Editor,
Our government closes down, puts on notice, and fines restaurants for guacamole and Alfredo sauce that isn't the correct temperature.
Our government gets involved when a restaurant uses wiping cloths improperly. Our government demands that restaurants that are open to the public (and are therefore public places,) not store food near cleaning products, clean their ice machines and supply paper towels to their customers.
But for some reason when we start talking about smoking it's a freedom of choice issue and it's outrageous that our government even speak about banning smoking in restaurants and bars. The cigarette is the most destructive product ever invented for consumers -- that's a fact. Tobacco took more than 400,000 lives in America last year. Second-hand smoke took more than 40,000 more. Those lives didn't come cheap for taxpayers either. We paid over $50 billion in healthcare last year for sick and dying smokers. About 5,200 people died from food poisoning last year according to the Centers for Disease Control.
So why all the fuss about banning smoking in Albuquerque restaurants and bars? It should be a no-brainer, right? Wrong. Tobacco has always held a special place in American society -- even in 2003. If ketchup had .01 percent of the ingredients that a cigarette has, the FDA would pull every bottle from the shelf tomorrow morning. So, it's all about protecting farmers, right?
Wrong. The reason smoking isn't banned in restaurants in Albuquerque today is because of the incestuous relationship between Big Tobacco and politicians.
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It's because so many "Restaurant Associations" -- who want to serve and protect their poor and helpless business owners -- are not only in bed with Big Tobacco, but are rolling around with lots of lube and no protection.
Having a smoking section in a restaurant or bar is like having a peeing section in a swimming pool. And the idea that banning smoking in restaurants will hurt those restaurants is a Big Tobacco PR lie that makes no sense anecdotally or scientifically.
Damon Scott
Communication and Journalism
