Madison residents will not be smoking again in the bars anytime soon, as far as the Dane County Board of Health is concerned. The board voted Wednesday against three proposals from the City Council that would overrule the City of Madison's current tobacco-free ordinance.
For over two months Madison has been tobacco-free in public places. Some say this means detrimental economic consequences for area bars and restaurants.
In response, the City Council recently proposed three options: eliminating the prohibition of smoking in certain public, non-city owned places; establishing an advisory referendum on the ban; and creating a hardship exemption for bars that are losing more than 10 percent of their revenue.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has expressed his willingness to negotiate a hardship exemption. However, the board felt that it still compromised the public's health.
\The people that brought this forward are doing it for purely political reasons,"" Board Supervisor Jeff Kostelic said.
To all three of these proposals, 15 citizens expressed opposition. Among them was Tobacco-Free Wisconsin lobbyist Carousel Bayrd, who brought attention to the secondhand smoke risks for restaurant and bar employees.
Such jobs are the third fastest growing in Wisconsin, and an eight-hour shift in bar conditions has the same health consequences as smoking 16 cigarettes, she said.
This means that employees are three times more vulnerable to lung and heart disease. Fifty thousand people die each year from secondhand smoke, Bayrd added.
""We are the body responsible for the health and safety of this community, so I think it's clear what we have to do. The benefits outweigh the costs,"" Susan Zahner said.
In addition, she recommended applying the new ordinance to all of Dane County. This recommendation will be forwarded to the Dane County Board.
The current ordinance prohibits chewing tobacco as well. Some may think chewing in public does not affect the public's health, but City Attorney Michael May said otherwise.
""I think there might be some kind of hazard associated with tobacco juice,"" May said.
Madison is not the first community to adopt such an ordinance. According to Madison researcher David Ahrens, 1,100 cities such as Lexington, Ky., and El Paso, Texas, have smoke-free bars.
""This is the way of the future. This is what's coming,"" City Countil member Dr. Allan Schwartzstein said.
The ordinance will be sent back to Council for approval.
