Protecting the Innocent

No employer shall permit, and no person shall engage in, the smoking of tobacco products in an enclosed space at a place of employment.

That is the simple substance of a far-reaching public health measure--AB 2667, sponsored by Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the state Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment, which is scheduled to vote on the legislation today. The bill is a fresh effort to deal with one of this country’s major but only recently identified sources of avoidable diseases and premature deaths: the involuntary inhalation of tobacco smoke.

Environmental tobacco smoke is now cited by medical researchers as the third leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, after smoking itself and alcohol. The U.S. surgeon general reported in 1986 that “exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a cause of lung cancer.” The American Heart Assn., supported by the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Assn., last week reported “overwhelming” evidence that passive smoking contributes to tens of thousands of deaths from heart disease each year.

AB 2667 is broadly supported by major health groups and medical associations, as well as by, among others, the California Labor Federation, the California Restaurant Assn. and a number of large employers. If it passes, employers would be freed from the obligation to provide separate, ventilated smoking and nonsmoking areas. Employers could also expect to be confronted with fewer disability and workers’ compensation claims based on illness arising from environmental tobacco smoke. Let there be no doubt about what this bill aims to achieve: It would prohibit smoking in any enclosed space where people work--restaurants, offices, factories, whatever. Not only employees but visitors to such places would benefit. Tobacco smoke is a clear danger to all who are exposed to it. Nonsmokers have the right to be shielded from its killing effects.