Mayor Anderson Signs Smoking Ban
None by Bryan Schott
No More Lighting Up in City Parks, Cemetaries or Near Public Gatherings
Mayor Anderson signs the smoking ban.
It's now illegal to light up in public parks and bus and Trax stops in Salt Lake City. Mayor Rocky Anderson signed the smoking ban into law today. He says the new ordinance combats second hand smoke and promotes better health.
Utah joins a list of more than 300 cities nationwide, including nine others in Utah, that have banned smoking out doors. The ordinance also bans smoking within 50 feet of large public gatherings. That means events like the Utah Arts Festival and the Great Salt Lake Jazz Festival will be smoke free next year.
Experts say more than 1,000 Utahns die every year because of smoking - and another four to five hundred are estimated to die from the effects of second hand smoke.
Smokers who do light up in restricted areas will earn a fine of $25.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Bruce Fox said:
In most cities the ambient air is worse than second hand smoke. I would like a list of all those who have perished from smoking or second hand smoke.
I like the hysteria about second hand smoke to chicken little's "the sky is falling". Convince a lot of people of danger from water or air and hysteria begins. But in the long run people still breath the air and drink the water.
How many former smokers are now on drugs to combat the problems smoking takes care of? How many are suffering side effects from those drugs with the total blessing of the health care community who makes their money scaring people into their offices each day.
If you have a concern with smoking, research the subject in depth and you will find the studies are on the order of halucinations of hungry researchers looking for a reason for their next grant. We are all in business for our daily bread, but smoking researchers are searching for an answer to a question and generating a lot of paper, but NO conclusions.
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