Studies show that food service workers have a 50 percent greater chance of getting lung cancer. Although smokers can find refuge in bars and the great outdoors, another aim of these tougher rules is to make smoking less acceptable and seriously inconvenient. Quitting smoking then will be a more attractive alternative. A legitimate worry of restaurant owners is the impact that mandatory smoking restrictions will have on profits. Numerous reports and articles in publications such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice show that smoke-free laws do not reduce revenues in the hospitality industry.
People support the restrictions, and in most cases, profits increase.
The tobacco industry is pushing for better ventilation systems to solve the problem. While expensive devices can remove the sight and smell of smoke, they cannot get rid of all the dangers because many chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, have no smell and are invisible. No level of exposure to tobacco smoke is safe. Let's keep tobacco smoke out of our lungs and our lives.