
immediate affect of their actions in no way affect my health or
physical comfort.
There are ventilation systems which have been proven to make
secondhand smoke levels 2.6 - 25,000 times safer than OSHA
workplace air quality regulations.
British Medical Journal air testing
Health dept testing
American Cancer Society tests
the immediate affect of their actions in no way affect my
health or physical comfort.
So you support smoking and non-smoking sections then?
Joe,
I've been to Bellagio many times. Ralphy is technically correct, if
you're sitting right next to someone who is smoking you'll
catch whiffs of their smoke. If you move literally two stools down,
problem solved. I've sat at a roulette table where the person at
the other end of the table chain smoked the whole time and I never
even smelled it unless she happened to blow the smoke directly in
my direction, and even then it disappeared almost as fast as
came.
Will supporters of these laws be satisfied by demonstrably
clean air quality, or will they switch.....
Old time Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch. The
anti-smoking crowd will have no hesitation to switch.
It's all about palatability. You push the agenda that you think
people will swallow. And when they've swallowed, you push a little
bit more. And more. And more.
We do it too. Take Medical MJ. We're hanging our hat on it because
we can likely sell it. But the real agenda is outright
legalization.
I'm surprised nobody has linked to photos of aggressive mouth cancer that has run it's course. You have to get emotional to sell this smoking ban, boys.
Casinos in Atlantic City have done that for years; of course
that's not good enough for the health busybodies.
Sheesh, Don Laughlin even went so far as to build a seperate casino
for the non-smokers at the Riverside in Laughlin Nv.
this isn't a nanny-state issue. it's a refuge of the
inconsiderate.
Disagree. Some smokers are inconsiderate. Most are not. Old ladies
doused in designer knock-off perfumes are more inconsiderate and
more of a health hazard to ME than any smoker. Except for my dad
and his attic-fumigating cigars.
You want a list of inconsiderate behavior by John Q? I got a real
long one cuz I hate everybody and everything that's fun. Dimes to
donuts something you enjoy is going to make me want to reach for a
sawed off. Especially if you've sitting next to me at a red light
rattling my windows with your sub-woofer. Gimme a dose of second
hand smoke any time over that shit.
FWIW, there are still small bars, neighborhood hangouts, in California that allow smoking. Regular customers take turns keeping an eye on the door while the other customers and the bartender smoke (or not) at will.
jkii, seen that. I went to lunch with an attorney I know and he took me to one. They opened the back door and the front door so the breeze could flow through. That's when I found out that the City of Tustin has two full time sworn police officers whose sole job is to respond to smoking complaints.
"...the City of Tustin has two full time sworn police officers
whose sole job is to respond to smoking complaints."
Tustin? Never heard of it. How many establishments (restaurants,
pool halls, etc.)do they have to cover? Do they only come if
called, or do they conduct raids in full Balko paramilitary
gear?
"Put the cigarette down! Now MotherF'er!"
Tustin is a bedroom community of about 70k sandwiched between
Santa Ana and the old MCAS El Toro in the OC just up the road from
Zooport Beach.
Had lunch there today at Lucille's BBQ which is in the shadow of
the old Blimp Hangars at the former LTA (lighter than air) base
that came to be known as MCAS Tustin.
Dam pulled pork was as good as you can get outside of the
Carolinas.
My only experience with pulled pork was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I prefer my own baby back ribs -- and they never even see a grill!
If health were the issue, they wouldn't make actors on stage in NYC smoke only non-tobacco products.
"That's when I found out that the City of Tustin has two full
time sworn police officers whose sole job is to respond to smoking
complaints."
Haven't seen that one yet here in Ventura County, TWC. Our problem
is that busybodies from LA and OC keep moving up here in droves
with grand ideas of how to improve our lives. It started with the
"No Skateboarding" signs back in the mid-80's. Within 20 years, I
predict it will be illegal to surf without a life jacket and a
certified, government trained lifeguard on duty. That's if its
still legal at all.
I'm surprised nobody has linked to photos of aggressive
mouth cancer that has run it's course.
Here in NYC they show graphic shit on TV all the time. Like, every
other commercial is anti-smoking. One of them was a lady with mouth
cancer. There's another one featuring a guy with a hole in his
throat, singing. I change the channel when that shit comes on. I
mean, why aren't there graphic images of ten-car pile-ups to
demonstrate the dangers of driving? Mangled, charred corpses to
tell me how dangerous it is to live in fire-prone southern
California? These things are just as preventable as smoking-related
illnesses.
FWIW, there are still small bars, neighborhood hangouts, in
California that allow smoking.
Same in NYC, believe it or not.
I state for the record I am a life long never smoker who would welcome a total ban on tobacco products. However smoking and tobacco is legal and the economies of most Governments of the world would be seriously dented by a ban on such products. However the topic is ventilation. Systems now exist (and no I don't sell them) that can remove 99.97% of all air borne particulates including the component parts of ETS. Who says so, Medical Research Institutes world wide. The OHSA say so, the Health Protection Agency in the UK say so, and perhaps most importantly ASHRAE, the US ventilation building standards agency in their May 2007 revised policy on indoor air quality standard say so. Anti smokers can hide behind all the rhetoric and out dated 'junk' science in the world, but even if ETS were harmful (again no scientific proof) modern systems of ventilation/filtration using HEPA Filters, UV, and Plasmacluster Ion Technology will indeed make indoor air quality superior to outdoor air without smoking bans. FACT.
Our problem is that busybodies from LA and OC keep moving up
here in droves with grand ideas.....
Why is it that people move away from places they hate and bring all
that baggage with them, ultimately transforming the place they
moved to into the place they were excaping from?
I change the channel when that shit comes on.
Good move. :-)
I dunno, TWC. I moved from a Philadelphia suburb of Pennsylvania
to Ventura, CA in 1982. I just fuckin loved it. I did not want
Ventura to have blue laws, toll highways, or state run liquor
stores. Unlike the New Jersey shore there were no life guards on
the beaches of Ventura blowing whistles at me.
There's a new movement in Ventura to have life guards at some
beaches. For the children of course.
An alterative to smoking bans
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.
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.
When I have called the fitration companies and asked whether
their machines can deal with the ETS problem in bars, they made me
feel as if I had called the German Navy and asked if the Battleship
Bismarck could sink a destroyer. They told me that any
establishment that was willing to pay the price could get their air
"99.99 percent clean" thru a redundancy of smoke clearing systems.
One company told me that ETS was not a particularly difficult
challenge compared to cleaning the natural gas and other pollutants
from restaurant kitchen exhaust to California and New York clean
air standards.
Right now my hometown St. Louis has no smoking ban. Some bars where
9 out of 10 patrons smoke have no ventilation or filtration! The
smoke DOES bother many, including smokers, and worry at least some
patrons. Rather than a smoking ban, I am pushing for our St. Louis
County Council to require St. Louis smoking venues to install the
same affordable filtration machines that protect St. Louis welders
from far more dangerous smoke. I wish posters on this blog would
take a minute to visit the website of Air Qualtiy Engineering to
consider filtration solutions to the mom and pop bar ETS
problem.
http://www.air-quality-eng.com/
Why is it that people move away from places they hate and
bring all that baggage with them, ultimately transforming the place
they moved to into the place they were excaping from?
Instead of a fence between Arizona and Mexico, I want a fence
between Arizona and California.
In late 2005, Chicago aldermen voted in a smoking ban 46-1
because the law allowed an exemption for smoking establishments
that could make their air as clean or cleaner than the air
outdoors. Thanks to the American Cancer Society, the Illinois
statewide smoking ban took that reasonable allowance away.
"Any public place or place of employment otherwise subject to this
Chapter whose owner or operator can demonstrate, to the
satisfaction of the commissioner of public health and the
commissioner of the environment, that such area has been equipped
with air filtration or purification devices or similar technologies
as to render the exposure to secondhand smoke in such area,
notwithstanding the fact that smoking may be occurring in such
area, equivalent to such exposure to secondhand smoke in the
ambient outdoor air surrounding the establishment. The commissioner
of public health and the commissioner of the environment are
jointly authorized to promulgate regulations specifying what types
of technologies, when and if available, and taking into account
any
applicable Federal and/or State standards, satisfy the requirements
of this paragraph."
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/webportal/COCWebPortal/COC_ATTACH/MunicipalCode7-32_1.html#7_32_080
so we should allow someone else's dangerous habit to
influence where we can and can't safely visit? we should allow
others, who for no other reason than their own habit which by its
very nature cannot be contained, dictate where people can
comfortably visit. we should cater to the addictions of
others?
See? It's not enough that businesses spend hundreds of thousands of
dollars to make the air as clean as possible so as to accomodate
both smokers and non-smokers, who can then can come in and spend
money at their business, but noooooo-o-o-o-o.
Someone, somewhere, is still having fun.
WAAAAAHHHH!! I can smell smoke!!! And
I...WANT...TO...SIT....RIGHT...THERE!
Fucking go back to kindergarten Poinedexter. You missed the class
on playing well with others and you're still eating all the
paste.
it's a refuge of the inconsiderate.
You said that intentionally for a sense of comic irony, right?
But then all that electricity used by the ventilation just warms the earth! See, we're all fucked either way...
I'm wondering what lawmakers consider more important: the breathing preferences of at least 75% of the population or complying with the ideological rectitude demanded by 75% of H&R posters.
sean i would say probably both?
or neither?
were this a serious question we could address it seriously, but
since we're in some kinda weird fucking left-right dada
situationist mash-up remix BOOM BOOM BOOM type shit, this is the
best we can do.
JW: thanks for finding that strip. I couldn't find it yesterday.
That and "eat less and exercise" are two classics.
Confession: yesterday I was out stomping on daisies, so that's
why.
Sean ("seen") - what about designated smoking and non smoking
zones?
Within 20 years, I predict it will be illegal to surf
without a life jacket and a certified, government trained lifeguard
on duty. That's if its still legal at all.
Surfers who get injured drive up the health costs for everybody,
don't they. I'm confident that secondhand surfboard injuries also
have been documented,some of them even OH MY GOD,
CHILDREN. Surfboarders are just selfish, inconsiderate
bastards that show no regard to the well being of others or society
as a whole.
Did I miss any of the important points?
I'm wondering what lawmakers consider more important: the
breathing preferences of at least 75% of the population or
complying with the ideological rectitude demanded by 75% of H&R
posters.
I'm wondering what is more important:
That we respect the right to choose of both individuals and
businesses, and their property rights, or that we cater to a bunch
of infantile and intolerant smoke-free zealot whiners who want to
be able to go wherever and whenever they please without having to
take anyone else's preferences and privleges into consideration.
Ever.
Smoking bans are not about public health. They're a McLifestyle
subsidy.
VM--
You were out twiddling and twaddling too, weren't you? WEREN'T
YOU???
I specifically asked for non-twaddling!
And I thought progs and libs we're all about choice?
You know the right to choose, keep your hands off my body and all,
don't like it don't have one and all that...
Hrm........
Ohhhhhhhhh, YOUR choices! Not mine.
Silly me.
Instead of a fence between Arizona and Mexico, I want a
fence between Arizona and California.
All my friends in Az want that same fence. Go figure. :-)
jkii, Ventura County sort of reminds me of the California I grew up in, which is, sadly, long, long, gone.
WAAAAAHHHH!! I can smell smoke!!! And
I...WANT...TO...SIT....RIGHT...THERE!
Better call the Waaaahhhhaaambulance.
"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."
Thomas, annoyance isn't the issue. The issue is the rights of bar
owners. Moreover, when the New York City ban was being debated, the
issue was the health of bartenders. Because the City Council would
have been laughed out of New York City if they'd said it was the
rights of customers, who can stay the hell away in every case. But
now, every selfish a-hole in creation thinks he has a right not to
be annoyed by tobacco smoke in a private establishment into which
he enters of his own free will. And that's what this country has
come to -- setting policy because of the selfish wishes of a bunch
of whiners and pansies who would set public policy because their
shirts smell of tobacco smoke after a night in a bar or
casino.
Smoking/non-smoking should have stayed where it was before the
busybodies started interfering in our private lives -- with the bar
owners.
Smoking is inconsiderate? Please, what constitutes being considerate depends on your point of view. As someone who bikes, I think it's damn inconsiderate that I have to breath in the crappy exhaust from your cars. But my thinking that doesn't make it wrong does it? I think it's inconsiderate when people where clothes that their bodies aren't built for (e.g. some woman with a tire around her belly where a cropped shirt with low-riders... GROSS). That doesn't mean it should be illegal. And more so it doesn't mean it's inconsiderate other than in my eyes. The claims of smokers being inconsiderate is a bit like me calling people who eat at the Olive Garden inconsiderate simply based on a few men who eat at the table while wearing their hats.
The supposedly state of the art new Casino Queen in East St
Louis did very poorly in terms of air quality in a recent
test.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/6923C703BEAF5450862573570012B773?OpenDocument
The only way to have air quality that protects the non-smoker is to
either have smokers go outdoors, or to have separate rooms with
powerful venilation and filtration systems for both areas. Even
then there will likely be some leakage of toxic smoke into the
non-smoking areas.
Paul, the ALA did stealth air quality tests without casino
permission using inadequate equipment while dust generating
construction was ongoing in the Casino Queen. Here is a proposal
letter I sent to an American Gaming Association official:
Mr. Swoik,
I read in yesterday's Post-Dispatch about the testing of the air
quality in the Casino Queen by the American Lung Association and
the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Please let me suggest that you
countermand this sloppy and inadequate study by having the air of
the Casino Queen tested by Dr. Ray Narconis of Global Environmental
Consultants, a St. Louis based air quality testing firm. Dr.
Narconis is an official spokesman for the American Lung Association
on indoor and outdoor air quality issues. But, unlike Kathy Drea,
he is extremely rigorous and fair.
Our group recently used the extensive testing of the Lambert
Airport smoking lounges done by Dr. Narconis and his firm to
convince the St. Louis County Council that the lounges worked fine
and a smoking ban at Lambert Field was not needed. Martin Pion,
head of the local antismoking group Missouri GASP, had done a study
similar to Kathy Drea's of the Lambert lounges which purported to
show that the lounges leaked. This study was even published in the
prestigious British Medical Journal:
http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/13/suppl_1/i37
Yet the clearly superior testing methods of Dr. Narconis and his
willingness to speak before the council in defense of the lounges,
superseded the Pion test and carried the day. The St. Louis County
Council voted not to ban smoking in these lounges at Lambert Field.
The tests of the Lambert Field smoking lounges by Global
Environment Consultants cost a little over $6000.
Dr. Narconis was also severely critical of the sloppy methodology
of the Pion tests. You could commision him to do an official
analysis of Kathy Drea's study. As an official scientific spokesman
for the Lung Association, his analysis and testimony would carry a
lot of weight.
Contact info for Dr. Narconis:
Narconis, Ray, CMRS, RPIH
Global Environmental Consultants, Inc.
6614 Clayton Rd., #302
St. Louis, MO 63117
Phone # (314) 520-3386
info@globalenvironmentalconsultantsinc.com
Please find attached a copy of the Lambert Field smoking lounge
tests. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help in
this fight for personal freedom and property rights.
Sincerely,
Bill Hannegan
Keep St. Louis Free!
314.367.3779
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