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Enough is Enough: We should Ban Smoking in LA |
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The City
By Bernard Parks
Secondhand smoke is the number one cause of preventable health disease in America. There are no questions regarding the negative health effects.
Research has shown that inhaling secondhand smoke is more harmful than actually smoking, primarily due to the unfiltered nature of the smoke and its having been cooled by the air.
Smoking and secondhand smoke has a significant cost impact on our current health care system.
Smoking is a voluntary addiction, which is not a right or protected by the constitution, but secondhand smoke harms an involuntary population, which has a constitutional right to clean air and a clean environment. In this country, we are protected by many health laws.
Eighty percent of the US population are non-smokers, and those 80% are affected by secondhand smoke which is particularly dangerous because the smoke honors no boundaries.
My motion to ban smoking is not an outright ban, but seeks legislation that regulates its usage to specific places that do not have an expectation of involuntary contact with people.
Wherever people congregate or there is an expectation of people being present, smoking should be prohibited. This is an effort to move smokers and smoking away from people who do not chose to either smoke or inhale secondhand smoke.
California Proposition 65 declares that California residents have a right to clear air and water.
Recently, the Governor declared secondhand smoke a carcinogenic and a regulated contaminant.
I’m recommending that both the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles, specifically unincorporated areas, ban smoking in all public areas and common areas where people congregate.
Los Angeles has implemented legislation in the past to regulate smoking in restaurants, city facilities, city beaches and currently pending in City parks. This is an effort to stop the incremental legislation and create a comprehensive health agenda for the City of Los Angeles.
I want to remove this health risk and exposure from the lives of adults and children.
All of us have experienced waling through smoke when entering a building and walking in the smoking debris which clutters our environment. Enough is enough. It is time to put a stop to this now!
My personal experience and research has led me to this very practical solution. Over the past couple of years I have at every opportunity confronted several hundred smokers about their health concerns and requested that they put their cigarette out and save their own lives.
Just recently at both the Central Avenue and the St. Andrews Park Jazz Festivals I discussed this with numerous people. Many of them stated they wanted to stop or were going to stop. But the mayor reaction was by their seatmates or neighbors who thanked me for stopping the secondhand smoke that they were inhaling.
This is not a request that will drain law enforcement resources but primarily would be a code enforcement activity via either an infraction or misdemeanor
I commend the cities of Beverly Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Santa Monica and New York for taking the national leadership on this issue. (Bernard Parks is the Councilman for the 8th District.) ◘
CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 65
Pub: August 12, 2008
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