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Originally Posted by NewPhin
I realize there is debate about how carcinogenic second hand smoke is, but if you believe it to be, I don't see how you can't support smoking bans:
Unless you also think that business owners shouldn't have to remove and replace the asbestos in their buildings. Even if it is your private property and your private business, you have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace for your employees.
Now if you see second hand smoke as nothing more than an annoyance and not a health danger, then I can see where people who are against smoking bans are coming from.
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Second hand smoke has been proven to be a carcinogen. That fact alone should end the debate. No person has the right impose the consequences of their choices (or uncontrollable habits) onto others. What a person does to themselves is their choice as long as they don't harm others when doing so (a violation of that other person's right to choose for his or herself).
The same goes for cigarette butts. A cigarette butt, en masse, is a disgusting thing. And people who smoke take it for granted that God placed somebody else upon this earth to follow behind them and pick up their nasty-assed cigarette butts. In certain environments such as apartment complexes with young children, that can be a very unsanitary situation.
All that said, anyone interested in the statistics will find that wherever these smoking bans have been enforced, businesses have prospered. It's amazing how many people will spend money to go out for a meal or have a drink without having to breathe second hand smoke or have their clothes and hair smell like smoke after they get home.