Some restaurateurs refute the findings.
That's the message from a series of new studies that show antismoking laws in New York City and Massachusetts have not hurt the hospitality business or cost jobs. The studies, released yesterday, are significant because there are still thousands of local municipalities that don't have antismoking laws for their restaurants. When antismoking groups try to get local laws passed to restrict smoking, they almost always are met with opposition from the tobacco industry and restaurant lobby, which claim dining establishments will go out of business and jobs will be lost. According to the new studies, these claims are as insubstantial as smoke. Mass. In the New York City survey, the research found that in the four years since Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed into law antismoking rules, taxable sales receipts increased by 2 percent.