Published: July 11, 2008 10:49 am      

SMOKING BAN: Fuming over smoke ban plan

ALBION — A Lyndonville man objects to a proposed smoking ban on county owned property.

Nonsmoker Paul Lauricello believes the would-be policy is yet another infringement on a citizen’s personal freedoms, he told the Orleans County Legislature on Wednesday. He is calling on county officials to make alternative arrangements for employees and residents who smoke.

“Find a place for these smokers to go,” he said. “They’re treated as second-hand citizens as it is.”

Republican Legislator George Bower is making the push for the smoking ban as chairman of the health committee. The policy is already in place at the area’s schools and hospitals. Bower said at the June 25 meeting that Orleans should follow suit as an example for other counties. Members of the health department also support the idea.

The state has done its part in deterring cigarette use with the recent increase in sales tax, Bower said. A ban on county property could push individuals to stop smoking, thereby improving their health, he said. An estimated 30 percent of cancer deaths are caused by tobacco usage, he said.

“I really believe this county should be smoke-free,” Bower said. “It’s not something we like to do — to take rights away. ... (But) I think it’s time we did this.”

Lauricello said he questions whether second-hand smoke is actually harmful, based on a controversial study published recently by Chicago’s Heartland Institute, a non-profit organization with a focus on global warming and tobacco policy debates. Some agencies, including Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, accuse the Heartland Institute of partnering with the tobacco industry.

The American Lung Association maintains that second-hand smoke is deadly, causing 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year. It is considered equally harmful in children. The association says second-hand smoke may be a contributing factor in sudden instant death syndrome, lower respiratory tract infections in infants under 18 months, build-up of fluid in the middle ear and aggravated asthma symptoms.

Twenty-one million children — 35 percent of all youth — live in homes where family members or visitors smoke on a regular basis.

Past efforts by the state to protect residents from second-hand smoke include the 2003 law banning smoking in certain public places, including most restaurants.

Lauricello said if the proposed Orleans County smoking ban is truly about the health of residents, the county should ban the sale of all tobacco products.

He said government’s control over every aspect of a resident’s life need to stop.

“Do a little bit of research and take a look at both sides of the issue,” he told the Legislature. “There’s got to be a better way.”

Contact reporter Nicole Coleman at 798-1400, ext. 8227.