THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 26, 1994 TAG: 9408260028
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is considering regulations that would ban smoking in every single one of America's 6 million workplaces.
The impetus for the regulatory agencies' move comes from lawsuits by the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health. ASH's most recent litigation argues that secondhand smoke is a proven carcinogen and thus must be regulated under OSHA standards for hazardous materials in the workplace.
ASH and others in favor of the ban cite a report by the Environmental Protection Agency that reviewed many Environmental Tobacco Smoke (a k a secondhand smoke) studies and concluded that secondhand smoke is carcinogenic. That finding, however, has been challenged by numerous independent researchers. UCLA epidemiologist James Enstrom estimates that working in a secondhand- smoke environment is equivalent to smoking perhaps a hundredth of a cigarette a day.
None of that matters to ASH or, apparently, to OSHA. Even businesses with fewer than 10 employees, which are normally exempt from OSHA edicts, would have to comply. Traditional smoking habitats, such as bars and restaurants, might also have to submit to the ban.
OSHA proposes a small loophole for businesses that wish to avoid big fines: Agree to encase smoking employees inside a highly ventilated, totally enclosed room. Hardly an option for most businesses.
Many, if not most, workplaces have already made common-sense rules regarding smoking in the workplace to please non-smoking employees. Insurance premiums are another prod moving employers toward dealing with secondhand smoke. Many Hampton Roads hospitals, malls and fast-food restaurants have become smoke-free by choice.
As is so often the case, government is moving to correct a problem that either doesn't exist or is already being dealt with. If OSHA gets its way - even though it has been inundated with protests - then a little more American liberty will have gone up in smoke. by CNB