The New York State legislature recently passed a bill into law that restricts smoking in all indoor areas that are places of employment. Its authors designed the bill to protect employees from secondhand smoke. Effective as of July 24, 2003, it prohibits smoking in areas such as bars, food service establishments, and public transportation as well as various other places where tobacco smoke may be present. As a result of this act, smoking is no longer permitted in the student Union. Smoking was previously allowed only in the Union’s smoking room and the Clubhouse Pub.
The new smoking laws have not affected smoking policies within the residence halls, however. A restricted smoking policy for residential areas has been in effect since before the new state law went into effect, and does not allow smoking in any public residence hall areas. Additionally, smoking must occur eight feet away from the door of any hall. Certain halls allow smoking within a room when all residents agree that smoking is acceptable. Currently, Hall Hall is the only freshman residence hall that allows any smoking within rooms, while Nugent, the Quad, and North are the only upper class residence halls that allow smoking within rooms.
In the past, efforts have been made on campus to tighten these rules. “I tried to make all the halls non-smoking about four years ago,” said Pete Snyder, director of Residence Life, “but even the non-smokers thought the rights of smokers were being taken away.”
The law is not all-encompassing, however. Smoking is still allowed in private homes and automobiles, hotels, motels, cigar bars in existence prior to January 1, 2003, and up to 25 percent of seating in outdoor areas of restaurants with no roof or ceiling enclosure. Also, businesses may apply to their local health department for permission to allow smoking if the business can demonstrate that becoming entirely smoke-free will cause undue financial hardship.
According to the bill, over 63,000 people die each year from secondhand smoke. Two hundred known poisons and 43 known cancer-causing substances are contained within the smoke of cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. Some of the carcinogenic compounds include asbestos, benzene, mustard gas, and radon. The bill also cites that 300,000 children in the U.S. develop lower respiratory tract infections as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.
Enforcement of this law is expected to be achieved through prominently posted “No Smoking” signs or the universal symbol. It is the responsibility of the employer to ask any person to stop smoking if he or she is within an area covered by the law. An employer who violates this law may incur a penalty of up to $2,000 per violation. To file complaints, call the local heath department or district health office.
