HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0013.178 2002-2004 Shintani, Earlanne
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Subject: Proposed text for Letter to the Editor re Tobacco-Free Workplace
Tracie, my first draft of a letter to the editor follows. Please help me
correct/finalize it and get it to the appropriate sources. Hannah
Bars Should Be First To Go Smoke Free!
I would like to thank the Hawaii Tribune Herald, "WHT and Star Bulletin for their recent
objective accounts of the Hawaii County Council's consideration of Bill 260 calling for smoke-free
workplaces. I appreciate the balanced presentation of this apparently divisive issue, which has
been addressed in numerous letters to the editor in recent weeks.
Asa 25-year veteran of efforts to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke and a member of the
Hawaii Island Tobacco-Free Parntership, I was dismayed and discouraged to learn that Council
Chair Arakaki has introduced a version of Bill 260 that exempts bars. The preponderance of
testimony at the Council committee hearing in May. including petitions signed by nearly 1,000
students, clearly and directly opposed such an exemption.
Mr. Arakaki's made several sympathetic comments during the May hearing about financial
hardships on these establishments. (therefore pointed out during my testimony that Council
members were provided with overwhelming evidence that going smoke-free does not reduce bar
and bowlling alley revenue in the long run.
I assume that Mayor Kim has access to the same information, so I was amazed that he provided
Arakaki with the pretext for justifying exempting bars from the proposed legislation. Can Kim and
Arakaki provide evidence of the benefits, financial or otherwise, of allowing smoking in bars? Can
they justify removing the proposed ban on smoking in any private home used as a child care,
adult care, or health care facility?
My major opposition to "gutting" the legislation is based on my concern for the lung health of
workers and patrons, including smokers. My smoker/drinker father died at age 54 of fast-growing
cancer of the respiratory system. Even then, his physicians recognized the "double whammy' of
drinking and smoking and of spending significant time breathing second-hand smoke in crowded
taverns.
Scientists today are able to identify 420,000 tobacco-related deaths a year, as well as the harmful
effects of second-hand smoke on everyone from unborn babies to infants and the elderly. How Q
Comm. No. ~ ~ ~ I v
Ref. To: ~d 1 I
Ref. Date
can a responsible public servant lead a campaign to allow smoking in bars, much less child care,
adult care, and health care facilities?
I am also concerned about the "glamour" message exempting bars would send to our greatest
resource, the children and youth of the Big Island. They are already bombarded by images of
celebrities smoking while drinking. Do we want to run the risk of sending them the message that
second-hand smoke in bars does not pose a threat to the health of non-smoking and smoking
employees and patrons?
Compelling evidence on the dangers of second-hand smoke and written testimony supporting the
original Bill 260 appear to have had little impact on the apparent willingness of Kim and Arakaki to
compromise the air quality in our precious paradise home. I urge all concerned parents, teachers,
bar owners, and others to contact their Council member about keeping bars in Bill 260 and to
pack the hearings in Kona Wednesday at the Ohana Keauhou Beach Resort in Kona starting at 9
a.m and in Hilo (scheduled for July 2).
If you need background information for your testimony, contact
Chris
Dein-Gaugen, West Hawaii Coordinator, or Tracie Yoshimoto, East Hawaii Coordinator, of the
Hawaii Island Tobacco-Free Partnership. Hope to see you at the hearings!
Hannah L. Hedrick, PhD
National Emphysema/COPD Association (www.NECACommunity.org)
National Lung Health Education Program (www.NLHEP.or;~)
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