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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 25, 2008

Data Doesn't Matter

Regarding "Secondhand Facts Drive Smoke Bans" by Joseph H. Brown (Commentary, May 18):

Frankly, I don't care if smokers and business owners are inconvenienced by smoking bans, and don't care if the scientific data used to implement these bans is flawed or not. I like the bans.

It used to be that a non-smoker - or former smoker like me - had absolutely no choice but to suffer from secondhand smoke in restaurants, bars, airplanes, offices and nearly everywhere we worked, played and ate. Life is much more pleasant without having to breathe smoke and have my hair and clothes smell because someone just had to light up and pollute the air around them.

Why should the 76 percent or so of adults who choose not to smoke be subjected to the unpleasant and unhealthy side effects of those who do? Where do our personal and property rights enter the picture?

JERRY NEPON-SIXT

Tampa

The Voters Decided

In his column regarding secondhand smoke, Joseph Brown wrote that bogus claims of the effects of secondhand smoke are the drive behind numerous public and workplace smoking bans passed by city councils and state legislatures, and that many Republicans allow those bans to become law.

He also wrote that the laws affect "the rights of bar and restaurant owners to allow a legal, highly taxed activity in their privately owned businesses."

Like Brown, I am not a smoker. I am also not a Republican. As I recall, however, Florida's ban on smoking in restaurants was based on a constitutional amendment that was passed by an overwhelming majority of Florida's voters in 2002.

So, if my recollection is correct, neither city councils nor state legislatures had anything to do with Florida's smoking ban in bars and restaurants. For Brown to imply that they did is bogus.

STEPHEN GOLDSMITH

Brandon

Another Offensive Scent

I loved Joseph H. Brown's comments about secondhand smoke.

It is true that the studies are geared toward the nonsmoker bias against smokers - probably done by nonsmokers. I have been a smoker, a nonsmoker for 20 years, and now a smoker. I get a lot of amusement out of people who go by smokers and wave their hands in front of their faces or hold their noses.

Let's see, smokers are exiled outdoors on breaks; out of doors where the air is polluted by industry, cars, big trucks and cooking grease from restaurants! Nonsmokers are inhaling these same "deadly" fumes.

My biggest concern is another air pollutant - perfume in the workplace! Every morning I get on the elevator at work and immediately have an asthma attack. My breakfast is ruined because the only thing I can smell and taste is the odor from the elevator.

Studies show that modern perfumes are no longer made from natural scents. They are now made from manmade sources and include chemicals that can be harmful to the people wearing them.

SUE SLINGBAUM

Tampa

What Is A Child To Do?

Come on, Joe Brown! Would you as a non-smoker like to be traveling in car with a puffer? Maybe you could open the window, ask the smoker to put out the butt or tell the driver to stop and exit the car.

What is a child to do, specifically one strapped in a safety seat? Nothing but inhale the haze and be subjected to the stench and bitter taste of stale tobacco residue that will find its way into the child's clothing, hair, nostrils and, ultimately, the lungs.

MIKE LOMBARDI

Lakeland

More Bans Needed

Subtracting the number of people who did not smoke yet died of lung cancer is a good indicator of secondhand smoke victims.

The fact is, if one person died of secondhand smoke it would be too many, let alone 38,000. Joseph Brown says it's too much government. Please! Smokers are weak, inconsiderate and stupid, the dregs of society, and need to be governed.

Anybody caught smoking with a child in the car should be arrested and charged with abuse.

Our government is finally waking up, but smoking bans need to be broadened to include entranceways to stores, casinos, wherever the public gathers. If someone had a contagious virus, would they be quarantined? We need to quarantine smokers who disregard everybody and spread their poison.

JOHN MANNONE

Lutz

Vital Legislation

Legislation granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to oversee tobacco products is currently awaiting action in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Despite killing more than 438,000 people each year, tobacco products are virtually unregulated.

I'm a parent concerned that my kids might smoke. Tobacco has affected your family, and I'm a former smoker who knows how hard it is to quit.

I want to urge Congress to work for quick passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act when they return to Washington in June.

I also want to urge all of them to oppose all weakening amendments as the legislation is considered.

Each day Congress doesn't act, another 1,300 kids become addicted to tobacco products and ultimately more than a third of them will die from a tobacco-caused disease. This vital legislation must become law in 2008.

DARLA LIVESAY

Palm Harbor

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