Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
``We have no greater responsibility to our children than to protect the air they breathe,'' said Peter H. Kostmayer, EPA regional administrator for the middle-Atlantic states.
The restaurants that received letters from the EPA requesting the smoking prohibition serve an estimated 1.3 million children a year, Kostmayer said.
``There is no doubt in my mind that secondhand smoke poses a serious health problem,'' Kostmayer said. ``Every year between 150,000 and 300,000 children under the age of 18 months get sick from breathing tobacco smoke at home, in day-care centers, in cars, in malls and in restaurants.''
Kostmayer announced the restaurant campaign at a news conference at a smoke-free Chuck E Cheese's restaurant. He praised the restaurant's franchise owner, Mike Hilton of Myrtle Beach, S.C., for adopting a no-smoking policy at his six eateries.
The Chuck E Cheese's pizza chain caters to children with its games and package-deal birthday parties.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Bliley, a tobacco ally whose district includes the huge Philip Morris cigarette factory in Richmond, said policies governing smoking are ``something for individual companies to decide.''
``We do many things that are risks,'' said Bliley, R-Richmond. ``I say the choice belongs to people who know the risks involved.''
Walker Merryman, vice president of the Tobacco Institute, said the EPA should not meddle in private business.
Kostmayer said he will launch similar campaigns in other states in his region. He said he deliberately chose the most tobacco-friendly state first over Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.
Kostmayer also criticized R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s advertising campaign attacking the credibility of last year's EPA study that classified secondhand smoke as a ``known human carcinogen.''
Reynolds is running full-page newspaper ads that reproduce a Wall Street Journal column by Jacob Sullum, managing editor of Reason magazine. The column says ``EPA twisted the evidence to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.''
``The less the EPA is involved in business decisions, the better off all Americans will be,'' he said.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.