After more than a year of indecision, the Nixa Board of Alderman approved an ordinance banning smoking in all restaurants effective immediately.
Watch my KY3 News @ 10 report HERE.
This is a classic argument that involves the role of government, the common good, economic benefits versus health effects.
Health care advocates say the ban is needed to curb the impact of secondhand smoking. But businesses say this ordinance will push them -- and their tax dollars -- outside of city limits.
Some businesses say they wouldn't have a problem with the ban if it was county or statewide, because at least it would be a fair playing field.
So that's the next question. Should Missouri pass a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants? Or should government at all levels just butt out?
1 comment:
I recently recieved this, and it's not unlike thousands of other reports from around the country and the world. The reports that buisnesses suffer from smoking bans are tobacco-industry sponsored propaganda intended to drive fear into buisness owners. Smoking bans have worked all over the world, and are currently in place for over half of the United States.
Secondhand smoke is a health hazard. It increases the risk of a heart attack by 25-30%. And that says nothing about Athsma, COPD, lung cancer, other cardiovascular disease, etc. Banning smoking where it exposes other people to secondhand smoke is a moral issue.
Study: Lexington businesses not hurt by smoking ban
Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Employment levels at local bars and restaurants have been not affected by a smoking ban imposed in the state's second-largest city three years ago, according to a study.
The study by the University of Kentucky, in this month's issue of "Tobacco Control," found employment opportunities at restaurants in Lexington actually grew after the ban was enacted.
The report said employment levels in restaurants rose by 3 percent in the 14 months after the ban went into effect, while employment in bars remained the same.
The study was based on employment data and openings and closings in the bar and restaurant industries in Lexington and six surrounding counties. The study surveyed data in the 64 months before the ban went into effect and 14 months after the ban began.
"Smoke-free laws basically are good for people, and they don't hurt business," said Kentucky nursing professor Ellen Hahn, one of the study's authors.
Restaurant revenue over the period of the study was not immediately available, though the study's authors said the uptick in employment is a telling sign that the ban hasn't hurt business. Donald Mullineaux, director of the school of management at Kentucky's Gatton College of Business of Economics called the employment increase a "proxy measure" of sales.
"If you're selling more, you need more people," Mullineaux said. "In the best of all possible worlds, we would have that data, but we didn't have it. Would I expect to find something different if we had it? I don't think so."
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