Bar owners are asking Hawaii state legislators for relief from the struggling economy by exempting Oahu from the 2006 state law that bans smoking in bars and nightclubs. The ban should continue statewide because evidence of illness caused by secondhand smoke is enormous, even if some harm to bars by the great recession could be proven. The smoking prohibition in bars and other indoor public areas needs to remain in effect statewide.
The House Economic Revitalization and Business Committee, though, has kept alive hopes for lifting the ban. Chairman Angus McKelvey said he hears reports that the smoking ban in bars is "a source of complaint that keeps coming up" regarding Asian visitors because "it is part of their culture." Concern is being voiced about the negative effect on Asian visitor expenditures in Hawaii.
That argument was made and laid aside before the ban was enacted six years ago. At that point, the percentage of Japanese adults who smoked had declined from 49.4 percent to 29.2 percent in the previous 40 years, according to Japan Tobacco Inc. By 2010, the rate had dropped to 24 percent and is still falling. Many public facilities in Japan are smoke-free.
In smoke-filled China, the ministry of health imposed a smoking ban in indoor public areas last May, applying it to all restaurants, bars and public transportation. While skeptics are dubious about a crackdown against smoking where cigarettes are a state monopoly, Chinese health officials say medical problems caused by tobacco are more important.
So there seems to be good evidence that even in Asia, smoking and public policy are heading toward a healthier, smoke-free trend.
As for domestic heavy smokers, a recent study by the American Cancer Society has found that statewide restaurant and bar sales records in Nevada were experiencing declining monthly sales prior to enactment of that state’s 2006 ban on smoking.
"A large number of jobs were added, not cut, in food services and drinking places" in the year following the Nevada law’s enactment, the society noted.
Nevertheless, a misguided Nevada Legislature made the mistake last June of revoking its ban on smoking in adult-only bars and restaurants.
Bill Comerford, president of the Hawaii Bar Owners Association, expressed concern for his members who operate "key industries" that "provide the nightlife and entertainment that brings tourists back and provides a valued vacation with fun in the equation."
We question, though, whether puffing cigarettes in enclosed public establishments is a necessary ingredient of tourism.
Hawaii’s ban on smoking in bars was enacted by the Legislature after mounting evidence that secondhand smoke has been a dangerous health risk to nonsmokers, including bar employees. Backing away from that decision would be wrong.
