From: Joe@smokefree.org
Date: Wed, 10/05/05
Smokefree Rhode Island Sees Growth in Restaurant/Bar Business
Business Up 21%, Air Pollution Down 96%
Parts excerpted from the Boston Globe, 10/4/05
PROVIDENCE, R.I. --Seven months after a statewide smokefree workplace law took
effect, bar and restaurant patrons are breathing easier and may even be spending
easier, state health officials said Tuesday.
"This has really been an absolute win-win for Rhode Island," said David R.
Gifford, director of the state Department of Health. "We have not seen the
drastic horror stories we heard when the legislation was going into effect."
While some bar and restaurant owners were worried about losing business, Gifford
said tax revenue generated by restaurants and bars increased by 21 percent
during the first four months of the smokefree law, compared with the same period
last year.
Air pollution in an average Rhode Island bar before the clean air law was 10
times dirtier than a busy street corner in Chicago, said Carrie Carpenter, a
research analyst at the Harvard School of Public Health. Since the law began
March 1, the average number of tiny particles suspended in the air fell 96
percent, according to a state-sponsored study. Carpenter said researchers
focused on particles smaller than 2.5 microns, a size that includes fumes from
secondhand cigarette smoke, a carcinogen. "Those are the ones we can inhale
deeply into the lungs," she said.
Some business owners remain unconvinced. Raymond A. Brooks, president of the
Neighborhood Pub Association, formed to oppose the clean air law, saw little
significance in the tax revenue figures. "The economy's better this year than
last year, so that's a natural increase in restaurant revenue," Brooks said.
"Rhode Island's results are similar to those in other smokefree jurisdictions,"
said Joe Cherner, founder of BREATHE (Bar and Restaurant Employees Advocating
Together for a Healthy Environment). "Nine states and hundreds of cities have
gone smokefree. The data is strong that clean air is good for business."
To win smokefree air where you live, go to http://www.smokefree.net/alerts.php
Joseph W. Cherner
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
| 
