MYTHS

• Opponents of clean indoor air regularly say that business – especially in restaurants and bars – suffers dramatically when smokers are asked to step outside to smoke. They point to studies —usually paid for by tobacco companies —showing losses of 30% or more. They declare that conventions avoid smoke free cities. They produce lists of businesses that, they claim, have gone under because of clean air protections.
• There is no documented proof for these claims.
• It’s time to clear the air with the facts about cities that pass clean-indoor-air ordinances.

EVIDENCE

California

• From the early nineties when many cities, especially those in California, began to go smoke free in all workplaces, public officials looked at taxable sales information to find out what really happens when workplace protections begin. The news is great.
• One of the first examples is Sacramento, California. During the clean-indoor-air campaign, opponents argued that customers would flee to the suburbs. Tax data clearly showed otherwise; restaurant business continued to grow.
• Follow-up information came quickly when all restaurants in the state went smoke free in 1995. Taxable receipts were unaffected.
• Finally, in 1998 all California bars also went smoke free. The legislature was assailed by the hospitality industry with claims of dire financial losses. But when the legislature commissioned a study by tax officials, there were no losses in any sectors – from the smallest neighborhood bar to the largest restaurant chains.

  New York
  click here for full report

• When Mayor Michael Bloomberg championed clean-indoor-air-protections for workers and the public, New York’s City Council acted. Protesters claimed that New York would be different from California, and that bar owners, especially, would be badly hurt. Here’s what really happened:

  • During the first quarter after the clean-indoor-air ordinance went into effect, the hospitality industry added 10,000 jobs, according to the NY State Department of Labor.
  • And, on March 31, 2004, after 12 months, NYC’s bar and restaurant industry is thriving and its workers are breathing cleaner, safer air. According to a study by the NYC Department of Finance and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, business tax receipts in restaurants and bars are up nearly 9%, and employment in restaurants and bars has increased by 10,600 jobs (about 2,800 seasonally adjusted jobs).
    
    

  Clean Air Helps Business

There’s a World of Evidence

There are now meaningful clean air protections in:

• Whole nations including: Sweden, Norway and Ireland
• Thousands of citiesand six entire U.S. states: California, New York, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut
• In none of these areas has there been any documented negative economic effect.
• In fact the opposite is true. In many areas, bar and restaurant use has gone up. Employee health has improved, and employer health- and safety-related costs have gone down.
• The only economic losers have been the tobacco companies. They realize that
  -- when public buildings and workplaces become smoke free, many employees stop smoking, and
  -- the absence of public smoking sends a powerful message to kids: smoking is neither normal nor wise.

legal Concerns for Employers

• There is a growing body of Workers’ Compensation law allowing recovery of injuries by individuals harmed at work by secondhand smoke.
• Both the public and employees who suffer disabling side effects of secondhand smoke may use the Americans with Disabilities Act to assert a legal right not to be exposed to smoke in workplaces and public places, including restaurants and bars. Qualified individuals may seek monetary damages and injunctive relief.
• When McDonald's was threatened with an ADA suit, all their company-owned stores went smoke-free.

Click here for the full economic impact report

Click here to read more about how Big Tobacco uses and abuses the restaurant industry