Steve Riedl, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, says he hasn’t seen any hard documentation showing secondhand hand smoke is deadly (“Smoking’s effects,” Voice of the people, Nov. 29). He need not look further than the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of Americans, which reports that 38,000 die annually from heart disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer caused by exposure to secondhand smoke in workplaces and public places.
It also reports secondhand smoke is linked to the death of 60 percent of all babies afflicted with sudden infant death syndrome.
Contrary to Riedl’s assertion, no court ever disputed the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that secondhand smoke is a carcinogen. Tobacco smoke contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cause cancer. The EPA, surgeon general of the United States, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and every reputable medical and health-care group have all reviewed the scientific research and agree that secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and death among non-smokers.
It defies logic to assert smoke inhaled by non-smokers is not hazardous to one’s health.
Finally, Riedl states that small businesses are hurt by smoke-free workplace regulations. This is simply not true. In a review of 20 studies on the topic from across the country, published in peer-reviewed journals, all but one showed restaurant and bar revenues increased or remained the same after passage of a clean indoor air ordinance. The only study that showed a decline in revenues was a study financed by the hospitality industry.
Everyone has the right to an opinion on this issue, but no one has the right to distort the facts. Secondhand smoke kills and indoor clean-air ordinances save lives.
