Do You Agree With New York’s Ban On Smoking In Bars And Restaurants?
The state of New York extended its smoke free work place law to include bars and restaurants in a bid to reduce healthcare costs and foster a statewide increase in employee performance and productivity. According to statistics by the NY Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene as reported in the Nation’s Health, there are about a million smokers in New York with 70% of them interested in quitting smoking (Donya, 2003). The move to ban smoking is in a bid to protect its members from the effects that emanate from inhaling second hand smoke. This paper supports the state’s move to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. The paper will provide concrete evidence as to why it is in support of the state’s move to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.
The state department of health and Mental Hygiene was right, second hand smoke which is also known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) has serious health effects on nonsmokers. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (2012), define second hand smoke as a combination of exhaled smoke by smokers and smoke emanating from a burning cigarette. Studies have revealed that ETS contains more than 7000 chemicals and among these hundreds are toxic to humans and seventy of them are carcinogenic. Several documented studies show that secondhand smoke has detrimental effects on the health of children and infants; it has immediate detrimental effects on the circulatory/cardiovascular system and has the potential to cause coronary heart disease and heart attack; it causes lung cancer; and SIDS (Sudden unexplained and unexpected death of infants during their first year of life).With all these adverse effects on the health on both the smoker and the none smoker it is an acceptable course of action.
Secondly, smoking within workplaces is unethical and discriminatory in a sense. A bar or a restaurant is a place that is often frequented by all manners of people both smokers and non smokers. If smoking is allowed, all those people who are nonsmokers and are uncomfortable with smoke will find it difficult to frequent that bar or restaurant despite all the convenience that it accorded them. For example it could be the place that is nearest to his/her office and would be most suitable for a quick lunch, it could be that the restaurant serves his/her best meals. The employees of the bar spend long hours within these establishments and are continuously exposed to the smoke in these areas of work. Those workers who are non smokers and prefer not to work in an environment full of smoke will either have to quit or persevere. This discriminates against such workers because they do not have the freedom to work anywhere they want. They may possess the necessary skills and experience but will either be denied work by a prospective employer in a restaurant or have to turn down the job and miss out on great opportunities.
