Vote due today on ban on smoking
State health officials urged Michigan lawmakers to vote today in favor of a ban on smoking in public places, even if casinos and cigar bars would be exempt.
Nearly 80% of the public is behind the ban, said Greg Holzman, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Community Health. And with the final 2008 legislative session just weeks away from ending, acting now would still save most of Michigan from second-hand smoke.
“To me, it’s disconcerting because it’s still putting people at risk who work in the casinos, but to protect the majority of Michigan’s population — I’m not going to lose that,” Holzman said Tuesday.
He added that about 2,600 people die each year in the state from second-hand smoke exposure, and a recent government study found that Michigan is one of a few states where lung cancer in women is increasing.
Common to those states, mostly in the Midwest and South, are low cigarette taxes and the lack of public smoking bans.
In February, a Michigan woman who worked at a bar died from an asthma attack, which was directly linked to second-hand smoke.
The state House first approved the ban in December 2007, with the exemptions included.
The Senate approved a version of the bill without exemptions six months later.
The ban is now back in the House, with a vote scheduled for today, but some legislators say the risk of lost jobs and revenue in the casinos means the exemptions will have to be put back in.
Rep. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, a member of the House health policy committee, said he believes in the smoking ban, but worries that Native American casinos, which are federally regulated, wouldn’t have to ban smoking and would draw business away from Detroit’s casinos.
“I don’t want to contribute to those employees who will be laid off,” Johnson said.
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Tags: Smoking ban