First Person Singular
Putnam County needs smoke-free restaurants

TOMINDA ADKINS illustration

By Jeannie Harrison
Poca High School

“McDowell County Board of Health votes 3-0 to approve smoking ban”

“Harrison County health officials are considering a smoking ban”

“Summers County approves smoking ban”

“Mingo County smoking ban goes into effect Sunday”

“Grant County’s anti-smoking regulations are expanded”

These are all headlines from state media outlets showing that nonsmokers’ rights are being considered all over the state - in nearly every county, in fact.

However, the right to remain cancer-free is still being withheld from restaurant patrons in Putnam County, which is still debating its Clean Indoor Air Policy.

More than 72 cities and five states have prohibited smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars - a wonderful step in the right direction when considering the fact that nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke absorb nicotine and other compounds just as smokers do. In the argument over restaurants, separate smoking and nonsmoking sections do not help. Smoke travels, and it’s going to take a lot more than a two-foot space between sections to stop it flowing from smoking sections into nonsmoking ones.

I acknowledge the fact that smokers’ rights are being slightly disregarded by not allowing them to smoke in restaurants. However, their inconvenience is vastly outweighed by the potential health problems that they are bringing upon the nonsmokers around them.

Consider the case of Dana Reeve, wife of the late Christopher Reeve. She died of lung cancer on March 6, leaving her and Christopher’s 13-year-old son Will an orphan. The 44-year-old did not smoke.

Mrs. Reeve is not alone. In 2005, approximately 172,570 new cases of lung cancer were diagnosed and 163,510 men and women died due to lung cancer, according to a study by the American Cancer Society.

Children are affected, too. Between 7,500 and 15,000 children 18 months old and younger are hospitalized each year due to lower respiratory tract infections caused by secondhand smoking.

More than 75 percent of West Virginia counties have gone smoke-free in restaurants because they respect the rights of their nonsmokers. Now it’s Putnam County’s turn.