Strategies for Achieving Smoke-free Bars When You Don’t Live in California

Hillary Clarke

American Cancer Society

Buffalo, New York

New York at a Glance

Smoke-free restaurants 11 counties plus NYC, including Erie more than 80% of state residents enjoy smoke-

free dining

Smoke-free bars laws pending in NYC, plus Suffolk, Westchester

and Albany Counties Nassau County smoke-free bar law passed

10/7/02 – will take effect 3/03

Erie County Background

Current law, passed in 1996, prohibits smoking in most public places, including restaurant dining areas.

The law exempts bar areas of restaurants, stand-alone bars and taverns, and bowling centers after 6 pm.

The law also allows for any facility to build a separately ventilated, separately enclosed smoking room

Our Campaign

Prohibit smoking in the following public locations:Bar areas of restaurantsStand-alone bars and tavernsBowling centers

Prohibit food and beverage service in separate smoking rooms

Clean Air for All.

Because nobody should have to breathe

secondhand smoke to hold a job.

2 components of campaign

Data Collection

Authentic Voices

Gathering data

Two points:

Secondhand smoke is still a problem in some worksites

The public supports increased restrictions

February 2001 telephone poll:

90% believe secondhand smoke is harmful

82% want to see waiters, waitresses and bartenders protected from tobacco smoke

72% believe restaurant smoking should be restricted to separately enclosed & ventilated room or banned entirely

57% believe law should include stand-alone bars and taverns

November 2002 telephone poll:

1 in 9 employees reported recent exposure to secondhand smoke in their workspace This translates into an estimated 36,000 exposed workers in Erie County. Nearly 1 in 4 residents reported they have avoided going to a restaurant, bar, bowling alley, casino, or bingo hall in the past year because of too much secondhand smoke. 63% believe smoking should be banned in stand-alone bars and taverns.

Thousands of Erie County Residents Avoided Smoky Restaurants and Bars in the Past Year

87,000

63,000

0

25,000

50,000

75,000

100,000

Avoided Smoky Restaurants Avoided Smoky Bar/Taverns

Percent of Erie County Adults that Favor a Law Banning Smoking in Bars and Taverns

Smoke- free63%

Not smoke- free37%

Quality of Breathable Air for WNY Workers: Comparison of Nicotine Particulate Levels in Secondhand Tobacco Smoke

0 020 30 80 110

539

814940

0

250

500

750

1000

1250

1500

Hospitals Restaurantswithout Bar

Restaurant -Enclosed

Smoking Area

Restaurants withBar - Dining

Area

Restaurant - with Bar- Bar

Area

Bowling Alleys Bars / Taverns Bar - 'MarlboroNights'

Bingo Halls

Average Amount of Nicotine in Nanograms per 8 Hours ofExposure

Smoke-Freeby Law

Some Smoking Restrictionsby Law

Smoking NotRestricted

Cotinine Study of Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Hospitality Workers

Non-smoking bar and restaurant workers recruited to complete 15-minute survey and provide urine sample Secondhand smoke exposure estimated by examining the level of cotinine in the urine Will be able to show association between occupation and secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace Assess related lifetime risks for heart disease and lung cancer among various occupations in Erie County

Authentic Voices

Enabling those who are affected directly by the issue to speak on their own behalf

If this is such a problem, why isn’t anyone complaining?

Speak up for smoke-free air!

Yes, I support 100% smoke-free bars, restaurants and bowling in Erie County. Please add me to your mailing list and let me know how I can help! Name __________________________________ Address __________________________________

__________________________________Phone __________________________________E-Mail __________________________________  I would like to: I am a: _____ Write a letter/make a phone call _____Cancer Survivor_____ Meet with my legislator _____Asthmatic_____ Speak at a public hearing _____Restaurant/bar Worker_____ Help survey the public _____Bowler

Calling All Bartenders, Cocktail Waitresses, and Restaurant Employees

Clean Air for All is forming a WNY chapter of BREATHE.  BREATHE stands for "Bar and Restaurant Employees Advocating Together for a Healthy Environment."  If you have ever worked in a bar or restaurant (past or present) and would like to join BREATHE WNY, please send back the following info:

Your name:

Your email:

Your job title in a bar or restaurant (past or present):

If you or someone you know works or worked in a bar or restaurant, we hope you or they will join BREATHE WNY.

New York City, November 11, 2002...  New York City bar, restaurant, and nightclub workers are forced to breathe secondhand smoke at work, and many of them are sick of it... literally.  Here is what some BREATHE members wrote to the City Council:

Emmett Irwin:   I am a bartender in New York City, on the Upper West Side. My girlfriend is also a bartender.  Second-hand smoke has badly affected her health and mine.  Both of us now are constantly coughing.  We can't go on working in these conditions, but what can we do? Bartending jobs are incredibly scarce, and that's all either of us know how to do! She has to put herself through school, and only has certain nights she can work. I have been tending bar for five years, full time. To try to find a new profession now would be financial suicide.  

Stephen Sherman:  I am a bartender and professional actor living in New York City, and working in restaurants and bars for the last six years.  My job is ideal because it allows me to work at night, making the necessary money I need to sustain myself in this city, and pursue my acting career during the day. I have a right, personally, as do all restaurant/bar/club workers, to work in a safe, smoke free environment.  When I committed to my job, I committed to selling food and drinks, not to being exposed to cancer causing smoke.

Jade Mandrake:  I am a 23 year old female bartender. I have quit smoking now for almost 2 years and feel it was one of the most important things I have done. I believe that a person should not have the right to harm another. That includes us bartenders and waitresses too!!!  Just coming home after a long night at work of inhaling everybody's suicidal attempts is more than disgusting.  Nobody should be able to extend their own self-loathing onto another when it is physically damaging.

Veteran bartender Dan Smith, foreground, tells a rally outside Erie County Hall on Thursday that even though he quit smoking, he still inhales cigarette smoke secondhand from customers.

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