Thread: Has NYC gone too far by banning smoking in parks?

Cristian Salazar, Associated Press – Sun Feb 20, 1:13 pm ET

NEW YORK – The smokers of New York huddle in phone booths, hurry down cold streets and hover at office-building doorways during breaks, puffs of smoke giving them away.

They are an endangered breed. Their numbers shrinking through loss of habitat, come summer they will have even fewer places to light up as a ban on smoking in parks, beaches and public plazas goes into effect — including Central Park and swaths of tourist-packed Times Square.

Smokers have yielded as places to puff have diminished over the years, but many of them and even some nonsmokers are saying the city has gone too far this time. Health experts disagree on the hazards of a whiff of smoke outdoors, and critics argue cigarette smoke is just one of many nuisances to contend with in a crowded city. They also question whether the city is trampling on civil liberties. "I think they're getting too personal," said Monica Rodriguez, smoking a Newport at a phone booth near a pedestrian plaza south of Times Square. "I don't think it's OK. They're taking away everyone's privileges."

Even Whoopi Goldberg spoke out against the ban on national television, noting shortly after the City Council approved the ban that inhaling exhaust fumes from the city's fleet of taxis and buses isn't exactly healthy, either. "There should be a designated place, and I'm tired of being treated like some damn criminal," said the co-host of ABC's "The View" during the show's Feb. 3 broadcast. "If they're really worried about the smell in the air, give us electric buses, give us electric cars, and then I'll understand."

The city health commissioner, Thomas A. Farley, said the ban is aimed at protecting the most vulnerable, such as asthma sufferers who are susceptible to respiratory attacks from exposure to secondhand smoke; children who might pick up smoking after seeing adults with lit cigarettes. It's also meant to reduce litter.

But most of all, he said, it was about ensuring that the city's 14 miles of beach and more than 1,000 parks were free of the nuisance and open to all. "Parks and beaches are special places that anybody should enjoy," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

The City Council approved the bill Feb. 2; the mayor has 20 days to sign it. A separate bill that would have set aside smoking areas in parks did not pass.

Those who break the law could face fines of $50 per violation. But instead of active enforcement, the city will rely on signs and social pressure, said Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for Bloomberg. "We expect that this will be primarily self-enforcing," she said. "There is a lot of public support."

She pointed to a 2009 Zogby poll commissioned by the New York City Coalition for a Smoke-Free City that surveyed 1,002 residents over landline phones and showed that 65 percent supported a smoking ban in parks and beaches.

The measure continues a nearly decade-long effort under the mayor, a smoker-turned-anti-tobacco crusader, to reduce smoking through public policy.

The cornerstone of his administration's strategy has been an indoor smoking ban in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. In 2010, the city issued 85 violations to bars and clubs that flouted the ban, the Health Department said.

The city has also tried to snuff out smoking by raising taxes on cigarettes, helping the price of a pack soar to $11 or more; through a public education campaign that has featured grisly images of diseased lungs; and by offering free nicotine patch kits for smokers to help them quit.

The Health Department argues that its tobacco-control strategy saved an estimated 6,300 lives between 2002 and 2009, mostly from a reduction in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as cancer. The smoking rate dropped 27 percent during the same period. But the department says smoking continues to be the city's leading cause of preventable death. A city study published in 2009 found that residents are exposed to more secondhand smoke than the national average, he said.

The hazards of secondhand smoke are well-documented. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no safe level of exposure. But how secondhand smoke contributes to environmental hazards outdoors is an emerging area of study.

Dr. Michael Siegel, an expert on the public health effects of smoking who testified in support of the city's indoor smoking ban, said science may not support the idea of smoke-free beaches and parks. "I disagree that there is a scientific basis for banning smoking in wide open outdoor spaces where people can easily avoid exposure," said Siegel, who works in Boston, where the City Council is proposing a similar ban. "Some of the health groups have been exaggerating the evidence."

In one of the few published studies on outdoor tobacco smoke, scientists at Stanford University said in a 2007 paper that smoking outdoors might be considered a "hazard" or "nuisance," including when "eating dinner with a smoker at a sidewalk cafe, sitting next to a smoker on a park bench, or standing near a smoker outside a building."

"If one is upwind from a smoker, levels most likely will be negligible," the authors wrote.

With such strict bans, the tobacco-control movement may be in danger of losing its credibility, Siegel said. "The public is going to just think of us as these zealots who want to ban smoking everywhere," he said. "It's going to make it even harder to pass legitimate smoking regulations in states that don't currently have them."

The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation counted more than 450 municipalities with policies of smoke-free parks and more than 200 with smokeless beaches, including Los Angeles.

And there are signs that anti-smoking ordinances could get tougher in the future, with some communities extending bans into private homes, especially apartment buildings where secondhand smoke can permeate into other units.

In New York City, especially during the summer, places like Times Square and Central Park get packed with humanity, making exposure to secondhand smoke a distinct possibility.

On a recent winter day in Bryant Park, in midtown Manhattan, a few hardy souls braving the cold gave the ban a mixed review.

Katie Geba, 19, said a smoke-free park would be a blessing. "I don't like the smell of it," said the college student, reading a book at a table in a patch of sunlight. "At the same time, (the ban) infringes on your right to do what you want to do."

Monika Solich, 31, of Queens, said she could understand banning smoking in enclosed spaces like bars and restaurants. "But this is an open space," she said, incredulous, as she sat at a table, smoking a Marlboro and sipping coffee. "I mean, what's next? Ridiculous. Where are they going to ban next?" she said. "There should at least be an area for smokers where we can smoke."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110220/...yc_smoking_ban

As a nonsmoker I hate smoke blowing in my face. That being said, I don't understand how someone smoking on a park bench is infringing on my rights. If they come up and intentionally blow smoke in my face that's another story but I don't think that's what we're talking about here.

I agree. What's next? Are they going to tell you you can't smoke in your own home or car? Are you going to charged with child abuse if you smoke in front of your children? I find this infringement on personal liberties to be very frightening. What happened to American the land of the FREE?.

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does the park somehow hold the smoke or contain it somehow ? how is this a health issue ?

I just hope with all the taxes and laws against smokers they all quit, then we'll see the federal & states government go completely ape-sh!t because they just lost all that tax money., then where would they be...without those smokers?

They plan all the S-Chip to be paid for by tobacco taxes ... what do they paln to do when all the smokers quit or die off ?

I am an ex-smoker. If smokers (in general) were a bit more considerate of others, I'd have no problem with them.

Yes, they stand outside the doors at malls/office buildings/etc. and smoke. It is so unpleasant to walk through, I still end up smelling like cigarette smoke. That didn't happen when there wasn't a ban on smoking!

I was driving and stopped at a light, there was a man smoking at a bus stop. With my windows closed, my car still smelled like cigarette smoke.

Years ago when I was single and had an apartment, there was an older man who chain smoked right next door. The hallway smelled (actually stunk) around and about his doorway. One day I actually thought he was dead, the smell was so bad. I called the landlord who used his key to get in (no answer). There were ashtrays throughout his apartment that he never emptied, inches high of old, stinky cigarette butts. It was so sickening, but the man was not dead, he went on vacation. The landlord had never experienced anything like this and he owned several buildings for quite some time. It was disgusting and so nauseating. Actually smelled like someone died.

I don't know the answer.

As an Ex-Smoker, I can smell a cigarette a mile away., sometimes it smells good to me., sometimes it smells awful. I was also a very considerate smoker, always going far away to smoke., mostly because I didn't want people coming up to me and try to bum a smoke.

I think NYC is shooting itself in the foot with these laws., after reading all the travel forums., you wouldn't believe all the people from the UK, Ireland, Australia, etc.. that come to NYC and a ton of them are smokers., they come year after year and spend their money in NYC on holiday., after a few of them get a $200+ ticket for smoking outside in Times Square, I could see them say "F New York"., and they'll never come back., perhaps going to a place like Vegas for holiday, where you can still smoke where ever you want.

Personally, I don't care., I know how hard it is to quit. I never give a smoker a hard-time about their smoking, most of them would love to quit., they are not living in denial, they know that its killing them., it truly is the devil. Everyday of my life I will want a cigarette, laws and prices aren't ever going to stop my urge to want a cigarette.