Originally published Monday, February 8, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Comments (88)
E-mail article
Print view
Share
Guest columnist
Tobacco ban in Seattle parks affirms citizen right to breathe smoke-free air
The Seattle Parks Board is considering a ban on smoking and the use of other tobacco products in city parks. Guest columnist Abigail Halperin urges the board to adopt the ban, arguing the ban would be good for public health and that people have the right to breathe smoke-free air.
Special to The Times
NEW conduct codes have been proposed by the city of Seattle to make our many parks cleaner, safer and more enjoyable. Some of these rules have raised concerns about discrimination and personal freedom, including one that would ban smoking or using other tobacco products in city parks. In this case, protecting the public from tobacco smoke — a substance as toxic to humans as radon and asbestos — is the real issue at hand, not whether such a decision infringes on individual rights.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, exposure to secondhand smoke kills 50,000 people in the United States annually and incurs over $10 billion in direct health-care costs. Even outdoors, tobacco smoke is dangerous to large segments of the population. This includes infants and children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with asthma and those with a host of other medical conditions. Breathing someone else's smoke is not merely annoying for nonsmokers. At best, it is extremely unpleasant. At worst, it can be fatal.
People of legal age are free to use tobacco or drink alcohol in places and situations where it is safe and causes no harm to others, but the city has an obligation to protect people from known health risks resulting from these behaviors on public property. It is the job of our parks board commissioners to create regulations that permit residents and visitors to safely enjoy our parks and recreation areas.
Fewer than 10 percent of King County residents are smokers. The only policy that will prevent the rest from being involuntarily exposed to secondhand smoke is to ban smoking entirely in all the parks.
Designating nonsmoking areas around playgrounds or sports fields to protect children has been suggested, but this is not a fair or viable solution. Both children and adults use all the parks for recreation, and people of all ages deserve the benefits of breathing smoke-free air. A partial smoking ban is an oxymoron, and makes no more sense than a smoking section in a restaurant or a peeing section in a swimming pool.
Equally important, 70 percent of smokers say they want to quit smoking, and half of them try to quit each year. It takes many tries for most people to quit for good. Often it's too late.
Smoke-free laws have been shown to help people succeed in freeing themselves from this deadly and addictive habit. Conversely, allowing smoking in public places thwarts the efforts of smokers trying to quit and undermines our state programs to prevent youth from starting to smoke.
Enacting an inclusive and unambiguous smoking ban in our parks will save lives and money and improve quality of life for all. Failing to act, or creating an ineffective rule, would be a victory only for the tobacco companies, who have successfully overturned or delayed passage of similar public-health measures in our state before. Let's not let this happen again.
Abigail Halperin is a Seattle physician who specializes in the prevention and treatment of tobacco dependence and related diseases.
E-mail article
Print view
Share
NEW - 01:40 PM
Thomas Friedman / Syndicated Columnist: Good luck, Iraqis — it's up to you now
Guest columnist: State employees are paying their share of health care
Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist: You have everything to fear, including fear itself
Bob Herbert / Syndicated columnist: Economic insecurity the major roadblock to Obama's agenda

Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
2x Limited Edition CDJ-400-K turntables - $1000
32" SHARP TV w/remote - $200
35MM Movie Projector - $2500
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
events for Wednesday, Mar. 10
- BabyLegs Annual Spring Sample Sale
- Spring Sales at Birth and Beyond
- Contain Yourself Sale at Ravenna Gardens
- Washington Native Plant Society Annual Spring...
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Paul Allen fights fired staffers in compensation dispute
- Posh Four Seasons project in downtown Seattle faces liens, lawsuits
- Seahawks trade Seneca Wallace to Cleveland
- Seahawks Blog | Seneca Wallace: "It just happened so quickly yesterday. I'm happy about it."
- 'Lost Boys' actor Corey Haim dead in Calif. at 38
- Can historic home in Normandy Park be saved?
- Freshman defensive end Andru Pulu suspended indefinitely from Washington football team
- Politics Northwest | Gregoire to Idaho: Bring it on!
- Temperature overnight tied record low set in 1956
- 6 World Vision workers killed in attack
- Chihuly glass museum proposed at Seattle Center where Fun Forest stood
280 - Boy who lost mom takes health-care story to D.C.
269 - Pulu suspended indefinitely
181 - World Relief rejects job applicant over his faith
181 - Gregoire to Idaho: bring it on!
163 - AP Poll: Americans want health care bipartisanship
109 - Trial in Gaza death of Olympia activist in Israel
96 - Does Washington state want a sales-tax rate higher than L.A.'s?
89 - Can historic home in Normandy Park be saved?
67 - Attack on World Vision in Pakistan kills 5
65
- Posh Four Seasons project in downtown Seattle faces liens, lawsuits
- Brier Dudley | Google's 'starter set' on map for bicyclists
- Can historic home in Normandy Park be saved?
- Chihuly glass museum proposed at Seattle Center where Fun Forest stood
- Besieged by water, Hoh Tribe seeks 37 acres of Olympic National Park
- Paul Allen fights fired staffers in compensation dispute
- Crystal Mountain plans gondola to summit
- Happy Hour | Brouwer's: All about the beer
- Jones Soda reaches tentative deal to be acquired by Reed's
- Homeowners to be paid to sell at a loss






