Transfat causes a slew of medical conditions many of which are shared with those associated with smoking (the notable exception being lung and oral cancer), and contributes a great deal more to the number one killer in America – heart disease.

Employees who work in fast food restaurants are repeated exposed to foods high in fat, often leaving at the end of the day smelling of grease and with a high level of fat on their skin and clothing gathered from the air. And they have little options other than to eat at said restaurants.

Beyond that, social studies have shown that people who are socially associated with overweight people tend to become overweight themselves. Certain nutritionists have begun to call this “secondhand fat.”

So, since we’re mandating one way that businesses are allowed to operate, why not ban transfats as well?

It sounds like a slippery slope, but the fact is fatty foods are a bigger danger to America than smoking.

Bars and restaurants who wish to adopt non-smoking policies should be welcomed, even encouraged to do so with the likes of tax incentives. If the non-smoking crowd is such a desired demographic, court them with advertising. As evidenced by this thread, there are non-smokers who prefer smoke free bars, just as there are smokers who prefer bars which they can smoke in.

As another commenter pointed out, banning smoking has not statistically had an impact on the revenue which bars make. What it does have an impact on is:

Littering – most bars do not provide an ash tray outside of their establishment, which leads to a high amount of littered butts in the street.

Decrease in gross tax revenue – Maryland saw a significant decrease in the number of smokers after they passed their ban. This leads to falling tax revenue, as cigarettes are heavily taxed and that is money which states depend on to provide other services. Pennsylvania is currently considering legalizing video gambling to recoup the money they have lost in tax revenue after they went “smoke free”.

Increase occurrences of “tab jumping” – with people going out to smoke, or pretending to go out to smoke in order to avoid paying a bar tab.

This entire campaign against smoking is almost Orwellian.

Less to the point:

Since smoking bans have begun and tobacco taxes increased, the cost of govt funded health care is still growing at an alarming rate. I thought we were supposed to be saving money?!

smoke on.

Arguing that the rights of business owners and the rights of smokers are more important than the health of employees and patrons simply demonstrates a poor sense of priority and a frightening lack of compassion.

I’m sick of the abused claim that the free market will eventually provide the ideal situation for everything. That works with the price of toothpaste; it doesn’t drive businesses to abandon harmful practices. If smoke-free bars were a huge success, then they would be on every corner. They are not profitable because too many people don’t give a shit if they’re forcing their habit on other people. They don’t want their local watering hole to operate morally, so it doesn’t. The question isn’t whether the free market will create smoke-free bars. The question is whether the government should step in and end the unhealthy and antiquated practice of indoor smoking since the free market never will any time soon. And the answer is “Yes”.

That said, it’s not the government’s responsibility to make these changes. If a bar in town widely announced their non-smoking status along with other qualities, they would find wild success. This is a market-driven question. Would you as a bar owner, want the government to REQUIRE smoking in bars?

I think everyone needs a reality check here. My rights are infringed the moment someone (who smokes by choice!) exhales smoke adjacent to me. Bottom-line, it’s a health risk. I simply can’t choose not to breath, whereas the smoker to my right can limit their stupidity to their own body by hauling their lazy butts outside.

Anyone who’s come home from a smoky bar with a sore throat and red eyes knows that smoke isn’t exactly enhancing the quality of their life–and they know this in a real and immediate way. As my dad said, “We didn’t ‘know’ cigarettes were bad for you, by why did we nickname them as coffin nails?”

If it looks like a duck, smokes like a duck, and dies very sloooowly and painfully of lung cancer like a duck, it’s time to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.

80% of taste is smell