Another Victory Against Stink : Wilson’s executive order will prohibit smoking in most state facilities

With his executive order banning smoking in most state office buildings and facilities effective next Dec. 31, Gov. Pete Wilson has taken a welcome step toward safeguarding the long-term health of Californians and probably sparing them--and the state--significant economic costs.

The health benefits of the governor’s edict will come from shielding tens of thousands of nonsmoking state employees and prison inmates from exposure to the tobacco smoke produced by others nearby. Each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer caused by inhaling what the agency calls ETS, or environmental tobacco smoke. That smoke contains scores of identifiable toxins; almost certainly it contributes to a variety of minor-to-severe illnesses other than lung cancer. The blunt message of the anti-tobacco billboards erected by the California Department of Health Services has it right: “Smoking stinks.” Wilson’s action will help lower the stench level.

Its economic benefits should be twofold. To the extent that it insulates nonsmokers from disease producing contaminants, it ought to reduce the medical bills they and their employer--ultimately, the taxpayers--have to pay. It may also help in time to reduce the number of lawsuits involving claims for injuries stemming from exposure to ETS. According to the National Law Journal, the EPA’s report, “which may prompt Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, plus a new call for a smoking ban at all federal agencies, signals the start of a fierce new (legal) battle over secondhand smoke.”

Wilson’s order is a significant move toward a healthier California. But a bigger step must still be taken. That is to ban smoking in all enclosed workplaces throughout the state, private as well as public.

Legislation to do that has been reintroduced by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood). It is supported by major health groups and medical associations, as well as by the California Labor Federation, the California Restaurant Assn. and some of the state’s largest employers. This is not legislation to punish smokers, but to protect their co-workers. It is fact-based legislation, the grim fact being, according to the EPA, that environmental tobacco smoke has become the nation’s third leading preventable cause of death. The governor has done the right thing. The Legislature should do so as well, by enacting a smoking ban in all of California’s workplaces.