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Following are recent letters advocating PA smokefree workplace 
legislation (SB 1213 and HB 2723). 

Letters to the editors of leading PA newspapers can be sent to:
Allentown Morning Call - letters@mcall.com
Harrisburg Patriot-News - editpage@patriotnews.com
Philadelphia Daily News - views@phillynews.com
Philadelphia Inquirer - inquirer.letters@phillynews.com
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -  letters@post-gazette.com
Pittsburgh Tribune Review - opinion@tribweb.com
Reading Eagle -
http://www.readingeagle.com/Forms/LettersToTheEditor/index.asp
Scranton Times - letters@timesshamrock.com

To send a letter to Governor Rendell and PA Senators, go to: 
http://www.smokefree.net/PA/

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BAN SMOKING IN BARS AND RESTAURANTS

By Adam J. Barney, York City Bureau of Health 
York (PA) Daily Record
2004-08-11
http://ydr.com/story/letters/36593/

Seems like every week or so we read about another state, city, county 
or even country that has banned smoking in the workplace. (Even Ireland, 
with all of its pubs, strictly enforces a smoke-free workplace law with a 
rather hefty fine.)

Are workers here in Pennsylvania any less deserving of protection? 
No, of course not. They are no less susceptible to cancer-causing 
chemicals in secondhand smoke or tobacco smoke pollution. 
(Up to 3,000 state residents die annually from exposure to TSP.)

But Pennsylvania has a law that was enacted more than 15 years ago.

That current law, which curbs smoking in some workplaces and institutes 
nonsmoking sections in larger restaurants, was fairly progressive when 
it was written in 1988. But look around; you have to admit that a lot has 
changed since then. Last year marked the 10th anniversary of EPA's 
report that TSP causes cancer, too. Also in the last 15 years, smoking 
was banned on all domestic flights, in all federal buildings, in theaters 
and in numerous other workplaces. But it's not because they don't like 
smokers. Smoking is banned because of the proven health risks of 
exposure to TSP.

It's been 15 years since we looked at this issue. It's time to look again.. 
We need to join our neighboring states and protect all of our workers, 
all of the time. 
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PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

By Vickie Oles, Ligonier
Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette
2004-08-14
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04227/361577.stm

Regarding the story "Undaunted Legislator Still Pushing for Smoking Ban" 
(July 23): This is not legislation regulating social behavior or morality.. 
It is legislation about a public-health problem; 53,000 deaths a year from 
inhaling tobacco smoke make tobacco smoke the third-leading cause 
of preventable death in the United States. That number includes infants 
who are brought home to live in a smoking household and are at double 
the risk of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It also includes 
nonsmoking spouses of smokers and employees who must work in a 
smoking setting, who then have triple the risk of developing lung and 
heart disease.

Much energy has gone into identifying the source of the salmonella 
that made folks sick recently. We already know what causes 53,000 
individuals to die every year -- more than 1,000 a week: illnesses 
developed from inhaling tobacco smoke.

At a time when jobs are not easy to come by, this legislation would 
give everyone the right to breathe smoke-free air in the workplace.
.