Digest #23: This Month in Smoke-free News

Unique Smoke-free Ideas
A very interesting smoke-free law proposal has come up in the town of Pendleton, South Carolina. According to the proposed ordinance, smokers who are within ten feet of a restaurant or public event at a stadium, amphitheater or ballpark must be moving--in other words, they cannot stop, stand, sit, or otherwise loiter while smoking in these areas. I have mixed feelings about this: On the one hand, I feel that this would be a good compromise because the law would not prohibit smoking in areas where smokers are already likely to be considerate and avoid polluting (i.e., within 10 feet of restaurants/events), so it could hardly be perceived as an infringement on their "rights." But on the other hand, it's a pain to dodge smokers who are on the move and sharing secondhand smoke with all they pass. Is it really better to make smokers walk in circles until they reach the ends of their cigarettes? I suppose that the science pertaining to outdoor secondhand smoke exposure would support this notion. Nevertheless, I appreciate this creativity and I'm really interested to see how this one will be enforced if it passes.

At Cocopah Casino in Yuma, Arizona, smoking is now prohibited...on Sundays (4am Sunday until 4am Monday, to be exact). Now this is a compromise, and I'm all for it.

"We didn't want to segregate people off and maybe put a nonsmoking room where we can shove them off in a corner. That is not very nice either. So how about giving them one day a week? Sunday is a nice weekend day. People are off and they can get together with their friends." --Jerry Lane, Cocopah Casino General Manager

My only concern is that non-smoking patrons who will now be going to the casino on Sundays will equate the absence of secondhand smoke with an absence of risk for toxic exposure, when in fact, third-hand smoke is bound to be in the seats, carpets and walls. Still, I think that casinos everywhere should adopt similar policies that can be utilized until smoking is no longer socially acceptable.

While a casino is the ultimate playground for adults, a county fair is the equivalent for kids. In Coos County, Oregon, anti-tobacco activists are hoping to make their upcoming county fair a smoke-free environment for everyone. Considering the numerous playground smoking bans that have passed all over the country, they certainly have the right idea.

Student Smoking
A recent CDC study has demonstrated that, although heavy smoking among teenagers has decreased substantially over the past two decades, casual smoking has become even more prevalent. According to the study, approximately 4 out of 5 teens in the US consider themselves to be casual, or occasional, smokers. Of course, the news that heavy smoking among teens is down from 18% to 8% is great news. But it may very well be worse that more adolescents are finding the habit to be socially acceptable. The study's co-author has this to say:

"It is important to note that light and intermittent smoking still has significant health risks...We may be creating a new type of smoker that may be more durable, that are adapting to smoke-free environments and to changing social norms." --Dr. Terry Pechachek

If this is true, maybe the United States won't be smoke-free by 2020. To ensure that this is still a possibility, institutions need to take action and reduce the visibility of smoking in areas populated by teenagers, the most obvious venues being schools. The Ohio Board of Education has officially recommended that state schools make entire campuses into smoke-free zones, meaning that teachers would have to go off campus to light up. As one recent high school graduate said, if students aren't seeing a good example set at home (i.e., by their parents), they should at least be able to see one at school.

Questionable "No Smoking" Sign
Okay, so the sign to the right is a bit over-the-top. But it sure gets the point across, right? This is posted in LDR Char Pit (aka LDR's), a hamburger restaurant on the shore of Lake Ontario in Rochester, New York. I've been going to this place just about every year for the last decade or so, and although someone always points this sign out to me, I'd never really thought much about it. As I've said before, I am--by no means--intending to patronize "smokers"; nobody is born a smoker, and despite its addictive nature, smoking is ultimately a choice. Therefore, I believe that it is entirely irrational to discriminate against smokers. So, back to the sign: Although it can elicit a chuckle out of nearly anyone, I would prefer that the act of smoking itself were conveyed as the problem, perhaps by rephrasing the sign to read something like, "People who smoke here will be pummeled with punishing blows all over their bodies." ...In the words of Ice-T, "Don't hate the player--hate the game."

Smoke-free Housing
As I've noted in previous posts, smoke-free policies multi-unit housing is a growing trend. Last month, I briefly mentioned that California landlords can now lawfully ban smoking on their properties. UCLA has followed up this news with research that demonstrates how California landlords can collectively save $18 million in cleaning costs attributed to cigarette butt removal. In Providence, Rhode Island, five public housing high-rise buildings for elderly and disabled people will be going smoke-free. Furthermore, the San Antonio Housing Authority plans to enact a similar prohibition in the city's public housing units, immediately following the city's new smoke-free law that took effect last Friday.

Update on NYC Smoking Ban
A Yahoo! writer recently called NYC Mayor Bloomberg's bluff on the self-enforcing mechanism of the new smoking ban. Apparently, so few people care enough about it that the "no smoking" signs are largely ignored--even by the NYPD (who actually defer official enforcement duties to the NYC Parks Service). One officer felt that it would be hypocritical for him to cite someone for smoking in a park where smoking is banned. The writer himself called to file a complaint about a violator, but was nearly "laughed off the phone" by the operator.

Interestingly, a recent poll of over 800 adult New Yorkers showed that 69% are in favor of the new smoking ban, and 45% believe that the ban is working. Perhaps the people surveyed don't venture to the parks or beaches much. Or, perhaps there has simply been more criticism than praise for the ban in the media. Either way, the next time I'm in Times Square, you better believe that I'll be calling people with lit cigarettes out on their violations.

Off-topic: Tobacco Industry Recruitment

I want to take a few minutes to comment on a topic that I've never really addressed in this blog: tobacco industry recruitment. A friend of mine recently accepted a job at Altria. Stylishly ambiguous in name, "Altria" did not ring any bells with me when I first heard the good news, so I Google'd it. As I skimmed the search results, I was overcome with anger at the realization that my friend had been recruited by one of the world's largest tobacco corporations.

Out of respect to my friend, I won't divulge any details, but I was appalled at what Altria offered in terms of compensation, benefits and other perks. This is not to say that my friend is under-qualified, but that the company clearly recognizes the need to influence what many would consider to be a moral dilemma in working for them.

To the credit of Altria and its largest subsidiary, Philip Morris USA, there is plenty of information and news about the perils of tobacco use and secondhand smoke on their corporate websites. It's not like Altria is trying to be completely deceitful in its hiring practices. With that being said, the company does its best to mask the nature of its business on its recruiting website, www.cantbeattheexperience.com.

After watching a few of the recruitment videos, I noticed that none of the testimonials mentioned the purpose of their business--it's all about the "experience" at Altria, which is what much of their audience is most interested in anyway: gaining work experience after college. They are proud of how many jobs they've had within the company, the quality of people with whom they work, and the many perks provided by their employer. The testimonials lacked substance; none of the people could say something remotely to the effect of, "I love working for Altria because the tobacco industry does so many great things for people"--and justifiably so. Perhaps I'm biased because I work for an organization with a clear-cut mission that is among the easiest to embrace. Regardless, I think it's a shame that recent college graduates can easily get sucked into an industry so far devoid of a noble purpose that it becomes difficult to find passion in their work. But hey, a job is a job in this awful economy, so at least they're making good money, right?

I'm still unclear as to what exactly the website URL, www.cantbeattheexperience.com, is supposed to mean. Is Altria claiming that the employment experience that, say, a college graduate would gain at one of their companies is superior with regard to the transferability of skills that he or she can gain for any career? Or, is Altria claiming that the employment experience with Altria, in general, cannot be beaten? Although I have never worked for Altria and therefore cannot truthfully speak to this claim, the fact that Altria has invested so much in these guileful recruiting practices suggests that it cannot be the latter; clearly, the applicant pool isn't exactly overflowing, ostensibly because few people want to be associated with such an infamous industry.

But perhaps I'm wrong, and the experience truly cannot be beaten. After all, there is no other work experience (that I can think of) for which you can get paid bountifully to promote products that are widely known to kill their customers and people around them.