Across the River may be bad for your health

Study: Indoor air polluted in New Albany
The Courier-Journal • May 29, 2008

Workers and patrons at New Albany restaurants and bars encounter 11 times more indoor air pollution than they would at similar businesses in Louisville with its smoking ban, according to a study released today.

Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, working with the University of Kentucky, disclosed the findings at a news conference at Floyd Memorial Hospital in New Albany.

Miranda Spitznagle, director of program evaluation for the smoking cessation group, said the study showed that people who are regularly in such venues potentially face the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. She said the exposure can lead to lung cancer, respiratory trouble and heart disease.

Based on government standards for air quality, she said, New Albany restaurant workers “face three times the levels considered safe.”

The study was conducted in January, and included seven restaurants, two bars and one entertainment business in New Albany. The businesses were not identified.

Researchers tested air samples against similar samples from Louisville, which has a smoking ban. Spitznagle said tests show a 97 percent decrease in harmful indoor air pollution under the Louisville ban.

The New Albany City Council considered a smoking ban ordinance last year but did not pass it.

looks like the local news on TV is picking up on this story...Seems like they did go to at least 10 resturatns and tested the air and found it to be very unhealty....

Wow...No comments from across the river????

[Robin Garr]

Wow...No comments from across the river????

There's no non-smoking ordinance in the Indiana counties. I don't think anyone is surprised that the air inside a smoking restaurant is bad. What's to discuss here? Were you expecting angry Hoosiers to respond angrily to your troll?

Sure I do....Do you have to have a law passed to have a healthy place to eat( breathing the air) for your customers....let alone the people that work for you........??????

Wow...No comments from across the river????

There's no non-smoking ordinance in the Indiana counties. I don't think anyone is surprised that the air inside a smoking restaurant is bad. What's to discuss here? Were you expecting angry Hoosiers to respond angrily to your troll?

In other news, Oreos make you fat and rain gets stuff wet.

[Robin Garr]

In other news, Oreos make you fat and rain gets stuff wet.

That's it! From now on, I'm eating in the non-Oreo section.

Miranda Spitznagle

Great name!

several questions as the devil's advocate

Has anyone actually read this study (or any similar studies)?

How, when, & where were the "air samples" collected and then examined?

Did any of these venues have a filtration system?

Was the air outside compared to the air inside the establishment?

What measures were used to evaluate the "pollution" levels - particulate matter, carbon levels, ratios of oxygen to nitrogen compounds?

Were no smoking establishments in Indiana included in this study?

Were the layouts of the venues factored into the results of the study? (a tiny cramped bar versus a wide open restaurant with high ceilings)

What time constraints were used in the study? (exposure for thirty minutes, two hours, eight hours?)

What types of cooking were taking place at these venues and how the areas are ventilated?


Blindly quoting studies which propagate fear is not a strategy which shows success in persuading people to change their behavior.

The anti-smoking movement bears so many similarities to the temperance movement that it is frightening to watch. (note the success of prohibition)

Creating a "study" which clearly has a target result in mind is not science, it is propaganda.

I don't doubt that smoke is harmful, but i take particular offense when "awareness" groups conduct supposedly scientific studies, which miraculously display the correctness of their position, without clearly stating how they achieved these results.

Then the media jumps on the next big anti-bandwagon, and we're all supposed to blindly follow our local news team like sheep.

I would like to see studies which replicate the "true" experience of working or visiting these venues which threaten our every move with their smoking.

Outfit a server or bartender with an apparatus that measure the quality of the air they breathe in, while they're running laps through the kitchen and serving areas. Outfit a diner with the same type of apparatus.

Obesity (and the health problems associated with) is a far greater risk to the public health than second hand smoke, let's pass some laws which address this issue.

Additionally, the dangers from cell phone distractions while driving are particularly distressing to me, so we should certainly outlaw cell phones altogether.
Oh, i almost forgot, the dangers from a sedated public living off prescription meds is a serious threat to my health as well.
(we can advertise prescription medications on television and radio, but you can not advertise tobacco products via the same media ???? are we really focused on the important issues, or just distracted by the silly ones??)

Any behavior which threatens the health of any other individual in any potential circumstance should be outlawed.
Right??

It is our right to be safe everywhere we go. Right??

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of safety. Right??


maybe i'm just ranting again, darn oil companies

shawn

UMMM.. Jeffersonville passed a No smoking RULE for restaurants last year!, However I think you can still smoke up in the many bars they have....

However, on this side of the river now that the powers that be have banished smokers to the great outdoors, Al fresco dining reminds me more of France everyday!

Many French restaurants, both in Paris and in the countryside, are moving to non-smoking only.

[Robin Garr]

Many French restaurants, both in Paris and in the countryside, are moving to non-smoking only.

All Italian restaurants have been non-smoking for more than a year now. Dutch restaurants are going non-smoking this summer.

It's worth noting that France, Italy, and the Netherlands are light years ahead of us in a lot of areas that contribute to pollution, perhaps most significantly transportation, a much larger issue which they addressed long before pursuing smoking regulation.

I'm perfectly happy to go along with banning smoking in restaurants, but arguments over such will have much more to do with enforcing personal preferences one way or the other rather than actual concerns about overall environmental quality until we're ready as a region to deal with the problem on a collective rather than selective scale.

The recent report about our region's extraordinarily high ranking in per capita carbon footprint measures might be an indicator of much needed, broad based reform in more reasonable environs. We've been recognized as gluttons even among the most gluttonous national citizenry in the world.

With all due respect, smoking in restaurants is just the mouse next to the great big invisible elephant.

As for the New Albany ban, the one elected official that brought it to the table last year can be seen regularly driving solo around our very walkable downtown community in his large pickup truck, complaining about the lack of four wheel drive parking in an urban grid that was designed to handle the more sophisticated transportation system we used to have before guys like him voted over and over again to kill it.

shawn I think you need to take a visit to the cancer ward at Jewish Hospital or at Norton....IT might just change your mind....By the way Floyd Memorial Hospital along with the Brown Cancer Center and Norton Hospital were all in with this study....Cancer Sucks....