Anti’s weer hoog in de gordijnen
Het is nog steeds onduidelijk wat er gaat gebeuren met het rookverbod in de staat New York nu een hoge piet in de regering heeft gezegd dat er in de gezondheidscommissie geen meerderheid te vinden is die een wetsvoorstel ondersteunt dat het rookverbod voor onder andere de bars zou moeten opheffen, mits gebruik wordt gemaakt van een geavanceerd luchtfilteringsysteem.
De anti’s beschuldigen het bedrijf dat beweert dat hun apparatuur dat makkelijk aankan nu van misleiding. Alle organisaties die tegen roken zijn staan op hun achterste poten.
Blijkbaar is de bewering van het ventilatiebedrijf een ernstige bedreiging voor de anti-rokenbeweging. En niet alleen voor die in de VS!
A bid by bar owners to relax the state’s tough indoor smoking ban appears dead after the state Legislature’s top Democrat said Wednesday a majority of his legislators oppose weakening the year-old prohibition against smoking in nearly all public places.
“I think the law works well. Period,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan.
The state’s bar industry has engaged in a furious lobbying campaign to amend the law to permit smoking to return to taverns that install special ventilation systems. But Silver dismissed claims of widespread financial woes by bars, saying he doesn’t “believe there’s been a significant loss” by smokers staying away from bars.
Silver said the law strikes a “fair balance” to protect the public health against the “overwhelming” evidence of the dangers of second-hand smoke.
The legislative leader said the only change he would consider would be one to help businesses that made “significant” investments in air filtration devices to meet local ordinances that had been in place, such as in Erie County, but were then superseded by last year’s state ban. One suggestion, he said, has been tax credits for such bars and restaurants.
Health groups hailed the decision by Silver, though some worried the bar industry will be able to regroup with the weeks and maybe months remaining in the 2003 session. Tavern industry officials said the Assembly decision will force many bars to close.
For weeks, bar owners and health groups have fought over a single question: Can bars be made safe enough for smoking to be permitted again?
The tavern industry has held out a small Tonawanda company as a possible solution to protecting the public health without hurting small businesses. FailSafe Air Safety Systems, which does most of its business selling decontamination and portable isolation units to governments and hospitals, says it can make devices for the state’s bars that will clean the air of smoke. Its technology would meet the terms of legislation pending in the Assembly and Senate to allow bars to again offer smoking.
