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Hilton Head should take up proposed smoking-ban law

Secondhand smoke ills call for cleaner air in public places

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The recent U.S. surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke and its dangers gives a big boost to those who want to ban indoor smoking in restaurants and bars.

Hilton Head Island Town Councilman John Safay supports such a ban and wants to see town officials discuss putting one in place.

Secondhand smoke is dangerous, and it should be banned from restaurants and bars, for the sake of patrons who don't smoke and the people who work there. Experience in other places shows such a ban probably won't result in a drop in business and may in fact lure customers who otherwise would stay away.

Saying you can take your business elsewhere or find another job isn't good enough. A person's right to breathe smoke-free air trumps a person's right to smoke. Private businesses are subject to all sorts of regulations deemed for the public good. This would be no different.

The state already bans indoor smoking at publicly owned facilities and hospitals, a ban that's been in place since 1990. Taking that a step further, Beaufort County health department buildings and their grounds became smoke-free Jan. 1. In 2005, Hilton Head Regional Medical Center and Beaufort Memorial Hospital banned smoking on their grounds. The relatively new Coastal Carolina Medical Center in Hardeeville has never allowed it.

But there is question as to whether a municipality can enact an ordinance banning smoking at private businesses. A provision in state law states, "Any laws, ordinances, or rules enacted pertaining to tobacco products may not supersede state law or regulation."

Opponents say that stops municipalities from banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

Howard Duvall, executive director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, says a lawsuit is expected to be filed against a Sullivans Island ordinance enacted in May.

Duvall said the rationale for supporting the Sullivans Island ordinance is that state law lists specific places where the ban is in place. A local ordinance that does not affect those same places would be legal.

Lawmakers in the House took up a bill this year that would ban smoking in restaurants, bars and lounges, but in April the House voted to send it back to the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would have to start over in the legislative process in the next session. A similar bill in the Senate stalled in 2005.

More and more private businesses are banning smoking on their premises. The cost of health insurance for employees is a prime motivation. Companies also benefit from healthy, productive workers. In some parts of the country, businesses have gone so far as to fire employees who won't give up smoking even on their own time.

Interestingly, a couple of provisions in South Carolina law would seem to make that impossible here. The Clean Indoor Air Act contains this provision: "No person in this state is authorized to require any other person to submit to any form of testing to determine whether or not the person has nicotine or other tobacco residue in his body." South Carolina labor and employment law also states: "Personnel action based on use of tobacco products outside of workplace (is) prohibited. ... The use of tobacco products outside the workplace must not be the basis of personnel action, including, but not limited to, employment, termination, demotion, or promotion of an employee."

This country, based on sound science and common sense, is marching inexorably toward banning smoking in all public places, including privately owned businesses. Hilton Head Island's putting in a place a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars would only hasten what is most likely inevitable, and in the meantime, improve the health of a lot of people -- smokers and nonsmokers.