State smoking ban debated

Publication Date: 2007-04-09

• Author:MICAH MASSEI
• Publication:JACKSON (NC) DAILY NEWS

House Bill 259, approved 9-4 on March 20 in a state House committee, would ban smoking in most restaurants, bars, offices and factories. Smoking would still be allowed in private residences, tobacco shops and manufacturing facilities, designated smoking rooms in hotels, private nonprofit clubs and research facilities conducting experiments on smoking or tobacco product development.

"There's been much publicity the last 10 years with the smoking issue - the danger, the health effects, the secondhand smoke issue," Onslow County Health Department Director George O'Daniel said. "The secondhand smoke issue has become more prominent in recent years, and it's at the forefront right now with the legislation being proposed right now."

House Bill 259, O'Daniel said, was designed to protect workers and the public from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

"One of the things this was based on was the fact that the surgeon general knows there is no safe level to exposure to secondhand smoke," he said. "Obviously, we know that smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke contributes to heart disease, coronary heart disease and so forth."

Though the bill awaits approval from lawmakers and is far from a done deal, if it is to go into action, O'Daniel says it would be a wise choice, not only from a health perspective but also from a business standpoint.