THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 3, 1995 TAG: 9503310011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Your liberal rag keeps on annoying us 50 million Americans who smoke cigarettes. Your editorial ``Clearing the air'' (March 19) on public-smoking restrictions is just one example.
``No smoker's right to harm others'' (letter, March 22) and ``Keep the smoke out of malls'' (letter, March 23) are also ludicrous. The former about ``nicotine taking two weeks to clear from the air'' conjures up the image of the complainer skidding on his nose around the carpets, drapes, walls and ceilings to detect a trace of smell!
As to the latter, here are some facts from a National Smokers Alliance bulletin (No. 2, Vol. 3, February 1995): ``A telephone survey of 1,000 adult smokers found that, on average, smokers dine out in full-service restaurants more than four times per month, at about $125 per month. Since smoking is banned, all or in part, in restaurants, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they dine out less, cutting spending by 75 percent. A full one-third (myself included) said they would stop dining out altogether!''
The claims of the anti-smoking coalition are preposterous. Studies reveal that it would take 164 straight hours of flying to absorb the effects of only one cigarette in an airliner. Why are airlines suffering economic losses? And the same for malls!
LARRY RIJNOVAN
Virginia Beach, March 23, 1995 by CNB